Event on Thursday: Get lean and join the 1980s

It's commonly said that the non-profit sector is about twenty years behind the business world. Come join the 1980s at Willamette Valley Development Officers' Advanced Skills Workshop: The Lean Development Shop. The workshop is Thursday, May 14th from 8 - noon downtown. Check out the announcement here for more details and to register.

The "Lean" method gained renown in the business world in the 80s, when it was simply known as the Toyota method. See the link for a Wikipedian description of "leanness."

This sounds like a fascinating workshop -- the description claims that when Virginia Mason adopted lean methodology in 2002, it gained these impressive results:

• Dramatically improved fund raising results, without adding staff;
• Higher staff satisfaction and lower staff turnover;
• Enhanced return on investment of budget resources.

Faithful readers know that I am a sucker for efficiency. And in this economic climate, who isn't looking for a better ROI? And for that matter, higher staff satisfaction doesn't hurt either.

See you Thursday!