A while ago now I did a series of posts based on Jim Collin’s book ‘Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … and Others Don’t’. We have found that book so helpful at The Tool Factory that I wanted to share the great stuff that was in it.

Alongside of the main book Collin’s has also published a booklet on how the research they carried out can be translated for what he calls the Social Sector.

He beings this monograph with the comment that:

“We must reject the idea – well-intentioned, but dead wrong – that the primary path to greatness in the social sectors is to become “more like a business.”

Why? Because few businesses are great. We shouldn’t want to become like business we should want to become great third sector organisations.

And so, what do we measure – well it isn’t money. Unlike a business we cannot measure our success by the amount of money we generate like a business can. For businesses, as Collins explains:

“…money is both an input (a resource for achieving greatness) and an output (a measure of greatness). In the social sectors, money is only an input, and not a measure of greatness.

He suggests that our outputs as Third Sector organisations must still be measured – that is how we know we are becoming great. But of course many of those outputs seen to defy measurement.

He goes against a lot of the dialogue on social impact measurement suggesting that not every measurement needs to be turned into something quantifiable. He suggests that where are dealing with qualitative evidence we see our role as that of a lawyer assembling all types of evident in order to make a convincing case.

Collins talks through all of the key concepts from Good to Great in relation to the Third Sector. As we have found over the last couple of weeks of blog posts nearly are just as relevant for us in the Third Sector as for a business.

The key difference comes when we look at the Hedgehog Concept. The first two circles – what we are deeply passionate about and what we can be the best in the world at – we have no problem translating to our specific context. However, the third circle in the Hedgehog Concept cannot be about what drives our economic engine, as Collins puts it.

Instead Collins suggests we think in terms of our ‘resource engine’ – what we need in order to achieve our social goals.

A final quote from Collins:

“Those who have the discipline to attract and channel resources directed solely at their Hedgehog Concept, and to reject resources that drive them away from the center of their three circles, will be of greater service to the world.

image by Andrew Johnson

I came across a great post on LifeHack this week – 50 Tricks to Get Things Done Faster, Better, and More Easily

My favourites are:

1. Most Important Tasks (MITs): At the start of each day (or the night before) highlight the three or four most important things you have to do in the coming day. Do them first. If you get nothing else accomplished aside from your MITs, you’ve still had a pretty productive day.
2. Inbox Zero: Decide what to do with every email you get, the moment you read it. If there’s something you need to do, either do it or add it to your todo list and delete or file the email. If it’s something you need for reference, file it. Empty your email inbox every day.
3. One In, One Out: Avoid clutter by adopting a replacement-only standard. Every time you but something new, you throw out or donate something old. For example, you buy a new shirt, you get rid of an old one. (Variation: One in, Two Out — useful when you begin to feel overwhelmed by your possessions.)
4. Ubiquitous Capture: Always carry something to take notes with — a pen and paper, a PDA, a stack of index cards. Capture every thought that comes into your mind, whether it’s an idea for a project you’d like to do, an appointment you need to make, something you need to pick up next time you’re at the store, whatever. Review it regularly and transfer everything to where it belongs: a todo list, a filing system, a journal, etc.
5. Eat the Frog: Do your most unpleasant task first. Based on the saying that if the first thing you do in the morning is eat a frog, the day can only get better from then on.
6. What’s the Next Action?: Don’t plan out everything you need to do to finish a project, just focus on the very next thing you need to do to move it forward. Usually doing the next, little thing will lead to another, and another, until we’re either done or we run into a block: we need more information, we need someone else to catch up, etc. Be as concrete and discrete as possible: you can’t “install cable”, all you can do is “call the cable company to request cable installation”.
7. Review: Schedule a time with yourself every week to look over what you’ve done that week and what you want to do the next week. Ask yourself if there are any new projects you should be starting, and if what you’re working on is moving you closer to your goals for your life.
8. Structured Procrastination: A strategy of recognizing and using one’s procrastinating tendencies to get stuff done. Items at the top of top of the list are avoided by doing seemingly less difficult and less important tasks further down the list — making the procrastinator highly productive. The trick is to make sure the items at the top are apparently urgent — with pressing deadlines and apparently large consequences. But, of course, they aren’t really all that urgent. Structured procrastination requires a masterful skill at self-deception, which fortunately bigtime procrastinators excel at.
9. Tune Out: Create a personal privacy zone by wearing headphones. People are much more hesitant to interrupt someone wearing headphones. Note: actually listening to music through your headphones is optional — nobody knows but you.
10. Unclutter: Clutter is anything that’s out of place and in the way. IT’s not necessarily neatness — someone can have a rigorously neat workspace and not be able to get anything done. It’s being able to access what you need, when you need it, without breaking the flow of your work to find it. Figure out what is “clutter” in your working and living spaces, and fix that.
11. Unschedule: Schedule all your fun activities and personal life stuff (the stuff you want to do) first. Fill in whatever time’s left over with uninterrupted blocks of work. Write those into your schedule after you’ve completed them. Reward yourself after every block of quality, focused work.
12. Timer: Tell yourself you will work on a project or task, and only that project or task, for a set amount of time. Set a timer (use a kitchen timer, or use a countdown timer on your computer), and plug away at your work. When the timer goes off, you’re done — move on to the next project or task.
13. Make an Appointment with Yourself: Schedule time every week or so just for you. Consider the state of your life: what’s working? What isn’t working? what mistakes are you making? what could you change? Give yourself a chance to get to know you.

