From April's Foraker Enewsletter:

In his book Good to Great, Jim Collins outlines four practices observed in organizations that had moved from average performance to market leaders – including disciplined people, disciplined thought, disciplined action and adherence to the principles outlined in his earlier book, Built to Last. To achieve the practice of disciplined people, he proposes some very interesting twists on building great staffs.

Collins describes how organizations that become great have five levels of leaders as part of their team. He found that to move to the next level of leadership, one must master the prior level. It is not required that every employee have every leadership capacity, but having some individuals with competence at each level is necessary. [Read More... ]

In our March newsletter, Foraker president Dennis McMillian discusses how employers continue to be tasked with finding the best benefits for their employees so they can attract and retain the right people. In an article from our October 2008 newsletter, McMillian referenced the Stockdale Paradox.

In his opinion, Foraker along with many of Foraker's Partners i.e. Alaska nonprofits - now understand that our elected officials are not practicing this paradox when they address health care reform.

In that article, here's how McMillian described the Stockdale Paradox:

Admiral Jim Stockdale was the highest-ranking military officer held in the Hanoi Hilton during the Vietnam War. From 1965 to 1973, he was tortured over 20 times, had no rights, no set release date, and had no certainty that he would ever see his family again.  As the highest-ranking officer, he also had the responsibility to help as many of his fellow prisoners survive while fighting their captor’s attempts to use them for propaganda. Admiral Stockdale developed strategies to help other prisoners resist attempts to be broken along with a code for communication among themselves.  Since prisoners saw each other very few times, and they were under total control of their captors at this time, this code was essential to keep them going.

The paradox was this:  even with these bleak realities, Admiral Stockdale maintained a firm faith that he would survive his ordeal and once again see his family, while he was stoically realistic about the ongoing sacrifice, discipline, and patience he needed to achieve that goal.  Other prisoners in the Hanoi Hilton also hoped they would survive, but they did not look at, nor accept the realities that confronted them on each day.  Stockdale called these prisoners the “optimists.”  Optimists had faith they would get out by Christmas – then Christmas would come and they would not get out, so then they would believe they would get out by Easter – then Easter would come, and so on.  Many of those optimists never got out – before long, they lost all hope, then life.

Stockdale said, “This is a very important lesson.  You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end, which you can never afford to lose, with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”  Admiral Stockdale did prevail in the end and returned to his family, along with many other prisoners.

It seems Americans are united in a vision that a more effective, affordable, accessible, sustainable health care system is needed.

"However, none of us – the public, our elected officials, or the health care industry – are facing the “brutal facts,” so a long-term solution seems far away.  For most people, the facts are too complex – the average citizen just doesn’t want to take the time nor apply the effort to learn about the issue," says McMillian.

McMillian goes on to say "After almost 30 years of indoctrination into the non-intuitive world of the health care system, these are, in my opinion, the most important “brutal facts” that Alaskans and the nation must face to solve this problem..."

Read the entire March Letter from the President.

Access an archive of past Foraker enewsletters and Letters from the President.

You can also read The Stockdale Paradox and Thoughts on The Foraker Group Benefits Plan.

How is your organization dealing with healthcare?

In this month's Foraker enewsletter, Dennis McMillian talks about the value of "short, simple and articulate expressions." Here are the “top ten” rules for effective communication passed on to him from his mentor 30 years ago:

1. Deliver the message in three-to-five minutes, then be quiet – this is what is now known as the “elevator speech.”

2. Once the message is delivered, wait for questions. If there are no questions, assume the message has been heard or no further information is required.

3. If there is a question, then respond briefly and see if the response answered the question.

4. Always remember that most times no one wants to know as much about your issue as you know and want to tell them.

5. People prefer hearing stories that make the message real. They glaze over with statistics.

6. People respond better to simple, clear language with little or no jargon.

7. People prefer that you listen to them much more than they want to listen to you. So when you speak – pause and watch for signals that the other person is interested. Ask that person a question to start a conversation. If it appears they are losing interest, then be quiet.

8. It’s best not to assume another’s politics or values.

9. If they share their values with you, it does not necessarily mean they want you to share your values or politics with them.

10. People that don’t speak are never heard. Those who speak too much are rarely heard.

Read the full article. And you can access past Foraker newsletters on The Foraker Group's web site.

What are your best tips for delivering your organization's messages?

In this month's enewsletter, Dennis McMillian looks back at the Foraker journey over the past nine years.

...at the beginning of this New Year, we want to share our sense of fulfillment for the amazing journey we’ve been on for the past nine years – thanks to you. While we have traveled many miles and been to over 200 communities, it seems like just yesterday – actually it was January 2001 – when Ed Rasmuson held a press conference announcing the formation of The Foraker Group.

We truly had humble expectations of what we could accomplish. Our business plan was based on the assumption we would generate enough earned income to be self-sufficient with earned revenue within five years. At least that’s what we told our funders we would do. That goal was truly audacious. We had no clue if anyone would actually pay for the services we would provide. We had hopes they would, but frankly, before Foraker most nonprofits in Alaska were very skilled at getting free consulting help from volunteers at our larger businesses. These volunteers would train our boards or lead strategic planning sessions. The only exceptions to this practice seemed to be the larger organizations or affiliates of national organizations – and even those worked as hard as they could to pay nothing.

[READ MORE]

What are some of your reflections of the past year for your organization? What is your vision for the new year?

from Dennis McMillian's December letter...

We want to let a secret out of the bag. Raising money is simple. All you need is to find the best person to ask a prospect face-to-face for a specific amount of money – and you will raise money more times than not. Now let’s outline the complexity in that overly simple solution.

