Challenges and Strokes

In January, giving into to my husband who doesn’t have one but had been bugging me for months to get one, I bought an Apple Watch.  And I immediately fell in love.  I love closing my activity circles every day.  I love tracking my workouts and seeing how long, how many calories, and how much over goal I go.  And I love tracking my steps, especially when I beat my neighbor who obsessively (unlike me, who does it completely rationally) tracks hers.  I knew i was competitive, but who knew how much!

What I honestly find is how much this silly watch pushes me.  Both through challenging me and providing positive strokes.  

Last Sunday, tired after facilitating a board retreat, my watch informed me that I was really close to closing my exercising ring.  “A brisk half hour walk will do it,” the watch exhorted me.  I was tired.  It was cold out.  What difference did it make if I closed the exercise ring?  But....I was on a streak.  If I closed it today, it would be 14 perfect days.

I got up, put on my sneakers and walked.  I was rewarded with not just a closed circle but also a visual celebration of my success.  I loved it.

More than anything, my watch reminds me that to really motivate people—staff, board members...husbands (maybe even wives)—you have to challenge them to do whatever it is you want done.  And you must reward them for doing it.

That made me think about the board retreat I had just done, and the many retreats I am privileged to be a part.  And especially about boards and fundraising.

Both the executive director and the director of development both not exactly complained but definitely noted—as do most ED’s and DoD’s-that the board members don’t really fundraIse, no matter how much they are pushed to bring in names of those who might make a gift.  That, of course, is but a small part of fundraising.  More important is building relationships and connecting people to a cause an a community.

We spent a lot of the board retreat talking about specific things board members could do to build those relationships and create those connections.  They were excited, challenged.

Then someone said, but how will we know if what we are doing makes a difference?

Ahh, I thought, just as we neglect to steward our donors, we totally ignore stroking our board members for all the really great things they do.

And they do great things.  

I often tell the story of how, when I first truly managed a board, I got incredibly frustrated.  I called my sister—a woman who is a serial board member and frequent major donor to causes that matter to her—and complained that my board wasn’t doing what I needed them to do.

“Janet,” she responded, “are you doing what they need you to do?”

Ahhhh.  Lightbulbs going off all over the place.  Of course not.  I was expecting them to simply do what I needed—without challenging them and certainly without celebrating their successes.

My watch just informed me that I could do it—close the last ring.  All I have to do is stand up.  So if you will excuse me, I need to stand and move for at least a minute. 

I’m looking forward to the pulsating circle that will celebrate my success