Without Decision Comes Repetition

I have seen many organizations serving vastly different missions and at different scale lose relevance. The commonality is that when mission-focused organizations don’t define direction, what fills the void is usually repetition. 

Exacerbating this is that there is usually a long institutional memory of when the organization was most relevant and clear in purpose. But when organizations don’t regularly, systematically and transparently articulate where they are headed, the result is usually treading water.

Being stuck impacts all aspects of an organization and usually manifests in common ways. The board and staff might believe strongly in the mission, but it’s likely been a while since they checked to see that they are fulfilling it in the ways that best serve their community. They rely on loyal, longstanding supporters — all of whom are giving a little less each year, no longer seeing the compelling nature of the work — and are attracting very few new donors. The organization probably does a lot — but they don’t have much to show for it in outcomes. They aren’t measuring much and haven’t really articulated what success as an organization entails or they did so so long ago that it’s no longer relevant. Many operational decisions are also remnants of previous decision-making, legacy practices developed when conditions were radically different.

This directly impacts staff morale and success. Without clear direction, staff are left focusing on tasks rather than an endpoint. They have little room to innovate because their focus is on doing what they know to do rather than achieving a bigger end that might have various potential paths to success. Staff feel less engaged and inspired because the work is not rooted in purpose and doesn’t allow for autonomy. Exacerbating this is that if the organization has already started to lose the interest of funders, they are probably navigating all of this with fewer people to get the work done, leaving staff little time to look up out of the day to day to seize opportunities.

This is a common path for many organizations, but it is not an inevitability. In the example I shared, there was actually a happy ending beyond the state I described. I worked with the organization to bring in new voices and develop a new vision reflecting who the organization is today and who they are seeking to serve, and they have set out on a new path with significantly new ways of doing business. It’s a story of caution, but also one of possibility. 

If this sounds like your organization – misaligned, out of touch, and with waning impact -- know it does not have to be. The first step is to choose to engage in deciding who you want to become.