Animal Welfare Leadership

Together we can do more!

2010-03-09T12:12:00.001-08:00

It's time to start planning for our second Animal Welfare Leadership meeting. I have a speaker lined up to share more about web resources available to us (such as google docs, Ning, doodle.com). I am soliciting ideas and offers to present and speak at our second meeting. We are tentatively looking at Saturday, May 15th. Based on feedback from our first meeting we will ensure that we have time for networking and mingling amongst those of us in the animal welfare community. If you have a topic that you feel would be beneficial for the animal welfare to hear about please shoot me an email (marilou@pethavenmn.org).

I am reposting a blog from late December shortly after our first Animal Welfare Leadership meeting.

I WILL DO MORE

I am only one, but I am one.
I cannot do everything, but I can do something.
And what I can do, I ought to do.
And what I ought to do, by the grace of God, I will do.
I will do more than belong...I will participate.
I will do more than care...I will help.
I will do more than believe...I will practice.
I will do more than be fair...I will be kind.
I will do more than dream...I will work.
I will do more than teach...I will inspire.
I will do more than earn...I will enrich.
I will do more than give...I will serve.
I will do more than live...I will grow.
I will do more than talk...I will act.
I will be more than good...I will be good for something.

- Anonymous

Correlations between Being a Great Teacher and Being a Great Nonprofit

2010-02-08T15:25:00.001-08:00

From
Stanford Social Innovation Review : Opinion Blog : Correlations between Being a Great Teacher and Being a Great Nonprofit (February 8, 2010)

Posted using ShareThis

When my colleagues discuss nonprofit organizations, often they use a variety of analogies and comparisons. Sometimes an analogy is made between a nonprofit and a hospital, often discussing the nonprofits challenges with words relating to “surgery” or at times “life support”. Sometimes they are compared to a car, comparing the various engine parts to the sections of a nonprofit. The comparison I like and most often use is comparing a nonprofit to an elementary school classroom. Having recently volunteered in my son’s Pre-K classroom I know that I could be simultaneously leading a reading group, cleaning up a mess and consoling a crying youngster. Nonprofit organizations, like a classroom, have many moving parts.

I was thinking about this after I read an interesting article in the January 2010 edition of The Atlantic. The article, by Amanda Ripley, asks the central question of “What makes a great teacher?” In getting to this question, Ripley was given access to years of data compiled by the nonprofit group, Teach for America (TFA). Through this analysis, TFA came to some central characteristics that make up a great teacher. They concluded that great teachers:

• Set big goals for their students.
• Continually look for ways to improve their effectiveness and constantly reevaluate their performance.
• Recruited students and their families into the process.
• Maintained focus, “ensuring that everything they did contributed to student learning”.
• Planned “exhaustively and purposefully—for the next day or the year ahead—by working backward from the desired outcome”
• Worked “relentlessly, refusing to surrender to the combined menaces of poverty, bureaucracy, and budgetary shortfalls.”

When I looked at these characteristics I began thinking about the earlier classroom analogy between a great teacher and a great nonprofit. My thoughts on the comparisons, using additional analogies, are:

• Most nonprofit have lofty dreams. The difference between these nonprofits and great ones is that a great nonprofit’s mission and vision should remain lofty but its closely related goals are realistic and attainable. Many nonprofits often drive in circles toward what they believe is a goal, but really are endlessly driving around that lofty dream.

• Great nonprofits know that their march toward mission effectiveness is a constant working of a muscle, often adding a weight to the bar or altering a routine to reach their potential. Often times ambitious nonprofits approach effectiveness like an audit, performing a Jiffy Lube exercise of creating and monitoring checklists to reach “effectiveness”. Great nonprofits know their dashboard is on a moving trajectory that they are constantly working toward.

• Great nonprofits create an environment in which multiple players all have parts in their symphony, each one important. Many nonprofits have conditioned themselves to believe that real participation into their success is to involve clients and partners in an obligatory bit role, ranging in activities like providing a feedback box for staff or having client representation on an executive or board committee. Great nonprofits know that client and partner interaction needs to be intertwined into the operational fabric of the organization.

• Great organizations are experts at saying the word “No”. “No” to Requests for Proposals that don’t meet the mission, “No” to a board member’s ambition that could take the organization astray, “No” to staff working from their own agenda, “No” to partners wishing to collaborate solely to obtain a resource. While you may think that the word “No” creates an unmotivated environment, it’s actually the opposite in a great nonprofit. The loud roar of the “Yes” significantly drowns out the diminishing whisper of the “No”.

• An easy test I often use when looking at an organization is to see if the threads of planning at the top reach the day-to-day work in the middle or at the bottom. Successful nonprofit organizations are able to plan and create mechanisms to monitor planning throughout the organization. Try this exercise: Grab an organization’s strategic plan, the ED’s most recent report to the board, the job description of a middle manager and that middle manager’s latest performance review. Can you see some symmetry? Poor organizations have little, average organizations have some and great nonprofits have a lot.

• Great nonprofits also say “No” to barriers that prevent them from mission success. “No” to political roadblocks that may shut them out, “No” to technological forces that challenge them to connect and “No” to resource inflows that could be narrowing. Like great teachers, great nonprofits are “relentless” and “refuse to surrender”. This is what I like to call “Third Sector Grit” and is what makes the nonprofit world so great.

While I know that the classroom also has aspects that are different from a nonprofit, I do see a very close relationship to what TFA regards as a great teacher to what I regard as a great nonprofit.

