Are you planning in pencil?
If there is one thing I learned in 2020, it was to appreciate pencils. Last January, I wrote my plans in ink — travel plans, work plans, family plans, to-do’s. But, like you, my plans changed a lot in 2020: the loss of a parent, unpredictable COVID-19 rules, changes in clients’ priorities, social and political and economic twists and turns, and the constantly changing anxiety levels of friends and family — all resulted in having to let go of “Plan A” and get comfortable with “Plan B,” and often even having to deal with “Plan C.” So I started using a pencil when planning — both literally and as a mindset: How about you? And how about your organization? Are you planning for 2021 in pencil or in ink? I’ve found using pencils instead of indelible ink – at least as a mindset– can help your team establish a “What If?” rhythm that will make your organization stronger. As I wrote recently, in working with clients, I’ve found that creating a regular “What If?” rhythm as you plan can help you and your team optimize risk and deal with uncertainty much more confidently — whether you are launching a new initiative, going after a new market, considering a new partnership or trying to get a stalled program back on track. So — it’s the first week of January. You may still be finalizing your resolutions, and laying out your plans for 2021. My suggestion? Give yourself a present: A new box of sharp pencils. ✏️ (And — maybe throw in an eraser for good measure!) Here’s to a happy New Year, full of hope even as you experience surprises. — All the best Susan P.S. If you are interested in ways to de-risk your strategy or new initiative, check out the Changemakers’ De-Risk System for Impact. It might prompt some good dialogue with your team. And click here to subscribe to future insights. Susan Schramm, Founder, Go to Market Impact LLC +1(847)7780123 susan.schramm@gotomarketimpact.com www.gotomarketimpact.com New Program! De-Risk 2021
Your Business Model Steers Your New Normal
The word “crisis” comes from the Ancient Greek krísis, “a decision, or choice.” And though few of us would ever choose the uncertainty that has resulted from COVID-19, every one of us is now facing choices about how we navigate this “new normal”. If you lead a nonprofit or an association, how you navigate the next months may determine whether your organization survives at all. In fact, the Center for Nonprofit Strategy and Management at Baruch College suggests that perhaps as many as one-quarter of nonprofits – mostly small and midsize — will fail as a consequence of this pandemic.[1] Whether you serve on the board or on the leadership team of a mission-led organization, how are you going to navigate today’s risks? And how will you identify opportunities that might come out of this disruption? Your Business Model is Your Story I believe that right now your business model can serve as a particularly helpful framework for leaders of nonprofits and social impact organizations as you think through the implications of this crisis and determine optional paths forward. “Hold on!,” you say. “You’re using the word “business” and “nonprofit” in the same sentence?” Hear me out. Think of a business model as your story, the way you achieve your mission by organizing all your resources to create and deliver value to those you serve. How you align all the moving parts to work together in balance is the story of how you will remain a viable organization over the long term. When things are suddenly NOT in balance, the story may feel more like a horror movie or science fiction than a musical! But using a business model approach to consider your options can help you identify things you may need to do to address risks, and how to get organized to seize opportunities. One way to “see” your business model more easily is by using a simple tool called a Business Model Canvas. Framed by Osterwalder and Pigneur in 2010 [2], it was initially used to help enthusiastic entrepreneurs explain their start-up on one page. By doing so, entrepreneurs were encouraged to think through their “big idea” to be able to launch and grow. Since then, all types of organizations from startups to Fortune 500 companies to nonprofits and associations to government agencies have used the Business Model Canvas. The beauty of the Business Model Canvas is that it provides a common vocabulary for boards and leadership teams, and highlights processes across functional silos. When people understand how they fit into the bigger picture, they contribute more effectively. And when you need to make changes, the canvas can help you think through the implications of different scenarios. Creating and Delivering Value Despite the Storm For a mission-led organization, the foundation of your business model is your “Why.” “I think of an organization’s mission as their North Star, the direction in which the ship is sailing,” says Christina Becker, Founder of the Canadian Nonprofit Academy. When a storm hits, you may need to tack in different directions to adapt to wind and waves hitting your bow, and make changes in how you work and deliver value. However, your “why” doesn’t change! Keeping your mission clear at all times will ensure everyone is aligned toward your ultimate goal, despite the storm and your need to make changes. There are essentially two sides of the business model canvas, (1) how you deliver value and (2) how you create value. Your value proposition itself may need to evolve when the environment dramatically changes. As long as you are aligned to your mission, both sides of the equation can change – they just need to remain in balance. Delivering value requires you think through several dimensions: · Your different customer segments, whether these are the people you serve, or your volunteers or donors or sponsors. What problems do they need solved? What may have changed for them in light of today’s new environment? · The way you find and nurture relationships. Keeping connected helps you know what people are thinking is important, and keeps you top of mind. · Channels for outreach and to deliver your value proposition, whether online or in person. COVID-19 has forced organizations to explore new ways to deliver offerings, e.g. through telemedicine or virtual education or virtual conferences and working groups. · A diversified stream of revenue to fund your efforts. To ensure the resiliency of an organization, it is important to plan for fee-based and non-donor revenues, as well as donor and sponsor revenues to cover costs and build reserves. Creating value requires that you get clear on: · Your key activities required to fulfill your mission. These are your own “essential services,” e.g. researching diseases, developing standards, serving the homeless, delivering education, fundraising, advocating specific government policies, recruiting volunteers. Identifying your key activities also allows you to realize which activities you may be doing today that are not essential to your mission, and stop doing them or put them on pause. · The resources to accomplish these activities: e.g. your employees, volunteers, suppliers, physical assets, and technology. What about these will need to change in light of the constraints of social distancing? How can you use these resources in new ways to create new value? · Partnerships that complement your own value proposition can significantly amplify your resources and are often overlooked as a way to provide scale and reach. Strategic partnerships may even offer opportunities for mergers in the fragmented, crowded sea of nonprofits and associations. · The costs of these resources must be planned for and funded by a viable revenue stream or by making a conscious decision to use reserves that have been responsibly built up for times such as this. Remember, even as you reduce costs in light of lower than expected revenues, you may still need to invest in other areas to ensure your long term viability, such as in new virtual platforms to deliver value in entirely new ways and create new revenue streams as well. Looking Beyond the Storm Today, leaders of non-profits are likely consumed with adapting how you work and deliver value in light of the constraints of COVID-19. Today, boards need to help leadership teams look down the road, and brainstorm new approaches for how the “new normal” might unfold.
