For a change I want to share what it feels like for me to be on the receiving end of some amazing coaching. There's so much value in working with great coaches. They help me stretch my sense of what’s possible, they ask the right questions to get to the heart of what’s in the way, and they help open the path to achieving those stretch goals.

I've just come back from an amazing retreat where I got to spend two full days with my favorite coaches and peers. There were about 150 of us total hanging out together for two days. Sharing breakthroughs, helping each other have more breakthroughs, and helping each other figure out what the next big thing is. What's the next win? Where do we want to stretch next?

I got to thinking about how much impact this experience has on my success in my work, and in my life. And I wanted to share that with you because I think there are lessons for everyone there.

In this episode, I'm sharing:

• How to know when a blind spot or hidden obstacle is in your way
• The lesson those hidden obstacles are trying to get you to learn
• How fear or worry about an unwanted outcome can derail your vision of the big impact you want to make
• Two success hacks to help you reach your goals faster and more consistently
• How to create a great peer-coaching and accountability relationship that will accelerate your results
• Why getting comfortable with being uncomfortable can be your secret to success

Help spread the word! If you found value in this episode, I’d be grateful if you would leave a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. Your reviews help other nonprofit leaders find the podcast. Thanks!!

What if you only had 60 seconds to capture the attention of that decisionmaker? You're in the room with somebody important and you need something from them. From the moment you walk in the door, the risk that they’re not going to engage goes up for every second that you’re not actively engaging them.

60 to 90 seconds is not an exaggeration. And you know, it's not that they won't be polite and listen. Of course they will. But there's a huge difference between polite listening and being fully engaged, captivated by what you're saying.

And we want captivated.

The truth is for any encounter, whether it's an in-the-room meeting or over zoom, the first minute or two sets the tone. It tells the decisionmaker what to expect from you energetically, and it tells them where they can operate from energetically.

Is it going to be okay for them to just kind of lean back and listen and be somewhat detached? Or are they going to be all the way in on this?

How you open the conversation can determine how everything goes after that.

In this episode, we share:

• Why typical introductions and openings fail to engage
• The extra benefits you get by using an unconventional opening in your first encounter with a decisionmaker
• Four high-engagement models you can use for your opening with a decisionmaker right away
• Two common mistakes that will torpedo your high-engagement opening, and how to avoid them
• How to use data in your opening to get the decisionmaker leaning in and asking great questions
• How to train yourself to handle any interruption to your opening and turn it into a big opportunity

Help spread the word! If you found value in this episode, I’d be grateful if you would leave a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. Your reviews help other nonprofit leaders find the podcast. Thanks!!

Right now, maybe more than ever, it's so important for Nonprofit leaders to be as effective in our advocacy work as possible, while dealing with the fact that we have super-limited bandwidth. So anything we can do to be faster and more efficient and more effective getting to those results, the better.

I had a call with a client a few days ago that was a case study in all the things that can make us crazy when we're advocating with government decisionmakers in particular. Whether we're looking for a policy change or funding or both, it seems like the process and the path are rarely clear and certainly never easy.

A lot of times it can feel like a long and cumbersome process, especially if you don't have a full-time government relations person on staff. Which frankly, most nonprofits don't. I hear from a lot of clients their frustration with overly complex systems that have a million moving parts and are hard to decipher. Opaque decisionmaking structures where it sometimes feels impossible to figure out who's really in charge of the decisions you're trying to affect.

It's enough to make you want to give up before you even start.

I'm here to tell you that even when you're a full-time advocate, those roadblocks and challenges still crop up all the time. The difference is we know some tricks to cut through the fog and get on the shortest path to the results we want.

Today I'm sharing with you my three favorite shortcuts for doing just that.

In this episode, we share:

• The one place you should always start from to get faster advocacy results
• Two magic questions that will buy you more progress than any others
• How taking these three shortcuts can result in more and stronger strategic relationships
• The key to avoiding unseen holes in your dream policy that will come back to bite you
• How to use AI effectively in your advocacy work

Help spread the word! If you found value in this episode, I’d be grateful if you would leave a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. Your reviews help other nonprofit leaders find the podcast. Thanks!!