Leading with Nothing Left to Give

There is an inescapable interconnectedness between a leader’s own experience of scarcity and the pervasive scarcity within their organization. Leading with innovation, vision, and mindfulness is substantially compromised when a leader is just trying to make it through the day. When a leader’s own well is dry, their organization will suffer – through compromised vision or a leader unable to stay with the organization for long.

And this dynamic leads to a terrible cycle; donors pull away from a stale organization, and a drop in resources leads to further cuts in staffing that cause a leader to absorb more tasks & continuously do without.

There is a way out. I increasingly am seeing foundations and boards addressing the real organizational risks of not supporting leaders in the sector by investing in sabbaticals, coaching, and other supports, and quite simply shifting from the belief that year-over-year growth in services should be prioritized over building sound organizational infrastructure.

I often think about what it means for the sector when really talented leaders abruptly leave their organizations and/or the sector  – the strain of uncertainty on staff and the strain of the search on the board, leading to overall reduced capacity to focus on doing critical work in the community. Sometimes conversations about wellness get diminished as luxuries, but the work of this sector is people work and if we don’t prioritize keeping the workforce well, we compromise mission effectiveness and the values at the heart of the social sector.