how nonprofit staff can regain control of their work lives and get better results #16ntc

How Nonprofit Staff Can Regain Controlof Their Work Lives and Get Better Results

March 23, 2016 | #16NTCcalm

Find Your Productivity Style Right Now!

npmg.us/style

Collaboration Notes:

http://po.st/calm-16NTC

#16NTCcalm

Write on a Big Green Index Card:

One Challenge at Work that

Brought You to This Session, or

Tell Us How Your Work Life

Feels Out of Control Now.

Tara CollinsDirector of Communications & Resource DevelopmentRUPCO

Sue ClementSenior Director

The American Society for the Prevention of

Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA)

Danielle KempeExperienced

Fundraiser Looking for Next Awesome

Nonprofit GigMaggie SiemerOperations DirectorGirls on the Run St. Louis

Kivi Leroux MillerFounder

Nonprofit Marketing Guide

Opt-in to email list for future training/resources: http://npmg.us/getcalm

Find Your Productivity

Style(s) Right Now!

npmg.us/style

Or use the paper

worksheet

Or just listen to the

descriptions right

now

Planners . . .

• Like projects organized, with action

steps and detailed timelines.

• Like process and procedures.

• Love a well-built schedule and

everything running on time.

You might be a Planner if . . .

• A meeting with no agenda and

where people constantly digress

feels like an endless hell.

• You can’t stand last-minute

requests.

• Your favorite question is HOW?

Prioritizers . . .

• Love data, facts and brevity.

• Are consistent, get it done,

problem solvers.

• Value efficiency and critical

analysis.

You might be a Prioritizer if . . .

• Meaningless chatter and fluff drive

you nuts.

• You think working on a vague goal

is a total waste of time.

• You are very deadline driven.

• Your favorite question is WHAT?

Visualizers . . .

• Love the big picture, integrating and

synthesizing.

• Enjoy working fast and juggling lots of

projects.

• Are good at finding connections

between seemingly different things.

You might be a Visualizer if . . .

• You love metaphors and conceptual

frameworks.

• You hate being “lost in the weeds”

and “boxed in.”

• Your favorite question is WHY?

Arrangers . . .

• Are people people.

• Are tuned into the emotional and

interpersonal elements of the

work.

• Focus on the impact work has on

others.

You might be an Arranger if . . .

• You love to talk it out.

• You can spot a hidden agenda a mile

away.

• You rely on your instincts and how you

feel about people to make decisions.

• Your favorite question is WHO?

Tara Collins

Planner and Prioritizer

Kivi Leroux Miller

Sue Clement

Arranger

Danielle Kempe

Prioritizer

Maggie Siemer

Visualizer & Prioritizer

Kivi Leroux Miller

Visualizer & Prioritizer

Regaining Control of

Your Work Life as a

Plannerwith a side of Prioritizer

Tara Collins, RUPCO #16NTCcalm

GET READY• Declutter

• Brain Dump

• Be Free

• Jedi Master

According to Work Simply, as a

PRIORITIZER, I would benefit from

• Systemize

• Get Real

• Don’t F&@% IT, FROG IT

As a PLANNER, Work Simply

says I could benefit from:

• Batch• Buffer• Break up

TO DO LIST: I Have 4

• Parking Lot

• Monthly View

• 2-week Highlighter

• TDT

EMAIL:

•Be ruthless

• 5-sentence email

•D-D-D-D-Duh

WORKING WITH OTHERS

• Everybody’s different

• Cross this line…

• Embrace the Unexpected

• CUDDLE

MY TAKEAWAYS:

• Keep tweaking (not Tworking)

• Planning is Productive

• Choose

Regaining Control of

Your Work Life as a

PrioritizerDanielle Kempe

#16NTCcalm

Prioritizers

I personally worked on “managing your own attention and limiting distractions” -needed while I’m job searching at home.

To do lists are our friends but we need to write them down!

Your brain is not a “to do” list.

Prioritizers

Don’t treat your inbox like your to-do list; they aren’t the same thing.

“Don’t treat your inbox like your to-do list; they aren’t the same thing,” has changed my work life.For the first time in years, I have nothing in my email inbox for today. It’s all deleted, dealt with, or filed to deal with later.”

Prioritizers

“Yesterday, had very consciously laid out my day with several Must Do’s and built in decision points. But when I got to the point which wasn’t planned, I did consciously decide to continue ticking things off my to-do list.

Today, I started jumping back and forth responding to email, crossing little tasks out and recall a moment where I said ‘wait, let’s decide to finish this’.

That said, I’ve been quite productive the last month.”