It’s all good stuff – we could do a post on each one of these 50 ideas.

Have a look at the list – pick one and give it a go. I’d love to hear from you about what a difference it makes to your day.

You can read the entire list here – 50 Tricks to Get Things Done Faster, Better, and More Easily

This post is for anyone who could work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week if they could actually stay awake … I am one such person.

There might be a number of motivations behind this:

• we just love what we do (this would be me)
• we find working easier than having a social life
• just being badly organised (read Getting Things Done and start getting a handle on everything)

I love going out and spending time with friends and family but I also love working – I love the creative stuff that I need to do to get my social enterprise off the ground. However, I have to keep a check on myself because I do have the ability to start prioritising work over family and friends … and that is never good.

Of course one approach you could try is to change to a Polyphasic sleep cycle. Here’s one guy’s experience – Steve Palina’s experience of Polyphasic Sleep

I am actually quite tempted by this idea … all that extra time on my hands! My main concern is the effect it would have on the people around me … my husband waking up when I do in the middle of the night because I’ve set my alarm.

For everyone else, who enjoys their sleep too much, here are some other suggestions on how to avoid working too much.

What I have found is that I have to book my time off into my calendar. I set up appointments for going to the cinema, watching my favourite TV programme (yes it is actually in my diary), the local pub quiz, going and sitting in a coffee shop, popping down to the shops, days out. If I don’t this and just try and remember in my head I find that I get so stuck into what piece of work I’m doing I forget to stop to have a life.

Set alarms if you have to!

It is important to start getting into the habit of booking time off for yourself on a regular basis. I now book in at least one cinema trip a week (the wonders of the monthly cinema pass) on top of my weekly day off.

Until you are in the habit of having time off you will probably find all sorts of excuses why you can’t possibly make the appointment to go the cinema, because of everything you need to do at work. You will have to be very firm about keeping your appointments with yourself to begin with – just as you would be if it was a work meeting.

Secondly, find somewhere to go where you cannot help but switch off. It can’t be the TV because it’s easy to work at the same time as watching the TV. Try having friends over for dinner or go to a coffee shop without your laptop or mobile.

My favourite is the cinema – that is the one place that really forces me to switch off mainly because once the trailers are over they switch the lights off and even I can’t work in the dark!

I love that bit of time between sitting down in the cinema and when it finally all goes dark. I always take a notebook and I spend the time dreaming up ideas for new products or services – I have had some amazing ideas sitting there in the cinema.

