Great new things always come with great new questions.
Our latest great thing is that Creating the Future is partnering with Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona to present a special immersion course for on-the-ground changemakers in Arizona! The course will be this coming February, and it is primarily for people whose work results in empowering women and girls.
That is a such great new thing! And yes, it has led to a great new question…
The Girl Scouts have asked us to come up with a short promotional email they can send to the groups they partner with. The email needs to be short enough not to bore people to death, yet provide them with enough information about the course to entice them to at least click through to learn more.
And we confess we are just too close to it all to be able to see through the lens of that Beginner’s Mind.
We know how to describe the class in detail – its format, its content, its outcomes – because we have done so in the pages that describe the class here But we have no idea what to say in a brief promotional email, that will simultaneously give people a sense of what to expect while piquing their curiosity.
And then we realized – rather than waiting for the clouds to part and wisdom to arrive at our doorstep, we can ask all of YOU for YOUR wisdom (which I guess would indeed have it arrive at our doorstep!).
So here goes:
For those of you who have not yet participated in one of our immersion courses, but have wanted to do so…
- What is it that intrigues you about the class?
- What next amazing thing are you hoping the class will help you accomplish?
- What frustrations are you hoping the class will help you burst through?
- What difference are you hoping the class will make – for you? For your organization? For your community?
- If you’ve heard about the class from others, what have they told you that has made you want to attend?
And for those of you who have participated in our immersion courses…
- What part of the class has made the biggest difference in your work?
- What difference has the class made for you? For your organization (or for consultants, for your clients)? For your community?
- What do you do differently now than you did before the course?
- What would you tell someone who is thinking about taking the class?
- What would you tell them they will learn?
Thank you so much for helping us think this through. We know that you guys will come up with a lot better stuff than we ever could!
If you’re interested in registering for the February “Arizona Orgs Empowering Women & Girls” course, you can do so here!
Wow Hildy, what juicy questions to ponder.
The biggest difference in my work?
The CTF course helped me take my pearls of frustration at the way the system pits charities in competition with each other and turn them into a necklace that flatters the whole community. Yep, goofy reference but it’s true. We talk about how success is not only doing well for yourselves but also spotting it in other charities, speaking well of them and connecting when possible. Our community bank for ideas, support and resources grows exponentially.
What difference has it made for my clients?
I can be more articulate about how I can serve them. As Gayle and I have discussed, this model is horizon-, community- and potential-based planning. It also helps clients to learn how to play better with others. Particularly for a group like the Girl Scouts, this model demonstrates how we can wish the best for ourselves and for others – that’s what we try to teach kids and now we can easily model it in our organizations.
What I do differently?
Often with groups discussing fundraising, we use the approach to model how much more community minded we are when we talk about our selves as a part of a particular solution with other like-minded organizations. And how we all need to be strong to affect the kind of impact we dream of for our communities. I’ve notice shoulders relaxing as staff and volunteers realise that they don’t have to battle others.
What would I tell someone interested in taking the class? And what would they learn?
First, you will be reminded of the absolute gloriousness of your fellow human beings! People come to this course with different approaches and ways of processing information – each one of them is brilliant and informs your own thinking.
Second, don’t be intimidated. Like the wonderful Marcus Buckingham discusses, this course is only going to develop your strengths, your weaknesses are not relevant.
Third, if the traditional planning process hasn’t worked for your brain (great as it may be for many) and you find yourself longing for bigger answers, this course will help you formulate and finetune your approach your yourself and your clients to seek out broader responses to your strategic questions.
Fourth, you will be so proud of what you can offer. This process allows everyone to look and do good. It helps you to manifest good intentions.
Overall, the CTF course helped me to bring together my musings about how I could offer a more holistic, thoughtful and constructive approach to work in the community. I promise you – it will open you up to broader, positive possibilities for your work.
Can you tell that I loved the course?! It was the kind of experience that continues to cook in my happy mind.
‘Hope this helps get others’ brains percolating.
I haven’t attended. What intrigues me about the class is: I’m very curious to know how to move from theory to practice. I get very frustrated with having ideas around change and not knowing how to make the changes concrete for the people around me.
After participating in the immersion class, the biggest difference for me, is that I now always think in terms of the highest potential for community, not for the organization. I ask a lot more questions, instead of being at the ready with answers. My whole thinking process was rearranged for the better.
