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When I made Resilience the theme for my 2020 blog series (www.ammconsultingstrategies.com/articles) and speeches, little did I know how important resilience would really be this year.……

Earlier this year, I delivered a speech on my Resilience journey, reflecting on how I had come back from surgeries due to accidents, and survived career ups and downs and challenges with teenagers and aging parents. I shared that my self-given grade for resilience was previously a D, yet I am moving up to a B-.  I spoke about my recipe for resilience which I call the PAC solution – Practicing kindness (to yourself and others), Asking others for help and Choosing action.  The last few weeks, I used this recipe by taking actions such as walking every day (have walked more than 70 miles), doing puzzles, reaching out to friends, putting together some new programs for my business and expressing gratitude for the important things in my life.  However, some days were also full of struggle, feeling anxious about my family’s health and financial condition, worrying about my Asian American children being targeted by bigots, and wondering what our society will look like in the future.

For this blog, which I apologize is longer than the usual, I reached out to a few friends to see how they were doing and to ask them about their current resilience strategies, including Melissa Armijo (National Hispanic Cultural Center Foundation staff member, candidate for the NM Public Education Commission); Pauline Lucero (owner of Corazon Training and Consulting), Lori Patton O’Hara (owner of marketing and graphic design firm Design5sixty4); Dr. Suzanne Gagnon (Certified Nurse Practitioner at the UNM Cancer Center); Mary Clark (UNM Facilities Sustainability Manager); Hope McIntosh (CEO of McIntosh Consulting Group) and Dr. Frances “Panchi” Ortega (principal at FTOrtega Consulting LLC).  

Coping Day to Day, Keeping Our Work and Families Going
This team of friends all admitted that they have also had good and not so good days, as they have been anxious about their family’s physical and economic health.  The “taking it one day at a time” mentality is helping. And, we’ve all approached resiliency in our work with different strategies.
Like me, friends Hope and Panchi have their own consulting firms. While starting our own firms felt like a high-risk game a year ago, we are feeling it even more now. For all of us, projects have stalled, either as some businesses have faced financial challenges and other businesses have at least temporarily shut down.  It’s also a very challenging environment to get new business.  Hope, who is a technology consultant, is using social media to share advice on important issues such as how to supervise teleworking employees.  She says she is also learning the magic word of “yes” as she gets more creative in how she uses her skills and takes on side jobs she never imagined she would. Panchi, whose work depends on important grant cycles, is spending time exploring more grants related to her work.
Lori and Pauline, who have both operated their own businesses for some years, are also feeling the pressures. Even though marketing is critical at this time, Lori has clients who have slowed or stalled on projects but she is trying to be more flexible with pricing and maintaining overall space for patience.  Pauline, whose business offers counseling services and provides services to Medicaid Developmental Disability patients, has a career that has focused on resilience, helping children and families come back from traumas and also serving special needs’ populations. Like many of us, she and her subcontractors have been forced to make a quick transition to providing services via telephone and computer while she helps many of her clients cope with stress, anxiety and depression. Routines are especially critical for the developmentally disabled population, and Pauline indicated that they are really struggling as day centers, Special Olympics events and other events tailored for this population are cancelled.
Suzanne has always served as a “front line” employee in the medical world, where she helps patients who are fighting cancer at the UNM Cancer Center.  She is working hard to keep these vulnerable patients safe and talking to many of them by phone, some of whom are very concerned about making it through this time period.  She indicated that it is a stressful time as they try to keep the Cancer Center very contained, protect patients’ health and help them manage the uncertainty.  Mary is also a front-line employee at UNM, managing her facilities team who are still working but on altered but on altered schedules.  She goes in on days that staff are there to show them support, help keep morale up and continue to remind them of ways to stay safe in their work.
Melissa is balancing her work remotely for the Hispanic Cultural Center, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, while also kicking off her campaign for the NM Public Education Commission.  She initially had a strong personal outreach plan in place to meet voters but is now navigating a campaign that’s transitioned to a virtual and mail campaign which can be challenging for an incumbent.

We’ve Been Training for this Resiliency
In some ways, many of us have had some training for this moment when other significant challenges have hit our life. Many of my friends have learned some resilience in the last few years through loss of family members, loss of jobs and experiencing other challenging situations like being left to raise children on their own.

