On Saturday I helped coordinate a board retreat for BookSpring, the organization of which I am now board president.

Like everyone else in the nonprofit universe, we think our 2009-2010 fiscal year will certainly be challenging. In our retreat, we talked much about execution vs. "ideas", and how we prioritize those items outside of the "duh" decisions. I still don't think we have clear black & white prioritization lines, but I was encourage to see that we are not the only ones with this struggle.

***

From The Agitator
The UK-based Management Centre recently scored 57 nonprofits on their ability to innovate … a seven step process as conceptualized by the Centre:

Ideation — idea generation
Integration — cross-pollination of ideas
Information — external scanning & sourcing
Selection — identifying ideas to take forward
Support — develop ideas into offerings
Launch — bringing the idea to fruition and setting expectations re returns
Learning — establishing what can be improved and learned from

34 US charities were included, and their relative strengths were found to be Ideation and Information; their weakness was Launch. And we thought Americans were Do-ers!
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Wow. While I'd like to say I'm surprised, I'm not. In my experience, it's all about prioritization and execution, regardless of for-profit or non-for-profit status. Many times, we have more ideas than we know what to do with.

Successful organizations find the balance between sustainable, incremental growth while striving for stretch goals.

Maybe, and perhaps more importantly, successful leaders have the courage to say NO.

Wow.....Go AT&T....please call me "Freaky"

This is a copy of my conversation tonight with AT&T...OMG. Good thing I have a great sense of humor (or humour, for my Canadian friends....)

System Welcome Heather Burton.
System Connecting to server. Please wait...
System Connection with server established.
You Technical Support Topic: DSL High Speed Internet
System Bethany has joined this session!
System Connected with Bethany
Bethany Thank you for contacting AT&T. How may I help you ?
Bethany Hi Heather Burton . How are you ?
You Repeatedly I attempt to log into online banking with bank of america, but continue to get an att page that says it can't be found. I can log in from my iPhone and at work. Apparently I can connect with this. What's the deal? It's irritating

Bethany I apologize for the inconvenience caused to you and will be happy to assist you.
You The error resultpage is onlineeast3.bankofamerica.com
You What other information do you need to help detect the issue?
Bethany I understand that you are unable to open your bank web site , but able to visit all other web sites . right?
You well, "all" is a strong word :) I've experienced issues with other sites in normal browsing, but Bank of America is the most consistant issue. When I run into this trouble, I log in at work or through my iPhone to test if it is the bank or if it is my internet. I've confirmd that ever time (at least 10), it is my internet

Bethany Heather Burton, Please do not worry, It may be a problem with your browser you are using.
Bethany May I know , which browser are you using?
You Internet explorer 7
You I doubt it's my explorer
You I didn't have this problem before switching to At&t
Bethany Okay. It may be a problem with browser cookies, and temporary files of Internet Explorer
Bethany Have you tried deleting cookies, and temporary files from browser ?
Bethany You can delete them , by clicking on Tools--> Internet Options --> Delete cookies, temporary files button
You Ok Let me try
Bethany Okay
You I'm in, but I still don
You don't understand why it worked sometimes and not others
You without deleting cookies, etc
Bethany You mean, you are able to open bank website after deleting cookies etc. ?
You Yes, I've been able to get into my account after deleting cookies.
You However, I've been able to get in after having errors, too
You so what makes this attempt different than the other times I was "lucky" to get in?
Bethany Heather Burton , Actually access of cookies, and temporary files slows down browser speed. and bank etc. web sites use to run on a high speed browser.

You unacceptable answer. is this a real person?
Bethany yes , i am real. Please do not worry, Heather Burton.
Bethany It would needed to less the browser security and delete cookies etc. from browser to open highly secure web sites such as bank web sites

You Cool. Just the automated use of my full name is freaky, and some responses seem very scripted. I totally get it...software support is a tough (but can be rewarding) gig

You it would be great feedback to AT&T regarding customer experience if they didn't append the full name or a name at all
You :)

Bethany Freaky, It would be good to use the first name
You Yes, I don't know your last name, Bethany Smith.... :)
You Anyway, off my soap bos
You soap box
Bethany :)
You Have a great night. Thanks for your help!

Bethany You too have a Great Night. May I ask you something?
You Sure! Ask away
Bethany Thank you , Freaky. Are you Very Satisfied with the services I provided to you? and Is your issue resolved ?
Bethany It was a nice chatting with you . You were very nice . It was a great experience chatting with you
You It's all great. thank you and have a great night