Foresights Exemplified – Hello, Nonprofit Business Model
As consultants, we have the privileged opportunity to learn from each customer engagement. We also practice at our professions. After all that’s what it means to be a practitioner.
Each consulting engagement provides a forum for me to hone my associative thinking skills – an opportunity to make connections across ideas and customers – and to see patterns. I did just that in 2008 when I designed a new, synergistic service delivery model for Rebuilding Together Metro Denver while consulting on their strategic business plan. RTMD was part of Rose Community Foundation’s 3-year BOOST initiative.
Little did I know at the time that I was on the forefront of a movement – to name and claim the nonprofit business model. After my ah ha with Rebuilding Together, I found myself continually going back to that initial idea and fleshing it out. I read, chatted, learned, and absorbed what I could on this nonprofit business model notion. Then, ta da (and two years in the skunk works), the Synergistic Business Model™ framework was born.
Foresight – Perception of the significance and nature of events before they have occurred. Sometimes foresight is easier to see after it has occurred.
If you’re looking for consultants to bring foresights to you, give Team Corona a call.
State of Our Cities and Towns
We always like to see our research in action. We especially liked the Colorado Municipal League’s (CML) recent videos highlighting the findings (pdf) from the most recent edition of the State of Our Cities and Towns for Colorado. Not everyone absorbs information by reading graphs and tables or even text in a report. Producing an easy to digest video highlighting the key themes from this year’s report was a great way to ensure the information is clearly communicated. (CML also created a brochure (pdf) to help maximize distribution.)
Corona has worked with CML for several years and this is the third year in which Corona has conducted the research to inform the State of Our Cities and Towns annual report.
Visit the Denver Post to see a recent article by CML referencing the State of Our Cities and Towns report. To learn more about the Colorado Municipal League, visit their website.
Colorado Symphony: Act 3, Scene 1
Lately I’ve been intrigued by the Harvard Business Review article “Strategy Tools for a Shifting Landscape” by Michael G. Jacobides (January 2010) in which he makes the case for a narrative approach to strategy analysis. Jacobides writes, “In an age when nothing is constant, strategy should be defined by narrative – plots, subplots, and characters.” There’s no more fitting arena for a narrative approach to strategy development than the American orchestral industry. As we’ve witnessed firsthand with the Colorado Symphony, the cast and characters are riveting, and the story lines and motives continue to change.
Or have they changed? Many have written about a sense of déjà vu with this latest era of symphony decline, including a recent article from Forbes. If 2012 is a lot like 1969 or the 1980s, then what’s preventing true reinvention for relevance? Perhaps the scene hasn’t fully played out or some of the actors are vying for a longer run of the current show.
Peter Linett, a partner in the Chicago-based consulting firm Slover Linett Strategies, gave an outsider’s view on the Colorado Symphony’s new business plan in his piece titled, “At the Colorado Symphony, half steps towards a consumer-first business model.” He astutely noted that “everything is being questioned except the underlying assumptions.” What Peter didn’t know is that the Sustainability Study Committee, facilitated by Corona Insights last spring, did question the underlying assumptions and identified a set of new principles to guide the organization.
Recently I had the opportunity to compare the Colorado Symphony’s new business plan, Creating a 21st Century Orchestra (pdf), with the committee’s ideas and recommendations. I was pleased to see that the committee’s work inspired the Symphony’s new strategic direction. Yet I was disappointed to note that while the committee’s ideas were included in the plan, the underlying principles that supported them were not. The words were essentially superimposed on the old approaches.
The organization’s fiscal year ends mid-year, so we’ll know very soon if the new business plan can deliver results. In the meantime, we’ll keep watching as the plot unfolds.
Corona in action
What better way to learn about the quality work Corona does than through the experiences of our various customers? Check out our updated Case Studies to see Corona in action. Over the years, Corona has helped a wide array of customers answer the questions most important to them, and then guide them from insights to successful outcomes.
You may have noticed some other recent changes to Corona’s website. We apply proven research methods and strategic insights to all of our customers, across sectors and industries. Keep checking back to find out how we can help your nonprofit, business, government agency or higher education institution.
1001th Project
As we closed the books on 2011, Corona was also wrapping up their 1001th project. We love numbers here at Corona, so could not let this milestone go unrecognized.
We were pleased to learn that lucky project #1001 was for the Iliff School of Theology. Corona has engaged with Iliff since 2007 when we created an influential Strategic Enrollment Marketing Plan for the institution, as well as a strategic business plan . Since then, Corona has led various research projects for Iliff, looking into new market segments, student enrollment opportunities and testing new curriculum ideas.
