Principles: Running your Social Sector work and life like the world’s most profitable hedge fund11/8/2023  Social Sector critics believe that if our organizations ran like the private sector, our problems would be over. This reasoning is wrong. The high level dilemmas, structures and missions are not easily comparable. Systems, and cultures are not easily interchangeable between these divergent worlds.
The exception to this rule is when the high level essence of an idea surpasses the domain where it was developed. When an idea or an approach becomes a macro level principle, it can apply across every scenario. This post is about one of these high level operating systems that emerged from the hedge fund industry but directly applies to our Social Sector work and life.
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 Escaping the busy trap and making hard decisions easier
What are they doing all day (in the other department, in the other organization)? This uncomfortable question strikes deep for us social sector professionals. Unlike our for profit counterparts, we are constantly worried that our work, organizations and lives are less justified since they are not generating direct quantifiable profit. We fall into these fears and down into the alluring busy trap where we do everything to appear busy (and thus validated) to others. This non-profit must be important/useful/valuable since I and my co workers are so busy all the time.  How Social Sector professionals can set up a personal performance system to thrive in an organizational change process.
My work with Social Sector organizations often puts me in contact with groups undergoing internal change processes. These small or large seismic movements seemed unusual and dramatic to me at the beginning of my career. Over time, I realized that organizational restructuring was common in the nonprofit world, and that certain patterns and themes repeat themselves as organizational tectonic plates shift over time. Each organization no matter the type, size or focus goes through change. While the timeline varies, the process of redefining a mission, structure, teams, and way of working, is universal to these Social Sector organizations.  This post is about decision making in complex scenarios: How to have a strong mind and make the right choice in a crisis. How to manage your own emotions to best help others in a crisis.
On August 12, 2017 a car plowed into a group of peaceful protesters in my hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia. The attack that killed one and wounded 20 followed a tense morning of exchanges between so called ‘Alt Right’ groups and a large group of counter protesters. Just after the one year anniversary of the event, I’ve assembled some thoughts on crisis management that I started writing just after last year’s event.  Social sector professionals fear job loss, or contracts ending as much as people working in the wider private sector. Our modern work ethic comes from the factories of the industrial revolution where your place on the assembly line was everything. Being a part of this mythical, idyllic ‘factory’ guaranteed your own security and that of your family as well as your place within a community. The job created and sustained identity. You had to show up and do your job, and the company takes care of the rest. This simplified version was never fully true, but even the imperfect version is long over for most of us. We are living in the third industrial revolution of the Internet age. Many jobs in our environment are moving to a short term contract basis. Pensioned long term employees are rare in our social sector fields.
 Let’s start with a simple question: How much of what you are making and managing in your social sector work will last one, five or 10 years? What about beyond that time, centuries from now?
In his new book Perennial Seller, author and strategist Ryan Holiday discusses this phenomenon of enduring work that outlasts its creators. As social sector strivers, we always say we are working on something that is sustainable. In theory, as social sector professionals, we are working on a problem that if solved correctly will make us irrelevant. We are teaching a skill, creating a piece of physical infrastructure, or building an organization that will stand the test of time.  Building a buffer in your work and life makes achievement and tranquility an achievable process. This buffer is a safety net of time, money, expectation or other currency to protect yourself as you take smart risks to learn, experiment and perfect your social sector mission and life.
I’ve lived for many years without an adequate buffer of time and money. This meant signing up for work related projects with timelines that require everything to go perfectly and according to plan. The no-buffer-life meant that I was living without an overall financial plan and without an adequate cash cushion if that work ended, or if I needed to move on. Bufferless life meant saying yes to too many things in work and life and reaching burnout overload. After learning and implementing the buffer approach with time, money and boundaries I have drastically increased my tranquility and achievement while also reducing my fear of change or massive disruption.  A few years ago I attended a workshop at professional conference presenting work that a team and I completed on humanitarian risk mapping related to Africa’s Sahel region. Previous professional conferences were a cognitive and emotional drain for me. The combination of new information and constant professional interaction left me exhausted at the end of each day and week. Admittedly, this is a ‘champagne problem’ for those of us who are lucky and industrious enough to build a career that we care about in the social sectors. Nonetheless, this mix of exhaustion and stress that resulted from intense public work sessions and trainings was real for me, and many of my social sector friends.
This has all changed for me in the last year. Now, these conferences, intense projects and trainings leave me energized and focused on enjoying life and achieving better professional practice.  High performance + personal tranquility for the social sectors
Welcome to the site! This is the place where we learn about and perfect tactics, strategies and mindsets to transform the average worker in the nonprofit field to a high performing Social Sector Titan. And of course we have lots of fun along the way. What is a Social Sector Titan? Check out the definition below: Social Sector is: Global and national non-profit, social business, social enterprise, Government, voluntary social enterprise, NGO, United Nations working on social issues. Any socially focused entity not structured solely for profit (my composite definition). Titan is: One that is gigantic in size or power. One that stands out for greatness of achievement (Miriam Webster). The Social Sector Titan is a professional working for social change who lives and acts at the outer edge of their abilities and context for maximum impact. They are a person who works for social impact with a new set of personal and professional habits, techniques and tools that bring specialized abilities. The Titan is a 21st century knowledge worker who combines the best methods of social change with new learning on lifestyle design, effectiveness, and work/life strategy to create an unique skillset. The Social Sector Titan combines work and life into an optimized package of achievement, fulfillment, wealth (of all types), impact and tranquility. |
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