500 contact groups?!

Here's a question I got from a client this week (paraphrased here for a broader audience):

Hey Allen. We have so many contact groups in CiviCRM that it's getting really hard to manage. It's hard to find a particular group, and sometimes we pick the wrong one, which of course creates problems for us. I figure we could probably delete 90% of them, but it's hard to know which ones aren't being used. You have any recommendations to help us clean this up?

A closer look shows that this team has nearly 500 active contact groups, and around eight staff members with access to create groups. They've been running CiviCRM for over 5 years, and many of the groups were created by people who don't even work there anymore.

It's a tough situation, the kind that just gets worse with time:

Staff who can't find the group they want may just be inclined to create a new one. And the more of them there are, the harder it is to get in there and sort it all out. And the snowball keeps growing.

So, what to do?

This won't be solved overnight, but you can do it with three steps over time:

1. Create a naming convention for groups.

Make it so simple that any staff member can understand it, and communicate it clearly to all staff members. Be sure to explain why it's important that they stick to this naming convention going forward.

A simple naming convention I recommend is this:

Every contact group must have, at the end of its title, the date it was created.

CiviCRM already records who created each group, and even displays that in the Groups listing; this will be useful as well.

Knowing the creation date and creator name will give you some real advantages:

• It's easy to see how old a group is, which can indicate something (though not everything) about its present usefulness.

• It's easy to remember to use Alice's group for one thing and Bob's group for another thing, even if they have similar names.

• When you're not sure of the purpose of the group, you know who to ask.

2. Wait a while, and then start disabling groups.

After a few weeks, you can verify that your staff are actually using the naming convention, and you can distinguish newer groups that use it from older groups that don't.

You can now begin the clean-up process. Start with the groups that seem pretty obviously unused.

But don't delete them. Just disable them. This gives you a chance to re-enable them if it turns out someone misses them.

Optional but awesome: When you disable a group, add "disabled on [today's date]" to the title. This makes it easy to see how long a group has been disabled.

3. Schedule a periodic review

Just as you do for cleaning up duplicate contacts (don't you?), schedule time to review your groups — 30 minutes every week or two should be enough. The number should be shrinking over time, so this will get easier as you go.

Start with groups that have been disabled for a few weeks. Nobody has missed them, so you can delete them outright.

Move on to groups that you're less certain about. Disable a few, and see if anyone misses them.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

Here's the thing:

The large number of groups here is a result of two things: multiple users creating groups without always knowing what other users are doing; and a CRM that has been around for a while.

Your CRM software is your own — you own it. It gives you all the freedom you could ever want, and with it some burden of maintenance.

A good naming convention and basic staff training can go a long way to keeping it useful for everyone.

And a little clean-up now and then is just part of owning anything: your house, your car, and your CRM software.

All the best,
A.

Cheaper, effective-er training

Effective-er? More effective? You know what I mean.

Say you have a team of 10 people using your CRM software.

How are you going to train them on that?

And more than the software, how will you train them on your organization's unique CRM system, of which the software is only a small part?

• You might find a CiviCRM training event to send them to. That would get them started.

• You could organize some group or individual trainings with your outside CiviCRM specialist. That would get them moving forward.

• You could give them all direct access to your outside CiviCRM specialist. That would get their questions answered when they're stuck.

Those aren't bad options. But they suffer from two important problems:

1. They're expensive.

2. They're generic and focused on the software, not aligned with your unique CRM strategy and systems.

But there's another option that addresses both of those concerns:

Designate an internal CRM specialist.

This has important advantages. Because this person is internal to the organization:

• They know (or will learn, or even help define) your unique CRM strategy and systems.

• As they gain mastery of the software, they can share that knowledge within the team more easily (and cheaply) than any external resource ever could.

Here's the thing:

Good training, as important as it is, can still make for a significant investment of funds.

Outside experts are a great resource, but they'll never know the details of your work — your policies, procedures, and people — as well as your own team does (and hey, if nobody on your team knows those details as well as an outside support provider, you've got problems).

But a single staff member who's committed to mastering both your CRM software and your unique way of using it ... that's a pretty impressive resource.

It's a whole lot cheaper, too.

All the best,
A.

Mistakes at scale

The beauty of a healthy, effective team is an effect of scale. Many hands, they say, make light work.

But what happens if your team is not working so well? Unfortunately, the same principle of scale applies — it’s just a little less beautiful.

