Letter From John: It’s A Balancing Act

Over the past 18 months, Floricane has had the opportunity to work with more than 50 organizations doing phenomenal work in Central Virginia with a wide range of focus - health care, human services, housing and urban development, arts and culture and history - and they are all making a majorimpact on our community.

We've spent a lot of time paying attention to how these organizations operate, and what distinguishes those that are struggling from those who continue to thrive.

The best of these organizations share a commond denominator -- balance. They work to discover and maintain their own unique equilibrium in three areas:

Tactical & Strategic: Part of running a successful organization is knowing what you need to do to be successful tomorrow - and in ten years. Keeping one foot in the tactical day-to-day business and another in the future is not easy work. In an initial meeting about strategic planning with one local organization, the CEO talked about looking 30 years ahead while his board president focused on a more actionable, two-year plan. What could have been a real disaster instead turned into a visionary document, crafted by staff and board members, that framed short-term tactics against major changes in demographics and technology.

Head & Heart: An old mentor of mine used to joke that the longest distance in the world was the 13-inches between your head and your heart. Strong organizations understand the value of creating a high-speed rail line that clearly links the organization's bottom line with its core values and culture. And the strongest spend time developing individual leaders who demonstrate strong emotional intelligence competencies - who can manage with their heads, and lead with their hearts.

Leadership & Teamwork: Nothing within organizations happens without collaboration, and I'm always surprised by those who believe otherwise. Being intentional about teamwork - rewarding collaboration - puts great organizations ahead of the rest. Leading collaborative teams requires that leaders listen deeply, act with integrity and help groups collectively move toward a shared vision of what they can accomplish - together.

It's a rare organization that creates its own sense of balance in each of these three areas. It's been awfully inspiring to support - and learn from - those that are really working at it.

Say Sesquicentennial Seven Times Fast

There’s no better time than the eve of a sesquicentennial for the small team at the American Civil War Center at Historic Tredegar to focus on their future.

Although the old Tredegar iron works site has hosted museums before, the American Civil War Center opened its doors to the public in 2006. It was the first museum in the nation to focus on the three key perspectives on the major American conflict – Union, Confederate, and African American.

That unique approach – and a mission to “tell the whole story of the conflict that still shapes our nation” – made a recent, two-day staff retreat a compelling challenge.

Because the 13 person team was almost evenly divided between four-year veterans, recent hires and in-betweeners, we started our work together with some discussion on how each group saw the institution and its purpose. The different perspectives were both real and important, and they gave shape to subsequent discussions on the center’s emerging role as a central starting point on the road to understanding the American Civil War for Richmond residents, tourists, history buffs and academics.

Over the course of our two days together, the staff reworked its strategic focus and increased its sense of alignment. In the coming weeks, the staff will work with the center’s national board of directors to fine tune their strategic work and position the center as a critical hub in the 150th year commemoration of the first shots fired in the American Civil War.

We Have Draft

A revised Mission? Check. A new Vision? Yes. Strategic outcomes? Affirmative. A draft strategic planning document? Done.

At their July meeting, the board of directors of Children, Incorporated gave a green light to the draft planning document created by a small team of employees with support from Floricane. It was a big – but not the last – milestone in our work together.

From the get-go, we’d made a commitment to make the strategic planning process as open, inclusive and collaborative as possible. Keeping the 25 employees of the international child sponsorship agency energized by a nine-month process hasn’t been a cakewalk – the organization is ready and waiting for tangible outcomes.

We think putting some meat on the bones outlined in their draft plan will satisfy that need.

Over the next few weeks, Floricane will work with small teams of employees to map out specific tactics and timelines that get Children, Incorporated closer to each of their strategic outcomes. And closer to their mission of being “a non-profit organization that provides resources for children in need in the United States and abroad, because we passionately believe that children everywhere deserve education, hope and opportunity.”

We hope to deliver a final strategic plan to the organization in September.

The Podium Foundation

The motto of Richmond’s Podium Foundation is, “Where Kids Take A Stand”. Last month, the board of the nonprofit – which works with students in Richmond Public Schools to explore the profession of writing and their own writing talent – took a step.

This step -- toward better organization, alignment and engagement -- is one more organizations could benefit from taking sooner.

Podium was founded by Richmond author David Robbins, whose passion and strong vision have been instrumental in the organization’s initial successes. New board members and new opportunities are creating space for Podium to be more intentional and structured – without losing its nimbleness and energy.

Cara and I spent a recent evening with seven of Podium’s board members exploring new ways for the nonprofit to organize its board more effectively. 

As sometimes happens, the first hour seemed a bit like feeling our way through a dark room. Without much time to meet individually with board members in advance, we had to quickly get a sense of what the group hoped to accomplish – and make sure our time together provided outcomes that mattered to them.

Three hours later, we walked out the door with an organizational game plan and a clear agenda for Podium’s board retreat slated for later that week.

If you’re not familiar with Podium, check out their website. Better yet, stop by a local Kroger and pick up Podium's second published collection of writing by Richmond school kids – you’ll find it on the free publication rack.

I See Your True Colors (by Cara)

By Cara McDaniel, Floricane Project Coordinator

Cool Blue. Earth Green. Sunshine Yellow. Fiery Red. How do these colors relate to better team dynamics and organizational success? Through the Insights Discovery learning system, of course.

Want to do it right? You are channeling your objective Cool Blue energy. Just wishing everyone could get along? You must be Earth Green. Want everyone to chip in and do it together? You are embracing your spirited Sunshine Yellow side. And for all of you thinking “just do it NOW” – obviously, you are Fiery Red.

If you can think about colors assuming these personalities or “energies”, then you can begin to understand the Insights Discovery learning system.

