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Hey, Becky, Happy Friday, everybody.
I mean, never been more excited for a Friday series than this right? I
am telling you, I think we're all ready to kind of chase something new and different. And man, I'm excited to talk about culture. Because when you're excited to get up every day, and go to work, and be with the people that you work with, there's just something really cool that happens like internally.
I agree. I mean, I feel like we were calling it a line that at the end of last year, when we saw that, you know, connectivity and all these conversations. And that's just where we really wanted to start is really getting on the same page at this year. We're calling this series, that eight trends that matter in 2022. And there's really, you know, we're gonna take weeks to unpack this, and we want to do it in a certain way that truly just sparks conversation. You know, we believe in the power of community, and community is showing up and having difficult conversations, seeing each other, and learning from each other. And that's what this is all about is we want to bring up some topics, some of them are more disruptive than others, some of them are going to make you a little more uncomfortable than others. But all of them are going to push you toward accomplishing more mission taking care of yourself. And so we're going to start this week with culture matters.
And I have to tell you, we have a rock star who is on the podcast today. And so John, and I really want to make this practical for you, we want to hit the high level things that we're seeing, we're want to give you some pro tips, we want to give you some case studies, because we don't want it to just be theory, we want you to go and follow some of the organizations and individuals who are living these ideals out loud, but our expert is going to come in, and it's Isla Malik. And if you have not heard Isla, in her previous episode on the podcast, you better just buckle your seat belt. And so we're so excited to get started with this incredible conversation. So something
that I really love about culture matters if you really prioritize this is that if you start to think of it as like a magnet, because not only are you going to be able to attract and keep the type of people that do align with the values and the type of culture that you're creating, that connects with your mission, but it's also outside of the walls, like how is it driving in bringing donors into a place where they feel seen for the values that they uphold in their own life. So in so many ways, there's a lot of reasons why we wanted to start here, because it is core to just about everything that follows. And so I think getting this right, investing time, investing money into creating this type of vibrant culture is just paramount right now more than ever, I think what
I really like about what you said there, John, is the equalization of starting to look at everyone that matters, and not just your top donors, you start to look at some of your early early donors, you start to look at those that are coming in with modest gifts. It's like getting to know somebody for the first time. And when you start seeing those people. And whether they're donors, or vendors or corporations, or maybe even your own staff, something really special happens when everybody feels like they have a voice and that they can be seen. And so we want to walk through a couple of people who we think do this so well. And John, like we could not have this conversation without talking about Mark Miller, and Ted Vaughn at historic agency.
Yeah, so you got to go back and listen to this episode that dropped last season. But Mark and Ted are really pioneers in this space of recognizing that the only way to build a brand that really matters that stands out in today's culture, is by baking their culture into your brand. And that means how you show up on the inside is how people are going to see you from the outside and vice versa. So in their book, something that really stood out is just this idea that there's a way to break through the inertia to engage your team that drives better results attract loyal customers, or in our case donors by tapping into the greatest driver of our brand success, which they say is your internal company culture. And you know, in this time, when there's so much transparency, and people have a microphone, and they have the ability to use their voice, what happens on the inside is going to get outside one way or the other over time. And so I love that they're leading edge on this following the playbook of what a lot of the best cultures in the business world are using like Southwest Airlines or something like that to really apply into the nonprofit space as well. So dive in here. There's so much good to be had.
