When you start a new job, the first few months you are
observing, taking everything in, learning the ropes. But unless this is your first job, you are
also comparing. Drawing
conclusions. Every organization has a
different culture, different systems and rules, different politics and power
structures.
There are likely things that your new employer is asking you
to do that aren’t efficient. That don’t
feel like the highest priority. But as a
new employee, you are still building relationships. You are still trying to prove yourself and
make a good impression. You are still
finding your allies.
Are you the type of person who voices her opinion right
away? Who points out the deficiencies
and the opportunities without worrying about ruffling a few feathers? Who sees herself as an agent of change? Or do you wait until you have a better sense
of the culture, of how things are done, of who might agree with you?
What if you wait too long?
After a few months, you will start to get used to how things are. Your workload will increase because you are
no longer in training mode. You won’t
have as much freedom to observe, to think, to ponder. And
now you’ve missed your window to make change.
You were hired because of your knowledge and prior work experience. And now you’re just a soldier, marching in
step.
Maybe you’re lucky, and your organization encourages creativity
and innovation. One of my first bosses,
in my twenties, said on day one, “I won’t get mad if you do something
wrong. What makes me mad is if you see a
better way to do your job and don’t say anything.” That value statement went a long way toward
empowering the staff to take risks and dramatically grow its revenue.
It is becoming
increasingly clear to me that the success or failure of many fundraising professionals
has little to do with tactical fundraising skills – writing a good appeal,
planning a good event – and everything to do with culture and systems and
attitudes.
Maybe what fundraisers need to be more successful is the
ability to “manage up.” To take those
impressions of what has worked well at other organizations and sell that vision
to your executive director and board members more effectively.
Last year I saw a colleague take a director of development
job at a large social service agency, only to be let go a month later because
it wasn’t a good fit. From what I know
of this colleague, he is highly qualified and should have been successful.
A few months later I saw another colleague step into that
same job. A year in, she is
thriving. She has increased contributed
revenue and more importantly, she has gotten the executive director and board
to invest significant resources into fundraising. She showed them some short-term results, and
shared her longer-term vision, and as a result the organization is actually
pulling capital out of their endowment to make this growth possible.
It took this fundraiser being tenacious and ambitious and
persistent to make the progress she’s made. But it is possible that with the right mindset, and absolute clarity about the end result you seek, we can break the
cycle of short tenures in development staff. In this relationship-driven business, the longer you stick around, the
better your chances are of transforming your fundraising results.
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