EP 90: Strategic Inevitability -- How Nonprofits Can Achieve Big Goals Faster with Graeme Watt

This conversation is for informational and educational purposes only and is not professional advice.

Positioning review: Content reviewed for positioning compliance. References to Handbid are limited to a brief mention as an example service provider a client could be introduced to -- kept experiential and illustrative rather than prescriptive. Guest's strategic framework advice presented as the guest's methodology and observations, not guarantees. EOS and other frameworks mentioned as comparisons, not endorsements. No financial, legal, or professional advice present. Minor cleanup of filler words and transcription artifacts.

Jeff: Welcome to Elevate Your Event, your favorite podcast for transforming fundraising events. Join us weekly for expert tips and creative ideas to make your next event a standout success. In this episode, we sit down with Graeme Watt to explore the Strategic Inevitability Framework and how nonprofits can boost clarity, focus, and execution to achieve big goals faster. Let's dive in.

Jeff: Welcome back to the Elevate Your Event podcast. We talk about all the various ways you can make your next fundraising event better or maybe just talk about ways to plan that next fundraising event. We've got a really fun studio here today.

Elise: When did that become my nickname?

Jeff: I swear there's tequila in that. I don't know. When I asked her what she was drinking, she kind of gave me that look. Like, "I shouldn't tell my boss what's in that."

Elise: I'm sworn to secrecy.

Jeff: I'm sure it's kombucha tea. That's usually what it is. All right. And introduce yourself, Miss D.

Elise: Hello. Elise Druckenmiller, Director of Sales.

Jeff: Jeff Porter, CEO of Handbid. But let's definitely introduce our guest. We've been chatting about skiing and negative freezing cold weather. We haven't talked about the USA-Canada hockey match yet, but that's coming.

Graeme: Tonight.

Jeff: Tonight. I've been hearing about it for two days straight now. Graeme, please introduce yourself. We're excited to have you on here.

Graeme: It's so good to be here. This has been a lot of fun already and we're just getting started. My name's Graeme Watt. I'm one of the owners of Anthem Creative. We are a creative agency that specializes in serving the nonprofit sector and a film studio as well that does long-form documentary-style filmmaking. We've been at this for about 10 years, working with a couple hundred nonprofit organizations. This is my life's work.

Jeff: And did I see that you guys worked on The Chosen? Is that correct?

Graeme: Correct. We've done quite a bit of work with The Chosen, including a four-part docuseries on Amazon Prime right now called Jonathan and Jesus that we executive produced and came up with the concept for. Won a couple of awards for us and we've done some fun work with The Chosen.

Jeff: What a great series. That's awesome.

Elise: It really is. I've known all those Bible stories my whole life, but seeing them personified really made them come true in my mind. We are in the presence of really important people.

Jeff: A VIP. You're doing really important work for the kingdom. We love that. But all right, so let's talk about what you do, and then when we started our conversation -- outside of the prediction of the U.S. beating Canada again in hockey -- you mentioned you have this new methodology that you're working with your clients on. You called it the Strategic Inevitability Framework. Is that right?

Graeme: That's right. It's a mouthful. It makes people stop and go, "What did you just say?" The concept is almost so simple that when I first started playing with it, I thought it's too simple to be valuable. But then we started testing it out with our clients and found it to be an absolute game changer. The premise behind Strategic Inevitability is basically this: if you can clarify a goal, outcome, or objective, you can then work backwards from it, asking the question, "What actions, activities, tactics, and priorities would we need to execute in order for that outcome to become inevitable?" And if you can do that, you can actually build yourself an action plan that is within the realm of capability and possibility of whether the organization can execute. And then if you work the plan, the result becomes inevitable. I've worked this through in my personal life -- personal fitness, helping my son improve his hockey skills. What do you want to accomplish? What's the goal? What would you need to do in order for that to become inevitable? And if you can answer those questions and you've got the resources and the will to execute and the support that you need, then the result becomes inevitable. We've seen this with our clients again and again.

Jeff: When you say the will, I think discipline comes to mind. Because people give up easily. People give up pretty quick.

