Fieldstone Alliance Blog

 At a recent staff meeting, two colleagues and I facilitated a discussion about generational differences in the workplace. The three of us represented the three generations that we have working in our office: Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y.  Using Peter Brinckerhoff’s book Generations as a guide, we started out by giving brief demographic descriptions of the generations (range of birth dates, number of people in each category) and the major events that influenced their formative years. 

Baby Boomer (born 1946-1962)	Generation X (born 1963-1980)	Generation Y (born 1981-2002)
·         Conservative ·         Educated ·         Explorers ·         Hard-working ·         Worried ·         In transition ·         Washed up ·         Religion-based morals or ethics ·         Competitive ·         Independent ·         Challenge the status quo ·         Control freaks ·         Self-obsessed ·         Driven to succeed ·         Frustrated ·         Loyal ·         Traditional ·         Stubborn ·         Comfortable with change ·         Brave ·         Socially active ·         Resist authority ·         Opinionated ·         Cautious	·         Self-help generation ·         Lost ·         Strong communicators ·         Make the world go ‘round ·         Creative ·         Independent ·         June Cleaver (gender roles/women’s roles) ·         Rebels ·         Followers ·         Facing the sandwich generation dilemma ·         Tired of hearing about “Boomer this” and “Boomer that”! ·         Stable ·         Invisible ·         Conforming ·         “Who cares? Not me!” ·         Plug in, turn on, tune out ·         Expect direction ·         Deliberate ·         Less inspired by history ·         Practical ·         Self-reliant ·         Less pressure to marry (single moms more acceptable) ·         Cynical ·         More materialistic ·         Multi-taskers ·         More career flexibility	·         Techies ·         Critical ·         Financially dependent (on their parents) ·         Impatient ·         Highly intelligent and educated ·         Less biased ·         Move in groups ·         Not willing to take personal responsibility ·         Privileged ·         Collaborative ·         Parents never tell them “no” ·         Experimental ·         International perspective ·         Well balanced life styles ·         Entitled ·         Entrepreneurial ·         See any career as possible (gender stereotypes are erased) ·         Connected ·         “I’m special” ·         Like change and like it fast ·         Changeable ·         Distracted ·         Cynical ·         “Where’s my inheritance?” ·         “On demand” expectations ·         Less boundaries with parents (more open about taboo topics)

A suggestion made briefly by Tony Wang in a recent blog post of his was to “fund flexibly.”   I’m glad to see someone challenging funders to improve their ability to engage in a dialogue (versus a monologue) with their communities of interest.   This has been something we’ve been striving to do for the past three years here at Fieldstone Alliance through KAL, and I am impressed by its impact. 

Through my vantage point here at Fieldstone Alliance (FA), I’ve been impressed with just how much organizations can achieve with just a little. For the past two years, I’ve been managing the grants that FA does through KAL to build the capacity of W.K. Kellogg Foundation grantees across the United States. The results are rolling in from our evaluation of this model, and it’s amazing just how much an organization can achieve with a small amount of money. 

The introduction to a report on Fieldstone Alliance’s website reads, “…we began to hear some boards and staff wrestling with a basic question: Can we and should we continue to exist?Local foundation staff began to express a similar sentiment: We think that some of our grantees ought to consider a merger or closing. We don’t want to pull the rug out (defund them) but we question the need for the service and the viability of the organization.” Sound familiar? Sound like a recent report?

Next generation leadership is a hot topic right now in the nonprofit sector. I think there is actually a bit of fear driving the discussion, because many people suspect an impending leadership deficit, as reported by the Bridgespan Group.

A great report on next generation leadership is Ready to Lead?  Fieldstone Alliance also has a book about the challenges imposed on the sector by generational changes. There are even more people commenting on leadership issues via the web in blogs and articles. Like myself, many of these bloggers are next generation leaders. They are commenting on many topics including leadership development, nonprofit management, and the economy. These examples barely scratch the surface of the great posts these bloggers offer.  

In the February 2009 issue of the Harvard Business Review, Tamara J. Erickson presented a case study called “Gen Y in the Workforce” about a Gen Yer named Josh and his job in movie marketing. The case shows both Josh’s enthusiasm for and disappointments with the work he is doing. Readers also see how frustrated Josh and his supervisor, a Gen Xer named Sarah, feel in communicating with one another.

Are you considering a career change to the nonprofit sector? Before you do, I recommend that you ask yourself, Why? If you answer, “I want to make a difference in the world” or “I want to find meaning in my job,” that is noble, but these reasons may be shortsighted. I have some suggestions that you should consider.  

Every summer I escape to the woods of northern Ontario for a couple weeks of paddling in the lakes and enjoying the wilderness. The most precious time on each trip is the moment we push away from the lake shore. I feel the weight of responsibility fall away from me. There is nothing to fix, write, manage, schedule, organize, leverage, coordinate, align, or juggle. I don’t bring a watch or phone or computer. The most high tech thing I bring is a tiny four-ounce propane one-burner stove to use in case of torrential rains. All I have to take care of is a small backpack with bare necessities: a change of clothes, a couple of books, rain gear, fishing gear, and food. That’s it. My time is my own; no one can find me or reach me. Life slows down, and minutes become precious.

