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Case Study: Building a 'Storytelling Culture'

4/5/2018

Recently, I had the chance to speak with two organizations who had both attended the same training as part of the Think Money First Accelerator program I co-presented with Social Sector Partners in October 2017. The storytelling part of the program was a half-day focused on storytelling for communicating with funders and, perhaps more importantly, transforming internal culture and core beliefs.

Six months after the training, many of the organizations reported not only retaining much of the information from our time together, but also implementing new strategies and approaches.

Two organizations in particular stood out. Both had implemented story-based strategies with the aim of increasing team members’ connection with themselves, each other, and the organization’s mission.

One reported great success, the other reported challenges with the process. Examining each organization’s approach reveals a few key best practices when it comes to moving organizations towards a Storytelling Culture.

Re-Presencing and The Breath: Three Dimensions of Connection

2/25/2018

Humans have an uncanny ability to domesticate everything they touch. Eventually, even the strangest things become absorbed into the routine of the daily mind with its steady geographies of endurance, anxiety, and contentment. Only seldom does the haze lift, and we glimpse for a second the amazing plenitude of being here. –John O’Donohue

A few years ago, I found that my life had become curiously flat.

I had everything I needed to survive–food, shelter, creature comforts–and moved through my days in a haze. Each day looked more or less the same. Get up. Breakfast. Work. Sit at a desk. Eat snacks. Go home. Sleep. Sometimes I spent time with friends.

Not a bad life. A domesticated life. A luxurious life, in fact.

But the familiarity of the day to day routine, repeated endlessly, dulled my senses. Food became bland and I took to eating absurdly spicy dishes just to break through the haze. I’d find myself blinking at the end of each week wondering where so many hours had gone, unable to remember much of what had happened over the preceding days. I became a ghost drifting through the faint contours of my own life.

Language Matters: 'Non-Profits' and Scarcity Culture

1/31/2018

When I worked as a financial management consultant with Nonprofit Finance Fund, we had a mantra that we included in every workshop or training: ‘Nonprofit is a tax status, not a business model.’ It always got a laugh.

Years later, after having countless conversations with Board members, Executive Directors and even funders during which they express the belief that a ‘nonprofit’ is legally and morally obligated to refrain from making a profit, it’s a lot less funny.

The language we use to talk about our work sabotages our ability to create change and have impact.

To be clear: 501(c)3 organizations, commonly known as ‘nonprofits,’ are legally permitted to rack up as much profit as they’d like. The principle difference, legally, is that they must fulfill a mission that benefits the community and do not pay out investors or board members from their profits.

And yet the belief that nonprofits should aim for break-even budgets and refrain from generating surpluses or profits persists to the detriment of the entire sector.

Why You Must Know Your Organization's Origin Story

1/17/2018

A few months ago, I facilitated a day long workshop for a group of about twenty nonprofit and social impact organizations. The attendees were Executive Directors, Board Members. Communications Staff, Fundraisers, Program Managers, and Administrators; they came from all levels of the organizations.

About halfway through the day, I asked what I thought would be a simple question, an easy chance to prove to everyone how much they already knew about storytelling in their organizations.

‘How many of you know your organization’s origin story?’

Out of 60 people, maybe ten hands went up.

I was floored.

An organization’s origin story contains the DNA of its culture, mission, and way of being in the world. Having a shared understanding of an organization’s beginnings creates a bond between everyone associated with that organization, from clients to Board members to volunteers and contributors.

Ethical Storytelling for Social Impact Organizations

11/16/2017

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to partner with the Hollywood Homeless Youth Partnership (HHYP) on a project to explore the challenge of ethical storytelling for organizations working with vulnerable populations.

Over the course of several months, I spoke with staff at HHYP organizations and work with young people who have experienced homelessness to map out the maze of ethical issues that storytelling can present, delve into different situations, and work to create a set of best practices and jumping off points for discussion.

The idea behind the project has been less to generate a concrete solution to the dilemmas and more to shine a light on an issue that often goes unaddressed with the goal of raising awareness and helping organizations approach their storytelling practices with an expanded understanding, depth, and toolkit for finding and sharing stories that both advance their mission and lift up the voices of their clients.

You can read the full issue brief here.

The 'Medicine Spiral:' A New Framework for Growth and Change

10/23/2017

Like many kids growing up in the 80s, I loved Star Wars. And Labyrinth. And Ghostbusters. And The Hobbit. And When Harry Met Sally.

As diverse as these stories were, they shared a common core: the model of growth that they hung their narrative on was linear.