Graeme: One of the core principles that we base this on is Jim Collins' work in his book How the Mighty Fall. He identifies one of the core issues and challenges that organizations face -- we see this with nonprofits almost unanimously -- what he calls the undisciplined pursuit of more. So often what we find ourselves doing as a service provider is helping our clients and saving them from the undisciplined pursuit of more. What this Strategic Inevitability Framework does is it helps us pursue what's called "less but better." It's this idea of essentialism -- the disciplined pursuit of less but better. It's the contrast between those two things. We really force our clients -- we're actually quite hard on them. We force them to get really clear on their goals. And we don't walk out of the room until we've gone through a process of ruthless prioritization. One of the lines that we use a lot is that if everything matters, then nothing matters. Nonprofit organizations -- I often use the metaphor of targets and arrows. If you've got 20 targets that you're aiming at but only 10 arrows in your quiver, how do you use them effectively? And what is most strategic? If everything matters, nothing matters. We often see organizations chasing all kinds of different things, and none of it's really strategic. They're not really sure why they're doing it. So what we do is we stop and ask the question: what matters most? What is most vital? What is most important? And what are the few activities that you could focus your energy and resources on -- recognizing that everyone's wearing three hats in a nonprofit organization and budgets are stretched thin -- what are the most strategic, highest-leverage activities that you can focus on and execute that are going to actually get you to the goal?

Jeff: This sounds like EOS Rocks, doesn't it?

Elise: Yes, I'm thinking quality over quantity, less is more. I am hearing EOS Rocks all over this.

Graeme: There's definitely some undertones. But the concepts -- it's so interesting that they all make sense to us. We all look and go, "Yeah, that makes total sense." But is it what we do? Do we fall back into habits where whatever's comfortable?

Jeff: Yeah. Comfortable and easy. And you keep talking about working backwards to get to the starting point. I think a lot of people don't have the discipline or they just quit because they start at the beginning, which is what you would think you would do. But many people look at it and say, "Oh my gosh, it's so overwhelming. I don't know how to get there." And so you're presenting a solution to say, "Well, what are the steps to go backward? Those are your steps to move forward."

Graeme: That's exactly it. And what we do is we limit it to a 12-month time frame. We have executive directors coming to us and saying, "I've got a three-year or a five-year strategic plan, but it's at such a high level that how do I go about putting this into action? How do I tell my team where to focus their energy? How do I direct my budget and the limited resources that we have?" So what I often say is that this process -- the Strategic Inevitability Framework and the one-day sprint that we do -- it's kind of the connective tissue between strategic planning. This is not a strategic planning exercise. What we do is take the strategic plan, if there is one, digest it, then break it down into a 12-month actionable tactical roadmap that gives the organization the clarity they need and the alignment to go, "I know exactly what matters most and where I need to put my time, my energy, and my focus." We walked through this about six months ago with a client. I got a call from them about three weeks ago. They said, "We would probably be spinning our wheels still trying to figure out what to do if we hadn't gone through this process. But because of this, we're now miles ahead of where we would have been." Just the clarity that it brings and the alignment -- it's really profound. That's why I'm so passionate and excited about it. We're almost making it mandatory that if you want to work with Anthem, this is a process we're going to put you through, because it helps to really get clear on what we're trying to accomplish. The last thing we want to do as an agency partner is spend a whole bunch of time and energy and money aiming at targets that don't matter. So the first part for us is getting clear on what the organization is trying to accomplish, and then let's build a plan to make it inevitable.

Elise: That's so cool. I can see your passion. It's so exciting to hear. And I love putting that timeline on it.

Jeff: Giving people something they can get their minds around as it relates to moving forward. Because strategic plans aren't bad. They get a bad rap because they are so disconnected from what people do on a day-to-day basis. There's that big gap. And I remember the first nonprofit I was on the board of that did a strategic plan -- the first nonprofit I was on the board of, we were so tactical it wasn't even funny. "Got an event around the corner? Let's just go run that event." We weren't thinking about where we want to go as an organization. But the first one I was on the board of where we did a five-year plan, it forced us to say, "What do we want to see in five years?" Those things are good. They can be healthy. But if you don't roll back, Graeme, like you're talking about, to that one-year plan -- if I'm doing a three-year plan, how do I get a third of the way there? You've got to know what year one looks like. So when you're working with an organization, it sounds like you walk in the door -- maybe they have a strategic plan, maybe they don't -- but when you look at all the things that are strategic priorities to them, it sounds like you're doing a lot of trimming of the tree to get it down to the core.