When you're working alone, a mistake here and there can be frustrating, but you can recover.

The larger your team, the more troubling a simple mistake will be.

• Data entered incorrectly — or not at all — by one person can add hours of work for the others on your team.

• Reports created with the wrong criteria can lead your whole team to make critical decisions based on incorrect information.

This is the problem of mistakes at scale.

And it's usually the result of insufficient training.

Of course, training your staff well takes time and effort.

Funny thing is, when your staff are well trained, your team saves time and effort. This makes training a smart investment, not a frivolous expense.

So, you can budget some time (and optionally money) for staff training, or you can just budget those resources for dealing with frustration and inefficiency.

The difference is, one of those makes your people effective, empowered, and appreciated.

And that, dear reader, is a beautiful thing.

All the best,
A.

Stress, and locus of control

On the topic of putting yourself (or at least, your organization) in control of your own CRM systems:

Not to get all psycho-babble on you, but there's a concept in human psychology known as locus of control.

I love this kind of thing, but I won't try to make you love it. You can read more about it if you like.

The short point I want to make is this:

Folks with a generally internal locus of control (they believe the direction of their life is determined by their own actions) are often less likely to experience debilitating stress, compared to folks with an external locus of control.

Stress. Friction. Frustration. Yuck.

It makes sense to me.

If I keep my ducks in a row and keep trying, there's a good chance I'll get more of what I want. And the more control I give away — to circumstance, chance, and outside forces — the more likely I am to be frustrated in my efforts.

So...

If your CRM systems are giving you more stress than you'd like, there may be a way to fix that.

And it may just have to do with setting an internal center of control for these systems, somewhere within your organization.

The starting place is to designate a CRM systems coordinator, your "in-house CRM expert."

And then, it's about increasing that person's level of expertise, so that your whole team can benefit.

All the best,
A.

Who’s in control?

Who has control of the CRM systems and processes by which you cultivate relationships with your people?

You've got department heads and project leads and other staff members on the inside. You've got vendors and support and other consultants on the outside.

Who's in control?

Consider these two amazingly high-tech diagrams of a hypothetical organization:

1. Everyone talks separately to your outside consultants.

This approach centralizes the control outside of the organization. There's nobody on the inside who can really know everything that's going on.

And really, could anyone on the outside keep track of what's happening on the inside? (Spoilers: No, they can't.)

2. Communications streamlined through a single staff member.

This approach, on the other hand, centralizes that control within the organization. The Systems Coordinator is in a position to know how the systems are being used and to ensure things are working well for everyone.

So what about your organization?

Is that control inside your organization, or outside? If it's outside, how's that affecting your work?

Now, where would you like that center of control to be?

What steps could you take to shift it in that direction?

All the best,
A.

Staff spending their own money on training?!

"As a valued member of our team, you will be asked to complete tasks for which you have not been trained."

... said no job description ever.

But, you know, it happens. Sooner or later, all of us will probably be faced with tasks for which we've not been fully trained. That's part of the adventure.

"If you can't figure it out, you're on your own..."

Wait, what?

" ... There is no budget for training. Team members are encouraged to seek outside training at their own expense."

What the heck? Who would sign up for this?

Well, of course, nobody would. That's why job descriptions never say such things.

But ... the truth is ... it happens.

I know it happens, because some of these staffers come to me for help, ready to pay out of their own pockets so they can stop feeling like a failure when repeatedly given tasks that they haven't been trained for.

Are they your staff members?
Would you care if they were?
Would you even know that they needed help?

Here's the thing:

Check in on your people now and then. They could probably use some help.

And if they've got everything under control, they'll at least be encouraged you're checking in.

All the best,
A.

"What’s wrong with this darned thing?"

This past weekend I took a few hours to help my dad build a new vanity cabinet for his bathroom.

I had limited time on Sunday afternoon, but figured we could knock it out quickly enough.

Not so fast, cupcake.

When you haven't used your table saw in a while, it may need a few adjustments in order to make perfectly square cuts.

And if you're not really familiar with the tool, those adjustments can take a lot more time than you expected.

I said a lot of unpleasant words to that table saw during the first hour.

Finally I got things right, and we were able to make some good headway. But that vanity is not done yet.

Here's the thing:

Working on your tools is important and valuable. But it's not nearly as fun or satisfying as working on your actual work.