Finally, one thing to always remember:

NEVER GO ANYWHERE WITHOUT A NOTEBOOK

If you haven’t got something to capture your thoughts in then if you have a cracking idea but then forget it you will never trust yourself to have time to switch off again JUST INCASE you forget something important.

Enjoy your time off!

The final section of Collin’s research looks at what happens to an organisation once all of the key elements of a great organisation are in place – level 5 leadership, first who … then what, confront the brutal facts, hedgehog concept, culture of discipline and technology accelerators.

Collins identified that each organisation that went from good to great followed the same basic pattern. Breakthrough as an organisation was not immediate or sudden it came from steady progress which began to build momentum in the organisation until finally it all took off.

He uses the picture of a flywheel – being turned again and again and again gradually building up momentum until a breakthrough happens and the speed has increased well beyond the effort you put in.

As Collins puts it:

“The good-to-great companies understood a simple truth: Tremendous power exists in the fact of continued improvement and the delivery of results.”

I just find that really encouraging. That if I have all these elements in place and just keep pushing away bit by bit then momentum will begin to build and will eventually see breakthrough. That is especially encouraging at an early stage in an organisation’s life, like we are at with The Tool Factory.

The big opportunities are great and will give the flywheel a bigger push, but the small things are just as important as they too move the flywheel building momentum taking us one step nearer to breakthrough.

The last but one concept in Collin’s research is that of a Culture of Discipline. He suggests that

“the purpose of bureaucracy is to compensate for incompetence and lack of discipline – a problem that largely goes away if you have the right people on the bus in the first place.”

He suggests it is a downward spiral with the good people not being attracted to come and work with your organisation because of all the bureaucracy, which then means you have a higher percentage of the wrong people, which in turns leads to more bureaucracy etc etc.

However, lets face it social enterprises and other Third Sector organisations are not known for their bureaucracy. However, it is still a valid point and something we need to consider.

Often when we have the wrong people on the bus we have a tendency to just do nothing about it.

We may complain to others around us about how difficult they are to work with and how they don’t do what we need them to do. However, we often just sit it out until they leave.

If we are going to become great organisations we need to ensure that we have the right people on the bus – self-disciplined people that will achieve what they are there to do, people who don’t need to be surrounded by bureaucracy to force them to get their stuff done. And, we need to let those who just aren’t the right people for our organisations find somewhere where they can shine and be the right person on the right bus.

The approach that great organisations take to using technology, according the Collins and his team is that they use it where they can to improve their existing activities. He refers to it as an ‘accelerator’ – something that can increase the effectiveness and improve the impact of what you are trying to achieve.

For the Third Sector and the social entrepreneurs I think there are two things that can be drawn out of this point that are relevant to us – embrace technology and don’t go overboard.

Embrace Technology

Good technology can save you time and money. I think about the software products we offer. Our Business Plan Writer software saves you time and money if you are sitting down to write your business plan – on the screen in front of you are help notes and sample business plans from other organisations so that you do not have to keep looking at different bits of paper and documents. It saves you money because it only costs £39.99 and with the level of support you have you don’t have to think about paying for a consultant. The financial tools speed up the process of putting together your finances, working out the numbers and formatting the reports.

A new product we are launching next month is an email newsletter tool that is really quick and easy to use. For £10 a month you can put together your newsletter in a fraction of the time.

Think about it … if it only takes you 30 minutes rather than 2 hours (the software automatically formats your newsletter for you) you have saved yourself 90 mins a month for only £10 and that doesn’t include the savings you make on not having to print it out or post it.

What about a website – a really good website. Clients have often said to me that they do not need to have a website because their members would never use it – one client was setting up a home care service and assumed that they wouldn’t need a website because the older people they worked with wouldn’t use it.

However, there are two things here to think about.

Firstly, the older people may not have used it but their children, often the people who paid for the home care service (so the organisation’s real customers) did use the internet. Whether we like it or not, in general, an organisation without a website is seen as unprofessional by the general public.

