The temps are getting warmer, trees are leafing out, and we’ve got more hours of sunlight. Spring is in the air, and with it comes increased energy. How can you use that energy to get things growing at your organization, even (especially) in these chaotic times?
Look at what’s not growing
Depending on when you start your fiscal year, you’ve just completed either the first or third quarter. What does the data show you? What’s going well? What programs or projects aren’t meeting their targets? Do they need some attention and fertilizer (resources, training, an extra set of hands), or have they just run their course and need to be pulled out? With everything else going on this year, you may not have the luxury of nursing a struggling program along.
Do some weeding
What’s crept in that’s hampering a healthy environment? Is it a complicated process that slows things down, software that doesn’t do what you need it to do, outdated policies, a cultural issue, or a tangential activity that’s taking needed energy away from your vision or strategic plan? Better to take time and consciously identify the weeds now before you reach a point where you’re hastily yanking them out and taking desired plants out with them.
Plant some seeds
If you have physical property, this can be a literal activity! Who do you want to have more engaged with your organization’s mission? Prospective board members? A local business? Volunteers? What about elected officials – do they know what you do and how you do it? (Better they should know before your funding is threatened!) Use this time of refreshment and renewal to invite them in for agency tours, a spring/summer program kick-off, or light building and grounds beautification days. Is your concern your staff? Use the spring to talk about personal and professional development, get them to schedule their vacation time to fend of burn-out, and set plans in place to help them grow through the spring and summer.
Maximize sun exposure
Shine a light for staff at all levels to see what and how your organization is doing, and how what they do contributes to the work and mission. Share progress on the strategic plan and quality improvement measures, spotlight top performing teams, and lift up clients and those on staff graduating from schools or earning certificates in the next few months. Get your leaders and managers outside – tour a partner organization, have an outdoor planning retreat, do something to get them out of their usual sites and get them into creative thinking mode. And if your agency is feeling the heat, consider more transparency with staff and stakeholders is better than less. Trust them with the truth as you know it, and be candid enough to say “I don’t know” when you don’t know.
Spring ushers in vibrant renewal after winter. Use this transitional time to plant seeds of growth, team building, and community connections for your organization. Do this gardening work now, and you’ll be able to enjoy a more fruitful, sustainable, and engaged operating landscape year-round.
