A Unified Model of Good to Great for Non-Profits

An improvement of Good to Great and Good to Great for Non-Profits by Jim Collins

WHAT’S WRONG WITH GOOD TO GREAT?

Disunity

• Good to Great and Good to Great for Non-Profits present excellent research, analysis, and fundamentals for organizational development

• BUT, the elements are not well connected.

Coherence

• This unified model simply ties the elements together into a single system

• Some minor elements from the books conflict, so some adjustments are necessary

THE CENTER

Circle 1: Skill & Product

• At what are you the best in the world? • If you can’t be the best, you haven’t

figured out your core yet. • This is a process of discovery,

narrowing, redefining, until you can articulate it.

Circle 2: Passion

• What gets you excited? • What are your values?• Why do you show up every day?• Non-Profits:

– What is your vision for a changed world? – What is your mission to achieve it?

Circle 3: Resource Engine

• What is your source of energy, cash, time, talent, facility?

• Non-Profits: Who and What fuels the mission towards the vision?

• What is the Story that articulates how you are changing the world?

THE VERY CENTER

Talent

• Talent is your chief asset• Get the right people on the bus (and

the wrong ones off)• (More on this to come)

BHAG

• Big Hairy Audacious Goal• What is your practical but stretching

target – towards your vision for the world – driven by what you’re the best at?

Reputation

• Your reputation is the link in making your goals & vision energize your resource engine.

• It’s the gas pedal.

Hedge Hog Concept

• At the very center is a simple, single goal by which all decisions are measured.

• Like a hedgehog, you ball up, keep your head down, and focus on one thing, rejecting all else.

• Lots of things are opportunities and good ideas, but do they advance your Hedge Hog Concept?

INPUTS & OUTPUTS

Inputs

• Time• Talent• Money• Storytelling• These are your raw materials that feed

your system

Output

• For NPO, Output is never money.– By definition, revenue is only an input,

never a measure of success. • Your output is mission Impact

– How is the world changed?– Count numbers– Note stories

• Results are always outside your organization (beware politics)

Measuring Output

• Count impact, then ask what did it cost? Measure Cost per Impact– Not ROI

• ROI by definition measures dollars returned for dollars invested.

• Revenue is input, not output for NPO

– Impact on Investment (IOI)• Track cost per impact unit over time to

measure your efficiency in your mission

DISCIPLINE AND DISCIPLING

Disciplined Who

• Again, get the right people on the bus• Get the wrong people off• No Rock Stars: ambition is for

organization—beyond silos!• Argue about decisions, then fall in line

behind them

Disciplined Who

• Put your best people on the biggest opportunities, not the most prestigious projects

• Never spend time trying to motivate: – Desatisfiers can demotivate– But if not self-motivated by vision, – no motivation-games will help. – You will only waste your time babysitting

Disciplined Thought

• This model is iterative: keep chipping at it until clarity comes

• Confront Brutal Facts – Make yourselves put it all on the table

• Ask questions to understand• Keep Unwavering Faith in vision

– But it is not simply optimism, – It’s understanding of where you’re going

Disciplined How

• Decisions are driven by your key metric– You define it based on your hedgehog– In for-profit, it’s likely profit-per-something– In NPO, it’s Impact on Investment– Cost-per-unit-of-impact

• Technology is not the core, but an accelerator– Let it be driven by IOI

FLYWHEEL

Brand

• Closing the Loop: Your Brand– Brand equals a promised user experience– It’s your reputation—what people expect to

feel when they hang out with you• Brand funnels the IOI back into your

Resource Engine– Metrics and Stories of a changed world– Energizes those who share the vision

Flywheel

• The whole system is like a Flywheel– It starts slowly and builds momentum– It becomes a culture that is hard to stop– Someday it becomes obvious and robust

• You’re building a whole system that should survive you

• Focusing inputs on a hedgehog with discipline yields Superior Performance in your IOI output

CASE STUDY: REFRAME MEDIA

Defining the details as example

ReFrame Media

• Christian Media Ministry

• Part of a 70-year-old, multi-language ministry

• Multiple programs for multiple ages

Hedge Hog Concept

• Lifelong Discipling Relationships– Relationships built over time with people of

all ages ands places– Relationships are Christ-orienting in

nature, regardless of how Christ-oriented people are currently—we come alongside and point to Jesus

– Relationships are intended to last for decades—we follow through the spiritual journeys of you and your loved ones

Best in the World

• Reformed Perspective• Christian Reformed Voice• Mosaic Media Ministry

– Multi-medium– Multi-touch– Multi-audience– Multi-year

Passion & Vision

• Seeing God’s Story in Your life– About God

• His whole story, from Creation to New Creation

– About You• Your whole life being reframed by God’s story

and your place in it• Your whole life long• Your whole life wide

BHAG

• Lifelong Discipling Relationships with a million people—a million in our funnel of discipling influence

Metrics (IOI)

• Relationship: Cost per reaction– Funnel of Engagement:

Awareness, Consumption, Reaction• Discipling: Cost per spiritual growth?

– This is not countable, only anecdotal• Lifelong: Cost per multi-fan

– This may be countable, but we don’t have the tools yet

Brand

• Multiple, overlapping brands (mosaic)• Unified theme within each brand:

– Seeing God’s story in Your Life • Your whole life Wide• Your whole life Long

Resource Engine

• Multi-brand Resource Engine– Rooted in a denomination, speaking to all– Fans of one or multiple brands

• May like just one Program• But programs work together as ReFrame, • In context of BTGMI, CRCNA

– Donors to one or multiple brands– Join our big picture,

or stay with your favorite