Here’s a compilation of suggestions from this group on staying resilient during this time period include:

• Keep normal household routines going as much as possible, ranging from regular dinner times, to making the bed, to showering every morning.
• Maintain boundaries and healthy work hours.
• Be exceptionally sensitive to others during this time period.
• Stay active and engaged, whether it’s through work, cooking, exercise, puzzles or other activities.
• Appreciate and use humor.
• Mental, physical and spiritual resilience is important. Meditate, exercise and eat well and get outside if you can.
• Keep positive relationships going through telephone and other technologies like Zoom.  
• Get through this period by acknowledging your weaknesses and then making strong choices.
• Accept that we can’t control everything, but we can try to improvise, overcome, adapt and prevail.
• Give yourself permission to have some down days.  Let yourself feel the emotions and then try to let them go.
• Find ways to give back to those in need and to honor the legacies of those you have lost.
• Focus on the science and the facts while not letting your imagination run wild.
• If you are more fortunate than many in our community (and this group recognizes that they are) express gratitude for your health, having food and shelter, loving families and friends, and the opportunity to get to spend more time with pets and K-12 and college-aged children!   

#Resilience. In my kick-off newsletter for 2020, I introduced my resilience series by talking about being told at the end of last year that I might have a brain tumor but not to worry….  I celebrated resiliency at the beginning of 2020 with knowing that I didn’t have a brain tumor, I had survived a few tough years on the professional and personal front, and I had successfully made it through my first year of business. 

The past six weeks, I was reminded that resilience is also about navigating the current political system, whether it be at the local, state or federal level. I just got through working on a few issues at the 2020 New Mexico legislative session where I watched many people passionately trying to advocate for the passage, or opposition, of more than 700 pieces of legislation.

I’ve spent countless hours at city council and county commission meetings, legislative committee meetings and other political bodies.  I’ve seen people yell at elected officials, speak when it’s not their turn, try to read a complete lecture  a public meeting, get up and speak on the wrong topic, and sometimes, never tell elected bodies what they are advocating for, or against. Yet a critical part of our democracy is public interaction and communication with elected officials. 

Working in political systems is all about staying focused under pressure, persisting through obstacles and being self-aware.  At the core of this resilience is being an effective communicator.    Whether you have a few minutes to speak in front of a political body or have a few minutes to sit down and speaker with an elected official, here are a few tips that can help:

• State the problem you want to be solved.  Use compelling examples, statistics and trends, or real life stories that make a personal connection and make the challenge clear. 
• Be relatable by using words like “we” and “affects all of us” to make a personal connection with officials.  Don’t make this an “I” or “us and them” issue.
• Put solutions in simple, understandable terms. Whether you are encouraging officials to vote in support of a proposal, or vote against a proposal, make sure that you make it clear what you want them to do. Focus on the benefits of the solution. 
• Don’t assume that elected officials are well versed in your issue.  They are responsible for following many issues and can’t possibly be knowledgeable about all of them.
• When they ask questions, be brief and to the point.  Just answer the question!
• Use clarity, passion and power in your voice.  Don’t sound defensive, hostile or extreme.
• Keep it brief. Whether you are at a meeting making public comment or visiting one-on-one with an elected official, be respectful of their time and make your point brief. Consider having a one-page handout to provide further detail that they can read later. 

Do you or your team need some coaching on developing and delivering key messages on critical issues?  Do you have a group that is looking for a speaker for a workshop or regular meeting? I’d love to come share my tips for effective. resilient communications with your group. Visit my website at www.ammconsultingstrategies.com or just call me at 505-269-0287.  

Until our next journey of resilience,

Amy Miller
 

Whew!  It’s a  great way to start out 2020.  At the end of 2019, an issue with my ear expanded into doctors wanting to “eliminate the worst-case scenario.”  That’s not always great for someone like me who thinks about too many scenarios anyway……

Yet, this little scare reminded me that life is full of challenges and opportunities.  I have spent the last few years focusing on resilience – overcoming some tough challenges and moving forward to do the things that I love most.  My journey of personal resilience led me to help individuals and organizations become more resilient.

