Amy, this was a great review—it reflected what seems to be the inspiring momentum of the book! I’m looking forward to picking up a copy of it when I’m visiting my family in the States this summer.
I think the areas of collaboration and community are critical turning points for re-thinking nonprofit culture. It sometimes seems that nonprofits latched onto the corporate model long ago as a structure for success, but are neglecting to latch onto some of the more progressive organizational changes that we’re seeing emerge in even the corporate sector.
Perhaps a stronger focus on what’s possible will make stale organizational politics less relevant.
Thanks, Zoe- I completely agree with you! I see a real disconnect between the social benefit organization group and the social entrepreneurs, when really I don’t think there should be a line at all. Social entrepreneurs, creating new models or methods for supporting and changing local communities or the world often view the traditional “nonprofit model” as something to avoid, something that kill their potential or success - why? because they see that nonprofits are continuing a broken system of how they do business.
I think that a stronger focus, like you say, and visibility of what happens with a different model can really help change the conversation. But it will also take, I believe, the community at large expecting this other, different, behavior from organizations to really get them to change. If we have community members who receive in-home care services demanding to be at the table with hospitals, health care providers, and practitioners to collaboratively evaluate and create programs, I think all those involved will experience a far different and far better process and outcome.
Amy- Your review of the Pollyanna Principles emphasized so many of the reasons this book has changed my world view entirely! I have worked in the Community Benefit sector for most of my life and had become increasingly frustrated with the level of impact and competition. Having followed Hildy’s work for a number of years, I was excited about the ideas she was developing. Now we have a model that inspires communities to work together, not because they have to, but because they share a vision.
I have shared the Pollyanna Principles with a number of community leaders in my area. Their eyes light up and they get excited thinking about the possibilities. The Culture of Can is within our reach and is possible and practical! One of the best things about the Pollyanna Principles is the emphasis on starting from shared vision and asking the questions that help each group find their own answers.
I find it interesting… this concept some of our colleagues may have of our industry or sector “being broken” …
For something to be “broken” means for something:
• to be fragmented, torn or separated into smaller pieces, or to be out of order or not functioning properly… or,
• to take a more humanistic or personal note, to be disunited, divided, disconnected… weakened in strength or spirit, or to have been infringed upon in some way which violates trust… or,
• perhaps even in extreme definitions, to have been ruined or bankrupt.
Amy, you make a tremendous point. The conversation to be had is not just about to what new reality The Pollyanna Principles inspires us, nor is it even about the depth of philosophy or the structure of The Principles themselves.
The conversation to be had, is about our mindsets – what it is we are choosing to think about and focus on, how THAT is what has manifested our current reality, and more importantly, the power we DO have to shift from that past into a more vibrant future.
Only in the midst of that conversation, may every one of us (individually, as community benefit organizations, social entrepreneurs, and as funding organizations etc.) truly “walk the talk”.
Only then can we ask the right kind of questions which emerge from a more life-giving way of thinking, without resorting to the previously accepted “action-taking/problem solving” approaches of layering on yet more tools/techniques, or models/methods.
Amy, you ask your readers to consider seriously, and not rhetorically, if we are truly ready for a “Culture of Can”… to which you respond to your own question with:
“I’m ready to start: to start asking questions and coming up with answer, to think and share collaboratively, and to really focus on the vision we share for a better world and work towards that goal instead of focusing only on the problems…”
As a two time participant in the Community Driven Institute’s new Consultants’ Training in the last year, may I echo and continue to encourage all of us that your instincts about sharing collaboratively, and working toward vision is paramount.
And with that in mind, may I also respectfully suggest that our tendencies to “come up with an answer” for ourselves or the organizations and clients with whom we work; or to place the onus on “the community” and their expectations “to change” is, in fact a large part of where our mindsets have contributed to our challenges AND ultimately, where they may also lay the springboard by which we may move toward our opportunities?
In as much as I understand Nancy’s perspective about seeing The Pollyanna Principles as a model for change, I have to admit rather humbly that our tendency to do so may in itself limit what we can create, or where we can go with them…
So in closing, may I offer up as food for thought, that perhaps we choose to view The Principles as a way of thinking that undergirds whatever tools or techniques, models or methods, past, present or future, we come to evolved or adopt along our way? And that THAT is where there the true potential of The Principles reside?
Perhaps then, may we truly release the emotional investment we have in making “being broken” our identity.
Tracey L. Sisson
Belief Re-patterningTM Practitioner
Facilitator in Training
COMMENTS
BY Zoe
ON June 12, 2009 12:18 AM
Amy, this was a great review—it reflected what seems to be the inspiring momentum of the book! I’m looking forward to picking up a copy of it when I’m visiting my family in the States this summer.
