Civil society and civility Non-profit organisations often characterise themselves as being part of ‘civil society’. Civil society has been defined and redefined over many years, but it broadly refers to “a wide array of organisations: community groups, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), labor unions, indigenous groups, charitable organisations, faith-based organisations, professional associations and foundations” (World Bank). As… Continue reading The choice between insightful and inciteful words
Tag: advocacy
Stakeholder Engagement and Empowerment Options
Policy advocacy In helping my clients to develop advocacy campaign plans and stakeholder engagement strategies, I often find the assumption we start with is that the client has ‘the message’ and everyone else with an interest is seen as ‘the audience’. Discussion inevitably ensues about the focus on ‘public interest’ versus a possible perception of… Continue reading Stakeholder Engagement and Empowerment Options
NFP strategic opportunities: Collective bargaining exemptions
Under Australian consumer law, nonprofits were prohibited from engaging in collective bargaining on behalf of members unless they were granted an authorisation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). This legislation aimed to prevent businesses of any size working together to achieve a common commercial goal which was seen as ‘anti-competitive‘, ‘collusive‘, or acting… Continue reading NFP strategic opportunities: Collective bargaining exemptions
COVID Public Policy Ratings – Australia 2020
The Evidence-Based Policy Analysis report for 2020 has recently been published by Per Capita, with a special emphasis on public policy responses arising from the COVID-19 ’emergency’. The authors conferred with Prof Kenneth Wiltshire AO, whose public policy business case criteria had been used in previous versions of this analysis, and he agreed to make… Continue reading COVID Public Policy Ratings – Australia 2020
Sharing Risk while avoiding a Blame Game
Responsibility and Accountability in Risk Governance My previous post highlighted governance issues associated with multiple parties sharing certain risk management responsibilities around the disembarkation of passengers from the Ruby Princess, at a time when COVID-19 infections were on the rise. The importance of establishing shared understandings about the risk perspectives of affected and involved parties… Continue reading Sharing Risk while avoiding a Blame Game
Policy Models and Accounts
Non-profit advocacy work tends to focus mainly on government relations, especially regulatory measures (‘sticks’) affecting the non-profit’s stakeholders, but also policy measures which might fit the tags ‘carrot’ or ‘sermon’. (See also my earlier article ‘Carrots, Sticks and Sermons: sorting policy types’.) I often find that NFP directors and staff are unaware of the processes… Continue reading Policy Models and Accounts
Change resistance and response
Context In my previous post, issues encountered by various of my non-profit clients were identified as catalysts for application of an empathy mapping response, in order to gain greater insight into the underlying causes of resistance to change initiatives. The issues and circumstances were summarised as follows: – a CEO dealing with resistance to cultural… Continue reading Change resistance and response
Empathy and Mindfulness in leadership (and life)
Empathy is one of the featured qualities of effective leaders in much of the leadership literature. Henry Mintzberg lists the collaborative mindset, requiring empathy and insight into a network of relationships, as one of The Five Minds of a Manager. Managing self: the reflective mind-set Managing organizations: the analytic mind-set Managing context: the worldly mind-set… Continue reading Empathy and Mindfulness in leadership (and life)
Policy Advocacy – tools worth having
Further to the valuable resources offered by the Alliance for Useful Evidence (which have been mentioned in this blog previously), another UK think tank offers a range of tools that every policy worker should have in their kit. The Overseas Development Institute (ODI) has produced a collection of policy analysis and advocacy resources that can… Continue reading Policy Advocacy – tools worth having
FREE Strategy and Policy Toolkit
Most not-for-profit organisations are small-to-medium in size, and have limited resources to do the strategy and policy work they would like to. So simple and effective tools for the job are much sought after, and can be immensely valuable to the staff and volunteers who need them. The DIY toolkit published by Nesta is therefore… Continue reading FREE Strategy and Policy Toolkit