Three Delegation Fears & How to Overcome Them

by | Apr 7, 2017 | Action Planning, Entrepreneur, Nonprofit Management

If you’ve set goals and you’re serious about meeting them, then you’re inevitably going to have to give up other tasks in order to achieve your goals. If you’re spending your time on little tasks that aren’t integral to moving toward your overall goals, then you need to get comfortable with asking for help ASAP.

Let’s say you you are a marketing professional. Then you should not be reconciling your company’s financials. Sure, you could do the books. But if there are a finite number of hours in a week and you bring in the most money by doing marketing work for your company, then you should be spending all your time on the marketing work and asking (or paying) someone else to do the books.

I must admit, though, I am horrible asking for help. I usually get caught up in one of three Delegation Fears.

1. I don’t want to waste time explaining how I want a project done.

I try to remember something I once heard in a web design class, “Everyone has a scholarship to Google University.” And it’s true! If you delegate a task, the person you sent it to should be able to figure out how to accomplish the task, even without you holding their hand and leading the way.

2. I could do it better myself.

In situations like this, I’m reminded of another piece of advice I first heard from one of Hilary Rushford’s webinars, “Perfect is the enemy of good enough.” If you like things done a certain way, I urge you to challenge your instincts. Seeking perfection is unrealistic and will set you up for failure. Instead, recognize when your work is good enough. Get it done, and move on.

3. Oh, it’ll only take me five minutes.

But imagine how many of those five minute tasks you pile on each week. Tally up those five minutes each month, and consider how much time you’ve lost in an entire year. Identify your strengths and what you bring to the table that offers the largest ROI. Delegate any tasks that aren’t within your strengths or are wasting company time.

Of course, you should work hard. But you also need to work smart. Your time is finite, so if you’ve got a lot on your plate, make sure you’re doing those tasks that will get you the most bang for your buck. Those of us who work for startups, small businesses, or nonprofits, are constantly juggling multiple tasks and projects. But when it comes to achieving the goals you’ve set for yourself and your business, you need to make sure you’re spending your (limited) time doing what is most impactful for your organization.

Best Practices in Digital Marketing with the New Jersey Historical Commission

Best Practices in Digital Marketing with the New Jersey Historical Commission

by | Apr 6, 2016 | Heritage Tourism, Marketing, Nonprofit Management, Social Media

Like it or not, social media is here to stay. It is a new form of communication and participation in cultural experiences. Across the nation, nonprofits are realizing the marketing and development potential that social media offers. Tapping into that potential requires more than establishing a profile or occasionally updating your page. It requires research, planning, creativity and consistency.

In this day-long, interactive workshop, Rachel Dukeman covers the best ways to use social media and digital media marketing to enhance grant proposals, fundraising campaigns, audience participation, and communicating your brand to a larger audience online. From determining the best sites to using content generation, participants are encouraged to bring a laptop, smartphone or tablet to experience professional social media strategy and implementation.

In Spring 2016, the workshop was offered in three locations throughout New Jersey: Rutgers University Alexander Library in New Brunswick, Morris County New Jersey Public Safety Training Academy in Morristown, and Ocean County Bishop Memorial Library in Toms River.

 

A big THANK YOU to our Sponsors: 

Sponsored by the New Jersey Historical Commission, New Jersey Historic Trust, New Jersey League of Historical Societies, Ocean County Cultural and Heritage Commission, and Rutgers University Libraries.

Did you attend?

Get the Slide Handout

Documentation

See Photos and Posts

Let's do it again!

Commission a Workshop
Should You Draft a Strategic Plan?

Should You Draft a Strategic Plan?

by | Dec 15, 2015 | Nonprofit Management

The day-to-day tasks at work can be overwhelming; so it’s rare that you’d want to add to it with a strategic planning process.  A good strategic plan shows you a snapshot of where you are, where you want to be, and how to get there.

But is it right for you? To help you figure it out, we created this flow chart.

A Reflection on Foundations and Direction

by | Dec 1, 2014 | Entrepreneur, Marketing, Nonprofit Management, Policy

I, Rachel Dukeman, founded R&R Creative in 2007 during an economic downturn in an effort to broaden arts and cultural audiences through effective market research, audience engagement, and marketing services on a contract-by-contract basis. The pressure to maintain programmatic quality during the Recession forced nonprofits to hone their entrepreneurial skills and ability to manage projects according to priority, viability and strategic direction in a high velocity climate. More succinctly, they were forced to do more with less, being held accountable for the “success” of each program. In response, R&R Creative further developed tools to make planning easy to implement and metrics to track progress towards set goals.

The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance’s 2014 Portfolio noted a distinct set of organizations that not only recovered from the recession faster than the sector as a whole… they grew. These “Growth” organizations: spend more on marketing and fundraising, rely more on paid attendance and hire independent contractors. Proving to R&R Creative that our approach to helping the cultural nonprofit sector was a step in the right direction.

It is the current goal of R&R Creative to impact on the arts and culture sector in the best way possible: by improving policy and management strategy.

  • Dukeman, Rachel. “Three Recession Results That Can Benefit NonProfits.” Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal. May 2012. Link.
  • Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. “2014 Portfolio.” 2014. Link.
Are you a Growth Organization?

Retention + Conversion Planning

by | Nov 10, 2014 | Nonprofit Management

its_alive1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If your retention + conversion plan focuses on sending prospects e-newsletters, you may want to think further.  Gmail sends most email marketing platforms (Constant Contact, MailChimp, etc.) directly to a secondary or promotional inbox. That means your hopeful message just passed right by the eyes of your would-be consumer. What’s next? You’ll need something a little stronger to make your plan come alive.

R&R Creative specializes in drafting strategy that works on all budgets. Throw some creative people in a room to work on a nonprofits or small business project and you’ll get marketing on a shoestring — but don’t worry, we can handle all sorts of laces.