Do you ever feel that no matter how many community-wide training opportunities are offered, not much changes? As educators, we see that all the time.

Whether you are a Funder who sponsors educational programs for your grantees, or a Nonprofit Resource Center who sponsors educational programs for all the organizations in your community, you are investing in those programs for a reason. You want the attendees to put their new learning into practice. And you want something to be different (and better!) because of what they put into practice.

Sometimes, though, the more educational programs you provide, the more frustrating it becomes that nothing seems to change.

In our work as educators in all sorts of settings - from teaching a masters level program at a major university to convening community-based education programs in larger urban areas and tiny rural ones - here is what we have found:

The problem is not the trainer.

And the problem is not all those attendees who fail to put their learning into action.

The problem is a system that is not designed to achieve the outcomes community leaders want to see. And in many cases, the systems that are in place go directly counter to the outcomes those leaders want their programs to achieve.

Through our work, we have identified 10 Mistakes - sets of circumstances that are almost always present when Community Leaders are frustrated at the lack of successful outcomes from their education efforts. These mistakes are not the fault of anyone in particular. They are simply the result of a lack of systems for doing things differently.

How many of these mistakes is your education program making?

#1  Failure to Identify Program Outcomes

Without identifying clear outcomes for an educational program, it is no surprise the results are disappointing. Sadly, when we ask for desired outcomes, Funders and Nonprofit Resource Centers often share that the program IS their desired outcome: "Our goal? To provide workshops!"

To avoid this mistake, ask:

• What outcomes do we want from this educational program?
• What would success look like?
• What do we want to be different from the current situation, after this program is completed?

#2  Failure to Decide How You Will Decide

When you have decisions to make regarding your community education program, how will you know which is the right decision? Without discussing these issues beforehand, when critical decision points arise, it is more likely those critical decisions will be based on current circumstances, rather than strategic objectives. And when the objective of a program is the kind of long-term change education programs have the potential to achieve, short-sighted decisions with negative long-term impacts can make for ongoing disappointment, often years beyond the date of that decision.

To avoid this mistake, ask:

• To develop an educational program aimed at our desired outcomes, what would we want to always base our decisions on?
• What organizational and community values do we want to guide our decisions and actions?
• If funding is limited for our programs, will we base program development decisions on community demand? On our own outcomes priorities? Will we base those decisions on how much money we have? Other factors? (Whichever you answer, why is that the best answer?)
• What is the most important thing we should always keep in mind? How about the next most important? And the next?

#3  Failure to Align Course Content Behind Outcomes

Because community-wide nonprofit education programs are often not aimed at long-term community outcomes and results (see #1), the content chosen for such programs is not chosen to strategically obtain community-focused objectives. Courses instead appear to be chosen from a family-style dinner menu - one or two items from this category, another few from that one. We need a grant-writing course, a governance course, a fundraising overview, and etc.

To avoid this mistake, ask:

• What courses / course content would ensure our program is aimed at the outcomes we want?
• What should we emphasize, if our goal is to achieve our desired outcomes?
• What courses will change minds, change habits, change systems - all to achieve our desired end results?

#4  Failure to Avoid Program Content that Reinforces "Negative" Behavior

Community leaders bemoan organizational competition. And yet they provide education programs that teach organizations how to compete. Community leaders bemoan the short-sightedness of boards. And yet they provide education programs that teach boards to focus on organizational means (fiscal accountability) vs. community end results (mission accountability). Are your community-wide education programs teaching organizations to do the very things you would like to see them stop doing?

To avoid this mistake, ask:

• What behaviors do we want to discourage in the organizations we are teaching? (Competition? Scarcity thinking? Situational ethics? Means-focus vs. outcomes focus?)
• Is the content of our current education programs reinforcing those behaviors? What content would have the result of teaching organizations to do the very things we have listed on our "behaviors we want to discourage" list?
• Next to our list of "behaviors to discourage," if we listed the behaviors we want to encourage, what would those be? (Interconnectedness and cooperation? Asset-based / abundance thinking? Values-based decision-making? A focus on community outcomes?)
• What course content would reinforce those "good" behaviors?

#5  Failure to Align the Program's Format Behind Outcomes

Will the format of your program allow for the kinds of outcomes you wish? The lion's share of community-wide education programs use one-day (or even half-day) workshops as their primary opportunity for learning. Community leaders almost universally agree that "hit and run" workshops do not create the desired changes they want to see in their participants. It is not uncommon to hear, "We have done workshop after workshop, and nothing has changed." Unfortunately, all too often, the solution is simply to do more workshops!

To avoid this mistake, ask:

• If we are hoping for attendees to gain and use skills, what program format will provide them with the tools and support to adequately practice those skills? If we are hoping attendees will change their behaviors / actions, what program format will provide them with the tools and support for reinforcing those changes?
• What effect does our current format have on long-term skill-development? On long-term behavior / actions change?
• What format would be required for attendees to know enough to put new systems into practice? What will it take to turn "learning" into "doing" into "just the way things are done around here" - a way of being?