Oh, I love Mark Miller and Ted Vaughn's ethos just on culture. are being completely baked into absolutely everything that you do. And another one that I want to lift out that I think just does a beautiful job of this is thank you. And you guys know we love Thank you. We love their product, we love their people. And I really think it's because their culture is so incredibly vibrant. We have done what you've just said, John, I mean, it is drawn us into this incredible company. And they've done a lot of things that I think are just hallmarks and things that we should be shooting for. JD BB is their founder and CEO, he's a dear friend. And he is so vulnerable and authentic and people centric when he posts 20s in person, I'm really encourage anyone to go back and listen to JDS episode that we had on the podcast, it feels like a millennia ago. I think it was a little over a year ago. But they've done a couple of things that really make their culture seem incredibly vibrant. I remember their giving back program they gave each of their employees $1,000. And they said here, go give this to a cause. That is important to you. It was just beautiful to watch it unfold. But the one that really was poignant to me is that JD had a really powerful post on LinkedIn, about miscarriage. And he talked about, you know what people experience in miscarriage. And he gives quotes and thought leadership at the very end, he talks about his own struggle and what his wife has gone through, and how Thank you. implements 15 days of paid leave for any woman or partner experiencing miscarriage with additional time as needed. culture matters in it endears you, to the organization to the people to its leaders, it creates a space of safety and inclusivity. And I think from there, the harmony and the vibrancy, the innovation and creativity can just explode. And there is no one who knows how to tap into all of these, these pieces better than our guests. Today. I live my life. So we want to introduce her to you. For anyone who is a rabid fan of the we're for good podcasts you heard I like come on, and talk to us a couple of months ago. And when we stand in her aura, not only do we just feel so much hope, but we feel so much alignment and promise that we have in the sector that someone truly understands the 10,000 foot view of how to make nonprofit how to make a for good organization feel vibrant, how to make every single person feel seen. And Isla is that person. And she is the CEO and founder of venture leadership consulting out of California. And she is an attorney. She is a nonprofit executive, she is one of the world's greatest moms, she has such a breadth of knowledge such a warm heart. We love everything about the way that you walk into leadership and into organizations with a heart for humility, for compassion, and you are an incredible listener. And I love when you walk in and you say I am not the expert, you here in this organization are the expert. And I am here to listen and lift up. And that is what vibrant cultures need. So I'm delighted to have I like come into our world. And let's talk about culture. Welcome, my friend.
Thank you What an awesome, I always love your intros, I need to save them for bad days. So thank you, Becky,
you're forever hype team. So I want to talk just about how you work through leadership and getting vibrant teams pulled together. Why do you think that culture is sort of the epicenter of where everything flows down into all good things in our sector and into our organization?
So when you take a step back, what is culture, right culture is how what we see is acceptable behavior, or star behavior in the organization. And that that norm star social behavior comes from the organization's values, right? And so how we say that we are supposed to be not just the doing, but how we're supposed to be in an organization should be how we express our lived values, how we're living, the values that we claim makes us effective, right? And so I think a leader that's not awake and intentional about what those values need to look like in their workplace, are losing a chance to be effective in advancing their mission. And so it's really about how do you create a culture of success and the culture that's needed for you to solve the big problems in the world. If you're on the frontlines of a crisis, then your culture needs to represent a healing and a respite and a care for your frontline staff so that they can be more effective out in the community right. If your culture is one of trying to create a policy systems change across the country, and precision and accuracy matters, then your culture might need to reflect a relentless pursuit of excellence and accuracy and precision Analytics, you might have to have a very rich learning culture. And so I think a strong leader needs to just give some thought as to what makes our model effective. What impact are we seeking? And what is the right value set or cultural norms that should support that model?
Hey, friends, this episode is presented by virtuous and they just happen to be one of our favorite companies. Let me tell you why. You know, we believe everyone matters. And we've witnessed the greatest philanthropic movements happen when you see and activate donors at every level. And here's the thing, virtuous created a fundraising platform to help you do just that. It's much more than a nonprofit CRM. Virtuous is committed to helping charities reimagine generosity through responsive fundraising, which is simply putting the donor at the center of fundraising, growing giving through personalized donor journeys. And by helping you respond to the needs of every individual. We love it because this approach builds trust and loyalty through personalized engagement. Sound like virtuous may be a fit for your organization. Learn more today and virtuous.org or follow the link in our show notes. Hey, friends, after meeting some of the most visionary leaders and world changers in the nonprofit sector today, we realize they all have one thing in common, they invest in themselves and their teams so they can stay relevant to what's working now to succeed and scale their missions. You know, us we believe education for all. And that's what we created, we're for good pro Pro is reimagining nonprofit professional development, giving you access to incredible live coaching events with some of the best thought leaders like kushana Palmer and Lynn Wester and more, imagine being able to work through your challenges in real time. That's the power of pro. Every week, we host a new workshop, giving you the playbook and tools to take immediate action, build your confidence and grow your impact. Be the Pro and get started today with a 14 day free trial head over to we're for good pro.com/free. Okay, let's get back to this amazing conversation. I mean, this is so incredibly brilliant, because it is your mission, you know, we separate the two, but it's like how you show up internally is an extension of your mission. And under those that aren't aligned, you're not attracting the right people to come work for you in the first place. And you're not going to keep the people that really should be to perpetuate the
mission. And John, that lack of alignment is the thing that causes burnout. You know, when you look at burnout, and when you look at unhealthy cultures, it's largely to do with either a lack of alignment where people are having to be something that they're that they're inherently not out in the community. So Right. So like, really misaligned cultures are ones where staff feel like, yeah, we give all that good talk out there to the community. But inside, we don't practice what we preach, well, that's a really unhealthy way of being. And it's not going to sustain long term, healthy tenured executives.