Secondly, funders use the internet. When you apply for funding a funder will do some research on your organisation. When you bid for a contract the contracting body will research your organisation. They will search for your website – well think about it, you would do the same thing wouldn’t you.

Websites are not optional anymore. They don’t have to be anything fancy. They don’t have to cost the earth but you with be damaging your public perception if you don’t bother.

FREE OFFER – We are putting together a new service for social entrepreneurs and the Third Sector around website design. If you would like a free review of your website or you don’t have one and you would like some ideas on what would be suitable then email me at bev@thetoolfactory.com.

Don’t Go Overboard

If the technology you are looking at does not fit into your Hedgehog concept then walk away. If however, it does fit then you need to become a pioneer in that technology.

This is particular difficult if you are like me and love your gadgets. If having the new iPhone in reality won’t act as an accelerator for your Hedgehog concept then actually you need to walk away and find something that does.

Lucky for me, a new iPhone does fit into Hedgehog concept so I’m off to the shops…

Referring to the old parable of the fox and hedgehog Collins and his team highlight what they call ‘The Hedgehog Concept” as their four key concept for taking an organisation from good to great.

The fox in the parable knew many things, but the hedgehog knew one big thing. Each time the fox tries to attack the hedgehog it tries a different tactic, after the last one he tried failed.

The hedgehog just has one tactic – to curl up in a spiky ball. It doesn’t matter how much effort the fox spends coming up with new tactics it won’t work.

Organisations that go from good to great focus on their hedgehog concept – their one big thing. As Collins explains:

“A Hedgehog Concept is not a goal to be the best, a strategy to be the best, an intention to be the best, a plan to be the best. It is an understanding of what you can be the best at. The distinction is absolutely crucial.”

In order to identify what your Hedgehog Concept is Collins suggests you look for what is at the intersection of these three elements of your organisation:

1. what you can be the best in the world at
2. what drives your economic engine or for ‘more than profits’ your social impact engine or a combination of the two
3. what you are deeply passionate about

Once an organisation has identified that one key concept – their hedgehog concept – those that go from good to great focus on that one thing. If an opportunity comes up that doesn’t fit their hedgehog concept they say thank you don’t pursue it. Everything is tested against their hedgehog concept – they don’t get distracted.

That is good advice for those of us that often get distracted by the latest funding stream and spend time trying to see how we could fit what we want to do into what the funder is after. A great organisation gives itself permission to say no to new funding streams to enable it to focus on becoming great at what it does.

Today is Day 4 of a series looking at the principles that are contained in Jim Collin’s book “Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … and Other’s Don’t“.

Today’s topic is the importance of being willing to face the facts however frightening they are.

One of the people interviewed for Jim Collin’s research put it this way:

“When you turn over rocks and look at all the squiggly things underneath, you can either put the rock down, or you can say, ‘My job is to turn over rocks and look at the squiggly things,’ even if what you see can scare the hell out of you.”

The Third Sector is going through significant changes and sometimes when we lift up the rock and see the squiggly things underneath it is really scary. Things are as they used to be.

We know that we are doing a good thing, making a positive impact in our communities, our team is committed and we are offering a good service – so having to face the reality that we are going to have to change what we do and how we do it often just makes us want to put the rock back and walk away. We have survived thus far – maybe if we just ignore the facts, something will come to our rescue and it will all be okay.

You might be lucky and it might be okay that time but what happens next time that you ignore the facts of the situation.

As social entrepreneurs we have to realise that we carry a huge responsibility on our shoulders – ignoring the brutal facts isn’t just something that will affect us – our clients, our volunteers, our staff, our communities will all be put at risk just because we were too frightened, and maybe even too selfish, to face the facts.

Maybe you are facing a situation where your funding has run out, or you need to close a service that doing a great thing but crippling your organisation financially, or a member of staff or volunteer is just not the right person or maybe you are just not the right person to take your organisation onto where it needs to be.

These are all difficult situations but all too often in the Third Sector we give ourselves excuses for ignoring the facts and taking the less frightening route because we are ‘nice’ organisations that don’t close services, or get rid of members of staff or ask committed people to leave because a new set of skills is needed.

