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I am enough of an artist
to draw freely upon my imagination.
Imagination is more important
than knowledge.
Knowledge is limited.
Imagination encircles the world.
– Albert Einstein
Jim Collins wrote about the need for leaders to look in the mirror, holding themselves accountable for the direction and culture of their organization. Robert Kaplan’s newest book, What to Ask the Person in the Mirror, lists questions for leaders to ask:
- Why did you choose this job?
- Does the way you spend your time match your key priorities?
- Do you coach and also solicit feedback from your key subordinates?
- Do you have a succession-planning process in place?
- If you had to design your company today with a clean sheet of paper, what would you change?
- Do you act as a role model?
- Are you reaching your potential and being true to yourself?
What other questions would you ask leaders? What other questions would you ask yourself?
One-third of all wrecks happen within one mile of home. My theory is that when we are close to home, we are blinded by the familiar. We drive without attention, saying, “I don’t recall the details of getting home.”
Routine meetings and conversations often suffer the same fate. One Monday morning team meeting looks much like the one last week. The video of the town hall with the CEO could be transplanted from one quarter to the next. The strategic planning session mirrors the one from last year, and the year before . . . .
David Whyte’s poem, Sometimes, says, “… stop what you are doing right now, / and stop what you are becoming while you do it ….” My intention is to being noticing more of the immediate world around me, when I’m driving and when I’m in meetings.
When is the last time you made the effort to hold a meeting or conversation that went beyond the familiar, the ordinary? What are the questions that trouble you and won’t go away? What is on your stop doing list?
I discovered this list of lessons from Southwest Airlines while reading Bill Taylor’s post on the HBR blogs: How do you know a great person when you see one? Both are worth a read.
One of my favorite Southwest lessons is #32 – set and renew noble expectations, which has me thinking about adding to my allowed list.
Does your organization have an employee handbook? Do you have policies that “have someone’s name on them” – you know, the ones that were added to address one person’s behavior? Is there an invisible handbook with rules about “the way we really do things around here”?
These sentences all ran through my mind as I read Simon Sinek’s post, You Are Allowed. He has five rules that are “to do” – not “don’t do,” which I repeat here:
1. Make the decision you think is the right decision to make
2. Start something that needs to be started to help advance the cause
3. Ask for help whenever you want it
4. Help others whenever you can (even if they don’t ask for it)
5. Take time off to do something that inspires, excites and energizes you
If I could add to the list:
6. Try something new at least once a week and let everyone know what you learn
What would you add to the “allowed list”?
“If we don’t find enough volunteers, we’re going to have to close. It will be a hardship for our community. I’m angry that we can’t find the resources we need.”
“It always feels like there’s a crunch to find volunteers, but they come through at the last-minute. I wish I didn’t have to worry about finding volunteers.”
Often non-profit organizations look to the corporate world for models of organization development and strategy. Yet non-profits are fundamentally different. While they have passion and vision, and deliver excellent service, the resources required differ from the business world. These resources may include charitable donations, grants, corporate sponsorships, and sometimes business revenues.
Non-profits rely on volunteers. Leading a team of volunteers is inherently different from leading paid employees. Volunteers commit their time, energy, money, and other resources because they want to make a difference, belong to a group with a common goal, and have pride in being a contributing member. Volunteers commit on their own terms. Leaders are the glue, attracting others to join and directing activities.
I have written a longer article about a 2-year study by Deloitte that looks at the characteristics of volunteers and suggests a list of questions that non-profit leaders can use to develop a strategy for leading and attracting volunteers. For more in-depth reading, I recommend Jim Collins’ monograph Good to Great for the Social Sectors and Baghai and Quigley’s As One: Individual Action and Collective Power.
There are encouraging statistics for those seeking to attract volunteers – from the overwhelming numbers of college students applying to Teach for America to the spontaneously organizing groups on the Internet such as the Linux users group, who jointly develop an operating system, and Wikipedia contributors. People envision helping their communities, learning new skills, and making a difference.
A community organizer is someone who uncovers [volunteers’] self-interest. They give [volunteers] an opportunity to work in their own self-interest and address problems in the community that they could not address by themselves.
– Jane Addams
