NGO Soul + Strategy

In this episode, I discuss with Stefan Flothmann, who heads Greenpeace's MindWorks Cognitive Science Lab, how campaign designs miss how humans process difficult and negative emotions, and how this diminishes campaigns' effectiveness.Quotes:“Greenpeace staff were working on the assumption we were working towards a state of paradise, but they are struggling instead with the state of loss we have to deal with”“Our assumption used to be: we are humans, so we understand how other humans work. Common sense approaches to our campaigning suffice. We were wrong”Stefan's bio:·      Global Director at Mindworks Cognitive Science Lab, Greenpeace (GP) East Asia·      Former Program Director, Greenpeace E-Asia·      Former Dir Climate and Energy, Greenpeace·      Former Dir of Int Ocean Governance, Pew Charitable TrustWe discuss:Why Greenpeace as one of the largest brand names in environmental activism felt the need to change its assumptions behind its campaigning approachesThe relevance of behavioral psychology, social psychology and neuroscience for campaigning organizationsHow to better take account of difficult, and negative human feelings in advocacy?How to go from broadcasting and audience-centric to audience-empathetic approachesOrganizational resilience within NGOs during this period of a pandemic; how should leaders respond?Stefan Flothmann’s LinkedIn profileRead more here about  MindWorks's advice on how to campaign during the Covid pandemic. And here is MindWork's website about campaigning for mindset changeYou can reach Stefan at sflothma@greenpeace.orgClick here to subscribe to be alerted when new podcast episodes come out or when Tosca produces other thought leadership pieces.Or email Tosca at tosca@5oaksconsulting.org if you want to talk about your social sector organization’s needs, challenges, and opportunities.You can find Tosca’s content by following her on her social media channels: Twitter LinkedIn Facebook 

Are more Mergers and Acquisitions in NGOs’ futures? And is that a good thing? An interview with Rick Santos, a CEO who lived to tell the story  Bio Rick Santos Rick was the CEO of IMA World Health between 2009 and 2018, after having worked in the international health and development sector for over two decades IMA World Health is a faith-based nonprofit organization that provides health care services and supplies to vulnerable and marginalized people. We should note that in the developing world, an estimated 30 to 60 percent of health care is provided by faith-based organizations (FBOs). At the end of 2018, IMA World Health merged with Lutheran World Relief  Rick is currently Principal at NXPivot, which helps civil society organizations pivot in environments of lots of external change  Rick is a nonprofit professional with a Master of Business Administration (MBA) and a focus in strategy and management from Johns Hopkins University   In this episode, we discuss:  How did Rick as CEO go about pursuing a merger for IMA World Health, and what did he learn in the process?  Will the current pandemic likely lead to more explorations of Mergers and Acquisitions?  What hamstrings global North-founded NGOs in pursuing M&As?  Is it the pre-, during, or after phase that is most tricky/challenging to navigate during an M&A process?  Does a slowly rising trend in Mergers and Acquisitions inevitably lead to a further crowding out of Southern civil society? LinkedIn profile Rick Santos Website Rick SantosClick here to subscribe to be alerted when new podcast episodes come out or when Tosca produces other thought leadership pieces. Or email Tosca at tosca@5oaksconsulting.org if you want to talk about your social sector organization’s needs, challenges, and opportunities. You can find Tosca’s content by following her on her social media channels:  Twitter LinkedIn Facebook  

Tammy Dowley-Blackman is a seasoned and dynamite consultant in the domestic US nonprofit management and effectiveness space, who I look up to. In this interview, Tammy shares:  How her observations as a nonprofit leader, and the insufficient emphasis she observed nonprofits put on performance issues, drove her to set up her consulting firm The fallacy that ensuring diversity and inclusion strategies is not part and parcel of nonprofit business management How cultural competencies and attention to diversity, equity and inclusion strategies in nonprofits are intimately related How nonprofits who do not manage to transition from start-up, founder-focused mode to an emphasis on appropriate systems building are likely to falter  Quote: “Less is more -- when it comes to investment in leaders -- is not a good motto if nonprofits want to attract strong Generation Y and Z staff” Bio: Tammy is the owner of the TDB consulting firm, which supports nonprofits in the areas of  Communications and Development (Fundraising); Leadership Development; Project Design and Management; Research and Evaluation; and Talent Management. Tammy’s firm’s work is primarily US-domesticTammy’s consulting work grew out of what she saw in practice, during her tenure as an Executive Director for two nationally-affiliated nonprofits She also offers expertise on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, which all started with Tammy’s experience as a Diversity Officer at the Proteus Fund Tammy has taught at Boston University, Cambridge College and Lesley University   Resources: Website: http://www.tammydowleyblackman.com/ LinkedIn profile of Tammy Dowley-Blackman Click here to subscribe to be alerted when new podcast episodes come out or when Tosca produces other thought leadership pieces. Or email Tosca at tosca@5oaksconsulting.org if you want to talk about your social sector organization’s needs, challenges, and opportunities. You can find Tosca’s content by following her on her social media channels:  Twitter LinkedIn Facebook   