And it's really a challenge of self reflection. And I think that the things are low from core values, and of everyone being seen and having this sort of vibrancy, then you start to you can start infusing Dei, into every part of your culture and you know, in equity becomes a core value as well, this is going to lead to this authenticity and vulnerability, not just what we say like out in the outward facing Pease but internally, and that becomes a thread of our heartbeat. And then we just start putting, that's going to lead to more emphasis on mental health and boundaries. And this is how in my mind, we start to claw back from where we're sitting, sort of in the depths of, of just the grind and the grind culture and this burnout. And I really feel like what you're saying has such resonance, and no matter if you're a really big shop or a small shop, and it works to me, it's applicable in for profit, not for profit, social good. And so what kind of advice would you give to let's talk about the leader first, you know, because that is your bailiwick. And what are some practical tips that you could give to leaders today that they could start implementing to start infusing this kind of a culture into their organization?
Yeah, you know, when I when I look at organizations that have really strong cultures, usually it's very easy to spot strong cultures in founder led organizations, we give founders a lot of grief, in some ways for being too founder centric or founder dependency or founder transitions, but there's something that we don't give them enough credit for, which is the ability to set and create cultures of success for a particular mission. And part of that comes from pure creativity, and belief, just a strong conviction and a belief in in what it is that we are out to do. So I think as a leader, the one place to if you've inherited an organization, if you're not the founder, a real clear conversation that I think we all have to have with ourselves is what is my Pour, believe how strongly do I believe in this mission, what needs to be true in my staff in the workplace culture in the model for me to go out and evangelize the heck out of this thing that we are really up to solving a problem with inequity and injustice. And if you can really almost like preach from that place, you will create, you will have the sway and the influence and the inspiration to lead cultural change. And you can rely on your staff and ask them well, how does how does this belief express in our in our workplace? What is it that we need to be effective in solving our mission? Right? But I think, as a leader, ask yourself, do you really buy in to the organization you just inherited? Do you really believe in the staff and that we can possibly solve an end this problem and get out, you know, make ourselves obsolete the proverbial work ourselves out of business, like, what has to be true for you to just claim it and be like the founder that evangelizes the staff and the community and rallies around your cause? And if you can get to that place, some really magical things can happen.
And you're preaching to the choir, I am loving this conversation. And I think looking at the founder is really an interesting perspective, because they bring a level of passion that's unmatched. But I do think, you know, you talk so clearly about humility and leadership. And I do think that can be a wrong path for founders. If you've misplaced it, you don't realize that you got to open up to your culture to involve other people and other is in perspective. So how do you bridge that gap? How do you remain a humble leader, but you know, not losing that tenacity for mission?
Yep, I love Thank you, that's a good, it's a great check. If you're someone who's a founder, who already has that conviction in the belief, then the inner work you have to realize is that you're you're one person. And if you really believe that this can be solved, you have got to create sustainability, which means inclusion and creating a space and a voice and a platform for other people to take what you've started and like, make it better than you ever could have, right? So if you're listening, and you are sort of a force of nature, that is just an evangelizer in the sector, then then ask yourself how you're lifting others up to be like you or to be better than you or to pass the torch to Right. Which is really hard to sort of take the gauntlet and carry on what needs to be true inside of you to really claim and stand in your, in your center around the ability for the organization to do this and your ability to lead them there. Right. So I think you're right to say, it's humility and self compassion to right. So how do I how do I really say like, I do, I am up to something, I'm standing in the in this position, and I have some incredible ideas and belief as to how we move forward. So standing in both service and in championship of others and of yourself in your own leadership,
I love, I just want to tell you that I love you the way you talk. You speak with humility. Like I just I see this in your company, I see this in your brand. I see this in your thought leadership in LinkedIn, you live what you just said, and I, I am so grateful for the heart you have and seeing all people, when you hold court, when you provide space to give someone a voice, something changed. There's an empowerment there. And I do think empowerment could be a really critical piece of culture. And I think about what we've talked about John, this is just a simple pro tip. Invite your staff into your board meeting shift the power dynamics, give them a voice, to talk about the things that are working for them and how they need the board's support. To move forward. We don't need to hand all of our reports and our updates to our executive director to report out for us we need to give the voice of the expert to our board members, we need to create those moments of synchronicity where that staff member could call a board member and say I loved what you said here in the board meeting. Can you help me with that? Can you open a door for me? And I think my question to you next is how can leaders really reveal their authenticity and vulnerability and create these spaces? How do they stand up and foster these cultures where everyone can seen? What would you say to them? Yeah, well,