I can imagine some people are flinching at the sound of that. However, we have to honest with ourselves and grow up a bit. When it comes down to it if we don’t face the facts and instead put the rock back so we can’t see the squiggly things not only will we not become great organisations we probably won’t even be around for the next generation of clients.

Our clients, our staff, our volunteers and our communities are relying on us. If we don’t face up to the facts and ignore them instead, because it is easier, we are letting them down. And once we have had to close down our organisations where will they go.

A word of warning for those of you with strong, charismatic personalities – you personality may be a liability to your organisation in this respect. Your strength of personality may encourage the people around you to filter the brutal facts from you because it makes their lives easier.

This is Day 3 of a series looking at the principles that are contained in Jim Collin’s book “Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … and Other’s Don’t“.

In undertaking the research Jim Collin’s said they were surprised to see rather than Level 5 leaders coming into an organisation and immediately setting a new vision and strategy they would first spend time getting the right people “on the bus”.

Once the right people were “on the bus” – and consequently the wrong people were “off the bus” – that was when they set the direction for the organisation.

Good to Great takes the idea of people being your greatest asset a stage further and says that the right people are your greatest asset.

This is all linked to what Marcus Buckingham calls the “strengths revolution”. For as long as we can remember managing staff and volunteers has revolved around trying to get individuals to improve on their weaknesses.

The Strengths Revolution suggests that we will be happier and more effective and productive individuals if we get to focus on things we are excellent at, rather than trying to become reasonable at things we are always going to be rubbish at.

What if everyone in your organisation focused on the things they were excellent at – what a happy and productive team you would have.

Read Now Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham for more on that subject.

So, getting the right people on the bus is about ensuring that people’s strengths match with the role they are doing.

In the Third Sector one of things we hate having to think about is letting people go. However, if we want to become a great organisation, that will last for many years after we have moved on, we need to be a bit braver about our hiring and firing decisions.

Keeping someone on board who is not using the strengths and who is not performing is not fair on either the rest of the team or on the individual involved.

Addressing a staff or volunteer issue like this, doesn’t have to focus on failures and weaknesses but can focus on what their strengths are and trying to find a role within the organisation that is more suited to them. If that isn’t possible, then you can support them to find another job that is more suited to their particular strengths. You can guarantee they will be happier and your own organisation will be more effective.

One final thought on this issue from Jim Collins:

“The moment you feel the need to tightly manage someone, you’ve made a hiring mistake. The best people don’t need to be managed. Guided, taught, led – yes. But not tightly managed.”

Over the next couple of weeks I am focusing on the principles that are contained in Jim Collin’s book “Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … and Other’s Don’t“.

The first principle that Good to Great talks about is the importance of getting Level 5 Leaders in place at the top of an organisation. These are people who are completely committed to doing what it takes to make that organisation work.

Jim Collins defines Level 5 leaders as those who:

“… channel their ego needs away from themselves and into the larger goal of building a great company. It’s not that Level 5 leaders have no ego or self-interest. Indeed, they are incredibly ambitious – but their ambition is first and foremost for the institution, not themselves.”

These are people who don’t look for the glory themselves but who focus on the success of the organisation. They are very humble people crediting others with successes but taking responsibility themselves for the failures. They also have a real passion for achieving the social and financial aims of the organisation – no matter what it takes.

In Third Sector I think we have an advantage because most of our people are, at least in part, drawn to our organisation because of our social aims.

However, let us not be naive – I have certainly seen my fair share of power-hungry, selfish people in the Third Sector who are destroying organisations and the indiviudals within them because of their behaviour.

What we need to be aiming for is ensuring that our organisations are being lead by Level 5 Leaders – only that way can move from being good to great.

Do you have a person like that leading your organisation? If you are a leader, can you become a Level 5 leader?

That question is a real challenge for me as I finalise this year’s plans for my organisation’s. Can I be a Level 5 Leader or do I need to think about bringing someone else in to lead while I focus on where my strengths are?