Our ongoing relationship with Iliff is a hallmark of Corona’s brand – combining our market research and strategic consulting expertise in the higher education field to provide ongoing data-driven insights that lead to proven results. Learn more about Iliff’s success as well as their 2010 and 2011 awards. Click here to read a testimonial from their VP of Marketing Communications & Strategic Partnerships.
Cheers to project 1001!
Next Era Nonprofits: Upcoming SVP Workshop
We’re in an era of profound and broad change for the nonprofit sector. In fact, this may be the most dynamic period the sector has experienced in two decades. Not only are the rules for success being rewritten, we’re thinking anew about what to call the sector, who is in the sector, and what defines it. Add to that the uncertainties in our macro world and – wow – it doesn’t get any more interesting or exciting.
The next era nonprofit is being (re)created right now. It embraces community relevance and impact as it searches for the Holy Grail – sustainability.
Corona Insights is leading a workshop for Denver’s Social Venture Partners on the five fundamentals of sustainable, next era nonprofits. Join us on February 17 from 7:30-9:30 am to learn about these fundamentals, Corona’s cutting-edge approach to business model sustainability, and the insights and foresights we’ve gathered on the future of the sector . The SVP workshop, open to 50 participants, will focus on:
- The fundamentals of nonprofit sustainability
- The importance of strategy and business model design for sustainable nonprofits
- The board’s role in sustainability
Contact Pat Landrum, Executive Director of SVP Denver, for more information and to RSVP.
Corona donates furniture to a good cause
As Corona Insights prepares for our upcoming office move (more on that soon), we are pleased to donate some of our existing furniture and equipment to local nonprofits.
Recently, Corona donated four desks and three bookcases to The Journey Institute and a set of cubicles to the JeffCo Action Center.
Corona has always supported the nonprofit sector through our work, volunteering, and donations. Corona was recently featured in a new book on the topic as well, Strategy for Good. Check out our blog post on the book here. And stay tune for more information about our move!
Karla Raines, Corona's CEO (right) and Dafna Michaelson of The Journey Institute
Corona's furniture on the way to the Journey Institute
The Audacity of Accountability
The four most dreaded words in any group endeavor – “That’s not my job.”
The six most dreaded words in any group endeavor – “I didn’t sign up for that.”
Imagine being the CEO of an organization and hearing those comments from your Board of Directors as you face down the third year of deficit spending.
It’s one thing to assume others are accountable. It’s another to hold them accountable. Let’s be honest, human beings can be very good at wiggling out of accountability.
The word accountability – an obligation and willingness to accept responsibility – can come across as a bit hum drum. Perhaps it’s the close relationship to the word accountant. The notion of counting beans and checking numbers. Sorry guys, not what I call fun.
In actuality, accountability is audacious. It’s daring, and can even appear to be recklessly bold. It would have been daring and bold if a board member had challenged his/her peers to be accountable. It might have come across as a bit reckless. After all, that would have meant discarding normal constraints (e.g., we don’t challenge authority, we don’t speak out, we don’t fund raise) in service to the organization.
Now that’s the audacity of accountability.
How many people actually cut the cords?
Reconciling survey data with the real world.
A recent survey from Deloitte found that one in five U.S. residents say they have either cut the cord (i.e., cancelled cable or satellite service) or are thinking about doing it. Nine percent of survey respondents indicated they have recently “cut the cord” while another eleven percent are thinking about it. Cord cutters are turning to services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, to name a few.
Interesting and a considerable percentage, but probably not true.
The problem? The TV industry reported flat subscriptions last year. As this article notes, even with a large margin of error, the numbers don’t work.
What happened? Assuming the TV industry is not misleading their subscribers (a 10% drop would be hard to hide in earnings reports) or there isn’t a flood of new subscribers hiding the cutters (though the article seems to discount that, too), the one culprit is likely poor sampling.
The survey was administered online, and while more and more Americans are online, biases are still likely. While they didn’t reveal how they sampled respondents online, my initial guess is that they skewed towards early adopters and people with faster, more consistent access to the internet. The exact population you would expect to be shunning cable in favor of online options.
If you’re not really surveying a representative sample of the population you’re interested in, then you’re not really surveying them.
Be Resolute
Each New Year we have the opportunity to make promises to ourselves, our friends and families, our organizations, and our communities. We call them resolutions. We typically make more resolutions that we can ever keep, and many are forgotten by early February. That’s why many of us don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions.
We’d be remiss if we let a poor practice ruin the meaning of a word. So I dusted off the virtual dictionary and found myself inspired.
To be resolute is to be marked by firm determination. To be resolute is to be bold and steady. What an awesome combination. After all, boldness that is fleeting isn’t really very bold at all.
Make one promise to be bold, steady and determined this year – all year long.
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