I hear a lot of stories in my job. I work with a lot of organizations and I meet a lot of people. I will never have the opportunity to be bored, but – as much satisfaction as I get from my job – I often find myself incredibly frustrated.
Today, for instance. I’ve been stewing for a couple weeks about one organization I am working with. Great org. Enthusiastic and dedicated director. Intelligent, creative, committed staff. Bad work plan. Seriously – the work plan sends me into fits. See, the ED inherited this proposal that somebody else developed. Funding was committed, great joy spread throughout the land, and that’s where the fairy tale ends.
The work plan stinks. It’s beautiful on paper – all aggressive and visionary and full of phenomenal numbers. The staff is focusing a lot of time and energy on trying to make it work. But it’s nearly impossible to accomplish and even if the activities can be produced, I’m not sure they’ll be able to measure impact in any real way.
Sigh.
Now what?
My suggestion is “Suck it up, admit you were wrong, fix it.” I keep hearing from all these funders that they want to hear the real story. If you find your vision is too grand, your methodology is flawed, your system is not rightly paired with your mission, tell us. Let us learn from your lesson as much as you have, to advise our future efforts and build our ability to support other organizations.
Sigh.
I keep hearing all these “Mommy’isms” in my head. “The right thing is seldom the easy thing” is the one that stands out today. I wrote an honest grant report a while back. Folks were surprised. Basically, I said “not a single thing turned out the way we planned. Here’s what didn’t work, here’s why, and here are the beautiful surprises.” Dave (our V.P.) and I talked about it before it was submitted. He used to be in the foundation world and he said, yes, that’s really what they want. But he had to admit that most nonprofits weren’t quite so honest.
Dirty laundry is a tricky business. Sometimes we come up with good plans based on bad information. We may be misinformed, we may be over-zealous, or we may just flat-out be wrong. (Gasp.) But the key is to have the courage to deal with it when you find out your plan is bad. Don’t waste money. Don’t waste time. Forget about your reputation or what you think the community or funders want to see. You need to do the right thing.
We are learning every day. No matter how strong and proud your organization may be, you’re not perfect. It’s time for us to gather our collective humility and support each other in learning, rather than continuing to encourage the fine art of smoke and mirrors.
Submitted by Robin Lynn Grinnell
Filed under: General