First, we want to address a few common myths about raising money:

• As soon as you get your 501(c)(3) status from the IRS, money falls from heaven.
• If Willy Horton robbed banks because that’s where the money was – then it’s logical that if you want to raise money you should ask rich people, right?
• Institutional donors like corporations and foundations have the most money to give.
• The more choices people have, the more they give.
• Advertising is all you need to get people to give money.
• “If people only knew how good our mission is, they would give.”
• “If people knew how much we need their help, they would give.”
• There is only so much money to go around – if I get mine, you won’t get yours.
• Professional fundraisers ask for money.

These fundraising myths run rampant. In Alaska and around the country, fundraising or development professionals confront these myths every day. Capacity building organizations like The Foraker Group fill fundraising classes with eager volunteers and staff wanting to find the silver bullet that will help them raise more money. Many leave disappointed because regardless of whether they ask us, or the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), or consultants from around the country, the answer is the same, there is no silver bullet.

Read the entire letter.

What is your best advice for securing individual contributions?

Foraker president Dennis McMillian recently wrote about the "new reality" faced by us all - including Alaska nonprofits. He also highlighted several of his past letters over the last year, summarizing points made back then in context of where we are today.

"We are slowly climbing out of a very deep recession, but the end is still not in sight. As we expected, Alaska’s economic downturn started behind the rest of the country," says McMillian in his monthly President's Letter. "We did not begin to feel the recession’s impact until summer when we saw fewer tourists. The oil industry has been slow to make new investments in the state and the gas pipeline has again become a distant vision. In our sector, dedicated nonprofit staff and volunteers are coming to Foraker – reaching out to see what relief we can provide to help them weather the storm. However, unfortunately some are losing hope and may close their doors."

You can read the rest of Dennis' letter here.

Let us know your “new reality” – what have you been doing to cope with the economy one year after the downturn?

In this month's President's Letter, Dennis McMillian talks about strategic plans for organizations and tells this anecdote about the wrong approach to strategic planning:

"Early in my nonprofit management career (30 years ago), I participated in developing a strategic plan.  It was done the wrong way.  I, along with my staff colleagues, developed it. We used the Management by Objectives and Results (MBOR) framework. When MBOR was introduced, it created a revolution in planning.  Not only did organizations develop or re-affirm a mission (including the painful debate for the best words to describe who we were and what we did), they began to use something called a vision.  A vision was described as a grand expectation that would inspire us to leap tall buildings even though most of the time we rarely believed we ever could.  Visions read like “world peace,” “no one will go hungry again,” or Garrison Kieler’s “Lake Wobegone – where all the children are above average.” 

In addition to mission and vision, MBOR made goals, objectives and action steps insufficient.  With MBOR we now had to also focus on results – the forerunner of what we now call outcomes.  Certainly MBOR was a planning wonk’s dream come true.  One small problem with that model, though, was to do it right took time.  And while staff gets paid for their time, making it less a factor for them, most board members do not.  Either a few dedicated board members would heroically volunteer for the Strategic Planning Committee and spend six months or more with staff developing a plan – or the staff reverted to the path of least resistance and did a plan without much board participation.  Neither of those approaches was a good option.  We needed a better way to plan."

Read Dennis' entire letter here.

What have been your organization's experiences with strategic planning?

Dennis McMillian discusses pursuing an affordable health insurance product for nonprofits for the past 25 years, and "a gradual, thoughtful process that allows nonprofit employers to provide adequate coverage for their employees."

Says Dennis, "Regardless of the current debate, I expect certain trends to emerge as a national plan evolves.  Employers and employees will likely be asked to do more to provide insurance coverage.  Today we can’t drive in most states without car insurance.  In the future, not having some form of health insurance won’t be an option, either.  Clearly, government will be part of a new health care system.  Already we have government-managed systems for senior citizens and people who can’t afford to pay for their care – Medicare and Medicaid – although both need revisions to become more effective.  And the concept of promoting wellness has universal appeal and will be a part of any solution."

The Foraker Group offers two “off-the-shelf” health insurance plans with the vision to shift to a true association plan when the numbers are right. Here are some of the recent highlights of Foraker's health initiative:

• 318 employee lives are currently enrolled (as of 08/21/09).
• 26 groups are enrolled.
• Four groups with the potential to bring on 11 additional employee lives have inquired about the plan (as of 08/21/09).
• In January 2009, approximately 130 employees were enrolled in the benefit plan.  The plan more than doubled that number in 7 months.   
• In spring 2009, eight briefing sessions were held to provide updates to Partners and brokers.  
• Two of our largest groups joined during June open enrollment – one group with over 70 employees and another with over 30.
• Almost half our members have completed the online health assessment.  This is the highest rate of all Premera groups in Alaska, Washington and Oregon.  
• To date, two wellness workshops have been held in Anchorage, the next wellness workshop will be held in Juneau in September.  Recently, interest surfaced in Fairbanks for a wellness workshop.
• The requirement of funding dependent coverage has been lifted.
• Waiting periods to enter the plan have been waived, although participants must still be Foraker Partners.
• A group of preferred brokers has been identified.  These brokers are familiar with the plan and have sold and/or consistently promoted it.  Partners will be referred to preferred brokers. 

Read the entire Letter from the President.

If you have questions about The Foraker Benefit Plan, please contact Rebecca Savidis by phone at 907-743-1200, or by email at rsavidis@forakergroup.org.

How are you getting your health insurance coverage? How is your nonprofit handling health insurance?