#6  Failure to Measure Educational Program Outcomes

The saddest words I can hear from the leader of a Nonprofit Resource Center are these: "We know we should measure our own outcomes, but we are not sure what to measure." The result of this state of affairs is that the annual reports of groups sponsoring education programs - Nonprofit Resource Centers, Foundations and others - look very much like the reports they use as the "bad" examples when they teach - numbers of workshops, numbers of attendees. Generally there is little or no mention of impact, changes in behavior / attitude / perspective - the kinds of outcomes they really want to see, the reason they are doing these workshops in the first place.

To avoid this mistake, ask:

• Once we have determined what outcomes we want to see from the programs we create - the difference we want to make - what indicators might show us that we are making that difference?
• How will we know if the format we are using is effective? What indicators might we look for?
• How might we measure whether the content is appropriate for creating the change we want to see?
• What might we measure to determine if the content may be going counter to the change we want to see?
• And if we are not seeing the change we want to see, how can we adjust the content and/or format to accomplish our intended outcomes?

#7  Failure to Engage the Wisdom of Those Doing the Learning

The attendees of nonprofit educational programs are not only people seeking knowledge; they are also people with immense experience and wisdom to share. They have experience with what works and does not work re: educational programs - what formats are more conducive to transformational learning, as an example. They have experience with what works with boards, with fundraising, with program development. They have wisdom to share with each other, which, if built upon by others who are also learning and sharing, can develop into more than just great learning - it can develop into cooperation, building trust, and growing interconnectedness. Unfortunately, few community-wide educational efforts engage and build upon the wisdom of those attending their sessions.

To avoid this mistake, ask:

• How could our outcomes be enhanced if we more deeply engage program participants in learning from each other?
• What approaches / formats might we use that will be more facilitative (bringing out the wisdom in the room) rather than didactic (one-way disbursing of information)?
• How could we engage our program participants to help us build more effective learning environments?

#8  Failure to Try Something New

Community leaders often complain that "workshops do not change anything," and yet they continue presenting workshops. Sometimes that is because those leading such efforts simply do not know other approaches to educating. Sometimes, they do not feel they can afford to do something different (even if it might be more effective). And sometimes, folks are just comfortable with what they are already doing. The result, however, is that the programs that are intended to ensure a strong Community Benefit Sector cannot accomplish their desired outcomes if the people creating the programs in this new arena of "nonprofit management education" do not experiment to see what works best.

To avoid this mistake, ask:

• To be sure we are current on the most effective methods for teaching adult learners, what is our annual budget for ongoing education for our own staff - the staff of our Nonprofit Resource Center?
• What is our policy and/or organizational culture re: trying something new? Are we encouraging experimentation, or rewarding constancy at the expense of discovery?
• What can we do to ensure we are staying abreast of new developments in effective teaching / learning approaches and technique?
• What is our approach to using technology, both for initial teaching and for ongoing learning? How can we ensure we know effective ways to use technology for true learning, to avoid having the tools lead the goals (rather than the other way around)?

#9  Failure to Collaborate in Sponsoring Education Programs

One of the biggest complaints we hear in every single community we visit is, "The nonprofits in our community don't work together." And yet when it comes to sponsoring workshops and conferences, Funders and Nonprofit Resource Centers tend to go it alone, often seeing those educational programs as a proprietary revenue source. And while Mistake #10 is all about Walking the Talk, this one is so important, we are keeping it separate.

Cooperatively sponsoring strong education programs with other Nonprofit Resource Centers or Funders does more than bring additional dollars to the table (which it does, allowing you to provide more effective programs for the same individual investment). By working with other groups to create your education program, though, you will learn what provider organizations face when they enter collaborative partnerships. And that will make you better teachers.

To avoid this mistake, ask:

• What organizations do we (the sponsor of the education program) see as our competition? How can we engage them in building stronger cooperative education efforts together?
• In addition to providing educational programs together, what other efforts might be made stronger if we engaged our "competition" in those efforts?
• If you are a foundation or other funder, sponsoring or producing education programs, how could you use this opportunity to work with other funders, as a jumping off point for other joint initiatives?

#10  Failure to Walk the Talk

Following up on #9, disconnects between what we want others to do and what we do ourselves are often the toughest to reconcile. The best teachers, however, teach by example. If you are saying one thing, and doing another, students will sense that disconnect. If you are bemoaning the existence of competition, but teaching organizations competitive marketing and fundraising techniques, that is a disconnect. If you say you want long-term outcomes, but only provide short-term workshops, that is a disconnect. And just as children know how much faith to put in their parents' words when they hear, "Do as I say, not as I do," the same applies to the work of your community education program.

To avoid this mistake, ask:

• Every question noted in Items 1-9!

When the actions of your Community-Wide Education Program are all aligned behind the outcomes you want to see; when decisions are all made to aim at those outcomes; when content and format are aligned behind those outcomes - when your educational efforts are truly walking their talk - you will have created a system that will lead people to success.

And at that point, you will be making great strides to create an extraordinary future for the organizations who come to you for guidance, and for your community overall.

* In addition to her other credentials, Hildy Gottlieb is adjunct faculty in the Masters Degree program in Community Leadership at Duquesne University.