Graeme: Absolutely. And that is the hard part, and that's where we have to push our clients. We've had one client in particular come through this process and do the one-day strategic sprint, and at the end walked away with three priorities. Because everything that we do is anchored to the organization's capabilities. What are you actually capable of accomplishing? Let's be really realistic. I can't tell you how many times we've had clients come to us with a marketing strategy that they paid $50,000 for, that they have no hope of actually being able to execute because they don't have the time, the talent, the resources, or the budget. So what we do is filter all of the plan through those lenses. What are the capabilities of the organization? What talent do you have? What are your human resources? What are your budget resources? What are your volunteer resources? We look at all of that, filter it through, and then build a plan that they can actually execute. That becomes one of the most critical elements -- walking away with something they can actually do.

Jeff: So let me ask you a question. You said you look at their capabilities. What if it's strategically important that they need to do something, but they don't have the skill set in-house? Is it, "You shouldn't do that because you don't have the skills"? Or is it, "We need to help you find those skills because this is important"?

Graeme: It's both, but the second part is probably more likely what we do. If it matters, if it is strategically important and deeply valuable and there's a lot of leverage you can apply to it, then we have to figure out how to execute it. So if the way we're going to get to the outcome and the goals you've set out to accomplish -- this is the most high-leverage strategic element that's going to get us there -- then let's figure out the pieces. What do you have internally that you can deploy? And this is often when we come into the picture. We're able to deploy our expertise as an agency to fill in some of those gaps. We also have a deep bench of consultants and other service providers. For example, Handbid and what you do -- if we were working with an organization that said, "We really need to transform one of our key signature events to make it more seamless," we can go, "Hey, let's introduce Jeff and the team at Handbid, because they're going to be able to help you with that component." We have direct-response fundraising partners, software platforms that we are agency partners with. So we're able to bring a whole suite to the table. I call it building the Avengers a little bit. We slot ourselves into some aspects, but we also go, "Great, you have a core need here. Let's identify who can fill that gap." And that all gets looked at through the lens of their budget and what they're capable of actually doing. But the goal is they walk away with a full framework. And that's what the fourth part of the framework does -- building the roadmap, this execution framework. Part of that is what resources are going to be required to accomplish this, and do you have it internally? If you don't, let's go find it.

Jeff: And keeping people focused. So many nonprofits that we're involved in -- some that I've been personally involved in -- some of those founders are all over the place. They have a new idea every five minutes. "That was a really good idea for the last month, but now they've moved on." So the whole team has this one-year plan and Graeme, you've locked them in with all their steps. But how do you keep people on the bus? How do you keep them energized and staying in line?

Graeme: I actually started a nonprofit in my living room when I was 27. By accident. I created a grassroots nonprofit organization, had no idea what I was doing. As I was leading that team, one of my right-hand people, her name was Michelle, in one of our meetings she pulled me aside afterward and said, "Graeme, ideas for you are like baby turtles. There's a lot of them. And most of them are going to die on the beach, and we don't know which ones we need to get to the water." It actually gave our team language. Whenever I'd come up with a new idea in a meeting, the team would go, "Is this a baby turtle? Do we need to protect this one and get it to the water, or do we let this one die on the beach?" That's my baby turtle story.

Jeff: That's amazing.

Graeme: Especially when you've got a visionary leader, it's so easy to get that shiny object syndrome and chase different things. This creates an agreed-upon framework that the organization and the team -- and this is often most helpful for leadership teams -- they agree to this as a plan and go, "These are the things that we are going to deploy our focus and our energy towards. We're not going to get distracted. We're not going to deviate." We're often walking alongside for the 12 months after we do the sprint, which means we're able to bring some accountability and a little bit of oversight. We say, "Let's stay focused on this." Part of that is revisiting. The end product is the 10 prioritized goals, or the 10 prioritized activities that the organization is going to focus on. We use something called a Priority Pyramid to slot these all in, and we all agree to it. We build an action plan around all of those 10 activities, and then we quarterly challenge our clients to revisit it. I practice this as an agency. We do this every year. I have a copy of the Priority Pyramid that lives above my desk so that I'm looking at it almost daily. Whenever I'm looking at my calendar, trying to prioritize my time and energy, my assistant and I look at that Priority Pyramid and go, "Those are the things I need to be spending my time and energy on, not all this other stuff." And in the fourth part -- the Execute portion -- we also use the RACI framework so that you walk away knowing who's responsible, who's accountable, who needs to be consulted and informed. If you're the person who's accountable, you need to make sure that's on you. You're on the hook for that happening. We've developed that as part of our internal culture. At the 12-month mark, if you were responsible and accountable for something and it didn't get done, you better have a good explanation.