David Bonbright, co-founder and Chief Executive of Keystone Accountability, an international charity dedicated to bringing constituent feedback to social change practice. In this interview, David addresses the following questions and topics: What is Constituent Voice? And why is it so important if an NGO wants to be more outcome-focused? How is it different, and more than ‘downward accountability’?  Easier said than done: NGO leaders need to balance many competing values and priorities. How should they balance the voice of their primary constituents/clients/stakeholders/customers with those of other stakeholders, like boards, donors, staff members, and peer organizations?  And why is it that many NGO people rhetorically embrace the concept of Constituent Voice but quite lag behind in practice? Bio: Keystone seeks to maximize the social impacts of organizations -- nonprofit, business and governmental -- through the Constituent Voice™ methodology of planning, doing, measuring and communicating that fosters learning and responsiveness among all constituents. Keystone supports NGOs when they listen and respond to those meant to benefit from their activities.  David also worked with Aga Khan Foundation, Ashoka -- the entity that supported social entrepreneurs well before it became fashionable -- and with the Oak and Ford Foundations Resources: Website: https://keystoneaccountability.org/ LinkedIn profile of David Bonbright Click here to subscribe to be alerted when new podcast episodes come out or when Tosca produces other thought leadership pieces. Or email Tosca at tosca@5oaksconsulting.org if you want to talk about your social sector organization’s needs, challenges, and opportunities. You can find Tosca’s content by following her on her social media channels:  Twitter LinkedIn Facebook  

George Mitchell, professor at Baruch College at the City University of New York, USA, is one of my long time collaborators, a dear friend and one of those wonderful academics with a healthy respect for NGO practitioners. He and I, and Hans Peter Schmitz have co-authored an upcoming book on transnational NGOs, which will come out in June 2020.In this interview, George addresses the following questions and topics: What stops NGOs/nonprofits from becoming more outcome-oriented? How is it possible that NGOs can survive indefinitely without showing outcomes? Does the provocative concept of ‘successful failure’ explain this phenomenon? What are the specific roadblocks to watch out for when NGOs do aspire to become more outcome-oriented?  Some common myths when it comes to measurement and evaluation   The importance for NGOs of joining transparency platforms  Tricky aspects of integrating cost-effectiveness into evaluation approaches Bio  George Mitchell is Associate prof at Baruch college, where he taches as well as writes for academic and practitioner audiences in the areas of nonprofit management, transnational NGOs and evaluation and learning.   George pursued his PhD work in Political Science at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, USA, where his collaboration with me as podcast host started. We go back 16 years!  George and I are co-author (together with Hans Peter Schmitz of the University of San Diego, USA) of a book : Between Power and Irrelevance: the future of transnational NGOs, which is expected to be published by Oxford University Press in June 2020.  This book is partially dedicated to the question to what extent NGOs are truly outcome-oriented, and what factors and incentive systems historically have influenced the actions and behaviors of NGOs when it comes to being outcome-oriented. Resources LinkedIn profile of George Mitchell Nonprofit Policy Forum article that references Seibel’s ‘successful failure’ concept:  https://doi.org/10.1515/npf-2019-0050 The book ‘Between Power and Irrelevance: the future of Transnational NGOs’, co-authored by George, Hans Peter Schmitz and Tosca Bruno-van Vijfeijken, will be published by Oxford University Press in June 2020 Click here to subscribe to be alerted when new podcast episodes come out or when Tosca produces other thought leadership pieces. Or email Tosca at tosca@5oaksconsulting.org if you want to talk about your social sector organization’s needs, challenges, and opportunities. You can find Tosca’s content by following her on her social media channels:  Twitter LinkedIn Facebook  

