Who Not How – The question your charity needs to ask right now

More and more organisations we interact with in the third sector have a burning desire for change. 

The world is moving at a pace and many charities realise in order to flourish they have to evolve.

But making paradigm shifts in your charity performance, or behaviours, can lead to frustration if you tackle evolution with the wrong mindset… and by asking the wrong questions.

Rather than staring at the gathering storm clouds caused by Covid, and latterly the cost of living crisis, and wondering: ‘how are we going to solve this?’, why not try framing your question in a different way?

What if the key question to achieving charity success is: ‘who is going to solve this for me?’

This simple reframe removes the burden of the challenge and opens the door to limitless opportunities and growth. 

The question at the heart of Hardy and Sullivan’s Who Not How philosophy may appear basic but the lack of complexity shouldn’t fool you into thinking this approach isn’t transformational. For some entrepreneurs ‘Who Not How’ has become their bible.

The truth is, many charities and not for profits aren’t set up to be agile in their marketing and fundraising. Larger organisations built on solid foundations can be like supertankers that are safe in storms but difficult to turn in times of change.

Likewise, small organisations with limited resource can be equally hamstrung by ‘how are we going to solve this?’. 

Not having the capability can lead to vital decisions being kicked down the road. Why? Because procrastination is inner wisdom: you know what you should be doing but realise you’re not the one to do it.

If your charity is purely focussed on ‘How’ in a world that’s powered by change then team fatigue and frustration won’t be too far away. A flip to a mindset of ‘Who’ immediately turns the negative into the positive.

Let’s distil down the Who Not How strategy and apply it to the world of charity lottery.

We believe the big debates in lottery right now are:

£1 per week model – how can this be sustainable when costs are spiralling (and only going to get worse)?

Lottery recruitment – what is the most effective way of growing player numbers today and maintaining lottery impact?

Data and lottery management – how can we embrace the latest technologies to ensure we’re secure and maximising opportunity?

So let’s tackle the issues these big debates raise by posing the right questions: 

  • Who will help us understand today’s lottery challenges and how to solve them?
  • Who has the strategies to help us grow and achieve more?
  • Who has the latest technology that will future-proof our lottery?
  • Who can help to train our teams to raise their awareness and skillset?

The team at Bee-Ethical are fully invested in tackling today’s challenges and providing answers to all of those burning questions. We’re ready to help you navigate your way to a better future. 

Collaboration isn’t failure, it is sign of wisdom and builds a bigger team with more answers. 

It’s time to park procrastination and adopt the formula designed to achieve bigger goals.

If you’d like to talk about working with Bee-Ethical‘s teams of experts, please email emily.hannan@bee-ethical.com. Or check out Bee Ethical’s stable of products that might just help you achieve those goals.

“When we want something done we’ve been trained to ask the question: how do I do this? When you rewire that thinking and realise most challenges are best overcome through team work and collaboration, you hold the key to transformational results.”

“Thinking ‘who’ instead of ‘how’ will also free up time for you to concentrate on the stuff you’re really good at and enjoy doing.” – Richard Lee, Managing Director, Bee-Ethical