To a changemaker considering the course, I would say, “Just learning how to look at planning, development, community relationships and other major areas from a new perspective, can take you and organization to places you might not otherwise explore.”
Before I answer your questions, I’d like to give some “raw” thoughts as someone who has been through the class and had to be convinced that it was important that I should go.
What convinced me to go:
-A recommendation and support from a colleague (Carlo) who took me for coffee and urged me to check it out NOW. He explained what a difference the course meant to him and how it was affecting other aspects of his life.
-A message that this was urgent and important. When Carlo explained that this was a rare opportunity that wouldn’t come around for a while, I paid attention(like with fundraising, the call has to be urgent and compelling). So phrase it something like a unique and only opportunity to grow in a differnt way with your colleagues.
-a chance to be in on breaking thinking–including challenging existing patterns and thoughts.
What I wish the brochure had said (but didn’t –clearly to me anyhow)–that this was a program for facilitators who want to make change. This week hones and improved one’s existing faciltation skills to those who are reaching out to make a difference through facilitation.
For girl scouts: Know your audience here for the brochure. As I understand the scouts, they have a zillion years of history and in many ways are very traditional. They are being pushed by youth who want to think about the world different. This course could help them connect with the youth in a different way.
•What part of the class has made the biggest difference in your work?
-gave me confidence to talk about taking the conversation further through facilitation. It challenged some of the tried and true ways that I have facilitated strategic planning in the past and gave me permission to introduce a different way and to gain the excitement and buy-in of the CEO and chair before we started.
Plus, Hildy’s 2 main questions (to go higher and lower are worth a lot).
•What difference has the class made for you? For your organization (or for consultants, for your clients)? For your community?
-increased my confidence at a time when my world had fallen apart.
-Gave me credibility as having taken something recent. For my clients, it gave them a chance to have different conversations. I have had great compliments about how interesting and valuable it made the planning day compared to previous years. It’s too soon for me to know if I have really made a differnece in any organization.
•What do you do differently now than you did before the course?
-I don’t rely so strictly on the traditional pieces of strategic planning. I’m still nervous that I’m going to get my wrist slapped for this by a client who needs a very traditional Strategic plan document to feel complete.
-I actively seek the client’s permission to interview their Board before the session (whether governance or strategic planning) to gain the insights of the Board ahead of time. I do this as part of the paid work. This is proving to be valuable (in some cases, the difference is marginal so far, but that’s anther story).
•What would you tell someone who is thinking about taking the class?
-Hildy is a well-known thought-leader, published author and speaker on the topic of non-profit management. This is a rare opportunity to engage in some deep thinking and to work with thought leaders from across the continent. The days go quickly, with your participation needed at every level, with though-proking ideas and a chance to explore and develop your skills.
-Without beign maudling, this is a chance to look at the non-profit sector with an attitude of plenty rather than the traditional view of scarcity of everything.
•What would you tell them they will learn?
Unique networking opportunity: They will connect with new colleagues with different points of view from different angles(not sure that will work with the girl scouts though).
I learned that my community is up-to date with any community in North America.
They will learn tried and true facilitation techniquest to build into their existing skill set. It builds on what you have already.
It’s an attitude builder (whatever that means).
These ideas are off the top of my head. Hope they help!
Been on the road, and returning to these responses makes me smile in recognition – not just of the class, but of the variation in responses, depending on who is responding! Fundraisers take from the class a deeper sense of what is possible in that field. Facilitators focus on the facilitation aspects. And community change leaders and people working in the trenches day-to-day infuse the class into everything they do.
You begin to get a sense for why it is hard for me to express it all! (And to Amanda’s point, the one thing I can unequivocally say is that the whole course is geared towards putting more effective assumptions about change into ACTION.)
Can’t wait to hear how others describe what they have learned and how that has changed their work!
I have had this on my to do list for some time now and I think it is a good example of one of the reasons I look forward to taking this class. It is so easy to let all the little details of work distract from the big picture particularly, when the big pictuer is somewhat hazy.
I am looking forward to really making a change in my thinking as I approach planning and goal setting at my library. After a one day introduction to the process of creating the future at an Arizona Library Association retreat, I started to get a glimpse of how helpful this approach would be. It seems like a no brainer approach but in practice, it is hard to let go of the old ways of thinking and really shift the focus from what benefits the organization to what benefits the community.