On a recent employee retreat with The James House, Floricane, in partnership with Debra Saneda of Kerr HR, used the Insights Discovery system to examine the team’s structure, work preferences and communication styles. The James House team is a group of caring, intense, grounded individuals who provide support, advocacy and education for people in the Tri-Cities affected by sexual and domestic violence.

As is the case in any organization – no matter their shared sense of purpose and vision – each person has a different way to achieve this goal.

From a set of 25 statements completed prior to the retreat, individual Insights Discovery profiles were generated. Each profile contained detailed statements about each person’s key strengths and weaknesses, effective communication strategies, value to the team, possible blind spots and management strategies.

Overall, the group felt as though the profiles were extremely accurate in pinpointing individual personalities and revealing points that required further thought and analysis. During the retreat, the James House staff committed to sharing profiles with each other and planned to identify specific items going forward that would add to team engagement.

According to Insights, each person uses color energies in varying degrees to shape personal style. Based on the personality model of Carl Jung, this preference-based system uses color as a common language for self-understanding and effective interaction. While everyone exhibits traits from all of the color energies, it is a preference for one color energy that indicates a preferred style for thinking, working and communicating with others.

The staff at the James House is committed to finding the best way to address the unique demands of their community support work. Engaging in the Insights Discovery process allowed the group to better identify team dynamics, appreciate personalities, preferences and behaviors of coworkers, and provided a take-away framework for each person to reflect and take action upon. The retreat was successful on many fronts, not the least of which was establishing a new common language that allows the group to show their true colors.

New Work, New Business

In the course of building a business, there is no such thing as normal. Every week brings new clients, new challenges and new opportunities. The month of July was no exception – and it appears August will bring more of the same.

The two big pieces of Floricane news come in the form of work and partnerships.

Our newest clients include:

    * U-TURN Sports Performance Academy
    * The Podium Foundation
    * Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden
    * The American Civil War Center at Historic Tredegar

We’re also excited to have a chance to work with the folks at the West Cary Group on a small project this month.

But it’s the glimmerings of an awesome team that gets us most excited this month. The beginnings of a great team have emerged recently – including marketing consultant Juliet Brown, project coordinator Cara McDaniels and fellow consultants Debra Saneda and Sarah Milston. Debra is partnering with us to deliver team and organizational effectiveness training, while Sarah will ride shotgun with all of our strategic planning clients.

In recent weeks, our team has provided Insights Discovery team development training to The James House; delivered a draft strategic plan to Children, Incorporated; and presented a high-level overview of stakeholder conversations for Historic Richmond Foundation’s own strategic planning process.

We’ve also facilitated a board discussion for The Podium Foundation; engaged the staff of The American Civil War Center at Historic Tredegar in two days of strategic discussions; and done a bit of creative brainstorming with Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden.

In the coming months, you’ll be hearing a lot about our sponsorship of the Richmond Symphony’s new initiative, The Music Paradigm. The Music Paradigm is an amazing approach to leadership awareness, coming to Richmond in March. I’ll be experiencing it in August with the Darden School at UVa.

» Sign up for our e-newsletter to learn more about these new clients and partners. The next issue goes out this week!

New Ideas Sprout at Lewis Ginter

An evening spent at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden with a group of Richmonders under 40 surfaced the sort of ideas I stumble across frequently in my work – engage me, make my effort tangible, help me learn by letting me do, create, make.

The discussion was geared toward helping the education team at Lewis Ginter explore ways to create and shape ongoing classes and workshops for a broader demographic – in the case of this particular evening, a younger demographic.

After brief introductions and some exploration into what we collectively have valued in past learning environments, the group broke into pairs to deconstruct an existing workshop. The goal? Redesign it – the time, the title, the content, the focus – to make it more personally appealing.

Lots of red ink later, the groups surfaced and shared their ideas and observations. A few of the bigger takeaways are reflective of almost every conversation I have with organizations:

1. It’s hard to design a “one-size fits all” approach to learning – individuals and generations have different learning styles, needs and desires. The onus is on the organization to bring an integrated approach.
2. People want to see tangible outcomes from their work, even if that work is primarily intellectual or in their head.
3. People value learning environments that are multi-sensory, where they can listen, reflect, discuss and do. They want to feel inspired, engaged and have permission to get their hands dirty!

Lots of good ideas for the Garden to consider as they enhance their adult education programming. Thanks to everyone who joined us for dinner and ideas!

Playground Perspectives: Making Progress

I've come to realize that part of being two years old is the constant tension between discovery and instinct, impulse and control.

Or maybe that's part of being the father of a two-year-old.

Thea loves to pet and hug Rilo, our Bernese Mountain Beagle; Rilo loves to avoid Thea.

One day last month, Thea was trying to pet the dog, and was growing frustrated because Rilo kept moving away from her. The harder she tried, the more frustrated she became.

Soon enough, she was hitting Rilo. Not for the first time that day, either.

Frustrated, I sat her down. I asked her if it was okay to hit.

"No hit Rilo. No hit Harvey Sarvay. No hit Simon," she said, including our two cats in her moment of penance.

She looked down at her hands and furrowed her brow. "Only gentle pets," she continued.

She paused. She looked up at me earnestly. "Dad," she said, "I'm working on it."

Nikole and I both were so startled by that adult-like curveball that we flat burst out laughing.

From the mouths of babes, right?

The fact of the matter is that we're all working on it, every single day.

Sometimes sitting down with other people to talk, and to listen, helps us recognize that they're working on it, too. When we replace judgment with patience, and punishment with support, their work becomes easier - for everyone.

Last week, Rilo was laying on the rug. Thea quietly walked over, gently rested her head on Rilo's side and wrapped her arms around the dog's neck.

"Rilo," she said, "I love you so much."

We're all working on it. Given time, support and direction, we can all make progress.