Last week I had the opportunity to begin working with Alicia Mathlin – a very good friend – on her latest venture, SheShouldKnow, an organization created to prepare and empower young women with the skills necessary to become self-sufficient in all aspects of their lives. Inspired by her desire to giveback and provide guidance to young women, Alicia formed the organization earlier this year and hopes to begin offering real programs for young women in Toronto by the end of the year.
Alicia had already built a solid professional reputation in her previous endeavours but is forging new ground in the non-profit sector. Through networking, Alicia has met some very dynamic people who can play a strong role in the growth of SheShouldKnow, her natural skills in sales has done well to peak the interest of the right people but how do you maintain that interest while you are in the process of putting it all together? She phoned me last week to inform me that she was looking to be more aggressive in the development of the organization and recognized the need for two essential components: a strategic plan and help. In our first session we were able to start to tackle all of the initial planning elements including the all important SWOT analysis, clarifying the vision (she has tremendous vision but we are still working on refining the message – note: when you are trying to change the world you should start small), the mission statement (pretty clear so far), the values (concrete), objectives (some work to be done here as well), key strategies and tactics (she is very strategic so this was a breeze) and the strategy program (a full outline of phase 1 was completed)
If you are starting or trying to grow any sort of organization, whether for profit or non, please take some note of Alicia’s foresight. The fact is that most people have great ideas and start out with such great fire and vision but fail either because they run out of steam or just do not have the resources to execute on their mission. Some are ultimately successful in starting their organizations but hit a brick wall somewhere down the road and are not successful at growing the business or organization. They fail because they lack one of two or both of the following things – a strategic plan and help. Despite the fact that Alicia has never run an organization like this before she did recognize that to be successful here she needed those two vital things - TWO POINTS for Alicia!
With all of that said, I have two questions for you: 1) Do you have a strategic plan? 2) Have you asked for help?
Now this warrants some very simple disclaimers (we can save the more complex disclaimers for other posts): 1) strategic plans are only good if you actually use them and are passionate about executing on them; 2) strategic plans are living breathing documents – they should evolve with your business; and 3) everybody is not qualified to help you, so choose people who have the capacity, desire and resume to assist.
I will keep you informed on Alicia’s progress with She Should Know. Helping smart, engaged and passionate people - in the non-profit sector – with these types of initiatives go from concept to completion is my way of giving back.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Dear Jarel,
I have begun to take action on the points we discussed last week. The plan you formulated to get through the first phase of development for She Should Know has made a tremendous difference in my daily productivity. How empowering to cross off those action items and know this dream will become a reality!
With Thanks,
Alicia Mathlin
She Should Know
Director
Thanks Alicia, we made significant strides on your plan last week. You are lightyears ahead of most folks. Keep this momentum going and the energy up – I know you will. In the coming weeks we can measure your progress, talk about leveraging your team and expanding your network.