The 8: We all get an A

Today is April 8, the day I typically send out monthly marketing / communications tips for nonprofits through enewsletter, The 8.

Honestly, I’m tired of receiving communications and marketing tips for managing through a crisis, speculation on “life after corona,” platitudes of how this is an opportunity for change and growth and how to best position yourself or your organization during these times.

Spoiler: This post will not include tips on any of the above-mentioned topics.

Focus schmocus

I don’t know about you, but I’ve had trouble focusing right now. For a lot of folks, the overnight shift to only working from home is a new experience. The other day, someone posted a comment on Facebook lamenting her inability to be productive and focused while working from home vs in the office.

I get it, it’s a big change if you’ve only ever worked in an office setting. But here’s the thing. I’ve worked from home for a number of years, and the challenges now are way more intense than ever before.

I’ve never worked full-time from home in the company of a school-aged kid with me all. day. long.

I’ve never been WFH during a global pandemic where we only leave the house to take walks or go to the grocery store.

WFH has never been under the stress of worrying about the economy and the health of friends and family.

So, yeah, I’m not going to be working at 100 percent, and I don’t think we should expect other people to be either. We’re all doing the best we can, given some crazy circumstances.

Grace-full

Through all of this, the big lesson for me has been to give myself and others grace. Or, as one of my clients told me, “Everyone gets an A right now.”

So, if I only work a couple of hours a day, that’s OK. I get an A.

When there are technical difficulties on a call, everyone gets an A for showing up. Even Zoom gets an A.

When my daughter tells me I’m acting like a Karen for the third time in a week after confronting people who were not adhering to the six feet of social distancing, she gets an A. I get an A for my response to her (and to them), even if it did include a four letter expletive. And those folks who infringed on my space, they get As, too.

We’re all managing stress differently. We’re all trying to figure out this “new normal” while we worry about our health, our loved ones, our finances and our work.

What’s helped me the most right now is trying to stay in the moment as much as I can. Surrendering to today. Gratitude. Lots of walks. Even more meditation. Phone calls with friends.

For any of you who may be judging yourself for not doing enough — congratulations — you get an A, too. You’re doing great.

Survival tips

And for those of you who are interested, here are some things I’ve found helpful in trying to stay calm, peaceful and present (consider these my monthly tips). Note: Some are on the woo-side — so if it’s not your thing, no offense taken. Take what you can and leave the rest.

• Daily gratitude. I’ve been keeping a gratitude journal for 7 or 8 years now. Each morning I write the 5-10 things I am grateful for. If you have a Panda planner, there’s space each day for you to jot down your top three. This is also a good way to wind down at night.

• Mantras. I just discovered this amazing a Capella group, Beautiful Chorus, who sing harmonized mantras. They released this one last week, Hymn of Healing, that I put on repeat when I start to get anxious. I also play the mantras before I go to sleep at night to help me relax.

• Tuning out. I started limiting how much news I’m tuning into. I look at my newsfeed once a day in the morning, and typically just read the headlines. And I’m completely off Twitter. I know that for some of you, this is harder because of the nature of your jobs and having to monitor the news … but if you can limit it in any way, your mind will thank you.

• Tuning in. Wherever you find inspiration, tune in. Here are some folks I’m fond of:

  • Eckhart Tolle’s Practicing the Power of Now. I read a little bit of it every morning. Just a daily reminder of to stay present and not start thinking or speculating about the future.

  • Pema Chodron’s Welcoming the Unwelcome. Remarkably, this came out in October 2019, but so much of it is relevant and applicable now. Another one to provide daily inspiration.

  • Mark Nepo’s The Book of Awakening. Mark is a poet, writer and cancer survivor. He’s put together a collection of inspirational quotes and essays for each day of the year.

  • Author and researcher Brene Brown just started a weekly podcast, Unlocking Us. This one on anxiety and over- and under-functioning in times of stress really hit home for me.