Elise: This discipline is very inspirational.

Jeff: Because what you're describing -- there are so many frameworks out there that preach the same concepts, but most people just don't stick with it. Some of the things that I think help, regardless of whether you want to do EOS or this or whatnot, is you've printed this above your desk. You're looking at it, you're reminded about it every day, and you're cross-referencing that when that email comes in -- "Is this something I should be spending time on or not?" Because those are the things that easily get us distracted. And look, most of my career's in software development -- we're a software company, so I'm still involved in it. But what you see there is the same classic challenge. What do we want to get accomplished this year? What do we want to get accomplished in this next release or in this quarterly roadmap planning period? What is important for us to do and what does the team commit to? It's not about individual commitments -- those are important -- but it's about team commitments and holding everybody accountable on the team and the team coming together at any point to help each other meet those commitments. In software development, it's about getting as much done and across the line as possible. It's not about "Did Jeff get all of his work done? I don't really care what Graeme got done because I get the gold star this month." It's, "Does Jeff drop one task so I can help Graeme get three tasks done? Because now the team gets six tasks versus five." So it sounds like you're helping your clients think through that. How are they receiving it? I'd imagine there's some gnashing of teeth along the way.

Graeme: It actually fosters a culture of accountability, which is absolutely vital for building a high-performance team. The way we practice this internally as an agency, we do our annual sprint in January and then our staff retreat in September. There's that midpoint check-in where we review all of our 10 priorities. All of our team presents the things that they're accountable or responsible for and where they're at -- what their challenges have been, where they're getting traction, where they might need help, where they might be stuck. And then the goal is that between September and December, we do everything we can to push those things to the finish line. It's remarkable when you start to build a culture around that. If you have one individual that's not really carrying their weight or not delivering, it gives the opportunity for that on-the-fly check-in throughout the year. "Where are we at with that priority? We determined as a team that was one of the most important things for us this year. And we're not on track. So why not? What came up that was more important? Was there a lack of resources?" It allows supervisors in particular -- so it's a great leadership tool -- to come to your team and say, "What do we need to get this moving forward? Are we stuck? Why? What resource do we need? How do you need to manage your calendar differently to prioritize this?"

Jeff: I will tell all of our listeners and people watching, this stuff works. It works. I have not specifically experienced your framework, although it sounds awesome, but all the principles you're describing are in all of these different methodologies. And they're there for a reason -- because they work. Holding your team accountable. And look, if you have people on your team who don't want to be held accountable, then rethink who's on your team. Because at the end of the day, you may not get 100% of the goals accomplished, but the team's objective is to get as many of the goals accomplished as possible. Together.

Graeme: We've had clients get halfway through the year or Q3 and they've crushed all 10 on the list. The other thing we often do is put things on the Priority Pyramid that are high leverage, high value, but low-hanging fruit and easy to accomplish. So you build momentum. As you're actually delivering and executing and seeing results, it builds excitement and momentum. There's so much celebration that happens along the way. We just had a client in our studio about three weeks ago doing a second sprint. This was 12 months from their first one. We did the first sprint, mapped out their entire 12 months, and then we were doing a second one. It was just this huge celebration. There were so many tears. It was very emotional, looking at all the things they had accomplished that they didn't think they were actually going to be able to do. To look at them one by one and go, "We did it. We did it. We did it." And look at all the results from that. And then to move that momentum into the next year -- "Now what are we doing to build on that foundation?" It's profound. And I think one of the things I'm most proud of is that we can actually accomplish this in a single day. Building the framework into a one-day workshop means you can go from feeling completely lost, confused, and chaotic -- not knowing what to do next or where to focus -- to having a crystal clear plan that aligns all of your resources, your team, and your leadership on the same page. "This is what we're chasing. This is what we're doing." And for us, it's powerful because we've co-created it with the client. It's not us going away and saying, "With our expertise, here's what you should do." We build it with them together. So there's shared ownership.