Heidi Pickman, Communications Director at California Association for Micro Enterprise Opportunity

“The biggest challenge is that just because something’s a priority for me, it does not make it a priority for people I rely on for

content, reviews, decisions, etc.”Cindy Olnick, Director of Communications

at Los Angeles Conservancy

Prioritizers

Regaining Control of

Your Work Life as a

Visualizerwith a side of Prioritizer

Maggie Siemer,

Girls on the Run St. Louis#16NTCcalm

How am I a Visualizer?

• Big picture!

• Adaptable, change status quo, why, why, why?

• Seek out new ways of doing things

• Once a decision is made, want to move quickly

• Love flexibility/openness in discussion but there’s a place for an agenda (#Prioritizer)

• Perceptive to coming changes but often has a basis in analysis-I’m a data girl! (#Prioritizer)

• Love light, the feeling of space, color

• Only one in my office who brought in artwork for the walls

• My desk is a crazy mess and now I don’t beat myself up about it!

• Love technology but find myself drawn to post its, colored scraps of paper, colorful pens for planning

• If something’s not in front of my face, I will probably forget about it.

Challenges toGetting Things Done

• Sometimes overwhelmed by volume of work so focus on insignificant tasks

• Easily distracted/jump around

• Interruptions from coworkers and putting out fires

• Little control over my time and schedule

“Work Simply”Experiments

1. Try not to schedule meetings on Mondays

• Mondays always seem to spiral out of control with interruptions so instead of trying to control that, I am embracing it by working only on things that lend themselves to interruption• Post a blog post every Monday morning so I try to

get the rest of the week’s blog stuff organized at the same time

• Also schedule some tweets for the week

• Try to get through as many emails as possible

• Deal with all of the things that seem to come up on Monday!

2. Spent a chunk of time cleaning up my inbox and am now trying to maintain

• Set up Google “multiple inboxes” to sort emails into action, awaiting response, to read and “someday” projects• Tried the archive/label process but if I hide the emails

away, I will forget about them (#Visualizer)

• Tiptoeing into emailing tasks to a Trello board

• Try not to have more than 100 emails in my “main” inbox at a time (I know that’s still a lot, but compared to what it used to be….. ;)

• Try to delete emails when I’m finished rather than follow my natural tendency to hoard them

Multiple Inboxes

3. Used the technique in Carson’s book to clear off my desk, but all of the papers came back!

Plan to periodically go through everything following the procedure and be ok with everything piling up in between.

• For every piece of paper, ask yourself these questions:• Do I need to retain this for compliance, tax, legal

reasons?

• When would I need to access this again?

• Where else can I find this information?

• If the answers to those questions are no, never and it’s stored somewhere electronically, ditch it!

Work Simply at Home

• Using Pomodoro technique at home because I’m not naturally tidy and I find the prospect of spending hours on chores unappealing.

• 25 minutes of chores, homework, etc., followed by 25 minutes of something fun, repeat

• Switch tasks for each “chore” 25 minutes cause I get bored (#Visualizer)

Reflections

• As a Visualizer, I want everything to change immediately and I have to keep reminding myself that this is a process. I’m happy with the progress I’ve made and I know there is more to do!

• I like having a framework to work within for ideas on how I can be less stressed about getting work done.

Future Plans

• Want to tackle the Work Simply to do list dump next

• Need to work on saying “no” (or just “not right now”)

• Love the idea of monthly/weekly planning and have not incorporated yet

• Using “theme days” would be helpful but not completely possible right now – want to try this as much as possible

Regaining Control of

Your Work Life as an

ArrangerSue Clement, ASPCA

#16NTCcalm

Does one size fit all?

Start with Who

What’s your shiny

object?

Theme Days

The most important thing is to remember the most important thing.Tara Brach

A Few Quick Questions

Before We Tackle

Some of the Situations on

the Green Cards?

Let’s Help You Regain

Control of Your Work Life!

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Add to the

Collaboration Notes:

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#16NTCcalm

Tara CollinsDirector of Communications & Resource DevelopmentRUPCOtcollins@rupco.org

Sue ClementSenior Director

The American Society for the Prevention of

Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA)

Sue.Clement@aspca.org

Danielle KempeExperienced

Fundraiser Looking for Next Awesome

Nonprofit Gig@djdig

djdig@comcast.net Maggie SiemerOperations DirectorGirls on the Run St. Louismaggie@girlsontherunstlouis.org@Mags0S (It’s a zero)

Kivi Leroux MillerFounder

Nonprofit Marketing Guide

@kivilm kivi@ecoscribe.com