And the more time you spend struggling with those tools, the less time you have to get the results you're really after. Cursing at the tool is a bit of a release, but it doesn't get the work done.

That's why it's important to budget time to master your tools and keep them in good working order.

That's true for table saws, and it's true for your CRM software.

Next weekend I'll head over to Dad’s again, and I’ll finish that vanity. Now that I know how to handle my tools well.

All the best,
A.

To have what you want to have …

... you must usually do something you don't want to do.

Sure, sometimes we get lucky, and everything is easy.

But usually...

• If you want to be well rested tomorrow, you have to put down the TV remote and go to bed at a reasonable hour tonight.

• If you want to be fit and healthy, you have to eat wisely and exercise regularly.

• If you want good clean data, you have to spend time deduping your contacts.

• If you want systems that run smoothly, you have to dig in and figure out what's causing the friction.

What's cool about this is that sometimes ...

just sometimes ...

we can actually spot the actions that will get us what we want ...

just by noticing what it is that we don't want to do.

All the best,
A.

“Busy”

When I ask a friend, or a client, how they're doing, the most common response by far is, “Busy.”

It's a safe answer: most people can probably relate to it, and it doesn't reveal much personal detail — good or bad.

But I always hope, quietly to myself, but this isn't really the way they think about how they're doing.

Because it's only half the story. And the least important half, I believe.

Here's the thing:

The amount of time and effort you spend staying busy is not nearly as important as the actual results you're getting.

Staying busy is fine.

But reaching the goals you care about, for the people you care about, that's what matters.

How are you doing, with that?

All the best,
A.

BS detector: Is it measurable?

He's a quick test of your bullsh*t detector.

Which of these sounds more like BS than the other?

"The finish line is closer than ever."
"The finish line is finally in sight."

...

...

...

I’m picking the first one.

What’s the difference?

• “Closer than ever” could mean anything. It only means that you haven't moved backward, but it says nothing about how close you are.

• “Finally in sight” actually describes something specific about the distance remaining.

Okay, here’s one that's even less meaningful:

“We’ve come so far!”

This describes only how far you’ve come. It says nothing about what remains to the finish. Heck, there may not even be a finish line.

Here’s the thing:

Getting close to a goal is a powerful motivator. Nobody wants to give up when they’re close.

But that implies a few important elements:

• There is a specific goal to be reached.

• You know what that goal looks like.

• You know why that goal is important.

Of course, there will always be another goal to reach. Many of us are working on a mission that, for all we know, will never truly be fulfilled.

But having a specific and recognizable goal, even if we know it’s not the Completion Of All Good Things, gives us something to strive for.

That’s true for me, and for you, and for the people you’re aiming to motivate.

I hope you never tire of working hard to "make things better." That’s a good thing.

And while you’re doing that, I hope you remember the value of defining, and naming, measurable goals that you and your people can strive for.

All the best,
A.

Best possible outcomes

Today, someone somewhere will hear of your organization for the first time.

What, do you hope, will be the ultimate best possible outcome from that first awareness?

• That they'll bequeath a large gift to your mission in their will?

• That they'll become a lifelong supporter and a vigorous advocate for your work?

• That they'll take full advantage of all your services and therby better themselves and their community?

Not every person is a candidate for all of these.

But for each person, there is an ideal outcome that you can lead them toward...

... if you put in the time and effort to envision it.

... if you can plan out a pathway to guide them there.

... if you make a continual practice of leading them to the next step in that journey.

There is a path to enrichment for every single contact in your network.

Defining it, designing it, and nurturing it ... that's up to you.

All the best,
A.

The adventure of routine

Routines: boring, predictable, efficient.

Adventures: dynamic, exciting, messy.

The worst of both worlds: Treating routine tasks as adventures; then never having time or energy for dynamic adventures that really matter.

The best of both worlds: Making an adventure out of developing routines for tedious repetitive tasks; then putting them on autopilot while you focus on new adventures that actually deserve your creative energy.

Here's the thing:

Adventure is exciting, but not everything should be an adventure.

Creating routines for the tedious tasks — automating, delegating, systematizing — can be its own adventure.

And then … you've got time and creative energy for the adventures you really care about.

All the best,
A.

“Why can’t this user do that thing?”

Focusing on creative relationship-building is not so easy if your systems aren’t working as expected. So sometimes my work involves handling very specific technical questions from my clients.

