Moving with Intention

Social impact isn’t always sexy. In a world where we’re constantly bombarded with what is hot and trending, it is a challenge to avoid being distracted by what your peer organizations and competitors are doing. Leaders are often tempted to redirect their efforts or tweak their strategies to include activities that are popular in the moment. Organizations are susceptible to experiencing both mission and scope creep, which takes away from their fundamental purpose and organizational strengths, and can ultimately render them unrecognizable. It is increasingly important to make sure we do not lose sight of the true challenges our communities face, and ensure we are still providing real solutions. This is why it is critical to maintain perspective and move with intention — regardless of what is trending.

Both small and large organizations can fall victim to these distractions. Ironically, the grass will always seem greener on the other side. Some small organizations covet the things large organizations can do well because of their resources and capacity. Meanwhile, some larger organizations attempt (and often fail) to operate in ways that an agile and more flexible entity could. Both of these realities lead to frustration and disappointment – and organizations across the spectrum have a role to play in addressing systems-level change. 

Here’s the problem: when you haven’t done enough self-reflection as to who YOU are as an organization, or where you fit in the overall landscape, attempting to replicate what has worked for others can actually lead to your organization’s downfall. It can affect your credibility and disrupt your impact — especially since you’re attempting to provide services and solutions you’re fundamentally not equipped to deliver.

While the digital space is particularly enticing, if your background and track record are steeped in direct service and on the frontlines, focusing on digital organizing may not yield the results you are looking for. Building an online presence may be beneficial, but doing so without intention can be a distraction. Although much of our lives are displayed online, there are still real challenges that need to be addressed in our actual lives and communities. 

Organizations cannot lose sight of that and must always assess what truly matters.

Key Ways to Begin Moving with Intention:

1. Self-examination and reflection: be clear on who you are and maintain perspective. Everything else is noise. Be clear on the time, talent and treasure made available to you. What are the resources that you have at your disposal to actually make change? If your resources are not aligned with your mission, a shift needs to occur. Make sure your team has the ability to make an impact in the way you intend.

2. Determine and revisit desired objectives: be clear on who and what you are trying to impact. What is the societal shortcoming that you’re attempting to solve and what is your role in the landscape/ecosystem? What are your goals? What is the finish line? Find your lane and own it. Until you are clear and confident in your role in the landscape, you will be seeking something more, and run the risk of being in a lane that is not yours. Everyone – and I mean everyone – has a role to play.

3. Appropriately allocate time and available resources. Make sure your resources match your objectives, and that you have the ability to truly achieve the impact that you desire. Budgets are a statement of an organization’s values. If you want to know what your organization cares about, take a close look at your budget. What you allocate your money and productivity towards, is what you are deeming to be most important.

4. Have an accountability mechanism. It’s important to have a mechanism that allows you to internally and externally pressure test and evaluate your impact. Do you have third party external validators that corroborate your internal data? Just because you say you are good, doesn’t make it true. Data doesn’t lie, the people who use it do.

5. Tell your story (once you HAVE your story). After you have the data that shows you’re aligned to your mission (either anecdotal, quantitative and qualitative) – tell the story. Communicating your journey and shining a light on issues are important, however it is also important to share your outcome metrics and success stories to reinforce that your pathway is successful. This proves that your organization’s efforts are not in vain and are actually leading to real change. Don’t fall into the all-too-easy trap of overselling what you’re doing.

Finding your respective sweet spot of productivity, seamless execution, and impact can be difficult, but it is not impossible. This is something that our team at Gilded Knight believes in helping organizations across the spectrum to do. We help organizations to rebuild, retool and rethink how they do their work and support transformative change. Just remember…the impact you desire to see will not be fully realized until you start moving with intention.