I think the areas of collaboration and community are critical turning points for re-thinking nonprofit culture. It sometimes seems that nonprofits latched onto the corporate model long ago as a structure for success, but are neglecting to latch onto some of the more progressive organizational changes that we’re seeing emerge in even the corporate sector.
Perhaps a stronger focus on what’s possible will make stale organizational politics less relevant.
Thanks for this article.
BY Amy Sample Ward
ON June 12, 2009 07:43 AM
Thanks, Zoe- I completely agree with you! I see a real disconnect between the social benefit organization group and the social entrepreneurs, when really I don’t think there should be a line at all. Social entrepreneurs, creating new models or methods for supporting and changing local communities or the world often view the traditional “nonprofit model” as something to avoid, something that kill their potential or success - why? because they see that nonprofits are continuing a broken system of how they do business.
I think that a stronger focus, like you say, and visibility of what happens with a different model can really help change the conversation. But it will also take, I believe, the community at large expecting this other, different, behavior from organizations to really get them to change. If we have community members who receive in-home care services demanding to be at the table with hospitals, health care providers, and practitioners to collaboratively evaluate and create programs, I think all those involved will experience a far different and far better process and outcome.
Thanks for adding to the conversation!
a
BY Nancy Iannone
ON June 12, 2009 10:21 AM
Amy- Your review of the Pollyanna Principles emphasized so many of the reasons this book has changed my world view entirely! I have worked in the Community Benefit sector for most of my life and had become increasingly frustrated with the level of impact and competition. Having followed Hildy’s work for a number of years, I was excited about the ideas she was developing. Now we have a model that inspires communities to work together, not because they have to, but because they share a vision.
I have shared the Pollyanna Principles with a number of community leaders in my area. Their eyes light up and they get excited thinking about the possibilities. The Culture of Can is within our reach and is possible and practical! One of the best things about the Pollyanna Principles is the emphasis on starting from shared vision and asking the questions that help each group find their own answers.
BY Tracey L. Sisson
ON June 15, 2009 01:02 PM
I find it interesting… this concept some of our colleagues may have of our industry or sector “being broken” …
For something to be “broken” means for something:
• to be fragmented, torn or separated into smaller pieces, or to be out of order or not functioning properly… or,
• to take a more humanistic or personal note, to be disunited, divided, disconnected… weakened in strength or spirit, or to have been infringed upon in some way which violates trust… or,
• perhaps even in extreme definitions, to have been ruined or bankrupt.
Amy, you make a tremendous point. The conversation to be had is not just about to what new reality The Pollyanna Principles inspires us, nor is it even about the depth of philosophy or the structure of The Principles themselves.
The conversation to be had, is about our mindsets – what it is we are choosing to think about and focus on, how THAT is what has manifested our current reality, and more importantly, the power we DO have to shift from that past into a more vibrant future.
Only in the midst of that conversation, may every one of us (individually, as community benefit organizations, social entrepreneurs, and as funding organizations etc.) truly “walk the talk”.
Only then can we ask the right kind of questions which emerge from a more life-giving way of thinking, without resorting to the previously accepted “action-taking/problem solving” approaches of layering on yet more tools/techniques, or models/methods.
Amy, you ask your readers to consider seriously, and not rhetorically, if we are truly ready for a “Culture of Can”… to which you respond to your own question with:
“I’m ready to start: to start asking questions and coming up with answer, to think and share collaboratively, and to really focus on the vision we share for a better world and work towards that goal instead of focusing only on the problems…”
As a two time participant in the Community Driven Institute’s new Consultants’ Training in the last year, may I echo and continue to encourage all of us that your instincts about sharing collaboratively, and working toward vision is paramount.
And with that in mind, may I also respectfully suggest that our tendencies to “come up with an answer” for ourselves or the organizations and clients with whom we work; or to place the onus on “the community” and their expectations “to change” is, in fact a large part of where our mindsets have contributed to our challenges AND ultimately, where they may also lay the springboard by which we may move toward our opportunities?
In as much as I understand Nancy’s perspective about seeing The Pollyanna Principles as a model for change, I have to admit rather humbly that our tendency to do so may in itself limit what we can create, or where we can go with them…
So in closing, may I offer up as food for thought, that perhaps we choose to view The Principles as a way of thinking that undergirds whatever tools or techniques, models or methods, past, present or future, we come to evolved or adopt along our way? And that THAT is where there the true potential of The Principles reside?
Perhaps then, may we truly release the emotional investment we have in making “being broken” our identity.
Tracey L. Sisson
Belief Re-patterningTM Practitioner
Facilitator in Training
http://www.beliefrepatterning.com
http://www.communitybenefit.ca