and I think you describe a healthy culture as one with trust and transparency. Right. So the why behind bringing a staff to a board or having open conversations about people's experience or having inclusive co design co created spaces is because we're building trust and deepening relationship and and so I think a leader to support trust and transparency. I really believe a leader needs to be comfortable with conflict and I don't mean conflict as an fighting. I mean that they need to embrace a conflict is no think it's a decision. It's a boundary. It's a, it's an argument. It's It's a tense moment, it's discomfort. And so a leader needs to have an honest conversation with themselves around, hey, how am I with conflict in those moments? I'm really difficult with conflict, I had to carry that inquiry for years and and understand that, wow, conflict makes me feel really uncomfortable. But what opens up for me when I see those moments as a way to deepen relationship, suddenly, when I started to perceive discomfort and decisions and boundaries and conflict and truth as moments to deepen a relationship, it shifted, because my Enneagram two is all about creating deep relationships, right? And so, so what what opens up when you can perceive that discomfort, disruption, questioning, challenge, these are opportunities to deepen a culture to deepen a relationship, what what happens, you know, when you get, you know, a speeding ticket, and I find myself thinking the officer, thank you have a great day, why am I just gave me a speeding ticket? For God's sake, right? But, but it's because you have this great interaction and you know, not for me, I've apologized. So I really missed I shouldn't have been doing that. And right. And so if we, as leaders get comfortable that actually, we should give ourselves a validation, Pat, every time we have been in uncomfortable situations and moved forward to deepen trust or relationship or ways of being with each other, then we're really up to something and creating cultures that are going to be healthy and sustaining. And not always easy, but they're going to be impactful.
I mean, wow, there's been so much that you've brought here, and I feel like we're wanting these conversations to be real implementable to start potations. That's what we hope is that you listening today would go to your team and just start a conversation about this. Because that's how we're going to process through how do we really implement these into our life in our world? So give us one good thing I know, it's hard to distill. But what's the starting place that anybody can do today?
Create rituals. That's my one good thing. And what I mean by that is, look for the nuggets of building culture, and how you can start is always going to be in the places of of unknown and uncertainty. So it's going to be staff transitions, it's going to be crisis, if you've had a client that's passed away, or a real crisis that your organization has dealt with, or, you know, we just got this great dream gift, and you're this amazing board member, whatever. How are you creating rituals around departure, around celebration? Around crisis? That's a really rich place to set culture and to express your values, putting staff together and say, how do we honor clients when they pass? Do we have a candle that's lit every time? Do we have a grief session? Do we have a memory board? Or how do we celebrate really awesome unexpected wins? Do we all go out and do a pizza party? Or how do we celebrate and honor people that leave our bus and go to and do some other great things? What does that look like? You know, how do we onboard people into our space and into our family? If you can create some some rituals or some fun ways that you celebrate transition? I think you are really on a first step to creating a super strong and awesome culture.
Holy so why are we called I Love to talk.
That was like one of the best one good things ever. And I want to piggyback on that it with your own words and say cobuild those rituals, yes, co design those rituals together make that an exercise where everybody has a voice and I have to tell you the thing that's making my mind explode the most. And I've never heard it is celebrating somebody who's leaving. And that is how you become a place where everybody wants to work because when they leave they say from the moment I walked in, in the moment I left I felt cared for I felt safe. I felt like everybody was rooting for me as an individual not for what I could give to this organization boom had exploded right here. Thank you I
love thank you you guys I I just feel like culture is not there's no right or wrong and and culture ebbs and flows based upon the people that are there. But if a leader whoever the leader is our set of leaders can hold really strong intention. The intention is simply we want a healthy, sustainable place where people are seen and valued, so that we can build our mission or so that we can solve our problems so that we can be impactful. That intention just needs to be fully expressed. And then to your point other people get to own rituals and fun ways to express that with each other and I think it's a really beautiful thing.
And then you've created a culture that is so vibrant, and so warm that you're starting to draw incredible talent to it. Yeah. And that is when our missions will take off. So, my friend, thank you for making time rooting for you and your sector. I'm so glad you pour your heart in to nonprofit and social good. We were just blessed by you.
Thank you so much. And thanks for having these great dialogues mental health culture. You guys just picked some really awesome series that that go outside just your typical fundraising and operations for nonprofits. Thank you.
Thank you, my friend. Have a good day.
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