Jeff: That generates buy-in from your entire team. Commitment.

Graeme: Not everybody loves healthy debate -- but I love it. Once we leave the room as a team and the decisions are made, then it is buy-in. It is commitment. "It wasn't my idea. I don't love all of it. But I said I'm in." You can't have people walking out of the room saying, "Graeme's idea is terrible. We should not have put it on the top 10 list." It's already there. You get a commitment from the team. They're on board. And we try not to walk out of the room until we get that. There's actually a moment in the sprint -- it's my favorite moment. It's the marker for us. I know intuitively, if we don't get a resounding yes at this moment, we haven't done the work and we need to dig deeper. The four parts of the framework are Envision, Explore, Eliminate, and Execute. In the Envision portion, we go through an exercise called the Champagne Moment. It's a bit of a visualization -- a little touchy-feely, not for everyone. We have everyone close their eyes and say, "Imagine we're back in this room 12 months from now. We are popping bottles of champagne. We're high-fiving and we are celebrating because of all the things we've accomplished this past year that are worthy of celebration." And then we turn it back and say, "What is it that we've accomplished that caused this party?"

Elise: You got me at least excited at the champagne part.

Graeme: We could do tequila -- whatever you want. We actually did this with an addiction recovery organization and they were like, "You mean the sparkling apple juice moment?" We're like, "Yes, yes."

Jeff: That's great.

Graeme: But it's amazing. Because when you ask an organization or a leadership team, "What are your goals for this year?" it can get robotic and mechanical -- they start throwing out numbers and KPIs. But when you say, "Imagine we're back in this room 12 months from now and we're celebrating -- what is it that we're celebrating?" All of a sudden, you get these really clear things that start to emerge. We capture all of that, summarize it into the Champagne Moment. Then we filter the rest of the planning and the rest of the day through the lens of that Champagne Moment. When we're prioritizing activities -- "What matters most?" -- it's like, "In light of the Champagne Moment, what's going to get us there? What's the most important, high-value, high-leverage activity that's going to make that Champagne Moment happen?" And at the end of the day, when we've built the whole plan and action plan, we turn around and go, "Hey, if we were to accomplish these 10 things together with excellence, would we be having that Champagne Moment?" And inevitably, it's a resounding, "Oh, heck yeah, absolutely." That's what we look for. We go around the table -- "Are you in? Is this the thing? Are we going to commit to this?" And there's that buy-in, that shared commitment and usually a shared excitement around it as well. Then comes the daunting part -- now we actually have to execute. There's the accountability of "We've gotten clear on what we're going to do and now we have to do the work."

Jeff: And you're helping them and tracking them along the way because they might have to make adjustments. Not everybody has perfect foresight. I'd imagine along the way there's got to be adjustments.

Graeme: Absolutely. And there are opportunities that come up that you didn't anticipate, unforeseen events. My brother and I own a portfolio company as well. And all this tariff talk is all of a sudden throwing a wrench into all of our planning. "Do we need to pivot?" One of our companies has about 70% of our clients in the United States. "Do we need to adjust our strategy?" You can't protect or anticipate those things. So it's about holding it loosely. It's about being really nimble. When we review our top 10 priorities at our staff retreat in September, sometimes we've had to adjust or rejig our expectations or change the target because things come up and you have to adjust. New information emerges or new technology develops. Market changes. Economic issues. I remember one about five years ago.

Jeff: Pandemics?

Graeme: We talk about our Champagne Moment -- by April it was just making it to December. And there hasn't been anything as impactful as that for our industry. But for us, we decided we're going to make some significant changes to what's important. And one of them was, we are not going to lay anybody off. We are going to keep our entire staff intact and do what it takes. Then the team got committed to that. "What is it going to take for us to survive?" As long as the team is rowing in the same direction, you can change directions if you have to.

Graeme: Once you have the framework, you can come back together and go, "Okay -- Envision, Explore, Eliminate, Execute." At any point throughout the year, circumstances change outside of your control. "What are we going to do?" Envision -- what are we trying to accomplish? Paint the bullseye on the target. Explore -- what are all the possible ways we could get there? Let's exhaust all the possible opportunities and options. Eliminate -- let's go through this ruthless prioritization process, filter into a Priority Pyramid, and build an action plan. The framework can be applied at any point. If you're needing to pivot substantially within the year, you can do that because the framework works.

