The Renewable Organization - March 2009 Newsletter

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It Takes A Team

What kind of people do you need to add to your team? How are you putting the gifts and passions of the people you already have on your team to good use? If you're in the business of innovation, transformation, or renewal (and who isn't, these days?), this isn't work you can do alone. 

The work of organizational renewal, social innovation, and personal transformation is a multi-disciplinary effort. The team at A Renewal Enterprise has experience and training in a wide variety of fields including engineering, design, theology, and economics. And the team is growing. The three newest members of A.R.E. - Bob Machamer, Jennifer Lee Robinson, and Marlene Daubert - bring experience in music & the arts, social work, parish ministry, and community organizing. All of them have a passion for building organizations, movements, and communities that are good for people and for the planet we call home. We are proud to welcome them to our team! 

Who should be on yours?

Click here to meet the whole A.R.E. team

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Are You Leading Purposefully?
This Month's Top Five List

A lot of people these days are feeling anxious because of the economic downturn. Even if they haven't been directly impacted yet, they are looking around at their lives and asking important questions like: What really matters to me? What can I do without? How can I focus what I do have to make the biggest impact? This are purposeful questions and good to be asking anytime but especially now. 

Well, the same thing that is true in our personal lives is true for our organizations. Now more than ever leaders need to be asking purposeful questions. This is not the time for getting off track or chasing down things that don't matter. This is a time for drilling down to the core of who you are and what matters to you. This is a time to put your resources, assets, and passions to work in a way that will make the biggest impact in your organization and in the world. It's time for leaders to lead purposefully.

Here are 5 questions to ask yourself to assess whether or not you are leading purposefully in your organization today:

1. Do I even KNOW what the purpose of my organization is? And am I passionate about it?? Are the members of my team passionate about it? Do we feel like we're doing something that makes a difference to people, to the world?
2. Can I - and DO I - tell others, even strangers, about the purpose of my organization? Am I an evangelist for it?! Do others sense how excited I am about it in a way that gets them excited, too? 
3. Do I say "no" to things because they don't help us move toward our purpose? And do I say "yes" to things, even though they are risky and scare the pants off of me, because it's so clear that our purpose demands it?
4. Have I organized my staff and my resources around our purpose? Does my team know this? 
5. Am I willing to make changes - even fundamental changes - in the way I do things in order to pursue our purpose? Is my team?   

If you answered yes to these questions, you are probably leading purposefully! If you couldn't honestly say "yes" to each question, you probably need to invest some time and energy in a process to get yourself and your team refocused.  

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Book of the Month
Kelly's Pick

OK, so I'm only half way through "Getting To Maybe: How The World Is Changed" by Frances Westley, Brenda Zimmerman, and Michael Quinn Patton (Random House Canada, 2006) but I'm pretty sure this is one of those books I'll go back to again and again. 

Building on the ideas of complexity science and based on their own solid research, observing and interviewing social innovators from all over the planet, these authors offer their best hunch about how to change the world. First they warn: "This is not a good time for control freaks." There is no simple recipe or set of protocols for changing social systems, much less for attacking the biggest problems of our day...poverty, injustice, environmental abuse, racism, etc. 

Change is more like a journey embarked on by those who have felt a call they cannot ignore and who are able to walk through open doors because they have hope enough to SEE the doors in the first place. Change begins, therefore, right where you are when you take an action - any action - uncertain of the outcome but believing that something new just may-be possible. 

The authors' use of scientific theory is understandable even to me. They tell great stories. They give very practical advice, often speaking directly to those who lead nonprofit agencies and those who fund them, but helpful to anyone who wants to see change happen. I'm a little troubled by their use of Schumpeter's economic theory of "creative destruction," given how much trouble it's caused in the world, but it isn't enough for me to not recommend this book. 

In fact, I give this book two thumbs way up. 

Click here to link to the book.

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Results From Our February Survey
  

Our February newsletter asked you to respond to this question: How planet-friendly is your organization? You said... 

We're talking about it but haven't taken any action yet - 20% 

We encourage recycling but that's about it - 60% 

We are recycling, reusing, and reducing maniacs - 20% 

We are green leaders in our little corner of the planet - 0% 

And we say: Come on, people! It's time to step it up!!

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The Business of Giving

Register today for our next free "4th Tuesday" Webinar. We'll be exploring the role that GIVING can play in creating happier people and healthier organizations. It may be counter-intuitive but it's true: One of the most important things you can do during this economic downturn is GIVE of yourself, your time, and your finances. This is true for individuals and for the organizations we care about. Whatever your business is, you need to be in the business of giving...now more than ever. 

Webinar Title: The Business of Giving 

Date: Tuesday, March 24, 2009 

Time: 7:00-8:00 p.m. Central Time (8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific) 

Cost: FREE! 

Click here to register.

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This Month's Survey:

How Excited Are You About The Purpose Of Your Organization?

That's the question for this month's survey. Click on the "Take Survey" button to add your answer to those of other readers. The results will be shared in next month's Renewable Organization newsletter.

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