The New Year – Can you handle the pressure?
What are the things keeping you up at night as we begin 2009?
As I started thinking about this post for our new blog, all I could think about was the pressure of being interesting, delivering some quality content, and helping us launch with a bang. It stressed me out, but I thought I was up to the challenge. You be the judge – let me know what you think.
The real thing that has been making me lose sleep is the threat and opportunity that has arisen out of our “economic crisis.” While I think that phrase should be added to the banished word list, it does make you think about what is really important – specifically for us working in non-profits and community change.
What I really worry about is that amidst all of our talk about “belt-tightening” and dealing with “tough times” we focus too heavily on the threats that face us. I hope that we don’t lose sight of the great opportunity we have in front of us right now and the work we know makes the future better. The Bridgespan Group put out a great article about managing in tough times, but there are three things that needed to be added/reinforced:
- Compelling vision is key – we must rely more heavily on a picture of tomorrow that is different from today. People will weather any storm if the potential calm afterwards is wonderful enough. If you have a vision that is inspiring and significant, wrap yourself in it fully – if you don’t, get one now.
- Real change is long-term – one of the pressures coming out of threat is to show short-term results and tangible benefits. These are important, but we know that significant change happens over the long haul. Make sure that you don’t compromise your ability to run the marathon by completely giving in to the need to sprint now.
- This is the climate for innovation –the ideas and the behaviors of the past have gotten us to where we are today. Identify the new ideas that will really make a difference and make sure you prioritize pursuing them.
During this “downturn” we can either let our fears paralyze us and force us to make decisions that don’t lead us to a better community or focus on the opportunity and use this time to urgently prioritize the things that matter most over time.
I’ll be fighting like mad to protect the most important pieces of my work, to explore and analyze new ideas, and bring more focus and clarity to all of it. I’m going to live in the place of possibility and opportunity.
What are you going to do? Where are you going to be? What am I not considering? Let’s talk more.
Photo credit: wwarby