If you don’t know Adam Grant, let me brighten your Monday. He’s a powerhouse business writer and an amazing TED talk speaker. Today I want to walk you through three takeaways from his book, Give and Take.
Grant states that people can be divided into givers, takers and matchers based on whether they are motivated by giving, getting or some combination thereof (respectively). In one chapter he looks at the concept of burnout and he ends up (of all places) in a university call center. He assessed whether the callers were givers, takers or matchers. He assumed that the takers would not be good at the job but is surprised to see that the way in the job is marketed (highest paying job on campus) and the way the motivation is structured ("win", "be the best") is actually highly motivating for the takers. Grant wonders what could be done to improve the results of the giver callers. What he finds is remarkable: spending 5 minutes reading letters from scholarship recipients motivated the giver-callers to close the performance gap between themselves and the taker-callers in ONE WEEK! So, Grant brought in an actual scholarship recipient to chat with a random group of callers about the impact that the funds they were raising had made in their lives. All callers (regardless of motivational type) saw a drastic increase in performance (as measured in calls per hour, number of minutes on the phone and dollars, which quintupled versus the control group). Givers saw an even more dramatic increase in performance. Then Grant writes a line that takes this lesson far beyond call center: “The turnaround highlights a remarkable principle of giver burnout: it has less to do with the amount of giving and more with the amount of feedback about the impact of that giving.” (Page 165). Wow! Takeaway #1: Many, if not most, of our donors are givers. So, what Grant is saying is that DONOR burnout is within our control. Make it your goal this year to make your donors as aware of the impact of their gift as possible. If 5 minutes reading a note from a scholarship recipient can make a huge difference in the performance of a student caller, what could consistent, impact-oriented messaging around these issues do for your donor’s happiness and willingness to give again? Takeaway #2: Think about the ways in which we are marketing the student jobs in our call centers. Are you only recruiting and motivating for the takers/matchers? What are you doing to be mission and impact focused in your recruiting and training materials for callers? What are you doing for all of the students to reconnect them with the mission and impact during the normal shift? You should incorporate strategies like Grant suggests not only because you have giver-callers who need the motivation but remember ALL the callers saw an increase in performance when given explicit and emotional examples of impact. Takeaway #3: Here's one last thing to think about: What type are you? If you are a giver and you're feeling burnt out, what can you do to connect back to the mission? Maybe you need to take a walk on campus and go speak directly with students and faculty, the beneficiaries of all of your hard work. Nurture yourself to your type so that this important work can be completed. If you like Adam Grant, check out his TED Talks here. If you found this information helpful, please consider subscribing to Real Deal Fundraising by clicking the button below. You’ll immediately get a copy of my e-book, “15 Best Call Center Games”.
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All year I look forward to summertime because So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD) comes on. I absolutely love this show. All the various styles of dance and the surprises of dancers who become standouts, especially outside of their main style. This year, they are showcasing kids, ages 8-13. It’s amazing.
One my favorite dancers ever is Gene Kelly. One of the many reasons he is so admirable is that he became proficient in several different areas: dancer, actor, singer, choreographer, director and more. I realize this is part of the reason I love SYTYCD. The emphasis on versatility and stretching your talents into new territory draws me in. In this there are important lessons for fundraisers. Fundraising is inherently multi-disciplinary, drawing on a panoply of skill sets. You can be a super-star at the soft skills: active listening, securing the meeting, chatting up donors, asking. But you also need to be at least proficient at the hard skills: data analysis, research, calendar planning, financial literacy (like endowments). In certain areas of development you also need be somewhat of a graphic designer, web designer, copy writer, event planner, and human resource professional. On the show SYTYCD, hip hop dancers with no formal training are sometimes thrown into jazz or contemporary routines. They have to do lifts and point their toes and move in a way that is a whole new vocabulary for their bodies. Dancers of many different styles must pull off Bollywood routines and ballerinas must master hip hop. The dancers that succeed on the show not only work very hard and practice incessantly to master the new style but they approach the new style with a spirit of fun and challenge. And most importantly, when it comes time to perform, they carry off the routine with confidence. And when you are in your own style, you have to SHINE! You maximize your impact when you are playing on your home turf. Throughout my career, I seem to have alternated between jobs that allowed me to do a “dive deep” into an area where I have a good deal of confidence and jobs where I had everything but the kitchen sink thrown at me. In those “stretch” jobs, I learned so much and developed that sense of versatility and confidence. That confidence allowed me to shine when I was in a role with a more narrow focus. You might be a people person but your boss gives you a grant to write. This is one more chance to expand your scope and skill set. You might be an introvert but you have to plan a huge event. Embrace this. When you are back in your “style” maximize your impact and wow everyone. Advancement Services, Information Services, the database folks: whatever you call them, the partnership between fundraisers and this team is crucial. Make or break. Critical.