In all cases, an unlikely hero became aware that they had some Greater Destiny. In order to fulfill this destiny, the hero had to overcome a set of challenges that brought them face to face with their ‘shadow,’ a darkness that lurked within and was made manifest in external enemies. Darth Vader. The Goblin King. The Stay Puff Marshmallow Man. Their own resistance to romantic entanglement.

By the end of the movie, the hero had emerged victorious, a stronger version of themselves. And they lived happily ever after.

With this ‘Hero’s Journey’ hardwired into my brain, I naturally assumed that my own process of personal growth would mirror that which I had consumed throughout my childhood and adolescence. After all, what is the purpose of story if not to prepare us for the challenges of life?

Imagine my confusion and pain when I found myself confronting the same challenges over and over again. No sooner than I would emerge victorious from a battle with, for example, low self-esteem and feelings of unworthiness, than the same foe would pop up again, perhaps in a different form. Clearly I was doing something wrong. My inability to vanquish my enemies pointed to some intrinsic deficiency in my approach. Perhaps even in my soul.

What is 'Love' Anyway?

9/17/2017

The concept of ‘love’ has always been problematic for me.

When I was 19, I sat on the steps of the U.S. Capitol Building with a girl I was dating. Her scented head rested on my shoulder as she murmured ‘I love you.’

She turned her big eyes towards me and my chest clenched.

‘Don’t say that,’ I said.

‘Why not? Do you not love me?’ Her eyes quivered.

Here I had a choice. I could say what she clearly wanted to hear or I could speak my truth.

‘I don’t know. I mean, I don’t even know what love is. It’s a word, right? But what does it mean? If you watch John Hughes movies, which I do, then Love is some romantic ideal. But that can’t be it? I definitely have feelings for you, but I don’t know if it’s love. Or even if what I consider ‘love’ and you consider ‘love’ are the same thing. It’s a sensitive subject and I would want to make sure that we’re on the same page.’

I spoke my truth! The date ended moments later.

Creativity, Anger, and Compassion (aka 'I Am Writing a Book')

9/2/2017

Big News: I am writing a book.

When I say ‘writing a book,’ what I mostly mean is ‘telling people that I am writing a book in the hope that I will actually write the book if enough people think I’m writing a book.

Every once in awhile, I sit with a pen poised over a neatly lined journal or in front of my computer with the intention to write. I set this intention with an elaborate ritual that involves burning sage, meditating, and psyching myself up with affirmations.

‘You’re a good writer.’
‘You have something of value to share.’
‘Your story matters.’
‘You can do this!’

Sometimes I even bounce lightly in place while muttering these phrases, like a boxer about to go into battle.

It’s weird, trying to approach creativity from this positive, affirmational place. To enter into a creative space with love (or at least compassion)(or at least mild affection).

A few years ago my creative ritual looked a bit more. . .violent.

Energetic Leaks: what they are and how they may be sinking your ship

8/2/2017

I came across this poem by Hafiz recently that prompted me to reconnect with the concept of energetic leaks. First, here’s the poem:

Barely One You Wish to Harm
There are only so many people you can
Carry in your small boat before their
Weight sinks you.

A hundred you can carry whom you love.
But barely one you wish to harm.

Using the metaphor of a boat to stand in for one’s life or soul, Hafiz suggests first that there’s only so much that any individual can carry at any given time. That makes sense. It’s the nature of a boat to sink if you load it down with too much weight.

According to Hafiz, however, not all weight is created equal. We can carry 100 people whom we love, but barely one we wish to harm. The weight of those we wish to harm, and of the emotions that wish brings along with it, is 100 times greater than the weight of the emotions associated with someone we love.

Which brings us to Energetic Leaks.

Why It's Dangerous to See Meditation as a 'Productivity Hack'

6/19/2017

Mindfulness meditation is having a Moment.

According to Fidelity Investments, 22% of employers offered mindfulness training progarms last year. That number is expected to double in 2017.

Harvard scientists have found that meditation conclusively and positively changes brain structure. And the Harvard Business Review reports that mindfulness meditation reduces stress and helps practitioners rely more on executive functioning over impulses.

Aetna, the health insurance company, calculated that it gained $3,000 in productivity per employee that went through a mindfulness program. That constituted a eleven to one return on investment!

As the research builds, apps that promise increased productivity, decreased stress, and deeper connection proliferate on mobile platforms: HeadSpace, Insight Timer, Simple Habit and others make expertly guided recorded meditations available anywhere and anytime.

This is all great. I’m a meditation and breathwork facilitator. I’m not going to say that more people meditating is a bad thing.

However.