How are YOU Working Smarter Not Harder? Let's Learn Together!

rachmyersrachmyers Posts: 8 ✭✭
First Comment National Center for Family Philanthropy (NCFP) Conversation Starter

Hi Compass Community!

My name is Rachel Myers and I have been working with the great team at Foundant to create a new learning series in response to this critical question: How can you release some pressure and create more space to work on what is most important to you and your organization? SPOILER ALERT: It is NOT about doing more; it is actually about doing less—to allow you to focus on what matters most.  

Our Work Smarter, Not Harder series will launch with a webinar on January 18th. Please join us by registering here:

In January, February, and March we will share podcasts and blogs that dive deeper into: Prioritization 📋️, Having Great Meetings 👩‍💻, Leveraging Technology 🖥️, Time Management ⏱️ and Getting Work Done 🗂️. If you are interested in being featured as a guest speaker on any of these topics, please email Foundant Marketing Content Manager Kristin Laird (kristin.laird@foundant.com).

We want to learn from you! This series is designed to help us all learn from each other so that we can take back our time—and take on our biggest priorities!  To kick off this conversation, I'm curious to know what new idea 💡, system, tool, or approach you have implemented in the past year that is saving you time and energy? What is working well for you? Please share below!

I'm looking forward to learning with you!

😁 Rachel

Comments

  • rachmyersrachmyers Posts: 8 ✭✭
    First Comment National Center for Family Philanthropy (NCFP) Conversation Starter

    Mandi - that is an impressive list! Sounds like you are leveraging CommunitySuite in all kinds of helpful ways to save time and energy. Thanks for sharing!

  • MariannePlathMariannePlath Posts: 13 ✭✭
    First Comment First Compass Anniversary 5 Likes Photogenic

    Mandi these are some excellent ideas! I particularly like #8,

  • rachmyersrachmyers Posts: 8 ✭✭
    First Comment National Center for Family Philanthropy (NCFP) Conversation Starter
    edited January 2023

    Hey Compass community!

    I wanted to share this short summary video with some tips about how you can leverage your technology to work smarter, not harder. Click here if you would like to listen to the whole podcast, or read more about how to make technology, your friend, not foe:

    I'd love to hear what technology or software you and your team are loving right now. The software tools that I've been leveraging lately are Canva and Loom (I made the video above with Loom!). I'm also a fan of Jamboard, which is a simple online whiteboard by Google.

    I'm so curious to hear what technology others are using and loving!

    :) Rachel

  • rachmyersrachmyers Posts: 8 ✭✭
    First Comment National Center for Family Philanthropy (NCFP) Conversation Starter
    edited February 2023

    Hi Compass community! We just posted a short video summary and blog post on how to use Prioritization to work smarter, not harder. Both the video and the blog post are based on a wonderful conversation that I had with @AndreaStevenson on a recent Connected Philanthropy podcast. Andrea and I have both worked as Executive Directors and staff members at nonprofit organizations, so we know firsthand how many different priorities and opportunities you are juggling! I hope these resources - including a sample strategy screen - will help you to make more time for the work that matters most!

  • rachmyersrachmyers Posts: 8 ✭✭
    First Comment National Center for Family Philanthropy (NCFP) Conversation Starter
    edited February 2023

    Hello Compass Community!

    I wanted to share a link to the podcast we just posted featuring a conversation I had with @SammieHolzwarth about Time Management and how to avoid (or at least reduce) something I call "calendar panic". You may have experienced "calendar panic" when you open up your calendar for the day and realize that there is little to no room in your day to move your priorities forward! 😯 We've all been there. Here is a short video summary with some of the highlights from the podcast:

    We would LOVE to hear how you all are taking back your calendars and making the most of your precious time!

  • rachmyersrachmyers Posts: 8 ✭✭
    First Comment National Center for Family Philanthropy (NCFP) Conversation Starter

    Hello Compass community!

    I wanted to make sure that you all saw the recent blog post about Planning & Facilitating Great Meetings. As a consultant, I have spent a lot of time working with clients to plan and facilitate meetings that identify their organizational values, evaluate their strengths, challenges, opportunities and threats, and bring together staff members and board members to work collaboratively towards important goals. Through these experiences, and the hundreds of meetings that I have facilitated, I have found a few tools and frameworks that are extremely useful in designing more effective and engaging meetings. I shared some of my learnings, in the recent podcast about Having Great Meetings, and you can get a sense of what we discussed in this short video summary:

    As you know, meetings are essential to moving projects forward, discovering new solutions, and creating clarity and momentum. I also believe that most meetings can be more effective and satisfying for all of the attendees. One of my most important tips is to become clear about the purpose of your meeting before you do anything else. I have started to write a "Meeting Purpose Statement" at the top of every agenda to make sure that I have clarity around why we are coming together for this meeting.

    What tools have YOU used to create more effective meetings?

  • rachmyersrachmyers Posts: 8 ✭✭
    First Comment National Center for Family Philanthropy (NCFP) Conversation Starter

    Hey there! I know that all of you have a lot to do and limited time to get it done. You might be interested in checking out the recent podcast I recorded with Aarron Szsalscinski about Agile—a collaborative project management framework that enables creativity, flexibility, and efficiency. We discussed the different techniques and advantages that Agile can provide to help you work smarter, not harder. I learned a ton - and I hope you do, too! Here is a short summary video with some takeaways:

    Don't miss this blog article as well! I'm curious if any of you have tried using Agile and how it has worked for you? Share your insights!

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