I want us/my team to not feel overwhelmed.
Feeling overwhelmed can result in part from a sense of powerlessness over one’s circumstances. True, we can’t control global events or funder imperatives, but we have more agency than we think. If we are being faced with stringent requirements, we can propose more sane, effective and true-to-values counter offers. We can also adjust our own ambitions and strategies. While some solutions may take a while to come into effect, in the short term, we can attain some psychological relief by flipping the permission switch to more fully examine what circumstances we can change. This exercise empowers teams, opens the door to creative solutions and builds courage to let some things go. There’s a right way to flip the permission switch; done incorrectly, it can come across as excuse-making or a lack of accountability; done properly, it can impress those to whom you’re accountable, while creating the afore-mentioned breathing room. Contact us to schedule a permission switch exercise that will help you crawl out from under the “overwhelm.”

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I want us/my team to have a better idea of what difference we’re making.

There has never been a better time to ask the question: What difference is my organization making? Funders and implementers alike are realizing that, in this field of assessing difference-making (often referred to by combinations of words like monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning), some of the most meaningful types of change can be among the hardest and costliest to measure. At the same time, new concepts — like equity-based approaches to learning and evaluation, and trust-driven MEAL — are expanding the conceptual and methodological toolbox. They are also shifting the purpose of MEAL away from the difficult-to-prove and towards the learning-based rigor needed to accompany a long-term change process. Contact us to learn more about a choice-based MEAL approach that customizes MEAL to serve your core values, strategy and innovation needs.

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I want us/my team to achieve better results.

All other things being equal (good leadership, reasonably adequate staffing, etc.), the ability of an organization to achieve better results rests greatly on two factors – 1. the quality of ideas and design of its work, and, 2. the ability to execute those ideas over the long term. Like the difference between a sprint and a marathon, both quick burst (ideation) and long-haul creativity are necessary for deep and wide impact. Contact us to diagnose whether you need big ideas, creative approaches to delivering your big ideas, or a culture of creativity that feeds both.

 

 

 

I want us/my team to raise funds.

Well-designed work and compelling storytelling form the basis of compelling proposals.  Ignited Word can help you create impact and social assets reports that beautifully illuminate your work. In so doing, we can help you identify your central change narrative or change metaphor in a way that provides the backbone for your communication and proposal writing and makes it more likely to capture the interest of funders. We can also help ask the questions and facilitate the ideation that fuels effective program design. For business development and proposal writing, we can refer you to other service providers. Contact us to learn more.

 

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I want my team to feel like a true team.

The basics of team-building remain the same – open, earnest dialogue, trust-based relationships, and a sense of shared purpose. What Ignited Word does differently is bring a new avenue to build these basics — social/racial/environmental/gender-justice-focused poetry workshops animated by stirring language, as well as dialogue between participants; story-based workshops that explore such questions as who we are as an organization or where we’re from and where we’re going. Ignited Word creates welcoming spaces for participants to do team-building work in a way that connects to purpose. Contact us to learn more.

 

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I want us/my team to have a clearer sense of direction.

Whether a clearer sense of direction comes in an “un-strategy” process that helps one navigate a fog of ambiguity or a strategy process that coalesces and brings definition to the big dreams of the organization, Ignited Word can help your organization find direction, and an equilibrium within the unpredictability of most social change environments. In addition, we can help you build the organizational culture needed to deliver change over the long term. Contact us to learn more.

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I want us/my team to be more creative. We specialize in helping social change organizations to be more creative! Specifically, we build a culture of creativity, which addresses not only the initial burst of idea generation (ideation) needed to spark new solutions, but the long-haul creativity needed to usher new or existing ideas into the real world. Contact us to discuss whether you need new ideas, creative approaches to implementing existing ideas, or a culture of creativity that feeds both.

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I want to love my work.

Love for one’s work is not just a warm fuzzy feeling (though we wholeheartedly support joy, delight!) it speaks to an alignment of passion and purpose that can become a well of energy and ideas. While Ignited Word can’t address larger issues of work fit and career, we can help teams define and create passion projects that also powerfully advance core business. If we can’t help you love all of your work, we can certainly help you love more of it. Contact us to learn more.

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I want something else.

Don’t see what you need here? Contact us to see if we can create something customized for you or give you ideas on where else to look.

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