Usually, this group includes prospect research, gift processing, and those that do the demographic updates. Sometimes it includes those that maintain your website and other tech resources. These professionals create the reports and files that drive the work of fundraisers. These professionals go out and get the information you need to succeed. If you trust them, you trust the data you see in the database. If you trust them, you know they will take care of your donor’s gifts just as you would. I’ve seen great partnerships between the development staff and advancement services. I’ve also seen departmental relationships which could best be characterized as Shakespearean (meaning you aren’t sure how many people might be dead before the meeting is over). Would you place a bet on which shop raised money more easily? Which group had a better time at work? It’s a strange thing. The more successful a fundraiser is (in any area of development) the more work it is for these staffers. You need them to be fully invested in your success, despite the fact that they will end up doing more work. Reach out to these folks. Start by making an effort to fully understand their policies and processes. Show an interest in how they want you to request things and why. Bring back useful information that enriches the database. You make the first move by being a truly valuable partner. Make them love working with and for you. Then be a friend. Acknowledge when you are making more work for them. Bring them cupcakes after you past milestones or significant deadlines. The effort you put into making this departmental relationship into a true partnership will be worth it. I promise. One my first supervisors asked me to prepare a file folder for him with the details of his upcoming trip. He was ridiculously specific in how he wanted it done. At the time, I thought he was crazy. But the next time I traveled for work, I tried it just to see what was so great about it (if anything).
He wasn’t crazy. I’ve now prepped for my travel this way for over 10 years. Increasingly, I don’t need my printed details as much. There’s any app for everything, including your boarding passes and hotel arrangements. However, out of my last three business trips, my iPhone was stolen once and my new iPhone became a brick on me another time. Really, twice in the last few months, I have been traveling and stranded without a phone. So, let’s say I have a renewed appreciation for having print-outs of your travel arrangements readily accessible. I would like to share how prep your travel details the way my boss taught me years ago. Any standard file folder will work but I tend to like to use red or bright yellow, so that I can see it in amid the chaos of my travel bag. On the tab, put the name of your trip and the dates. If you travel a lot, this will help you stay organized before you go. On the right hand side, you will print out the travel details for your flight. Staple it on the top two corners of the papers. (See photo above.) Then print out your rental car details, hotel details and any other relevant appointment information. Stack them in order with the transport documents on top, followed by accommodations as this is the order that you will need them. Staple them to the left hand side of the open file folder just as you did the flight arrangements on the right hand side. The beauty of this system is not only that you have all the details if your phone fails and you need to reference them (confirmation numbers, loyalty program details, addresses, phone numbers, etc.) but you can grab them quickly and easily. No papers are loose so they won’t fall out on the floor of the airport. And you can choose to peel off the papers you don’t need as you complete flights and check in to the hotel or to keep everything in one place and use these print outs for your expense reports. The folder also becomes a catch all place to store important documents as I’m traveling. I stow baggage claim info and boarding passes for later flights in the folder. If I’m driving, I replace the flight info with Google map directions. (Again, if you phone dies or is stolen, you’ll be glad you did this step.) This method takes 10 extra minutes but it does bring significant benefits while on the road and peace-of-mind when technology lets you down. Try it yourself and let me know if you value it as much as I do. Call Center is hard work. It was where I started my career in fundraising, at the tender age of 18. I think many young people enter the philanthropy industry through the phonathon and leave feeling that this career path isn't for them.
I'm committed to giving these young professionals the support and training they need to survive and thrive in call center, so that they can ultimately move on to other areas of development and contribute in big ways to the non-profit world. To that end, I'm offering some training materials. For anyone who subscribes to Real Deal Fundraising over the next month, you get two gifts from me. 1) You will get immediate access to the e-book "15 Best Call Center Games" for FREE 2) You'll be entered to win a free copy of my upcoming e-book "How to Staff Your Phonathon Super-Fast: the 7 Secrets to Fill the Seats" I hope you'll subscribe today. If you aren't a phonathon manager, please share this information with the phonathon managers and other development professionals you mentor. Thanks! Jessica |
Jessica Cloud, CFREI've been called the Tasmanian Devil of fundraising and I'm here to talk shop with you. Archives
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