One of the more frustrating — and surprisingly common — questions goes like this:

“Hey Allen, one of my users says they can't find this feature (or open this page, or whatever). What's going on?”

And one of the more frustrating — and surprisingly common — causes is this:

Somebody — or something — has changed the permissions for this user's role.

And, somehow, nobody can remember when or why that was done.

Obviously this is a huge problem.

Changes to user permissions should be made with great care.

Otherwise, things start getting very weird, very quickly.

So what to do?

Here's the answer:

1. Document. Create clear documentation for your team that explains, in very simple human friendly language, the name and purpose of each user role, and generally what users with those rules should be able to do (or not do). Google Docs is fine for this. Just make it clear and simple, so that everyone can understand it and be on the same page.

2. Lock down. Limit, to as few as possible, the number of users who can modify user accounts and permissions. Just like you would severely limit the number of people who have a master key to all the doors in your office building.

3. Log. Implement an automated logging system that records important information about any changes to user permissions. For WordPress, I created Capabilities Logger, a simple plug-in that does this nicely. This week I'll be installing it on all of the WordPress sites joinery manages, so we can always see, retroactively, a clear record of when, how, and by whom any changes were made.

Here's the thing:

Poorly planned or unexpected changes to your user permissions can create a ton of headaches for you, your staff, and your constituents.

You can avoid that — by creating and documenting a clear plan, limiting the number of people who can make those changes, and logging all those changes in a way that alleviates the mystery later on.

That way, you can spend less time dealing with silly technical problems, and more time building relationships with your people.

All the best,
A.

Keys to retention

When one of your constituents takes the next step that you've been hoping they'll take, what comes after that?

Whether it's volunteering, or sharing your message with folks in their own network, or advancing themselves in your curriculum or service programs ... Whatever it is, you can probably envision some further "next step" you'd like them to take.

If there isn't, then of course you can forget about them completely.

But I doubt that's really true. Instead, you really would like them to keep moving forward with you.

A few days ago I was approached by a stranger asking for some personal help, and our conversation led me to believe I really could make a difference in his life.

So I agreed to help: We exchanged numbers and a couple of text messages, and later that day we were to meet up, and I was to help him with the transportation he needed.

What surprised me was that, in the end, he didn't show for that meeting. Nor even contact me about it again.

To be fair, his situation is not the same as most of ours. He's got a lot on his plate and is just trying to get by.

You and I, on the other hand, are in the business of regularity looking for ways to build relationships with our constituency.

We're practiced at helping our people take that next step. We know that's critical to our mission.

That's why I hope that we're not forgetting the importance of following up with everyone who does take a step in their journey with us:

• Acknowledging the good deed they've done.

• Pointing out how it benefits our work (or theirs).

• Making good use of their contribution, and then letting them know about it.

• And, perhaps most difficult, if it turns out that the help they've offered is not needed, explaining that kindly, and thanking them sincerely.

These are keys to retention — to maintaining and building good relationships based on appreciation, common cause, good communication, and accountability.

All the best,
A.

The direct appeal

This morning I was approached by a man on a beat-up bicycle, as I walked back to my truck after stopping for coffee.

I figured he was going to ask me for money, and I'm pretty well practiced at saying no. (He’s well within his rights to ask me for it, but usually I get the feeling that it wouldn't be the best use of my limited funds.)

But this guy got my attention. Turns out he wasn't asking for money, but he did want help, and I readily agreed.

Here's why:

1. He was neither apolgetic nor needy. He established, convincingly, that he's not in the habit of asking strangers for help, but his situation requires him to.

2. He explained his situation. His living quarters put him close to people who are trying to rob him, and he needs to get out of there.

3. He demonstrated urgency. They tried to rob him last night, and he was able to avoid it, but he expects it will happen again.

4. He outlined clear and achievable goals. He intends to move out today, put his belongings in storage, and take up residence in a shelter.

5. He showed that he's putting in the work already. He's reported the robbery attempt to the police and arranged a police escort to help him collect his belongings today. He's also contacted a local church whose elders have agreed to help him with the move and with storage expenses.

6. He made a specific, and even unusual, ask of me. He said, "I'm looking for someone with a truck who can help carry my things from [this address] to the storage unit at 1:30 today. I expect that with the presence we'll have there, these guys won't make trouble."

These are all important elements of a well-crafted direct appeal.

And all of those together made it pretty easy for me to decide to help him if I could.

