Planning for the Next 50 Years

The list of accomplishments is visible to anyone driving through the city of Richmond – the Fan District, Shockoe Bottom, Church Hill, the National Theater, Old City Hall and Monumental Church. Since Mary Wingfield Scott formed the Historic Richmond Foundation in 1956, the organization has led the charge to preserve, reclaim and celebrate Richmond’s historic architecture.

As with any organization with a strong portfolio of past successes, HRF sees an opportunity to take a step back and reflect on how its mission – and supporting strategies – might need to evolve in order to thrive for another 50 years.

Floricane is excited to partner with another one of Richmond’s premier organizations in a concentrated strategic planning process. Over the next four months, Floricane will interview several dozen of HRF’s key stakeholders; research global best practices in historic and architectural preservation; and facilitate a series of strategic discussions with the organization’s board and staff. A final strategic plan is expected to go before HRF’s board later this fall.

Our first interview was with Mrs. Elise Wright, who has been actively involved with HRF and the Valentine Richmond History Center, for more than five decades; Mrs. Wright currently sits on the board of both organizations. The depth of her experience, the richness of her personal recollections, and the candor of her observations raise the bar significantly for the rest of the board, staff and community leaders Floricane will interview!

Getting Focused: Virginia Poverty Law Center

Even organizations not in the throes of long-term strategic planning need to take a deep breath and reassess from time to time.

That’s what the staff of the Virginia Poverty Law Center (VPLC) did this spring – gathering at the gorgeous Rosslyn Retreat Center overlooking the James River – to map out its core competencies and short-term stra tegic opportunities.

The VPLC is staffed largely by lawyers, each working in a functional area – like housing – to provide education, support and representation to lower income Virginians who need legal assistance. VPLC also trains attorneys throughout Virginia, and partners with local Legal Aid organizations.

In addition to working through the basic block-and-tackle conversations about staff changes, organizational finances and day-to-day activities, the staff explored several bigger issues during this daylong session with Floricane.

There was some spirited brainstorming and discussion about the best ways for a small, decentralized staff to provide each other with feedback and for newer employees to have more frequent opportunities to evaluate their performance. A number of new ideas also emerged around ways for the nonprofit to creatively expand and diversify its funding model.

By the end of the day, the entire staff was aligned around a set of words that exemplified the organization they aspire to be in the eyes of those they serve. These words — characteristics — culled from dozens of colorful Post-It Notes, are:

Helpful. Knowledgeable. Caring. Troubleshooters. Leaders. Responsive. Fighters. Nonjudgmental.

That’s the sort of organization I’d like in my corner. Wouldn’t you?

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New Team, New Clients, New Work

It has been a busy spring for the growing Floricane team.

“Busy” because we’ve recently added some new faces – Historic Richmond Foundation and the Podium Foundation and Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden – and new engagements with Bon Secours and Virginia Poverty Law Center. We’re continuing our work with The James House, Children Incorporated and the Evening at Morton’s series, as well.

“Growing” because Floricane is starting to build a staff.

Our marketing coordinator, Juliet Brown, has been quietly working behind the scenes on our website, newsletter and business collateral since last winter, and Cara McDaniel joined Floricane in late May as our project coordinator. She’s coordinating meetings and client events, and writing follow-up reports for Floricane’s larger clients. (I’m also excited that an old friend, Beth Coakley, is tackling some short-term project work for Floricane!)

We also have some cool partnerships emerging – with HR consultant Debra Saneda (my one-time colleague and boss), with Matthew Freeman and Tiffany Jana of TMI Consulting, with Richmond’s favorite development/fundraising consultant, Sarah Milston.

Look for us to continue growing, and don’t hesitate to give us a call if we can help you or your organization bear new fruit.

» view more photos on Facebook

A Fresh Perspective by Cara McDaniel

A native Richmonder, I’m still discovering that there is always something new to learn, especially when you are given the opportunity to engage with the city from a different perspective. In my first month working with Floricane, I have been given manyways to see Richmond differently.

So far, my interactions have involved working with an historic preservation organization (Historic Richmond Foundation), a non-profit law organization that helps low-income Vir ginians (Virginia Poverty Law Center) and an integrated health system (Bon Secours Virginia). While these organizations have very different missions, they share the same desire for excellence, customer service and retention of talented employees. Common themes from recent meetings include fully engaged employees, frank, open discussions about goals and action items, and seeing John’s facilitation techniques propel the groups forward.

 

At a recent staff meeting with the Historic Richmond Foundation, I met a group of highly motivated and knowledgeable individuals that are passionate about architecture, history and the community. On the heels of their 50th anniversary, the group is working with Floricane to discover new ways to remain relevant, collaborate with other local organizations, promote awareness, take on new projects, generate funding and continue to be a voice for Richmond.

 

My next adventure involved a retreat with the Virginia Poverty Law Center at the pastoral Roslyn Conference and Retreat Center in Richmond’s West End. This caring and inspiring group is working with Floricane to ensure their work continues to reflect the needs and interests of low-income Virginians. These individuals obviously care about helping others, and happen to have great energy, which made for a fun day! Throughout the day, Floricane used several facilitation techniques and exercises to help these folks learn to leverage their skills successfully, reshuffle responsibilities and accountability based on changing staff needs and improve collaboration and communication within the team. The group took a balanced approach of looking backward to acknowledge previous successes, while strategizing for the future. 

 

Another retreat, this time with the Service Excellence Directors at Bon Secours Virginia, was an opportunity for me to experience a larger group and the inspiring vistas of Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg. This motivated group is energized and eager to push Bon Secours Virginia to the next level of engagement excellence. John helped the group map out the behaviors, processes and actions that will drive a “perfect 5” score for employee, patient and physician engagement. The group also discussed ways to communicate their needs and goals to senior management and how to empower people to succeed in their roles.

