I am beginning a series of posts on ways to easily avoid unforced errors – and I could use your ideas. I’ll explain at the end of this post.
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Rick Maurer, author of Beyond the Wall of Resistance and other books on leadership and change, developed the Energy Bar™ as a free tool to help people in organizations get their ideas across in ways that get people committed and engaged. 
Rick has advised leaders from many countries on ways to apply this new tool successfully.
Several years ago, the director of a non-profit I support invited me to come to have a cup of coffee. I was told the team wanted to share about some new programs and the progress the non-profit was making. The meeting was set up as if they were only going to share about their latest news. However, in the end, the reason for my visit was revealed and they started talking about my annual contribution. I was caught off guard and somewhat offended by the surprise solicitation for money and felt it would have been better if I had known it was coming.
I learned recently that I’m not alone with feeling this way. I had the pleasure of having a conversation with Lynette Zimmerman, president and CEO of Key Elements Group, LLC last week. Lynette consults with non-profits on strategic fundraising. She said what I experienced was unfortunately common mistakes people make when asking for support: asking too soon and not being straightforward about it.
I was working with a group of very bright technical experts on their strategies for building support for change. Lots of big words and lots of concepts being thrown around. We were all getting confused - and I do this for a living.
I stopped them, and said,” Look, it’s just energy. It’s either moving this way (toward support) or that way (into resistance).”