AMM Consulting just celebrated its one-year anniversary of being in business.  It’s been a year that has exceeded my expectations.  I’ve had opportunities to successfully deliver services in strategic planning and organizational assessment, stakeholder outreach and advocacy, meeting planning and facilitation, communications and marketing, and program development for a variety of clients including state and local governments, local non-profits, professional associations and private sector companies. I’ve also had the opportunity to increase my own public speaking and provide communications coaching to others, helping them prepare for media interviews and job interviews, make presentations to elected officials and deliver powerful speeches.

Not only have I been able to use my expertise to help others, but I’ve met many powerful people along the way who deeply care about the future of their organizations.  In these often uncertain and stressful times, they are figuring out ways to become more resilient – anticipating and preparing for change by planning to be more flexible, responsive and adaptive.  

What is your plan for resilience in 2020?  Does your organization want to be more strategic,  better communicate to your employees and customers, and gain visibility for your organization? 

To kick off 2020, I’m offering a free 15-minute consultation related to my suite of services https://ammconsultingstrategies.com/services/  Call me at 505-269-0287 or email me at amillernm@gmail.com.

Stay tuned for future issues of the AMM Consulting 2020 Resilience newsletter series where I will share tips on communications, advocacy and strategic planning skills to help you in the New Year.  

Best wishes in this New Year,

Amy Miller
AMM Consulting
www.ammconsultingstrategies.com

Recently I have had the pleasure of helping several organizations with their strategic planning processes. These organizations face the same challenges that many private, nonprofit and governments face in current times – high expectations, doing more with less, being flexible in times of change, serving the needs of diverse constituencies, and achieving effective results.  The best part of working with these organizations has been that they have taken the time to include other perspectives in their strategic plan for their future.  

Organizations take a lot of different approaches to strategic planning and believe me, throughout my career in the corporate and non-profit world, I’ve seen good plans put on shelves to never be looked at again, bad plans that never moved an organization forward and plans developed in silos.

What are some of the factors that contribute to this?  Too often, strategic plans come from the top down, with pre-determined focus areas and objectives.  They lack critical perspectives from their employees and external stakeholders.   

Research continues to indicate that employees are not highly committed to their employers, not engaged in their workplaces, not happy in their jobs and are often actively looking for another job. There are many reasons that this happens, but several of the primary reasons are that employees feel their feedback is not welcome or that they are truly part of the organization. And external stakeholders are wanting more engagement with organizations, not less.

Here are a few top takeaways to consider:

• Keep your plan simple. Don’t produce a 50-page document that no one wants to look at again.  Make it understandable, usable and inclusive.
• Include your employees in the process, either by getting their input prior to your planning session or better yet, by including them in your session.  Continue to encourage their engagement after the plan is final by creating employee teams related to goals, providing updates on successes and challenges related to the plan, and celebrating successes.
• Do some research before you sit down in a planning session. You can’t prepare a decent plan without some external perspectives — whether it’s consumer behavior, public policy directions, competitor information, changes in markets or stakeholder perceptions.  Consider not only finding outside research but committing the time to interview some of the key stakeholders who interact with your organization.
• Have honest and real conversations when you finally sit down to prepare your plan.  If members of your team don’t feel that dialogue and ideas related to the plan are encouraged, the plan will fail.  Create a safe space that encourages honest participation and dialogue.

What do you want to accomplish in your next strategic plan?  Do you want to do it in a siloed approach, or do you want to hear perspectives from critical stakeholders about how your organization can move forward? 

Check out my approach to strategic planning at www.ammconsultingstrategies.com .

My husband teases me because I constantly complain about all the leaf blowers being used in our community.

Gas fired leaf blowers, which most people use, are noisy, loaded with fuel, blow leaves in one direction and add pollution through fuel emissions and dust.   Leaf blowers eliminate the good organic matter that makes soils healthier and leave city drains clogged. More than 170 cities have now banned leaf blowers.

Some organizations use a leaf blower-like approach to their public affairs strategies.  They show up assuming they are the experts and have all the answers, communicate a bunch of one-way messages quickly, and leave a trail of debris behind.    And then, the leaves and dirt just blow back. 