• Finding joy. This ties into gratitude, but where can you find joy in the day-to-day? I experience this a lot when I walk on the trail by my house (thankfully, we’re still able to do so under our city’s shelter in place ordinance). Is it a great cup of coffee? Your kids snuggling up to you to read? Connecting with a friend you haven’t heard from in a long time? Witnessing spring unfolding?

Thank you for allowing me to digress from the typical business-related suggestions. Now, more than ever, our personal and professional lives are intertwined, so I hope these tips can positively impact your work world as well.

Be safe. Be kind to yourself (and others). And don’t forget, we all get A’s.

Kate

Nonprofit resources during COVID-19

I just had a “real talk” conversation this morning with a colleague of mine whose consulting business, like mine, is dependent on nonprofits.

I'm not gonna lie, I've been feeling a lot of uncertainty and some fear about the long-term business effects of coronavirus, specifically on nonprofits.

With that in mind, I wanted to share a few resources that popped into my inbox today that might be helpful to anyone who works in the nonprofit world as we all try to figure out what’s next.

I’ll add more here as I find them — please send me any resources you have and I’m happy to post.

Thursday, 3.18:

CauseVox is sponsoring a free webinar on how nonprofits can manage through coronavirus.

The Center for NonProfit Management is also offering a free webinar on health, fundraising and risk assessment for nonprofits during the coronovirus pandemic.

Wednesday, 3.25:

PR News is hosting a free webinar, Communicating about COVID-19 -- Navigating a New and Uncertain Crisis.

Online Resources:

PRSA Dallas is hosting an open forum on their site for Comms professionals to post COVID-related questions. You don’t have to be a member to access the forum.

Council of Nonprofits has some great links and other resources on their website.

Nonprofit Communications Professionals private Facebook group of nearly 13K members is a community for nonprofit communicators to exchange questions and answers. There are a number of great discussions on managing communications around COVID.

SpinSucks posted these tips for people who may be working remotely for the first time. Even for those of us who are full-time remote at home, there’s some helpful advice.

GiveGab shared these tips for fundraising, especially for organizations that serve the most vulnerable populations. Plus they are waiving the subscription fee for their peer-to-peer fundraising suite, Boost, through June 30.

The 8: Coronavirus and Crisis Communications

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, I’m sure you are well-aware of the Coronavirus / COVID-19. Your organization has likely developed and shared safety guidelines for your employees, volunteers and others you work with.

(P.S. -- If you haven’t yet created and shared guidelines, I strongly advise doing so.)

Last week, South by Southwest, Austin’s annual music, film and interactive festival that brings in several hundred thousand people, was cancelled due to concerns about COVID-19.

Whether it’s a disease outbreak, natural disaster or some other crisis, nonprofits are often faced with having to respond to the unexpected.

Does your organization have a plan?

Yup, I’m talking about a Crisis Communications plan.

Look, you don’t need to create a massive binder outlining every single crisis scenario. But it is worth taking some time to talk about your process for managing through a crisis to make sure everyone is on the same page before one hits.

Here are some tips on how to prepare for and manage a crisis.

Before a crisis

• Have a plan. It doesn’t have to be complicated. But have one.

• Establish roles / responsibilities for managing a crisis and communicate them throughout your organization.

• Know who has the last say for approvals. If possible, streamline the approval process. Being nimble in a crisis is critical to making sure your response is timely.

When a crisis hits

• Breathe. Don’t immediately react; instead take some time to think through your plan and determine your next steps.

• Gather all your facts first. Find out if there has been media coverage, if there are conversations on social media and any additional information before developing an internal update for your leadership team.

• Remember that plan you developed? Follow the process you established. This will keep people focused and will help you stay sane.

After the crisis passes

• Review and reflect. Also known as an After-Action Review or Post-Mortem. Get everyone together who managed through the crisis and discuss: What was supposed to happen? What actually happened? What was the reason for the outcome? What did you learn and how can you improve?

I wish you a healthy, safe and crisis-free month.

Kate