![]() "Imagine an organization where everyone feels a strong sense of shared purpose, where people relate to one another in a way that fosters greater awareness of the work and of themselves because they feel deeply understood and share a common purpose." -Henry Cloud, Boundaries for Leaders In the nonprofit world, especially in the challenging work of criminal justice reform or direct services, is Henry Cloud's vision of synergy possible? So often organizations are struggling in cash flow, meeting urgent client needs, and balancing ever-mounting demands on underpaid staff. How, then, does an organization move from a culture of stress to an environment where people "relate to one another in a way that fosters greater awareness of the work and of themselves"? How many spoonfuls of energy do you have left?
Henry Cloud's conclusion is that when leaders take time to really listen, so much changes about the workplace culture. This means listening to staff, clients, and partners alike. Let's talk about how this plays out in a broader movement for criminal justice reform. In transformative justice work, we cannot cultivate a healthy movement if our workplaces are unhealthy. In order to effectively carry out their mission, organizations need to cultivate a space like Henry Cloud illustrates above. Why? Because the organizational culture will ultimately bleed into every corner of the work. If there is misery or mistrust among staff, you can bet that clients will feel it; if there is a lack of understanding of company values, clients and partners will experience inconsistent treatment; and if there is inconsistency in carrying out the mission, it will be harder to champion your message to broader audiences. Here are some questions to consider. An organization that is embodying transformative justice would answer yes to most, if not all, of these questions:
If you are thinking about your own organization and answered no to any of these questions, there is room to grow, and that's the beauty of living out transformative justice. The process of facing our deficits -- not with shame but with an understanding that there are always new ideas to learn and ways to grow -- is necessary for positive transformation. It is the first step to moving closer to building a successful movement around justice reform. If you'd like to set up a session with Transformative Justice Solutions, reach out to Katherine@transformthework.com or learn more about our services here.
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"Napoleon said that there were three things needed to fight a war. The first is money. The second is money. And the third is money. That may be true of war, but it's not true for the nonprofit organization. You need a plan. You need marketing. You need people. And you need money." -Peter Drucker, in Managing the Nonprofit Organization As Drucker alludes to above, money isn't everything a nonprofit needs to execute its mission. Those primary elements - plan, people, and money - heavily rely on your ability to market who you are and what you are doing.
It may seem odd to apply a business world term like "marketing" to the nonprofit sector, where the "product" people are delivering is an intangible concept like "social change" or "improving lives." However, even after you have devised a perfect program that WILL change lives, you need marketing to reach those you wish to serve and those whose support you need. Here's the ultimate catch: many people working in advocacy or direct service nonprofits are trained in social work, psychology, political science, and research. Marketing skills often come from a completely different kind of resume. So how do you wear that hat at a small organization? Let's run through a few tips on marketing your programs. As someone who has had to employ marketing techniques to promote a speakers bureau, multiple conferences and symposiums, and fundraising events, I've learned a few things along the way from experts in communications.
If you like what you're reading, please reach out or comment about your specific challenges, and we can discuss how TJS might be able to assist with your program communication strategy! My uncle used to cultivate grapes, and he told me: "When you trim a grape vine at the root, it will come back with a beautiful vengeance."
