I recently had coffee with a fundraiser who started a new job at a large nonprofit. I asked how things were going. The CEO warned him about challenges in changing the organization’s culture. Only now does he fully grasp the situation. The team clings to the mindset of always doing things the same way.
It’s Always Been This Way
“Wayne, the place where the development team has its offices is pretty dark. People are still working with computers that look as if they were made 20 years ago. The minute it is 5PM, everyone is out the door,” he said. “It’s a dreary environment that does not give someone the feeling of creativity that you need to be successful in today’s world.”
“And you know what the operations team said to me when I told them that I wanted to brighten up the place and actually turn on all of the lights throughout the ceiling of the office?” he asked.
“What?” I replied.
“They told me that that they always kept the lights low and to ask the CEO for permission to install the bulbs in the empty sockets.”
Teams that Don’t Get Away from This Way
He faced constant pushback. Any change he proposed met resistance, even minor ones. Longtime team members insisted things were always done a certain way. Why change? They couldn’t envision a different path.
Change for the sake of change may not always be necessary. At a time when “disruption” and “innovation” are ordinary, people are making careers out of it. If you look, you’ll find disruption consultants or establishing “innovation firms.” You can attend “disruption seminars and conferences.” So, nonprofit teams who say that “it’s always been done that way,” should be performance-managed at best. Or, they may even have to be let go if they refuse to evolve.
Shaking Things Up
Looking at social media groups, you see the tension and debate. Some want to shake things up and improve processes, metrics, and impact. And some want to stick with the world as they know it. That’s true, even if that world only mirrors past successes. Today’s environment means that teams need to reinvent themselves and the reality where they work constantly.
Forward-thinking organizations have their CEO sending out tweets. In short, CEOs are directly communicating with their constituents using various social media platforms. Yes, they likely send emails and letters. But if it’s Saturday and today’s successful nonprofit CEO happens to see a great news story, that person is sharing it on social media.
Promoting and Evolving with Changing Times
And, it’s not just the CEO that matters. All staff within nonprofit organizations should be empowered to promote their organization. If they want to do on their respective social media networks—go for it! I bet if you asked each staff member to write down how many followers they had across their social networks, in total, it would exceed 1,000.
Now, I am not suggesting that nonprofit executives should require staff to promote their organization as part of their job on their personal social media accounts. But, I am suggesting fostering an environment of change, innovation, and creativity. If you break with how things have “always” been done, you will likely get most of your staff to join you.
Today, teams want to develop a culture of forward-thinking professionals unsatisfied with the status quo. In short, they want to do things better and make a deeper, broader, and more significant impact. In turn, they’ll then become your best ambassadors.
Allowing space to break with the past fosters fresh ideas and insight, and this new level of ingenuity will undoubtedly increase staff and organizational performance. Change can be more than a good thing. Indeed, it can be a great thing.
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