Alnoor Ebrahim, Professor @ Tufts University, USAHow can we as NGO leaders make sure that our strategy informs our measurement strategy as organizations? How can we make sure our NGOs are not just upward/funder-oriented in our measurement approach, but also focused on internal accountability and organizational learning? And what mindsets are most helpful to make measurement efforts meaningful? In this interview, we address: What stops us as nonprofits from becoming more outcome-oriented? What are some roadblocks to watch out for when NGOs aspire to become more outcome-oriented? What is the Big Idea behind Alnoor’s new book ‘Measuring Social Change: Performance and Accountability in a Complex World’  And what would Alnoor say is true that almost no NGO agrees upon? Quote: “It is not feasible nor even desirable for all NGOs to develop metrics that run the gamut from outputs to societal outcomes” (pg. 11, book Measuring Social Change by Alnoor Ebrahim) Resources: Profile: Alnoor Ebrahim is a professor at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. His work is focused on accountabilities facing non-profit organizations, public entities, and social enterprise. He currently sits on an advisory board to the Global Impact Investing Network and Acumen Fund and has previously worked with the NGO Leaders Forum. Additionally, Alnoor Ebrahim has formerly been the chair of two executive programs at Harvard University and currently co-chairs a program at the Harvard Kennedy School.   Alnoor's newest book: Measuring Social Change: Performance and Accountability in a Complex World Alnoor and I are both Ambassadors in the Leap of Reason Ambassador community, an invitation-based network of nonprofit leaders, funders, analysts and consultants who want to promote a stronger performance and outcome-orientation among nonprofits. Alnoor’s email: alnoor.ebrahim@tufts.edu Click here to subscribe to be alerted when new podcast episodes come out or when Tosca produces other thought leadership pieces. Or email Tosca attosca@5oaksconsulting.orgif you want to talk about your social sector organization’s needs, challenges, and opportunities. You can find Tosca’s content by following her on her social media channels:  Twitter LinkedIn Facebook 

What organizational dynamics cause NGOs and funders to make overblown outcome statements?  In this interview with Julia Coffman and Tanya Beer of the Center for Evaluation Innovation, two thought leaders in the space of  evaluation and organizational learning in the philanthropic and NGO sector, we address: What stops us as nonprofits from becoming more outcome-oriented? When your NGO starts a new strategy, can the evaluation folks not just inform the eventual measurement of that strategy but also help you with synthesizing what was learned up till that point? And why can the more ‘comfortable’ notion of organizational learning – rather than evaluation – lead to reinforcement of confirmation bias? Julia and Tanya address these complex questions, that all touch upon organizational dynamics, in their thoughtful responses to my interview questions. Enjoy! Julia Coffman's bio Julia Coffman is the Founder and Director of the Center for Evaluation Innovation. Her focus is advancing evaluation and learning practice in philanthropy. For 25 years, she's worked with dozens of foundations on their approaches to evaluation. She has particular expertise in evaluating advocacy and policy efforts, emphasizing real-time learning that helps organizations to adapt their strategies and continuously improve.  Tanya Beer's bioTanya Beer is the Associate Director for the Center for Evaluation Innovation. Tanya and Julia are both high profile thought leaders in the field of philanthropy and evaluation, as well as organizational learning. Tanya was formerly at the Colorado Trust, working on research, evaluation and learning. Resources:  Website: https://www.evaluationinnovation.org/ LinkedIn profile of Julia Coffman LinkedIn profile of Tanya Beer Terrific short reading on daily organizational learning habits by Julia Coffman Click here to subscribe to be alerted when new podcast episodes come out or when Tosca produces other thought leadership pieces. Or email Tosca at tosca@5oaksconsulting.orgif you want to talk about your social sector organization’s needs, challenges, and opportunities. You can find Tosca’s content by following her on her social media channels:  Twitter  LinkedIn Facebook  