This past legislative session, I worked with a diverse team of people and organizations on a piece of legislation that had been attempted in the previous year.  The previous strategy by one organization was to develop legislation without any stakeholder input, distribute the draft legislation just prior to the session, and avoid sharing key information or getting feedback.  This approach created mistrust and miscommunications, resulting in stakeholders forcing engagement on them during the legislative session and the bill ultimately not passing. 

In this session, those stakeholders played a critical role in reviving the legislation, working to get consensus on key issues, and working hard to get the legislation passed and ultimately signed by the governor.

I was fortunate enough to work on this bill and several others that had gone through extensive stakeholder input processes, bringing together, as multiple legislators said, “odd bed fellows” in support of the bills.  It was a painstaking process getting there but these bills represented key stakeholders’ input and interests. There’s no other way to achieve success in that environment without doing this hard work.

So many surveys, especially since the 2008 recession, indicate that the public increasingly does not trust companies and other organizations. A lot of this goes back to how we communicate.  Being authentic, transparent, listening more than talking, understanding others’ truths, and finding common ground and aligning interests is where your success lies.

Stakeholder engagement that focuses on using these practices saves money, increases trust and improves decision making. A few tips on engaging stakeholders:

• Engage key stakeholders early in the process.  Whether you are developing legislation, starting a communications campaign, or a introducing a new service or product, think through the different stakeholders that can be impacted by your project or can influence the final outcome.
• Be transparent and genuine.  Make a genuine effort to meet with stakeholders, be transparent about what you are trying to achieve, and get their feedback.  It doesn’t mean you have to agree on everything but taking their perspective into account and including their perspective in final decisions is critical to your success.
• Don’t use stakeholder engagement for one issue and then move on to your next initiative.  Take the opportunity to develop long-term relationships for your organization.

Key lesson – don’t use a leaf blower approach. Take the time to do meaningful stakeholder engagement. Check out my training session on stakeholder engagement and other communications strategies at ammconsultingstrategies.com/

There’s nothing like a good story.

I grew up with a father who was a well known “story teller.”  He rarely started a conversation without the words, “Did I ever tell you about the time that..,,,,.”  Though I was sometimes embarrassed by this practice over the years, I now realize that I remember almost every one of those stories.

The reason is that good stories stick. 

Every Thursday morning, I start my day by joining my friends at the Daybreakers Toastmasters group here in Albuquerque, NM. This group has allowed me to make new friends and continue to work on my speaking skills. I was recently reminded that starting out with a good story can really make for a memorable speech. 

One fellow Toastmaster spoke about “critical points” in his life where he quit things too soon out of fear or frustration, starting as a young teenager in football to moments in his career.  Another Toastmaster shared a story of growing up in a family in which no one had an education beyond high school.  She was not originally a motivated student, and yet one teacher in junior high made all the difference by pulling her aside and telling her that she was smart and had potential which ultimately thrust her into a successful college journey and professional career.  Each speaker walked us through the details of their stories in visual, concrete ways.  Not only did you feel that you were there, but each story left you wondering how you could help others overcome obstacles in their lives.

Sometimes we get too tied up in facts and statistics, which are all helpful at times, but often don’t stick with the intended audience.  The power of story telling can evoke emotion, create empathy and encourage people to take action.  In their book, Made to Stick, authors Chip Heath and Dan Heath remind us that it’s more than just to say stories make us see pictures in our heads.  Stories need to stay in the audience’s head and make them think and/or act.  The authors provide a key formula to making any message stick, including in stories.  Their SUCCESs checklist calls for stories to be Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, and to tell a Story in which a protagonist overcomes big odds.

For those of us who have to communicate key messages in our careers and personal lives, and that’s just about all of us, taking steps to make messages stick is important. Regardless of the issues we’re talking about, whether it’s climate change, human rights issues, access to health care or just trying to sell a product.  As I work on clean energy policy issues at the state level, I’m trying to incorporate short stories with “stickiness” that help people remember why these issues are important and the impact these issues could have on their lives.

We all love to share our facts and statistics to make compelling arguments.  But the next time you’re thinking about persuading someone about an issue, ask yourself, “how can I share a story that relates to them and what’s in it for them?” Think about the great stories you have to share going forward.