As the school year and programming year begins to wind down and the planning season of summer is on the horizon, there is no better time to plan your new year 5787.
Please, please do yourself a favor and conduct your annual calendar planning meeting. It empowers you to make a budget, plan your marketing, plan your fundraising and move away from the guesswork.
When it comes to planning your programs, here are some good tips.
1. Identify what is working and what is not. Consider letting go of the programs that haven't been working or employing a new strategy.
2. Resist the urge to do what the next Shliach is doing and is the latest shiny penny. Don't adopt new programs midyear unless they are really once in a lifetime opportunities or if they have the potential to bring many more people then you'd usually have attending. Put the latest fads and new ideas in an ideas list that you'll visit in next year's planning.
3. Try new things. Always be innovative. Try something that won't cost too much but potentially could be a new area or new angle of a program that may create new interest.
A planning meeting shouldn't take more than two hours. Gather your key decision makers and plan a two hour meeting. Give everyone food, everyone loves a good lunch.
Print out a Jewish/Gregoian calendar for the following year from Chabad.org or Hebcal.
Go through your year and all of your programs. Don't plan the details, just the ideas. Eg. Are we doing a children's program on the eve of Purim or the day of Purim? Are we doing something different about Purim this year? Don't think about the Purim theme now.
Don't overthink this. Do it now, get it scheduled. You'll be thankful you did.
Strength-Based Compassionate Leadership
Most of us like to think of ourselves as nice people. But in the name of being nice, we sometimes become pushovers.
Compassionate leadership doesn't mean being aggressive, but it does require inner strength and the willingness to take a clear, firm position.
Whether you're dealing with a colleague or a team member, the most effective approach is combining strength with compassion.
Compassion doesn't mean always saying yes. It means setting aside ego and focusing on what's truly best for the organization and how each relationship fits into that bigger picture.
Strength means humility. It's not about being right or looking good; it's about carefully considering all the factors and making the best possible decision.
When you bring strength and compassion together, you become a grounded, effective leader one who can truly grow and lead others.
What kind of leader are you?