Can You Withstand a Major Earthquake?
Thing are serious in Haiti. That’s the understatement of the year, I’m sure, but for a country that was known as the “Republic of NGO’s” for all of the international relief missions that served the people on a good day, the world went from very, very bad to unimaginably worse in a matter of seconds.
There are lots of lessons we can learn from Haiti. But a big one that comes to mind is one of preparedness. Are you ready for a career earthquake? Tremors may come with some frequency — a new boss, the loss of a key volunteer or maybe the illness of a significant donor — but “the big one” like the loss of a job or the illness of a close family member that impacts your time at work may only happen once in a great long while.
Like the Haitian people, we suffer and are frustrated by these earthquakes in our lives. Yet they are also times when others can demonstrate that they’re our true friends. The “relief” they bring won’t necessarily be in food, water and medical care, but it could be in coffee, counseling and connections. If you’re lucky, these friends will be around to help you rebuild your “career house” into the solid, earthquake resistant structure that never existed before.
The career task here? Line up your friends, now. Think of who you can support in their times of trouble and who can support you when “the big one” strikes. And maybe most of all, make sure that you have plenty of big, wide runways built now so that when you need the help, aid can get there quickly.
Learn from Tough Times for Nonprofits
Organizations and nonprofit workers alike are feeling the impact of tight or reduced budgets. If someone still has a job, he or she is being asked to do more with less. But this is no different than workers in any field.
Besides “hang on,” is there a career lesson in all of this? Sure. Work hard, be efficient, and be flexible. That’s standard stuff. But take this time of difficulty as a time to learn. It could be formal education, like getting a master’s degree or going to a seminar — if you can pay the cost. But it might be organizing a group of colleagues and friends and meeting over coffee to compare notes and learn from each other. These aren’t gripe sessions but times when each person present can take a topic — say “how to outsource critical work you can’t get done in-house” — and make a presentation to your group. Over time you’ll pick up a lot and build the relationships that will carry you well beyond this year’s recession and into the rest of your career.
Do You Sit Near a Window?
About four months ago I moved my office from a basement to an upper floor room — with a window. It’s amazing what a difference natural sunlight makes and how nice it is to be able to glance outside to see the world.
What window to the outside do you have in your career? Are you stuck in the “basement,” toiling away with the same “trolls” year after year?
It’s remarkable, but as humans I think we have the tendency to keep our heads down and work in the dark basement because it’s an environment that we know. Change, or even seeing what the rest of the world looks like, is scary. Sometimes we feel safer in the basement.
What’s your career move? Look out the window sometimes — see what other organizations are doing through going to conferences, meeting at professional associations, or even calling someone up to chat. Looking out the window doesn’t mean that you’ll leave where you are. But even a glance in that direction will refresh your spirit and give you new perspective on the work in front of you — a fine career move.
Marcia Found a Job!
I have some good news. Marcia found a job. So did Melanie. Great work, folks. Both notes came to me in the same week, and it was nice to see at least their economy turning around.
Marcia’s story tells us exactly what we should be doing when we’re “in transition.” Marcia, a former Wall Streeter who got out about a year before the crash, had successfully transitioned herself to be the director of development for a small social service nonprofit. But as these things go, she was cut when the boss decided that fundraising wasn’t “essential” in tight times (go figure). So Marcia developed her strategy for networking, which included speaking … and what do you know? At the end of a talk, a business card was thrust into her hand. It was the board chair of an organization looking for an executive director. Weeks later, Marcia became the executive director.
The lesson? In times like these sending resumes in response to advertisements is just the baseline. I’m not suggesting that you don’t do that, I’m saying that you need to go beyond that — and put yourself out there. Teach a class, speak at AFP. Write an article. Do the Chamber networking circuit. Drink lots of coffee at Starbucks with friends and colleagues. Do you need to do all of these? No, build your skills in one area at a time and expand as time moves on.
Who knows, Marcia may need to hire!
Did you get a new job or know someone who did? Pop me a note, and tell me how and I’ll share your story with your fellow readers.
Charge!
Physicists tell us that the natural state of any object is at rest. It takes energy from outside to “excite” something and make it move. Once excited that object has the potential for major change — for good or ill.
You see this in fundraising all the time. As a development officer your job is to provide the energy to “excite” your donors to change their state from passive observers to active philanthropists.
You have the same responsibility for your career. Do you have a static, low energy career, or is it excited with new make-change-for-good energy? Can you “charge it up” with networking visits to new and former contacts? When was the last time you wrote an article on some aspect of your fundraising specialty? Have you been to a Chamber mixer lately? Exciting your career can lead to an exciting career!