 

All in all, it has been a very eventful (and scenic) first month with Floricane. I am enjoying meeting all of the people we are helping, in all types of organizations, and excited for what is coming up. Watching John facilitate these very different groups while bringing out similar themes of excellence, communication and planning has been, well, cool. (I am also creating a scorecard to keep track of how long it takes someone in a group to ask where the name “Floricane” comes from.)

 

Being a Richmonder, I have a lot of memories of the city. But I am discovering Richmond in new ways. I like meeting all of these people and finding common ground. I am excited to meet more clients and make more connections, all in the name of bearing new fruit for Richmond’s businesses and nonprofits.

Historic Richmond Foundation: Our Newest Client

More than half a century ago, Mary Wingfield Scott founded the organization which would go on to save the Church Hill neighborhood surrounding St. John's Church. Historic Richmond Foundation has worked over the past several decades not only to preserve individual buildings and specific urban neighborhoods in the City of Richmond, but to raise public awareness about the rich architectural fabric that makes Richmond unique. I think it's safe to say that Historic Richmond Foundation is one of the most important organizations in Richmond – simply based on its past successes.

This summer, Floricane will be working with the board and staff of Historic Richmond Foundation to identify possible future successes – and to focus in on a mission, vision and set of strategies that will keep the organization healthy and relevant as it continues the business of preserving the unique architectural characteristics that give Richmond its historic identity. It's going to be a fun project for everyone involved.

The Future of Richmond’s Past

It was nice to be behind-the-scenes last night, helping my friend and sometime thought partner Matthew Freeman during his facilitation of the more than 100 people who turned out for the Future of Richmond's Past event at VCU.

In addition to being a solid facilitator with a deep skillset in the areas of community dialogue and diversity issues, Matthew has a solid ace up his sleeve -- a set of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" electronic clickers. I don't mean to make them sound trite, because when they are used well they take a large group chit-chat quickly past the surface of almost any conversation.

The clickers allow a facilitator – literally in the moment – sort through group data, slicing and dicing it from a variety of perspectives. What's the value in that, you wonder?

Well, if you have an audience that is mixed – in gender, race, economic class or even job titles (in a large company) – you're able to quickly sort through layers of perspective and share it with the audience almost as soon as they answer a question. For example, during last night's event, Matthew was able to show the audience the precise demographic composition in the room – and compare it against regional numbers. If he had time, he could have sorted the data to a deeper level – showing, for instance, that whites with high incomes in the room were far more interested in hearing positive stories about racial relations in Richmond than lower income whites (or any black participants).

My job last night was to work with Matthew's partner, Tiffany Jana, to sort through close to 300 index cards that captured the ideas from audience members about the types of activities and conversations that they felt would more effectively bring the community together. As we sorted, we sought to identify 7-10 key themes that accurately reflected some consensus across the room – the audience then had opportunities to identify which theme(s) they felt was more important for the region to implement.

This series of conversations have been designed to engage Richmonders in meaningful discussions that bring deeper understanding of the histories that comprise the 150th anniversaries of the Civil War and the end of slavery in the United States.

Create/Refine Your Personal Vision at the Visual Arts Center

I’ll be returning to the Visual Arts Center classroom in June for another full-day workshop that emphasizes creativity from another angle – from a foundation of personal values. “Climbing the Right Mountains: Creating Your Personal Vision” will be held on Saturday, June 26, from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.

Below is the workshop description:

“Are you climbing every mountain? Are you even climbing the right mountains? Participants will chart out their own personal mountain ranges in a discussion centered on creating a creative life built around the things that matter most to you. Come prepared to explore how your personal values and beliefs about yourself, others and the world can provide focus and energy for your creative work.”

I test-piloted the program in February, and took a lot of notes for myself that should make the June session even more engaging, challenging and fun for participants. I can’t promise that this workshop can make anyone creative, but I’m sure that it will leave participants thinking differently about specific ways that they can draw lines to more intentionally connect who they are with what they do.

You can register for the workshop at the Visual Arts Center website.

Providing Perspectives on Blogging for Business

Stop. If your organization has a blog or has an interest in starting one, you might want to swing by the InVision Chesterfield eventin mid-May. Uberblogger Kate Hall of Richmondmom.com and I will be speaking at the Greater Richmond Chamber-sponsored event about the payoffs and perils of business blogging. (The free event takes place in the cafeteria at Johnston-Willis Hos pital bright and early the morning of Tuesday, May 18. Details are here.)

Kate and I will be getting together to share and compare notes before the event, but my emphasis will be on three specific areas – strategy, voice and consistency.

If you’re going to blog for your organization – or start a Twitter campaign, or launch a Facebook page – you need to have a strategy. In the olden days, they called that a marketing strategy, or a corporate communications plan. Whatever you do online should drive the broader strategic needs of your organization, which means creating a plan and sticking to it.

Easier said than done.

As important as the strategy is the voice of your blog – the style and tone and content of your writing should reflect the culture and brand of your organization. Sometimes that is driven by the personality of a senior executive. Sometimes voice emerges as a composite of several individuals, or your team’s best sense of the organizational personality.

Your customers and business partners should recognize your organization when it reads your blog.

I mentioned sticking to it. That’s essential. Consistency rules the best blogs. That means posting on a regular schedule, and posting predictable content.

If you’re a fan of Richmondmom.com, you know that Kate will bring more colorful advice to the InVision session. But we’ll also both share great stories about the trials and errors of promoting and celebrating your business through a blog, and we’ll have some solid advice for newcomers to the mix.

You can register for the InVision session at the Greater Richmond Chamber’s website.