Smart Campus: Building Blocks for Smart Cities?
When my son was four he was a Lego fanatic. Architect, general contractor and construction crew all at once, he would get a vision for what he wanted to create and tackle it. We never knew exactly what he was going to build, but with a grin and a sparkle in his eye, he would combine about ten colorful blocks of different sizes. From one core set of building blocks would spring a rainbow of shapes and colors that miraculously worked together. They were transformed into an airport, an airplane – even a robot! Smart Cities are Complex I wonder if we need to think about creating a Smart City the same way. Smart Cities are complex. Many cities are developing plans to make their communities “smart,” but finding that the task represents so many moving parts that it can be daunting. There are not only diverse interests and requirements and regulation; there are diverse technologies and standards across many domains. The heavy lifting of listening to all those diverse stakeholders, defining a plan that everyone can agree with, and then actually putting all those moving parts together so the solutions actually work together – all in the context of constant political overtones – can be a Herculean task. Creating a sustainable, livable city that leverages the latest in the Internet of Things and analytics so that the city just “gets” its citizens is a compelling call to action. The United Nations defined “Sustainable Cities and Communities” as one of their seventeen UN Sustainable Development Goals. Smart cities have the potential for being good for the earth and good for people. There has been progress in communities across the globe deploying a variety of smart solutions. The technology has matured and applications that ten years ago sounded like science fiction are now becoming more doable. Smart lighting, smart parking, smart fleet management — even smart trash cans! Yet, it is becoming apparent that cities who start by deploying standalone smart solutions often learn that as they try to add new ones, they run into complexity and often conflicting needs for power, data sets, wireless coverage. Some early adopter communities have even had to rip out early deployments as they tried to add solutions. The technology community has been challenged as well. Sure, there has been great enthusiasm for the Smart Cities market opportunity, and companies are making huge investments in R&D. But many are frustrated that they are not getting the ROI as fast as they had hoped for yet, as smart city applications are taking much longer to deploy and scale across cities than originally expected. Programs like the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Global Cities Team Challenge and the US-Ignite Smart Gigabit Communities Program have been great at encouraging communities to get a coordinated plan. US Ignite is actively trying to help cities learn from each other, establishing the US-Ignite Forum Program to help cities get started, starting with lighting and 5G/IoT/Small Cell deployments. TIA with IEC’s Systems Committee – Smart Cities is defining a global systems approach for smart cities that crosses technology domains, starting with terminology to get everyone on the same page. It is all very noble work, but it is still heavy lifting. What if we used Building Blocks ? What if we worked to build a Smart City the same way my son did with his Lego blocks? He started with a core set of components that worked together – and then built around it to create a bigger solution. What he created was unique every time, but the core building blocks snapped together first, and provided a foundation for the rest of his creativity. I believe that a Smart Campus can serve that same purpose. A Smart Campus is essentially a “micro” version of a Smart City. It has all the same requirements of a Smart City to plan for: infrastructure, energy, water, waste, mobility, housing, community engagement, re-skilling, technology, citizenship, food supply chain, sustainability, environmental change, policy, data privacy, and security. But a Smart Campus is smaller, and more manageable. Focusing on a Smart Campus can help dial down the complexity, scale and politics of a Smart City just a bit, and provide the opportunity for a diverse community to plan together using a systems approach. Whether for an academic or corporate or civic community, a Smart Campus can be an opportunity to tackle the complexity on a smaller scale, allowing the Smart Community around it to build upon the Smart Campus learnings and infrastructure. And while every Smart Campus is different, the foundation could be leveraged by others. Smart Campus Open Innovation The challenge is rarely the technology; it’s more about the people. And while bringing diverse people together to solve problems is not new, creating a way to do it successfully that consistently leads to tangible outcomes definitely is. I recently had the opportunity to work with The New Bureau, a social impact incubator and technology studio focused on tackling the UN Sustainable Development Goals. One of their offerings is called a “Solve Session”, a proven approach that accelerates understanding and decision-making across diverse perspectives, and helps move quickly to outcomes. The sessions are powered by SolveOS, a platform enabled by a real-time, AI content-capture engine that allows hundreds of pieces of hand-written, drawn, and video-captured content to be catalogued, tagged, and referenced, through both computer vision and natural language processing. Their model has been used successfully with diverse groups in business, education and community settings – and has delivered tangible outcomes that range from new programs to new products to new companies. In May, I joined their team at the University of Denver where The New Bureau led a two-day session with a diverse community of students, faculty, administration, alum, vendors and industry experts including Arrow, Hitachi Vantara, and Splunk. Neighboring start-ups and community members interested in the concept of a smart connected campus in their area also joined. In an intense but very enjoyable way, the Smart Campus Open Innovation session provided a methodology that created common understanding of the problems, moved to possible solutions, and then defined specific outcomes