Congratulations on your purchase of this guidebook to your organization's future. Welcome to a future where your colleagues, your board, and your organization itself approach each day as an opportunity to get better, to improve, and to learn This book, while short and easy to understand, will be your step-by-step companion on an exciting journey to becoming a learning organization. In these pages, you will find information on five locks that prevent progress in many organizations. These locks keep you, your staff and your organization from maximizing your potential. Perhaps you recognize some of these in your agency and hate the way they are holding you back: Nothing EVER changes Everything is always about the short-term The new people we hire are smart, but don't "get" us very well It's IMPOSSIBLE to get support for new ways of doing things Everyone is busy doing their OWN thing-and we never know what that is If you experience any of these nagging and demoralizing issues on the job, this book, Old Organizations, New Tricks will help you unlock potential you didn't know was there. The Five Keys you'll read about will lead you to Examine the present, imagine the future, and move forward See both the forest and the trees so you can thrive Make choices now to reap large benefits later Hire people who will fit in, contribute and stay around because they love working in your organization Ensure growth opportunities to build a better team Uncover and update operating practices that have outlived their usefulness Use generative dialogue to uncover faulty decisions, before you lose time, money, staff, and community support Guide, mold and cultivate a shared vision of excellence Implement the lessons you and your staff members have learned from experiences in your organization And much more Perhaps you know of a learning organization - one which is innovative and adaptable. It takes risks, and sometimes makes mistakes. But it sees each challenge as an opportunity to learn something important. As a result, it keeps getting better and better. This is a special type of organization, "where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to see the whole together." These are the words of Peter Senge (1990, p. 3) who first coined the term learning organization and inspired tens of thousands of questions and answers about what it means for organizations to learn and exactly how we can help them to do so. This short report is also inspired by Senge's ideas, and it draws on the work of many others who have written about and studied this curious phenomenon before and after him. This report simplifies some basic characteristics of learning organizations and suggests practical exercises that you can implement right away in order to start leading your organization down a new path - a path that is not without potholes or forks in the road but which nonetheless moves onward and upward to higher ground. In this way, you can soon be the leader of an organization that never stops learning, but is continually committed to growth. You can unlock the potential of your organization to improve and grow by using the five keys presented here. As a review, here are those five keys to leading a powerful learning organization: Key 1: Expand your Horizons Key 2: Invest in People Key 3: Retire Outdated Paradigms Key 4: Cultivate a Shared Vision Key 5: Tap In to the Collective Be sure to look carefully for CAN-DO's other information products. You owe it to yourself to sign up on the email list to receive notifications on the latest products that will help you lead a better organization. Go to www.uta.edu/can-do to sign up now. When you do this, you'll gain access to an exclusive report, available for free ONLY to

Too many nonprofit, human services, and social work organizations have reports that are boring. The goal of this report is to help you write an original, expressive, and downright riveting story about your organization. A riveting report will be read, remembered and responded to, with greater involvement and donations. But why? The truth is that stories sell Advertisers spend billions of dollars on their "brand" - essentially, a story about how their product makes you feel. Lexus inspires luxury and elegance. Apple recalls youth and tech savvy living. Dove Chocolates make us feel like we deserve some decadence. Consumers and donors have something in common. We all want to invest in things that make us feel good If you aren't telling a story that elicits powerful feelings about what your organization can do in your community, donors will open their purse strings to someone else who is. There are millions of stories out there, but we'll teach you how to make yours stand out above the rest This report is part of a series written by Dr. Rick Hoefer, Shannon Graves and other staff members of CAN-DO, the Center for Advocacy, Nonprofit and Donor Organizations at the School of Social Work, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX 76019. You can access additional materials produced by this dynamic team at www.uta.edu/can-do.

This short report is essential for leading your team to overcome the three most common challenges of working in groups: social loafing, coordination loss, and symbolic participation. These problems affect most organizations (and most likely your team, too) so that your results are much less than they should be. The authors summarize the most important principles of using teams in the workplace. The use of groups and teams in the American workplace is growing, and effective teamwork has been associated with major performance gains and increased innovation. Alongside the stories of successful teams, however, is another less popular story. Teamwork is hard. Teamwork is complex because it requires team members to manage multiple relationships while efficiently dividing and coordinating tasks. When relationships or team processes break down, group-work can easily harm organizations more than they help. The good news is that the popularity of team work has inspired a plethora of research into forming more effective groups and teams. As a result, we now know more than ever about avoiding the pitfalls of poorly planned teamwork. We also have access to an array of innovative solutions which have been proven to increase the power of our teams in the workplace. The goal of this easy-to-use report is to simplify and summarize the most important principals of using teams in the workplace. It provides a brief overview of the factors that affect team performance and the most common challenges that groups face when they come together. You, too, can cultivate high-functioning workplace groups whose efforts consistently achieve more. Use the included research-based assessment tools to identify what is holding your team back and direct your attention to the most important areas. The largest section of this report focuses on practical solutions--news you can use--for turning your work group into a coordinated, communicative, successful team.

In today's increasingly technological world, information about virtually any topic is quite literally at our fingertips. Amid this barrage of information, your organization (nonprofit or forprofit) faces the essential task of attracting special attention from donors, volunteers, media outlets and other potential investors. This short report will help you stand out from the crowd by drastically increasing the web visibility of your organization, and in essence, making you famous The authors appeal to even technology-challenged nonprofit leaders or small business owners in simple terms. You will learn how web content draws visitors to your organization and receive practical tips about the types of content which will garner the most attention. By following the steps within, your organization can develop a successful plan to shed your invisibility cloak and step into the spotlight.