Entries For: February 2008
2008-02-05
Facing Facts: the good, the bad, and the ugly
There’s a lot of advice out there telling you to "build on your strengths" and "focus on the positive". As an ED, I find this quite tempting: who doesn't want to think about what they do well all day long? Who doesn't want to make something that is already good even better?
Strangely, though, as the person responsible for the bottom line, I find that my main job is just the opposite: to focus on our weaknesses. Where are we failing? Who needs to improve? Revamp it or cut it altogether?
In a nonprofit world that is often full of warm-fuzzies and back-pats, talking about failures can be quite counter-cultural, Especially if it could ever get back to a potential donor or, gasp!, the public at large. But just as I've yet to meet a perfect person, I have yet to come across an organization that is anywhere near perfect. Given the heavy constraints under which nonprofits operate - lack of clear data and indicators on long-term goals, little proportionality between funding and quality of services, and difficulty attracting talent from the better-paid private sector - this should come of little surprise.
But then why are failures so hard to talk about publicly? From my experience, I suspect that the reasons all fall back on the competitive environment within which nonprofits operate. Competition is a natural driving force of humanity, and in my opinion is as essential in the nonprofit sector as it is in the private sector. However, in the private sector, there is only so much that you can do to mask your failures: ultimately you have to publish your quarterly profits and losses and declare your future earnings projections. The market will judge you accordingly.
In the nonprofit environment, things are very different. We submit our taxes but do nothing else to objectively showcase our success or failure at meeting our social bottom line. Therefore, everything we chose to reveal or publicize is voluntary. And guess what we all publicize? The great stuff… the tears of joy stuff… the oh-my-god-I-need-to-sell-my-car-to-give-to-this-organization stuff.
Where do the failures and the shortcomings go? Some organizations have strong internal review, evaluation, and program improvement systems (generally kept private). Most do not. While "best practices" are shared widely across the industry, "worst practices" are stored in the closet. So how do we learn from each other?
My commitment through FORGE is to do my small part to change this culture of closeted weaknesses. When we have "lessons learned", I want to share them – not just within my organization, but with others. I hope that others will, too. Eventually, together, we can dispel the fear that revealed weaknesses lead to exploitation and defeat. Our weaknesses will make us stronger.
- Kjerstin Erickson
www.FORGEnow.org
