Hearts and heads
The title of this post, borrowed from a recent Tune Up Tuesday video by Erica Mills of Claxon Marketing , captures the tension many nonprofit staff and board members run into when describing the value of their organization’s work. Erica tags it as a problem that so many of us believe we need to lead with the head (facts and figures about programs offered, clients served, counties covered) and in doing so we ignore the heart (the story of our own personal connection to the mission). The facts are important. But the story is what sticks. We need a little of both.
Originally posted on community.npowerseattle.org/npowering on March 30th, 2011.
The title of this post, borrowed from a recent Tune Up Tuesday video by Erica Mills of Claxon Marketing , captures the tension many nonprofit staff and board members run into when describing the value of their organization’s work. Erica tags it as a problem that so many of us believe we need to lead with the head (facts and figures about programs offered, clients served, counties covered) and in doing so we ignore the heart (the story of our own personal connection to the mission). The facts are important. But the story is what sticks. We need a little of both.
That’s why so many consultants and observers who are rooting for nonprofits’ success, including Erica, Kivi Leroux Miller , Andy Goodman and others, advise us to either lead with a story or make story-telling a key part of our presentation to current and potential supporters. A story will speak to the heart and capture the imagination and spirit, letting the facts then do the rational convincing within the mind.
Coming to work at a technology nonprofit by way of a Master’s in Family Therapy, I am well grounded in the power of story. Yet I tend to drift towards the facts in an effort to convince, and I appreciate being reminded of the power a story can have. So I took Erica’s advice from her Hearts and Heads video and opened the floor to the NPower staff at our monthly meeting last week. I asked two questions - “why do you work here?” and “what about your work here speaks to your heart?” We shared in pairs for five minutes and the buzz around the room was heartwarming.
I think the conversation helped to rebalance the equation of head and heart. On one hand, our mission to “strengthen the nonprofit sector by catalyzing innovation and driving adoption of technology solutions” is pretty heady, as is our daily work as web developers, network consultants, and general technology champions. One the other side of the equation, the people who work here have a heartfelt connection to the missions of our clients and our core belief is that technology can play a pivotal role in creating the common good.
So at NPower we’re working to strike a balance between hearts and heads. We hope to bring you more stories from the heart as we expand our library of client case studies, and through video and humor at our upcoming Techtacular fundraiser . Join us! We’d like to hear from you about how we’re doing.