I’m always surprised when I return, and big things have happened in the world. One year we returned to find the world mourning the death of Mother Teresa. Another year we noticed skyrocketing gas prices, and after finding a newspaper we learned that Hurricane Katrina had devastated New Orleans. Life goes on and is very beautiful even when I don’t know everything that is happening in the world.

Like a dinosaur roaming in Midtown New York City, I’m feeling out of place and time. In my fifty weeks of the year in the populated world I have three email boxes to keep up with, three voice mail systems to check, and snail mail arriving at two addresses. And now my staff tells me I have to blog. Further, they tell me that we have to be on Facebook, and we should Twitter. I have to have a LinkedIn profile. We have RSS feeds and many other things that go over my head. And we need to do this to keep up with the sector, to build mind share, to have a digital presence.

I’ve listened to staff. I’ve played with some of the social media tools. I’m not usually a curmudgeon, but the expectation that one can’t have a full life or be successful as an organization without these tools drives me wild. I can see some value in Facebook, although to me it seems to be just a more flexible form of a website.  Consequently, Fieldstone Alliance now has two things to maintain: our website and our Facebook page. Facebook may be useful for consultants in private practice, but what is the real value for organizations with elaborate websites? And, Twitter? Why in the world should I care that someone I’ve never met and will never meet is stopping off for coffee on their way to the airport or reading a book they like? I’m amazed at how many people are following me on Twitter and I’ve never made an entry! Delicious? Well, I do keep bookmarks. It’s just another thing to maintain.

My conclusion from looking at all of these tools is that each has some value, but, hey, for most people they are entertainment. And they take time. I don’t have enough time to maintain the relationships I have with people I know and care about. I don’t need 1,700 Twitter friends. That’s not what a friend is to me.

I don’t think I’m alone with my questions. I  Googled “hate social media” and got 30.9 million hits. Grantcraft is currently surveying grantmakers to learn about their use of web-based tools. Beth Kanter has some excellent blogs on use of social media in philanthropy. I attended an excellent webinar done by Michael Gilbert www.gilbert.org on nonprofit use of social media.

Social media is a means, not an end. Used as such these tools have promise. Some organizations are using them with great results. I look forward to seeing how organizations – or non-organizations – will evolve as they organize “virtually” around networks of people connected by shared goals. But for now, it seems to me that organizations have to be very judicious in their use of social media or they can get distracted from the core of their mission-related work. For me, the jury is still out.

I challenge you: Change my mind. Tell me about results you’ve gotten using social media that you couldn’t have achieved through other means.
 

The economy is bad. We all know that. Frankly, it hits us every minute of every day. So now we need to settle down and deal with it. There are many immediate tasks:  understand your organization’s situation, plot out how much the budget needs to be adjusted, and figure out how to implement the best strategies. You may need to reduce staff, reduce salaries, and reduce expenses. At the same time, you may need to consider ways to increase revenues, increase fundraising, and increase partnership efforts. 

Yes, the Great Recession is a major downer.  Almost 15 million Americans want jobs but can’t find them.  For most of us who do have some sort of employment, our personal incomes have dropped.  Trillions of dollars of our personal and institutional invested wealth have evaporated.

All of this translates into fewer resources for nonprofits.  Foundation endowments are able to support fewer and smaller grants, state and local governments are slashing grants and contracts for nonprofit service providers, and individual donations are dropping.  It makes even an optimistic nonprofit leader want to run and hide!

But we know two things about recessions: They always end, and growth always resumes.  Already in the for-profit sector, some of the nation’s savviest business leaders are positioning their companies for the inevitable turn-around.  They’re buying assets (and other companies) at fire sale prices.  They’re coddling their star employees to make sure they stick it out.  They’re reshaping their business models.

So what should a savvy nonprofit leader be doing as the recession drags on?  Hunker down?  Retreat?  Of course not!  Yes, we must be careful to shepherd our resources and not jump too quickly.  And we must cut our costs wherever possible. 

But it is also time to get ready for the race – to get “on our marks” for the resumption of growth.  To do that, we should take some cues from our aggressive colleagues in the for-profit sector.  This includes doing the following:

• Reassess our market situation.  We knew where we stood before the recession, but everything is changing now.  How are the people and communities we serve?  Chances are, there are more people with greater needs.  Are our peers and competitors still there?  If they are, they are likely struggling.
   
• Analyze how we might grow our market share to serve more clients more effectively.  Are our peer organizations and competitors ready to form alliances with us?  Are some of them ready to be acquired?  If not, can we at least share costs, such as back office functions? 
   
• Use this time to strengthen our infrastructure.  What could new technology do to help us?  This is a great time to acquire it.  Do we really need that expensive office space or could we operate more effectively in a virtual environment?  Could we be more efficient and less costly if our staff acted more like independent contractors?
   
• Diversify and strengthen our revenue streams.  The broader our sources of revenue the better.  It will take years for foundations, governments, and individuals to restore their economic power, so don’t count on them to feed our recovery.  Look for revenue sources over which we have more control – like earned income.

After this Great Recession ends, many of us will look back and say, “You know, in a way that period was really helpful to us.  Because of the actions we took during the bleak period, we came out of the recession stronger, more focused, and more effective.”