By: David G. Phillips

Oftentimes, to be most well received, we have to consider the feelings, the traditions and the positions of the audience prior to giving a speech. People have many different experiences that influence their perspectives and you can better communicate with them if you know the viewpoint from which they are going to hear your presentation.

In many, if not most, instances we should do the same thing when we are teaching people something. When teaching older people, or those who might question our wisdom, you should save everyone some time and effort by telling them the why (explaining your reasoning) in addition to the what (needs to be done) and the how (it needs to be done).

When faced with deadlines, we tend to want to take the shortcut approach. Nevertheless, what sometimes appears to be a shortcut can turn out to be the long route instead. It is best to spend the time planning your syllabus and teaching strategy beforehand, so that you capture the hearts and then the attention of the audience. Notice capturing their hearts comes before capturing their attention—that is one of life’s universal laws.

After college, or graduate school, many of us are unleashed from the theoretical world into a very practical world. We go forth, wide-eyed and wonderstruck, planning to make it to the top. Yet, more often than not, there are unforeseen roadblocks and disappointments. Much of it relates to our communication or lack thereof.

Many of todays best and brightest are opting for careers in the non-profit (or third) sector of the economy. The non-profit sector is booming, accounting for $500 billion in expenditures in the year 2000 alone. There is much opportunity here. Although salaries are not quite on par with jobs in the private sector or even the governmental sector, lots of talented young people are opting for high-level jobs within the non-profit segment of the economy. With the non-profit sector growing so dramatically, there is a real demand for executive directors and directors of development.

Many times, these young people are thrust into situations as top management of medium to large sized organizations without much experience under their belts. Often, they are running the development operation or the entire agency, with responsibility only to a board for their ultimate success. Who has prepared them to communicate tough marching orders to older, more experienced trustees, many of whom are not anxious to be told what to do by someone their own age, much less some young whippersnapper.

Not unlike commissioned officers in the US Army, graduated from colleges as the leaders of battlefield battalions, they are supposed to put on their “leadership caps” one day and go out and lead their troops in a convincing way. When they get sent to the front lines, they get a quick and dirty lesson about who is really in charge. It becomes evident that they need the support of the career non-commissioned officer—who has the respect of his men and of the enemy. He knows how to kill—effectively and efficiently—and nobody questions his orders. He has the respect of his men, respect that must be earned by the leader.

How can one earn respect—simply put, you must give respect where it is warranted and stand for excellence! How do you earn respect? Through good communication, relentless preparation and by demanding the very best out of everyone under your direction.

Different people have different needs. Some are vocal, some quiet. Some are excitable, some are even-tempered. Some are motivated, some are not. Some are hard workers, some are not, but almost everyone responds to respect.

As a practical matter, most young non-profit executive directors and development officers are working with people twice their age. These people have run successful businesses and, in some cases, made and lost several fortunes. These are often very highly-strung, opinionated people—difficult people to manage. These people are used to making all the decisions. They are used to calling the shots.

As a young or inexperienced leader, this presents you with a considerable challenge. How do you train older, influential people, and how do you get them to listen. How do you gain their acceptance and respect? The key word here is WHY. Because you recognize these people’s need to understand the nature of your actions—you tailor your teaching method to include the why (we need to do things), along with what (we need to do) and how (we are going to do it).

By giving these very intelligent people the rationale behind the tough directions you are asking them to take, they can see the wisdom of your direction and they are going to be quick to take it. When people know you have their best interest at heart, and they are confident of your ability to lead, they are very comfortable in following your lead.

If you are dealing with people you have known for a long time, and who trust and respect you implicitly, you can skip some of the preliminary discussions and move on into the tactical issues of what to do and how to do it. Telling them only what to do and how to do it—not wasting time with the reasons why, will enable you to accomplish more work, much more rapidly. To these warriors you simply shout: Go, Go, Go, Faster, Faster, Faster!

If you are experiencing difficulty in convincing some of your board members, development committee members or executive leadership about the best methods to raise money, perhaps you need to assess your audience. Perhaps they need to know a little more about why you feel so strongly about this method over the other one. Show them examples of what worked well in other situations and caution them about things that won’t work as well in your organization and why this is the case.

Give distinguished leaders the respect they deserve by taking the time to explain why some action is necessary. If they can understand why, you are probably in the clear about what and how.

I hope this helps you build a better working relationship with your leadership team.

David G. Phillips is president of Custom Development Solutions, Inc. (CDS). CDS has become one of North America's best and most sought after fundraising consulting firms specializing in the strategic planning and tactical execution of capital campaigns for non-profits throughout the United States and Canada. More information on CDS can be found on the web at www.cdsfunds.com. If you have a fundraising question for David, please call 800-761-3833 or send an email to dgp@cdsfunds.com.