Here's something I think we probably all would agree is true: Nonprofit leaders are great at saying yes. We say yes to opportunities. We say yes to those who need our help. It's kind of in our DNA.

I know many Nonprofit leaders who see their readiness to say yes as a virtue. But what if some of the things we're saying yes to are not really serving us? What if they're actually getting in the way of us making our greatest impact?

The truth is, what you say yes to affects your effectiveness and impact in the world. In this week’s episode we get into how that works and why we need to pay attention.

In this episode, we share:

• How busyness interferes with our ability to discern what we should be saying yes to
• The first question to ask yourself before deciding whether to say yes or no
• How the unconscious ‘no’ will undermine your impact
• How one Nonprofit CEO uncovered and reversed an unconscious “no” that was creating serious problems, and the empowering lessons she learned in the process
• An effective 3-part mnemonic you can use to evaluate how to respond to a demand on your time
• How to uncover the hidden blocks that keep you from delegating as much as you probably should
• Three powerful questions to ask yourself to help you dismantle those blocks

Help spread the word! If you found value in this episode, I’d be grateful if you would leave a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. Your reviews help other nonprofit leaders find the podcast. Thanks!!

There is a thing going on out there that we have to talk about. It's making me crazy. I'm pretty sure it's making you crazy too.

And that's this business of all these money decisionmakers, whether they're foundations or elected officials or government agencies, you name it. They're all singing the same song. “There's no money right now. There's not enough money.” Whatever the refrain is, it's all the same basic thing.

You know what? It's time to call BS on that. And reset this conversation. Because the fact is there is money. Now there's a lot to say about that money, but there's money.

As nonprofit leaders, we’ve got to shift this around. Because the way the conversation is going right now is not serving us, and it's not serving the people we serve.

In this episode, we share:

• The four main shifts we must make to reset the conversation around money
• The real truth about money in the current climate
• How decisionmakers got pulled into a scarcity mentality, and how nonprofit leaders can disrupt that
• Why decisonmakers’ short-term thinking is hurting you, and how to shift them into longer-term thinking
• How to teach decisionmakers to view your services as a strategic investment that produces a solid return
• Messaging strategies to show ROI even when you can’t cite a specific dollar value of the return

Help spread the word! If you found value in this episode, I’d be grateful if you would leave a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. Your reviews help other nonprofit leaders find the podcast. Thanks!!

I hear from Nonprofit leaders all the time about how frustrating it is that they've explained their work to decisionmakers a million times and they still don't get it. And you respond by going out and gathering even more convincing data and information, thinking surely this will make them see the light. And then they still don't get it.

I've been guilty of this myself. Of thinking that if I just explain it better, or break it down into simpler pieces or come up with even more powerful data, that they'll finally get it. So I understand. I have beaten my head against that same brick wall many times.

What I finally realized is that until we uncover the reasons for their not getting it, no amount of information or clarity of explanation is going to cause them to get it.

So how do we deal with this? The first thing we have to do is understand what it is that's in the way.

In this episode, we share:

• The two most common issues that are in the way of decisionmakers really hearing your message
• How a decisionmaker’s brain processes your information when it doesn’t align with what they already believe is true
• Two powerful strategies to disrupt the decisionmaker’s thought patterns so your message can get through
• What’s really behind the objections decisionmakers raise about the cost of your services and other money issues
• How to connect your work with what the decisionmaker cares about in ways that resonate and engage
• The most common mistakes that will cause that connection to fail, and how to avoid them

Help spread the word! If you found value in this episode, I’d be grateful if you would leave a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. Your reviews help other nonprofit leaders find the podcast. Thanks!!

Just about everywhere I go, folks are having some version of the conversation about how we're all responding to the crazy (stuff) that is going on in our world. How we’re responding both as citizens of this country and as Nonprofit leaders in particular. And the impact that's having on us personally, on our ability to cope and respond in a way that is productive and doesn't make us crazy.

One of the pieces that doesn’t get talked about enough is how much this is about our personal power. And finding ways to maintain personal power, even when things are feeling really out of control. We need it for our own sanity and survival as individuals. We also need it as leaders, to take care of our organizations and to lead them forward even when the future looks very uncertain and weird.

But it all starts with us as individual humans. We can't escape the fact that no matter how big and bad our leadership title is, we're still a human operating in the world, and we all have to deal with the same set of human challenges. And one of those is not just holding onto, but cultivating and building personal power, especially in these circumstances.

In this episode, we share:

• The two most common causes of erosion of your personal power, and how to counter them
• How to get out of reactivity and into empowering action
• The two essential components of building your personal power
• How to train your brain to operate from an empowered state
• Four universal actions you can take daily that build personal power

Help spread the word! If you found value in this episode, I’d be grateful if you would leave a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. Your reviews help other nonprofit leaders find the podcast. Thanks!!

We are in a time where more and more, for a lot of decisionmakers, pressure is a necessary component to our advocacy. At the same time, we're operating in an environment where some decisionmakers, including some very high-profile ones, are engaging in retaliatory behavior against people who would oppose them or challenge them in any way.