So we exchanged numbers, and I expect today I’ll go and help him with the move.

Of course, it was also lucky for him that I was a good person to ask:

• I enjoy helping people when I believe it will make a positive difference for them.

• I happen to have a fairly flexible schedule today.

• This seems like a contribution that’s easily within my means.

Here’s the thing:

When it’s time to ask for help, a well-crafted appeal can help you nudge the right people into action that they’re happy to take in support of your mission.

And fortunately for you, you don’t have to rely on luck to find people who are likely to help. You’ve got a lot of good information in your CRM software to help with that.

All the best,
A.

“As easy as profitable”

I came across a blog post today, from a CRM-for-nonprofits provider, who makes this assertion:

Because nonprofits exist to make the world a better place, you must have [CRM] software that makes that as easy as possible.

That, my friend, is empty marketing hogwash.

Wow. Why so serious, Allen?

Because “as easy as possible” is unmeasurable and unattainable. No matter how easy you make something, there's probably some way to make it even easier — if you put in enough effort and money to make it so, up to and including everything you have.

And an unmeasurable, unreachable goal is not a goal at all.

What he should have said is, this:

Because nonprofits exist to make the world a better place, and because resources are always limited, and because results matter, you must have [CRM] software that makes that as easy as profitable.

Profitable. Greatest net benefit for a given investment of your limited resources.

Always count the benefit, and always count the cost.

All the best,
A.

Constituent journeys

You're probably tracking thousands of constituents in your CRM software.

Tell me if you agree with these points:

• Each one of those individuals needs help to reach the next step in their relationship with your mission.

• Such a path forward is surely not the same for all of them.

• There's simply no way you can manage a fully individualized pathway for each of them.

It's all true. Your mission success depends on nurturing these relationships, but there are too many to nurture individually.

So what can you do?

You can create a plan to help them at scale.

Sure, sometimes you'll need to serve them in small groups, or even individually.

But you cannot manage thousands of unique relationship-building pathways forward.

Therefore:

You need to define a clear ideal pathway for each of the major types of contacts in your world.

Volunteers, staff, members, donors, industry partners, service recipients, alumni ... That list of categories is unique to your organization, and so are the ideal pathways on which you want to guide them.

If you've heard of "donor journeys," you'll be familiar with this concept.

But it's not just donors. You can — and should — have a journey in mind for everyone who helps, or is helped by, your mission.

Creating such a plan is hard, creative work. And guiding people through that plan, and improving the plan as you learn and grow, is more of the same.

But considering the limitations of time and space, what alternative do you have?

Just hope that things get better?

All the best,
A.

Removing distractions

Part 1: The “smart typewriter”

Say you're a writer — a blogger, a journalist, a novelist.

Your current laptop can do everything you need and more.

So why would you — or anybody — pay $1000 for a device with a keyboard and screen that only lets you type, edit, and save text? That would be the Hemingwrite “smart typewriter” from Astrohaus.

No browser, no email, just text editing. That's it.

If you've never seen it, it's ... well ... weird.

But they've been selling to happy customers since their Kickstarter project in 2014.

Part 2: The “dumb phone”

How about a cell phone that only does voice calls and text messages (and a couple of other basics) that retails for $300? That would be the Light Phone II from The Light Phone, Inc.

No browser, no email, no apps, no video, no news updates, no Candy Crush Saga. Just SMS and voice. That's it.

LIke the Hemingwrite, on first look it's ... just ... weird. But they've been selling to happy customers since their Kickstarter project in 2015.

What gives?

What gives — or rather, what takes, without giving much in return — is distraction.

Folks who buy and love these devices are doing it for a complex set of reasons, to be sure. People are complicated, after all.

But what they say they love about it is that it removes a metric, er, boatload of distractions from their daily lives, or at least from their focused work periods.

Now, I'm not telling you to rush out and buy one of these. (Although I've got a Light Phone II on order myself — so excited, two more weeks to ship!)

But I am suggesting that there are steps anyone can take to remove distractions when it's time to focus on creative, forward-thinking, active development of relationships with your constituents.

For example:

• Take a walk. Get away from your desk, put your phone on silent, and transport your mind by transporting your body out of the office.

• Head to a cafe (preferably one where you don't know the regulars) with paper and pencil.

