Ops Insights #056 - Let’s Move You Forward
December 31, 2024 | Read Time: 7 minutes | Written by Jenny Kleintop
As we look to ring in the New Year, I am sharing some of my comments on LinkedIn from 2024 in hopes these words will guide, motivate, or move you forward in 2025. Plus, my one big recommendation for you to take action is Community - Find Your Community.
You’ve Got This!
Leadership:
➡ Inspiring, motivating, and amazing are words that come to mind of the leaders who made a difference in my life. I’ve had really great role model leaders.
➡ Leaders can definitely have a profound impact on us and when we lead, we can have a profound impact on others. It's in how we choose to impact -- uplift, support, encourage, help rise up -- that matters.
➡ Leadership - It’s never been about us. It should always be about the people we lead and we have the choice to make a positive or negative impact on them. I choose positive - support, encourage, uplift, mentor, train, teach, help them so much that they learn to fly higher than they’ve ever before.
Nonprofit Work:
➡ Always be curious - the motto I live by, especially being in data and tech, it’s constantly evolving.
➡ What all nonprofits need: Data flows that boost frontline fundraising strategies, donors that feel moved to donate, simplified and intuitive technology where non-tech folks actually love to use.
➡ Ask for and lean into getting help. Managing a CRM is a team sport, especially during really busy times such as year-end. Here are 3 things I’ve leaned into:
Prioritized the long list of tasks with the leader.
Asked Super/Power Users from other areas to help.
Brought in trusted outside resources short term to pitch in.
Don’t go it alone; you deserve the help; lean into asking for it.
➡ When data-driven strategies do not exist, I have found it’s best to start simple and not overcomplicate it. Here’s a very simple way to get started that helps leaders strengthen the narratives they are sharing.
Pull five years of gifts.
Run total giving by year by various giving tiers, such as annual, mid-level, and major giving.
Show the percent increase year over year in each tier.
Highlight the outliers and give the leader talking points on those.
Highlight trends you are seeing in the data and give your leader talking points on those.
✅ done. That’s a simple first step. The key is to just start somewhere. And then get curious and see where it takes you.
➡ Choose another word over “audit.” So very true. Even in my work “audit” immediately puts up resistance. I go with database review or discovery instead to open up conversations and opportunities to strengthen and remind folks we find things that are 1) working well and keep doing, 2) things that you may be able to enhance and 3) things you may not have to put in place to align with current strategies. The key is to strengthen not get in trouble.
Community:
➡ Unite and together drive change for the better.
➡ It only takes 1 meaningful conversation to make a difference in someone’s life.
➡ I'm so thankful to those who walked before me and I know so many will walk after me and why not do our part while we have the path to walk and pave the way forward?!?
➡ Find the strength, speak up, help others, and if you can find the strength, find the right community who will let you borrow strength until you find it. ✨
➡ More encouraging and less discouraging. More uplifting and less tearing down. More positivity and less negativity. When we do, it’s amazing how different things feel, in the best way.
➡ Show up for you, show up for community, show up for someone, anyone, just show up as showing up matters.
➡ Build that network. And if network sounds too overwhelming, call it the community. Build it because you have to, build it because you want to, build it just because. Community gets you through so much - the bad, the good, everything in between.
➡ My LinkedIn Community reminds me every day that people are good. That the world spins better when kindness, support, and positivity preserver.
➡ For all you introverts out there, you can do it, one step at a time. Just look at me, I’m an introvert and I’m here doing it. It starts with one like one comment, plus a whole lot of supportive community who are right here…come on in.
➡ Together all the way. ❌ to silos, ✔ to positive thriving cross-division partnerships.
Motivational:
➡ Be real, be human, and chase your own dreams; otherwise, one day, you may forget what you are chasing.
➡ Spread your wings wide and fly far and high. It’s time to go for it already.
➡ Attitude is choice. A choice in how we show up each day. That choice each day definitely alters the path you are on.
➡ Mindset - I can point to times where others saw confidence and that confidence started with an internal decision to shift my mindset to stand tall, hold my head up, and walk confidently into the room (even if on the inside I was nervous as anything). That mindset sure carries us through.
➡ I consider it blazing trails and taking the path that's made for each of us. Showing up and just being me is the path I've learned to embrace.
➡ Lean into that spark inside you. Let it guide you and help your sparkle get so big that it turns into a movement.
Take Action
My biggest recommendation as you head into the New Year is to find 1-2 communities outside of the nonprofit world. It’s amazing what you can learn from others outside our world that can cross over into our world. Find it for work or for your own personal growth. Some are paid communities, and others are free.
If you need a few to check out, here are some I’m in:
Specifically in our industry
Aasp: I've been in this one for 12 years, and it’s specific to us in data and operations.
Apra: I've been in and out of this one over the years, and it's great for prospect development folks.
We are For Good Community: I joined their free version last year and upgraded as a founding member to their impact uprising this year. I can’t say enough good things about Becky and Jon, who run this. There are various mini-groups inside this community to find your place.
Blackbaud Community: If you use Blackbaud products, this is a free resource and community to ask questions, find resources, and find your people.
Salesforce Trailhead: If you use Salesforce products, this is a free resource and community to take training, find resources, and find your people.
Outside our industry:
DIY Influence: I have been in this for two years, and it was the first time I decided to invest in myself personally to get comfortable with posting on LinkedIn and finding my voice. I didn’t realize I would find such good people in the community along the way. I was part of the first cohort, and my group still meets regularly to this day.
The Outlier Project: I joined this year because extraordinary always intrigues me, and I have been amazed by how many good, supportive, uplifting people there are in this community. It will push you outside your comfort zone to embrace life and push for more awesome.
She leads AI Society: This is a brand new one for me. I joined four days ago, coming off AI Festivus, but I’ve known Anne through the community for over a year and have much respect for her pulling folks together to learn. AI continues to take off and it’s through community and learning out loud that we’ll grow quicker.
Incredibly Grateful for YOU
You are what keeps our nonprofit sector amazing. All the good you do day in and day out. All the good you do by connecting with others, sharing, learning, and doing things together. I thank you for this.
Thank you for showing up! Thank you for being a reader! Thank you for engaging and doing. You make a positive difference, and I’m incredibly grateful for you.
You’ve got this!
👋 See you next time,
Jenny
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