Ep 004 – Ed BoswellTitle: A consultant’s observations in helping NGO leaders navigate big organizational change: Ed Boswell, Conner AdvisorySummary para: Daryl Conner and Ed Boswell of Conner Advisory have been advising private sector leaders for 30+ plus years on how to successfully lead big organizational change processes. How much of this experience translates over into the NGO sector? Ed Boswell talks with Tosca about the many lessons he learned.To what extent has Ed observed differences in how people think about and execute change management in the private versus NGO sectors?What’s distinct about strategy execution, as different from strategy installation?As a consultant, what has Ed found most rewarding in supporting his clients when they engaged in change management?And, what has he found to be most trying or challenging in doing so?Resources:Bio Ed:  Co-founder and CEO of Conner Advisory, which is focused on international aid sector organizations and was founded approximately 5 years ago.Former senior consultant to private sector companiesEd’s specializations: strategy execution and leadership developmentEd is also a strategic advisor to the NeuroLeadership InstituteHe is a retired Partner of Price Waterhouse Cooper, US practice People and ChangeEd has a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, USA. He also has a Certificate in Business Administration from the Wharton Business School at the University of PennsylvaniaConner Advisory's research: https://conneradvisory.com/insights/Ed’s book: Strategic Speed: Mobilize People, Accelerate Execution, Harvard Business Review Press, 2010. Available on Amazon at Strategic Speed: Mobilize People, Accelerate ExecutionAmy Edmondson's article on Execution as Learning: Edmondson, A. C. (2008). The competitive imperative of learning. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2008/07/the-competitive-imperative-of-learningClick here to subscribe to be alerted when new podcast episodes come out or when Tosca produces other thought leadership pieces! Or email Tosca at tosca@5oaksconsulting.org if you want to talk about your social sector organization’s needs, challenges, and opportunitiesYou can find Tosca’s content by following her on her social media channels: Twitter            LinkedIn         Facebook  

Ep 003 – Sarah Ralston Title: Whole-of-organization thinking: Reflections by Sarah Ralston, former longtime change manager in CARE2020’s processSummary para: The complex work of an NGO change manager requires that you have a ‘whole of organization’ perspective. Sarah Ralston, who until recently led many change initiatives at CARE International, reveals what she learned in this third episode in our series on Change Management.  How does Sarah see the different components of an organizational change process?·What does she do as a change manager, on a daily basis?·What has she found the most rewarding, and the most trying, about change management?What change management concepts or approaches has Sarah found to be most helpful?How has Sarah tried to intentionally learn as a change manager?Bio: Sarah Ralston has over 15 years of experience when it comes to international civil society, organizational development, strategy and change management. She worked as a Senior Manager of Global Performance and Strategy for CARE USA before joining CARE International where she has spent over 9 years of her career. As the Head of 2020 Transformational Change, she provided change management expertise to support leadership and engage staff. Ralston most recently worked as the Head of Organizational Development and Accountability at CARE International. She left CARE International in December 2019.LinkedIn profile: linkedin.com/in/sarah-miller-b5b6185 Click here to subscribe to be alerted when new podcast episodes come out or when Tosca produces other thought leadership pieces.Or email Tosca at tosca@5oaksconsulting.org if you want to talk about your social sector organization’s needs, challenges, and opportunitiesYou can find Tosca’s content by following her on her social media channels: Twitter            LinkedIn         Facebook 

Ep 002 – Ramesh SinghTitle: What I learned from leading ActionAid’s federalization process as well as Greenpeace’s recent change trajectory – Ramesh SinghSummary para: Ramesh Singh, former CEO of ActionAid, led its process of federalization - an important change in its organizational form - over a decade ago. In addition, Ramesh as International Organization Director led Greenpeace’s process to decentralize decision making from Greenpeace International’s headquarters to its regional and national offices. During the same period, Greenpeace also aligned its organization with a strategic shift of its campaigning approach to a more ‘people-powered’ form of campaigning.How Ramesh encouraged ActionAid to learn from the past and be fit for the futureHow he promoted course corrections in organizational change processesHow to spot slow-onset crisesHow not to confuse project management (a means) with the Theory of Change (the end) behind a change processThe usefulness of scenario planning as a tool in change managementHow to be wary of ‘glorification’ of what NGOs doThe importance of analysis of difference within organizational change processes Resources:Bio: Ramesh Singh has many years of experience working with NGOs, having worked as the Chief Executive Officer of ActionAid, the Chief Operating Officer at Greenpeace, and an Independent Consultant in his later career. In his most recent years, Ramesh Singh has, among others, held the role of Senior Advisor to Oxfam Global Strategy Development in his capacity as a consultant.LinkedIn profile: linkedin.com/in/ramesh-singh-b5712123If you want to learn more:Click here to subscribe to be alerted when new podcast episodes come out or when Tosca produces other thought leadership pieces! Or email Tosca at tosca@5oaksconsulting.org if you want to talk about your social sector organization’s needs, challenges, and opportunitiesYou can find Tosca’s content by following her on her social media channels: Twitter            LinkedIn         Facebook