American Humane Leadership Development

2010-01-23T05:49:00.000-08:00

Reposted from American Humane website:

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Serious training for animal welfare professionals
Where are the animal welfare leaders of tomorrow? They’re getting training today from American Humane’s Leadership Development Program!

Our Leadership Development Program is the state-of-the-art path of personal and professional growth in the animal welfare industry. Created in collaboration with the Society of Animal Welfare Administrators (SAWA), this unique program will enhance the skills of animal welfare professionals, providing them greater opportunities to advance in the animal welfare field and ultimately creating a better world for the nation's animals.

Our comprehensive curriculum will provide a full spectrum of high-quality professional development courses at the operations, management and executive levels, in addition to supporting the education and training needed to become a Certified Animal Welfare Administrator (CAWA).

Current Leadership Development Program trainings include:

Shelter Operations School
Shelter Operations School for Managers
Customer Service for the Animal Welfare Professional
Managing Compassion Fatigue
National Fundraising School
Euthanasia by Injection
Shelter Operations School for Executives (coming soon)
Stay tuned for more information.

I Will Do More

2009-12-28T04:15:00.000-08:00

Dreams shared from the workshop...

2009-12-20T06:36:00.000-08:00

At last weekend's workshop a question posed to attendees was "what is your dream for a better world for people and animals?". I thought i'd share some thoughts/visions of attendees of the Animal Welfare leadership seminar:

"Animal welfare community works together to solve the challenges in our industry."

"Respect and mercy for fellow humans and animals. Awareness beyond one's self."

"All children and companion animals are wanted, loved, safe and secure; to not want for food, shelter and the basic amenities of life."

"Where people start to gain a new view of animals which changes how animals are treated - includes 'societal' and 'systemic' changes to create lasting change."

"All animals experience a loving home and bond with humans ... all humans experience a loving bond with an animal.."

"That our culture will one day be able to embrace all sentient beings as equal and treat them as such. That we will become 'true' stewards of all who inhabit our planet."

"To pool and focus talent and resources to put an end to homelessness and euthanasia of adoptable healthy pets and educate pet owners to maintain this"

"A world in which people are more educated about the conditions and issues facing animals. People are given the tools and knowledge to make a focused and lasting impact."

We would love to hear what your dream is for a better world for humans and animals.

Thanks again for everyone who came to the first animal welfare leadership session. We look forward to meeting again in 2010 for our next session.

Thanks to everyone who gives so much of their time, heart, resources, and skills to making our world a better place for both humans and animals.

Animal Welfare Leadership Kick off Session

2009-12-13T05:09:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning at the Doubletree Hotel in St. Louis Park, more than 50 people from 12 different animal welfare organizations came together to discuss Leadership. There are so many of us working tirelessly to rescue and rehome dogs and cats. So many of us share the vision of a day when there will no longer be a need for us to euthanize healthy, adoptable dogs and cats. We as a community must come together to address the pet over population problem. Every year 6- 8 million animals are surrendered to shelters. Every year 4 million are euthanized for lack of homes ... that's one animal every 8 seconds (source: HSUS).

It was exciting to see leaders from so many organizations come together. This was a kick off session to simply determine if there was an interest. The response was overwhelming. The first half of the session focused on leadership development which I led/facilitated. We spent some time reflecting on what leadership means to us and also what our dream is for a better world for animals and humans. Some wonderful ideas were provided which I will share soon once I compile them. I then provided an overview of various leadership frameworks.

During the second half of the session we had 4 guest speakers: Kathie Johnson (Director of Animal Services, Animal Humane Society) talked about the Pet Overpopulation in Minnesota; Dr. Kim Culbertson (of Animal Humane Society and Minnesota Spay Neuter Assistance Program) talked about HVHQSN - High Volume High Quality Spay Neuter; Nancy Minion (Second Chance Animal Rescue) provided an update on the puppy and kitten mill legislation in Minnesota; and Rachel Anderson and Lara Peterson (A Rotta Love Plus) presented on Pitbull 101 and also shared about the education/outreach work they are doing on behalf of pitbulls.

I've decided to start this blog as a quick way for us to remain connected and to help spread the word so we as a community can come together to work towards our shared vision of a home for all healthy, adoptable animals.

Many, many thanks to those of you that came yesterday and for our invited speakers. I am truly, truly excited about the collaboration. Ongoing sessions will be developed and plan to stay tuned for when our next leadership gathering will take place in 2010!

From "Leading from within":

- Leaders find and Listen to their Inner Voice
- Leaders Listen and Attend to Others
- Leaders Cultivate an Organization's Creative Imagination
- Leaders Evoke Conversations that Matter
- Leaders Foster Renewal
- Leaders Tell Stories and Inspire Shared Vision

Let's all stand together and be a stronger voice for both humans and animals!

With gratitude for all who dedicate so much of their hearts, time and resources,
Marilou Chanrasmi
President, Pet Haven of Minnesota

P.S. Groups represented at our kick off session were: Pet Haven, Retrieve a Golden of Minnesota (RAGOM), A Rotta Love Plus (ARLP), Animal Humane Society, Chuck & Don's Pet Food Outlet, Animal Folks MN, Voters for Animals, Second Chance Animal Rescue, Minnesota Spay Neuter Project, Minnesota Spay Neuter Assistance Program, Red Lake Rosie's Rescue, Beltrami Humane Society.

Leadership illustration by John S Dykes.