This advice might have been useless to someone who doesn't know the first thing about gardening, but this advice lingered in my mind for years as a metaphor. He didn't mean "beautiful vengeance" in any negative connotation; he meant that when he cut his meek vine that refused to bear fruit, it came back tenfold and proved its true potential. The same thing goes for feedback. I had a staff member once who was working in a silo - struggling to communicate across teams when their work didn't overlap, which led to conflict and miscommunication with others. I provided her honest feedback on this, and I asked what might be causing this pattern to emerge. Oftentimes people don't realize how they are coming across to their colleagues, but people are naturally afraid of having honest conversations, which in turn deprives the person of a true growth opportunity. My feedback was like trimming the root of a grapevine. She took it to heart, and because she is a woman of true grit and determination, she came back with a "beautiful vengeance." She incorporated new practices for checking in with others. She changed the way she talked about her work to give credit to the colleagues doing similar work, and she made a conscious effort to include others on her program updates, events, and problem solving. She truly took the feedback as an opportunity for growth, and it was a wonderful thing to watch. Here are 3 takeaways from this experience that I wish to share: 1) Honesty is a valuable tool. Of course, there is a reason people are afraid of being honest with each other when something isn't right. Feelings get hurt; people can feel misunderstood when they receive feedback and oftentimes one piece of negative feedback can overshadow anything positive you may have lead with. It is important that you aren't CUTTING DOWN the vine, but rather strategically trimming. This means that your honesty should come from a genuine place, and you should already have established trust as a leader so that the staff member understands you want them to succeed and you value their contributions. 2) Ask about what they need, and create a safe space for a real answer. Your staff hold the keys to their professional development. They often already know what they are struggling with and where they want to go in their career, but in order to evaluate it with their supervisor, they need to feel that talking openly about their challenges is not to their own detriment. If they are wondering, "Will this be used against me when I ask for that raise?" or "Will my colleagues find out that I'm struggling with this?" then something needs to help them reframe. Cultivate a workplace where the desire to learn and grow is an asset, and "not knowing something" isn't a failure. Together, you can build a development plan where you recommend trainings, books, articles, or introductions to other people in your network. 3) Don't drop the ball - check in! As a leader, your role will involve checking in on a person's follow through with their professional development plan. Everyone is balancing a lot of responsibilities in their jobs, and often (especially at nonprofits), people will prioritize helping others rather than themselves. Part of cultivating a workplace culture of growth is holding people accountable - gently, with understanding that they are juggling a lot. This might be with a casual check in, "Hey, any chance you've had any time to read the article I sent you? I'm excited to hear your thoughts," or simply, "Are you finding time to work through your professional development plan that we created last month?" A motivational coach provides helpful reminders, healthy pressure, and sympathizes with the fact that people have competing priorities. What does this quote mean in practice? "Nothing blooms 365 days a year." In our personal lives, it means we're not always "on," not always winning, not always exhibiting greatness. Sometimes we go through phases of "doing," and then there are phases of learning. In business, it means that sometimes we are advancing, and other times we are storing up our reserves. Anything to the contrary would be unrealistic, yet we are often held to that expectation by family, work, and society.
In the rainforests of Sumatra, there exists a very strange flowering plant called titan arum. It can get to over 10 feet tall and weigh over 165 lbs. It stores its energy in between blooms, producing only a single flower every 7-9 years. Can you imagine being that patient? But when it does flower, it makes a ruckus in the forest, producing heat from its core and a formidable stench, attracting pollinators far and wide. This bloom lasts but 24 hours. What can we learn from some giant stinky flower? I have encountered countless people who experience guilt in taking breaks, setting boundaries with work, and allowing themselves the space to nourish themselves. Many of us work under the expectation of constant productivity and desire for perfection. Contrarily, this actually works against our ability to be effective. It generates a frantic work culture, one where wellbeing, strategic planning, and learning come secondary to meeting the numbers and competing with each other. This can be counterproductive to truly thriving, to "blooming strong" (if you will) when the time is right. The quote above from Adrienne Marie Brown's is accompanied by these words from Autumn Meghan Brown of AORTA: "Our gifts thrive in very different circumstances...I can really let go and let other people hold their expertise, and I can call it forward and learn. And that is healthy for a group. A group that is always making decisions isn't a group that is always learning, necessarily, but learning is an essential function of making good decisions. And in order to learn together you have to be good at humility and curiosity." Since reading this, I've spent a lot of time thinking about the ways I am investing in my own learning and growth. When we invest in ourselves, even if a bloom is brief, it has the potential to be impactful. Despite the titan arum's ephemeral foray into the world, this flower is quite useful. It can be used for food and medicinal purposes and is currently being studied to treat a deadly parasite causing African sleeping sickness. When we take time to hone our skills and learn from others, we will have more to offer the world when the "bloom" occurs. How is your organization investing before the "bloom"? Are you adhering to professional development plans, checking in with staff, and planning for the long term, or do you often find yourself putting out fires week by week? Do staff feel equipped for growth, or are they constantly worried about change? If you're interested in learning more about how TJS can help your organization invest in professional development and strategize program growth, please reach out here for a conversation! |
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