Keeping the Spark Alive as your Organization Grows

Most of the time, I keep my writing focused on how to build strong relationships with people outside your organization – attracting new donors, inspiring new levels of giving, that kind of thing. It’s not always easy to find the right people to support your mission, or to communicate your vision in a way they’ll understand and respond to. But although it takes an effort to get new people on your side, the end result is a base of passionate, enthusiastic, committed donors.

It's probably understandable that outsiders need some convincing to get on board. They may not be aware yet of whatever problem you’re trying to address, or they may not yet realize how effective your solution is. There are typically lots of other issues vying for their attention, and they may not have a reason to automatically make you their priority.

That’s why building these relationships is a process: a gradual strengthening of interest and trust.

It’s different with people who work for your organization, though. They’re on the ground, in the trenches. They see the impact of your work up close. Of all people, they shouldn’t need help staying motivated and focused on your goals.

Right?

Not necessarily. Today, I actually want to switch gears a little and talk about why it can be just as challenging to keep up your organization’s internal morale, why it’s worth the effort, and what you can do to make it happen.  

Losing sight of the vision

Most organizations start with a vision. It might be one person’s idea, or a few people who have some kind of joint inspiration, but either way, there’s a clear purpose, and the people who come together to make it a reality.

If an organization achieves some success, it might start to grow. In order to work on a bigger scale, more people are hired, more offices opened, more projects undertaken. In a big organization, most people won’t have been around for those early days, back when the original vision was born.

In fact, they may not even know what the original vision was. They have their own tasks and responsibilities, their own quarterly numbers to chase and bosses to answer to. They don’t spend a lot of time thinking about what the machine is supposed to be doing; they just keep their small corner of it running.

Doing your job

Say you’re at a restaurant, and the wrong order is delivered to your table. You call over the waiter to let him know, and he apologizes and promises to rectify the problem. Since he has a bunch of other tables to cover, he tries to maximize his efficiency by taking a few more orders before heading back to the kitchen.

Meanwhile, everyone at your table is starting to get pretty hungry. The owner notices the circle of unhappy faces and comes over to find out what the problem is. Hearing your story, she takes immediate action. Soon enough, the problem has been handled and your party is back to enjoying your night out.

There are a lot of reasons that a waiter and restaurant owner would have different approaches to solving a customer problem. For one thing, they have different levels of authority and ability to bring about a solution.

But it’s important to note that they also have different perspectives. The waiter knows that he has a lot of orders to get through, and he’s trying to handle his personal workload responsibly and effectively. In his mind, the more customers he keeps happy, the better he is at his job.

The owner has different priorities. While she appreciates the waiter’s speed and efficiency, it’s more important to her that mistakes are handled promptly. Most customers can tolerate a short wait, but a badly-handled slipup could really affect the restaurant’s reputation. The owner’s goal is to make sure that everyone knows this restaurant is somewhere with solid, dependable service.

If the owner wants mistakes to be handled a certain way, she needs to communicate that to her staff. How else could they possibly know whether speed is more important than problem-solving, or vice versa? If the owner doesn’t give them a clear sense of her vision for the restaurant, they’ll have to rely on their own priorities and biases, and the owner may end up with a restaurant culture that’s very different from what she ever had in mind.

Staying connected

You might be surprised how many of the nonprofits I’ve worked with struggle to talk about their overall mission. We’ll be trying to create a video about who they are and what they stand for, and we find that they’re not entirely sure, or that not everyone is in agreement.

The consequences of this are subtle but important. If the staff isn’t on the same page, they’re not all working towards the same goal. This can lead to conflict or stagnation, as without a clear direction, nobody is sure where to go next.

It can also lead to a slow decline in passion and energy for the work. I’ve had more than one client tell me that after the process we went through to help them articulate their mission and share it with donors, the internal culture of the organization came to life. When everyone knew exactly why they were coming in to work everyday, they were a thousand times happier to be there.

What’s the solution?

If you want everyone to have a shared sense of mission, you need to communicate what that mission is. It might not be feasible for everyone to be in regular contact with the founder to chat about the original vision, but it is probably doable to put out regular videos – weekly, monthly, whatever your schedule allows for – where the founder talks about the current focus of the organization, visions for the future, and where everyone’s energy needs to be focused next.

These videos will invite everyone who watches them, no matter which department they’re in or how long they’ve been there, to see themselves as playing a role in the bigger picture. This will invest the everyday work routine with a sense of purpose, energizing everyone to do their part, whatever it is.

Unlike videos made for donors, these don’t have to be perfectly polished, full of images that tell your story so an outsider can understand it. They’re a smaller-scale investment in your own people and the future you’re trying to build together.

Does this sound like something that would benefit your organization? Want help mapping out what it might look like and what it would cost? Feel free to get in touch.