What’s keeping your organization from doing the very best work possible? Barriers, roadblocks, obstacles – if your nonprofit is like most, you probably have quite a list of “challenges” to overcome!
Banish all those “stopping words” from your conversation, says Hildy Gottlieb, nonprofit consultant and author of The Pollyanna Principles: Reinventing “Nonprofit Organizations” to Create the Future of Our World:
When we look at these as just empty conditions – they’re not good, they’re not bad, they’re just conditions that need to be met in order for us to move forward – [then] we’re not inviting those barriers into the room.... Barriers and obstacles and all of those negative stopping words are all what we bring to the work. They’re not about the issues; they’re just what people bring to the issues.
What do you think would happen if you showed this video (or this one) to your board before the next meeting? What goals might your organization achieve, if you didn’t have to spend energy on removing roadblocks and barriers – instead of meeting the conditions needed to pursue your mission?
Could a change in language and mindset make a positive change in how your nonprofit runs?
Share your thoughts in the comments!