Raise Your Voice Blog | Nicole Clark Consulting

6 Dec, 2023

Ask Nicole: Why Strategic Plans Usually Fail

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2023-12-06T10:52:04-05:00December 6th, 2023|Categories: Strategic Planning & Sustainability|Tags: Ask Nicole, staff capacity, Strategic Planning|0 Comments

Have a question you’d like to be featured? Let me know.

It’s that time of year, where we think ahead to what we want to accomplish in the new year.

If you’re a nonprofit leader, strategic planning might be top of mind for you.

Whether you’re considering the best time to start strategic planning or determining when to review progress, a strategic plan serves as a roadmap of your organizational priorities.

It’s also possible to fail at strategic planning. Here are seven reasons why a strategic planning failure happens:

(more…)

20 Sep, 2023

Try This: In Person vs Online Workshop Prep

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2023-09-20T15:21:17-04:00September 20th, 2023|Categories: Workshop, Program, & Curriculum Design|Tags: Facilitation, Try This, Workshops|0 Comments

*Try this out and let me know how it goes for you.*

As an introverted workshop facilitator, I used to believe that online workshops were easier to facilitate than in person ones.

Now I see that online workshops aren’t easier or harder; they just have their own set of quirks.

There’s benefits and drawbacks to choosing a workshop format, especially if your workshop is being facilitated for the first time.

These considerations are just as important for previously facilitated workshops. The ability to pivot a workshop from and to either format requires an understanding of your workshop’s logistical needs, participant experiences, and workshop objectives.

This activity is ideal for:

Program staff responsible for facilitating workshops, meetings, or trainings

What you’ll need:

Your workshop’s agenda and activity breakdown
A method to take notes (laptop, whiteboard, Google Docs, pen/paper, etc.)

The steps:

(more…)

14 Sep, 2023

What Does Reproductive Justice Actually Look Like?

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2023-09-14T16:07:14-04:00September 14th, 2023|Categories: Equity & Justice|Tags: reproductive justice, storytelling|0 Comments

In Loretta Ross’ essay “What is Reproductive Justice?” in Reproductive Justice Briefing Book: A Primer on Reproductive Justice and Social Change, Loretta writes:

“Reproductive Justice can be used as a theory for thinking about how to connect the dots in our lives. It is also a strategy for bringing together social justice movements. But also, it is a practice- a way of analyzing our lives through the art of telling our stories to realize our visions and bring fresh passions to our work.”

What makes the reproductive justice framework different from the reproductive health and reproductive rights frameworks is that reproductive justice provides a holistic understanding of our circumstances, and how these circumstances help or hinder our sexual and reproductive health decision-making.

It’s easy to “see” reproductive health, as it centers the interaction between patient and healthcare provider. It’s also easy to “see” the impact of reproductive rights, as evident by ever-changing state abortion laws and contraception restrictions, to name a few.

But what does reproductive justice actually look like?

Think about all of the steps you take to go to a doctor’s appointment.

You have to schedule the appointment, get to the appointment, wait for the appointment, be in the appointment, leave the appointment, and follow up after the appointment.

For each step, we’re making observations. These observations consider our circumstances, and together they can reflect what we may experience in this doctor’s appointment.

A pregnant teen, a menopausal woman, a working single mom, a nonbinary person, a Muslim, a person who is non-English speaking, a person in a wheelchair, a pregnant women with a prior miscarriage, a person living in a rural area where the nearest clinic is a 2-hour commute away, a pregnant incarcerated woman, a newly widowed 60-year-old, a person without health insurance, an undocumented person, a person living in a high-income area, and unhoused teen, or a person with a substance use or mental health diagnosis will have different experiences.

To SEE reproductive justice involves, we must center individual and community circumstances, taking into account how these circumstances can impact sexual and reproductive health decision-making and how we access these services.

To see what reproductive justice looks like, look no further than your own personal experience.

(more…)

6 Sep, 2023

Ask Nicole: We’ve Hired Too Many Consultants

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2023-09-14T09:46:49-04:00September 6th, 2023|Categories: Consulting|Tags: Advice, Ask Nicole, Client Relationships|0 Comments

My first consulting project involved me working with multiple consultants. I believe there were around 8-9 of us.

In one incident, the client informed us that (despite requesting our deliverables and invoices be sent in a timely manner), they have other projects they’re working on. From multiple interactions with various staff, lack of clarity on internal protocols, and more, to say it was a challenge is an understatement, and it showed me how difficult it could be being a consultant.

It’s been a while since I’ve touched on a consulting-specific topic, and this month’s Ask Nicole touches on something I’ve been noticing more.

Why do organizations hire consultants? Specifically, why do they hire multiple consultants at the same time?

From a practical standpoint, consultants are hired because staff capacity is maxed out, and it can be financially feasible to hire a consultant as opposed to onboarding a full or part time staff member.

Also, consultants are viewed as a strategic resource to address specific organizational needs and can serve as an objective sounding board.

When a client informs me of other consulting projects happening in tandem, I’ll ask if my work aligns with what they’re doing and if I’m expected to interact with them in any way.

Sometimes, client organizations have a general sense of how all this will work. But sometimes, they haven’t thought about it.

Not only haven’t they discussed whether the consultants should engage with each, they may not have discussed their expectations for how staff engage with all of these external people either.

More funding + less staff = desire to hire consultants. What makes the most sense for your organization may be based on where your current circumstances.

But what happens when an organization realizes they’ve hired too many consultants?

(more…)

23 Aug, 2023

Stop Prioritizing “One Size Fits All” Solutions

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2023-08-23T14:10:46-04:00August 23rd, 2023|Categories: Workshop, Program, & Curriculum Design|Tags: Data Driven, Evaluative Thinking, Grantmaking, Nonprofits, program design|0 Comments

A principle in program design is that, if a program is placed in a new location, the program will still perform as expected.

From a program evaluation perspective, we understand that a program’s location presents both challenges and opportunities, as the physical location (whether it’s an actual neighborhood or virtual) is often as unique as the program itself.

So, when you’re evaluating a multi-site program, not only are you assessing the extent that differences in outcomes are due to variations in project implementation, you’re also sensitive to the fact that you’re doing a side-by-side comparison.

Why? Because if you’re a staff member that’s been placed in this new program location, and you’re experiencing the uniques characteristics and quirks of the program’s location in real time, the evaluation can yield results that you’re already aware of. Plus, you’ve most likely informed your staff’s leadership well before the evaluator showed up and this can be frustrating when you need leadership’s help in addressing issues and you’re not being listened to.

A program in multiple locations may have the same outcome goals, but will always be impacted by the conditions it’s operating in.

Every organization has unique needs, capacities, and challenges. Yet funders often make .”one size fits all” requests”. From organizational priorities and resource constraints to lack of internal buy-in and strict accountability, grantees can become resentful of funders when they’re expected to fit into a box as opposed to working together in ways that are flexible and makes sense to both the funder and the grantee.

Funders should let go of one-size-fits-all solutions and play a more crucial role in providing support and guidance to their grantees. They can do this by:

(more…)

Ask Nicole: Why Strategic Plans Usually Fail

Try This: In Person vs Online Workshop Prep

What Does Reproductive Justice Actually Look Like?

Ask Nicole: We’ve Hired Too Many Consultants

Stop Prioritizing “One Size Fits All” Solutions

This Is A Custom Widget