There has been a flood of material published lately on the many varied uses that can be made of AI tools like ChatGPT, Chatsonic, YouChat, and MidJourney. The more helpful material, I find, focuses on the intelligent framing of prompts to engineer optimal responses from the AI tool. The notion of prompt ‘engineering’ is not… Continue reading Prompts and algorithms for people (not just AI)
Tag: resources
Touchpoints and Touchstones for quality engagement
The importance of user experience (UX) has been a major theme of marketing, project management and design (affecting products and services of all kinds) over recent years. This has been expressed in numerous ways, but the customer (member, donor, client) journey and the employee journey are notable examples. Touchpoints on the journey Journey maps or… Continue reading Touchpoints and Touchstones for quality engagement
How long is your governance ‘year’?
Need for a key dates calendar Some of the smaller associations and community groups I have worked with have no staff, so volunteer directors and committee members are charged with doing all the work involved in running the organisation. I recently assisted one such group with the establishment of a Governance Committee, and part of… Continue reading How long is your governance ‘year’?
Red flags, risk matrices, or bow-ties?
Red Flag Memes Last year red flag emojis became something of a meme on social media. While red flag warnings were used most frequently in posts about personal relationships, they were also used in posts on political, sports, and business matters, amongst others. While it may be stating the obvious to observe that red flag… Continue reading Red flags, risk matrices, or bow-ties?
Clarifying expectations – when specifics matter
Misaligned expectations are often an underlying cause of error, tension, and conflict. This is true for nonprofit organisations as much as for any business entity (and family and friendship groups for that matter). When we expect one thing, and something else happens instead, many of us experience emotional responses ranging from delight and surprise, through… Continue reading Clarifying expectations – when specifics matter
Creating Value using an integrated (multi-capital) approach
Value creation is a key function of every board and adding value is central to the roles of both directors and senior managers, but what do we mean when we refer to value in this way? The Capitals Coalition is a global collaboration that seeks to redefine value in order to transform decision-making. They recognise… Continue reading Creating Value using an integrated (multi-capital) approach
Measuring your social value (impact)
Traditional notions of value in the context of organisational governance have tended to focus on economic definitions and metrics. Value for money, profitability, cash flow, price/performance, and ‘value adding’ through risk reduction, automation, demand aggregation, logistic efficiency, etc. are just some of the forms of economic value used by managers and directors to assess the… Continue reading Measuring your social value (impact)
“Am I thinking what you’re thinking?” – Perspective taking Vs perspective sharing
The conversational query “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” may have become a cliche, but rephrased (as in the heading above), it may help us to think a little more deeply about how we try to understand each other. We have been urged not to judge another until we’ve walked a mile in their shoes.… Continue reading “Am I thinking what you’re thinking?” – Perspective taking Vs perspective sharing
Are we there yet? Evaluating NFP outputs, outtakes, outcomes & impact
Evaluation – Part 2 Evaluation is one of the central elements in the EDM (Evaluate, Direct, Monitor) Governance Model, but its role in governance (and management) is often obscured by the use of other terms, like ‘problem-solving’ or ‘decision-making’. The importance of evaluation in non-profit governance is highlighted in the extracts from AICD’s NFP Governance… Continue reading Are we there yet? Evaluating NFP outputs, outtakes, outcomes & impact
The Scales of Governance: Weighing options, arguments, evidence & consequences
Evaluation – Part 1 We use the term ‘on balance’ as a shorthand way of saying that we have come to a decision or choice after considering the power, influence, or ‘weight’ of both sides of a question or issue. This invokes metaphoric reference to a set of balance scales – as in the ‘scales of justice’ (see header image). Evaluation skills, sometimes… Continue reading The Scales of Governance: Weighing options, arguments, evidence & consequences