• Dedicate a regular time period — one hour a week, one hour a day, even one day a week — to ignoring your email, silencing your phone, and sitting with your CRM data and your creative mind, to look for patterns, ideas, possibilities, opportunities.

What I'm suggesting is that distraction-free creative focus is within your reach.

… and that doing it regularly is one of the most valuable things you can do for your mission, long-term.

All the best,
A.

“Hard work” vs “valuable work”

Last week I mentioned a few things that can sap your creative relationship-building efforts.

Things like “the puzzle trap,” insisting on certainly, and interruptions from colleagues.

Of course, I can hear the push-back:

“But Allen, those are things I have to do! I can't just decide never to tackle a tough technical problem, or to live with constant uncertainty, or to ignore incoming questions!”

Of course you can't.

Working hard at those things is a valuable use of someone's time, and that someone will be you, at least some of the time.

But ask yourself...

• Does it always have to be you?

• Is it the most valuable thing you can be doing?

• Is it worth all of your time?

The answer to all of those is ... (wanna guess?) ... "No."

You can divide the work.
You can prioritize long-term creative effort.
You can set aside time for work that's more valuable.

It won't be easy at first.

But you can.

And if you care about really helping your people to progress to the next step, you must.

If you don't, you'll always be “working hard” at tasks that don't really advance your mission. Treading water. Swimming upstream.

Wouldn't it be better to work hard on creative efforts that actually better your relationships, move your people forward, and improve your mission effectiveness?

All the best,
A.

"The puzzle trap" and 2 other things that sap creative thinking

Building vibrant relationships with the people in your network — folks you probably don't know very well personally — is going to take some significant creative effort.

Not only do you have to develop a sense of who they are and what they care about; you also have to figure out where that overlaps with something you care about: your mission. You have to formulate a pathway toward the place where those two overlap.

This is much more than simply asking, "Who are the people who came to my last training even?" or, "Whose membership is about to expire?".

It's more along the lines of, "Who's most ready to give $500 this month?" or "What's the best way to help our program graduates to stay involved?"

Problem is, most of us have plenty of obstacles in our daily lives that work against our efforts to think creatively about such things.

For example, I'm betting that at least one or two of these sound familiar to you:

1. The puzzle trap

Some puzzles are fun and leave us feeling energized.

But when your brain is stuck on solving a problem that should be solvable, and needs to be solved soon, and is indeed almost solved, but is stubbornly refusing to be solved, that's neither fun nor energizing.

Even after you finally solve it (if you do), good luck turning from that frustrating experience to more open-ended questions like, "How can I reach the people who'd love to volunteer for our next service project?"

That mental switch will probably require some time and a change of environment.

But who has time for making that switch? It's much easier to just look for another puzzle to solve, because the mind is already in that mode.

And that's when the puzzles become a trap.

Don't fall for it.

There will always be problems to solve. You'll never solve them all perfectly.

And meanwhile, you're missing significant opportunities in your constituent relationships by forgetting to put in the creative effort.

2. Interruptions

An email from a colleague, celebrity "news" alerts from your phone, those random "just curious" questions that your brain constantly asks ("Wait, does that film have the same director as this other film? Gee, what would it cost to upgrade this office chair? Ooh, Billie Eilish dropped a new single?").

Between living in a hyperactive world and carrying a hyperactive brain, there's a lot of distraction going around.

And it's sapping our creativity.

I suspect this is why folks get some of their best revelations in the shower, where (hopefully, so far) even their cell phones can't interrupt them.

3. The need for certainty

Creative planning and strategizing are going to uncover a lot of ideas that don't work. Most of the ideas won't work.

Creative thinking is risky. You often won't know whether something will actually work until you've tried it.

And by 'trying it," I don't mean sending a blast email to every contact in your CRM.

I just mean spending time to validate an idea. To flesh it out, see if the pattern holds, test whether the data supports the hypothesis.

That's an investment of time and energy. Sometimes you'll go back to the drawing board; sometimes you'll find a real winner.

And to find those winners, you'll have to chance some losses.

And the more you do it, the more practiced you'll be at sniffing out the potential winners sooner and more accurately.

Here's the thing:

Building healthy and productive relationships with your constituents is not like solving a puzzle. It takes more than a few minutes of uninterrupted creativity. And it will involve some trial-and-error.

Embrace the uncertainty.

Escape the interuptions.

Leave the frustrating puzzles for later.

You — and your constituents — wil be glad you did.

All the best,
A.