Jeff: We used to do that -- the eliminate part can be really interesting and kind of controversial. At one of the organizations I worked at, we would do planning for all the features we were going to put into the product. And one of the things we got to do in elimination was you could propose to eliminate one idea off the page. And you had to defend it.

Elise: Keep, kill, or punt? Is this the game?

Jeff: Something like that. I'd be like, "I think we should kill that idea." And it would be Elise's idea. "Well, don't you kill my idea. My idea is the best." It created the conversation you're talking about. "Why would you want to kill that? Why is that your one kill?"

Graeme: Permission to steal that? I will give you credit, I promise. One of the things we do is give people a super vote. We do an exercise we call "dotmocracy." When all of the brainstorm ideas from the Explore portion are out on the wall, everyone gets a certain number of dots -- little sticky dots -- that they get to vote on the things they think are most important. And then we give everyone a super vote, which is, "This one matters to me. I'm going to die on this hill." But I love the opposite -- being able to say, "You get a kill shot."

Jeff: And it doesn't mean it's automatically killed. It just puts it on the table for conversation. Although, we did work for a really smart guy who had a lot of influence, so no one ever debated his kill shots. So what's after Eliminate?

Graeme: Execute. Execute is where we take each of the top 10 priorities that made their way into the list, into the pyramid, and put them through a process of developing an action plan. We ask: how long is it going to take to execute this? What's the expected cost? What internal resources are required? What external support are you going to need? Then we go through the RACI framework -- who's responsible, accountable, consulted, informed. That allows us to build an action plan, determine what deliverables need to be created, and who's going to do it. We also look at what deliverables need to be created for this to become a reality -- what do we need to build tangibly and tactically? A lot of times our clients don't have the ability to fill that part in. So after the sprint day, we spend about a week consolidating everything and come back with, "Here's your roadmap." It's got recommendations, suggested deliverables, even recommendations for contractors or consultants they should engage. We package it all into the 12-month roadmap, and then there's a conversation around, "To what extent would you like us to support you in developing this and walking alongside you for the next 12 months?"

Jeff: So are there certain tools you recommend people use to organize and track this?

Graeme: Post-sprint, it depends on the nature of what goes into the list. That's part of the customization. It's different every time. Depending on what the actual objectives and priorities are, the way it gets executed and tracked throughout the year will differ. Sometimes there's a retainer agreement where we're owning a lot of it and project-managing all the components. We use tools like HighLevel, our project management software. There are things we can onboard clients into. Some of these things we don't touch -- sometimes it's a board realignment process. We're not going to do that, but we're going to check in and hold the client accountable. That Priority Pyramid in and of itself and the timeline -- when you see all 10 priorities and you've built an action plan around them with no ambiguity about how you're going to get it done, and you layer it into a 12-month timeline and can see it -- "Okay, April to June is when we're going to tackle that. We know who's going to tackle it, what's required, and what we're going to have to do" -- it gives so much clarity and peace of mind.

Jeff: I want to -- at Handbid, we do EOS, which is very similar. I like the year-wide visibility because we have annual goals -- EOS makes you do those -- but then you have quarterly rocks. It'd be interesting to map out rocks for the year. They might change, but just to look at it and say, "These are the big-time company things we intend to do."

Elise: This is exciting. I'm such a checklist person. I make a checklist every day. I have a notebook in my bag that I carry all the time. I have it on my list to drink two bottles of water. And it's so exciting when you accomplish that.

Jeff: Let me guess. You're the person who, even though you did the task, writes it out just so you can check it off.

Elise: Yes, it's me.

Jeff: I do too. It makes me feel so much better. And I think this would work well for events too. Now it's going to force people to start thinking a year out. And a lot of our clients don't. Me included -- I go through event hangover after pulling it off. "Don't talk to me about another Kentucky Derby event for six months." But that wouldn't work in this case. It would make more sense and we would accomplish more and it would feel less chaotic and rushed.

Elise: We're doing it right now for our Derby event. It's in May and we haven't even started looking for auction items yet.

Jeff: But you know, Graeme, that's just how we are.