So I can understand if you might feel a little concerned.

In a perfect world, we would have influential collaborative relationships with every single decisionmaker that matters to us. That's always the goal. We're always trying to make that happen, but it's just not always the case.

Sometimes pressure is the only option you've got. When you find yourself in that situation, your ability to use pressure effectively becomes critical. It may very well make the difference between success and failure in your advocacy work on that particular thing.

In this episode, we share:

• Five highly effective ways to use pressure with reluctant decisionmakers
• Why some decisionmakers actually want you to pressure them
• How to know when you should use pressure
• How to know which kind of pressure to use
• Four things you must be aware of to prevent unwanted consequences
• The one thing you must have in order for pressure to work for you
• How to increase your comfort level with using pressure

Help spread the word! If you found value in this episode, I’d be grateful if you would leave a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. Your reviews help other nonprofit leaders find the podcast. Thanks!!

Have you ever been frustrated by a decisionmaker who doesn't acknowledge your expertise and therefore doesn't take your advice? Or have you ever hesitated to brand yourself as an expert?

These may seem like two separate problems, but they're actually related. And if you've ever experienced either one, this episode is for you.

I know so many nonprofit leaders who are otherwise totally confident, but if you ask them to declare themselves or present themselves as an expert on anything, they'll often say things like, well, I know a lot about the subject, but I'm not an expert. I don't know everything. There are people who know more than I do.

People trip themselves up all the time with this. The truth is there is no magic threshold for level of knowledge or experience that is the official entry point to status of expert. But there are some key ingredients to owning the expertise you have, and to getting decisionmakers to recognize and value that. And to see you as the expert you truly are.

In this episode, we share:

• The top two barriers to being seen as an expert by decisionmakers – and how to fix them
• Dealing with internal doubts about calling yourself an expert
• Why expert status is not determined by credentials alone
• Four questions to ask yourself to determine if you’re “expert enough” for a given decisionmaker
• Why being an expert doesn’t automatically mean decisionmakers see you as such
• How to become the expert that decisionmakers respect and rely on
• How relativity of expertise works for you

Help spread the word! If you found value in this episode, I’d be grateful if you would leave a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. Your reviews help other nonprofit leaders find the podcast. Thanks!!

It's time to talk about a hidden flaw in one of the most common messaging strategies that we're all using. And that, if we're not aware of it, can really come back and bite us.

Here's how that winds up happening. You've worked hard on tailoring your messaging. You've done your research, and taken a lot of good notes when you've been in conversation with a particular decisionmaker. And you've tailored the heck out of your messaging to appeal to their priorities and concerns and what they value.

But then you find you're still not getting what you need from them. Maybe they're still not valuing your work at the proper level. Or they're not getting to yes on investing at the level you need them to. You know something's missing, but you can't figure out what. And short of becoming a mind reader, what else can you do?

The truth is there's a hidden trap in that approach to tailoring your messaging. We can get so focused on tailoring our messaging to appeal to the decision maker's frame of reference, that we overlook one of the biggest obstacles that are keeping them from getting to yes on whatever it is we want from them.

Let’s talk about how to fix that.

In this episode, we share:

• Signs your messaging may be working against you
• How a common practice and culture among nonprofit leaders will sabotage your messaging
• How to uncover the missing pieces of decisionmaker information that are essential for successful messaging
• Two of the most common decisionmaker issues that must be addressed in your messaging
• Three powerful techniques you can use immediately to transform your messaging’s effectiveness

Help spread the word! If you found value in this episode, I’d be grateful if you would leave a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. Your reviews help other nonprofit leaders find the podcast. Thanks!!

Members of Congress are on their way home as we speak, for basically a month long recess, which is known in Congressional speak as a district work period. I want to make sure you have everything you need to take full advantage of this significant opportunity, while you have them right there, easily accessible to you home in the district.

And I know. I hear you. You could be forgiven for thinking that you don't want to see another member of Congress for as long as you live, given how they've been behaving as a body lately. But whoever you've got representing you, they're who you've got right now. Even if we're displeased with them or frustrated with them, we still need to engage them. We still need them doing as much as possible on behalf of the people we serve and the work that we do.

The good news is that your chances of highly successful engagement go way up when they’re home in the district or state – if you know how to leverage the three best ways to engage them.

In this episode, we share:

• How members of Congress operate differently when they’re home, and how that creates exceptional opportunities for engagement
• The unique advantages offered by a strategically designed program visit
• How to create a powerful engagement experience at your program, that is strategically designed to produce results
• The boring, but essential action you need to take immediately to ensure your success
• How to leverage the unique features of town hall meetings for maximum impact
• What NOT to do with your messaging in a town hall setting
• How to create empowering and successful opportunities for your clients, volunteers and supporters to be involved in engaging your members of Congress at home

Link: Episode 31 – How to Get Maximum Results from a Decisionmaker’s Visit to Your Program