Graeme: It's actually often one of the things that happens within the sprint -- events get put on the table for discussion. That annual marquee event, that big gala, whatever it is -- "Is it something we should continue doing? Where does it fit within the priorities? Is it really high at the top of the pyramid? And what should change?" There's another exercise we go through called Stop, Start, Keep, Tweak. Events are often one of the things that gets discussed. Because "tweak" is like, "Well, that event is good. It's not worth taking out back and getting rid of. But it's not quite right. It's not working the way it should, or maybe it could be that much better."

Jeff: It's run its course and we need to change it a little bit.

Graeme: One of the things we'll often do is an event audit. We had one client that did like a dozen events throughout the year. A lot of them were legacy events -- they were just doing them because they've always done them. And it was so much energy directed towards these events. We said, "What if we took the top three events that are the most valuable, that have the greatest return on investment, that have the best brand presence and equity, and invested deeply into those? And the rest -- what if we transform those into digital campaigns somehow?" It was a process of retooling the way they do events. Events are a huge part of this. And you could use the Strategic Inevitability Framework for events as well. When you're looking at an event: Envision -- what do we want it to accomplish and deliver? Explore all the possible options for getting there. Go through the elimination process. Build an execution plan. We've seen clients do that effectively as well.

Elise: You just said a trigger phrase for me. If the answer to why you're doing something is "because I've always done it that way" or "we've always done it" -- that is trigger warning for me. That should never be the answer. We need to dive into this. It is time to think about this and ask ourselves why.

Jeff: Established organizations -- sometimes the person you're asking doesn't know the answer. "Because I've always done it that way. I've worked here for three years and they've been doing it this way for 30."

Graeme: When you ask yourself the question, "Is it strategically valuable?" -- we talk a lot about determining the vital few from the trivial many. When you look at your organization's activities holistically through that lens, and you have a legacy event you've just always done, if you look at it in the room and go, "Where does it fit on the pyramid? Is it strategically valuable? Does it have leverage? Does it move us profoundly towards our Champagne Moment?" If the answer is no, then you have your answer. And everyone can look at it and go, "We deprioritized the event. Maybe we keep it alive, but we're not going to resource it. We're not going to spend lots more energy or time on it." But maybe it does make its way to the top. "No, this is one of the most strategic levers that we can pull." And then you have clarity around how you need to treat that event and invest into it.

Jeff: I like it. I love it.

Elise: Should we wrap with that? Last word of wisdom. Mic drop.

Jeff: Graeme, this has been so great. I love this stuff. I wish we were better at it. I think every organization could always get better. What you guys are doing for your clients is amazing.

Graeme: It's been a blast. Developing this and seeing the impact has been so fun.

Jeff: So how do they get a hold of you? I think you have something to offer for those listening. I think you guys should call Graeme.

Graeme: Our goal at the top of our Priority Pyramid for this year is to do 30 sprints with the right clients. It takes a lot of energy and effort. It's about two a month, so we're limiting the number we do. We do this virtually, as a hybrid, or in person. But that's a big goal for us. I'm so deeply invested in these -- this is actually one of the only things that me as an owner I continue to do and be involved in. So really passionate about this. If this is something that's of interest, reach out to us on our website. It's probably the easiest way -- anthemcreative.ca. We are in Canada, so dot CA.

Jeff: But you'll work with anybody anywhere, right?

Graeme: Absolutely. We do these virtually as well. We work with clients in the U.S. and all over the world. But just mention that you heard me on Elevate Your Event. One of the things we'll do is offer a 20% credit of the Sprint fee towards services post-Sprint. So if this is really interesting to you, mention Elevate Your Event. We'll give you 20% credit of the Sprint fee towards services afterwards if we work together. I would love to have a conversation. I can talk about this all day. But we exist to see organizations thrive.

Jeff: We're going to wrap this up. And I'm going to head to another nonprofit meeting where I'm going to recommend they call you.

Graeme: That sounds good, Jeff. Appreciate it.

Jeff: Let's go ahead and wrap this up. Thank you guys so much for listening in. Until next time, happy fundraising. If you enjoyed our show, please take a moment to leave us a review. You can find us on Apple, Google, and Spotify. Don't forget to subscribe for more great content. And if you're a fan of video, check us out on YouTube. Until next time, happy fundraising.