I’m launching a new experiment with this pilot episode of “Concept Test Kitchen” — a video series presenting interesting frameworks or approaches to arts management (‘recipes for thinking’), so you can share back whether or when they may be useful. Watch below, or on YouTube. And let me know in the comments whether the recipes have any nutritional content for your professional or creative work.
Thanks for the food for thought. The idea of the organization breathing is a compelling one. Thinking about the work we do through this framework illuminates how easy it can be to focus too much time on
products and processes without reconnecting in a mindful and meaningful way to our source. Our nonprofit is immersed in one of the most exciting and challenging changes in our 43 year history — building a permanent home. As we stretch our capacities to the limit ironing out the WHATs and HOWs, it’s more important now than ever to take a very deep breath and reconnect to the WHY.
Thank you Andrew!
As an advisor in the Welfare department I am often involved in the output circle. Thanks for sharing your insights, that helps me understand how things connect. Others in my department are often more concerned about WHY we do things, while I am concerned about WHAT we do and if we are making the right choices in HOW we do stuff. Your tst kitchen made me realize that it is important to see the connection. I liked the analagoy about breathing in and out; I’ll try to keep on breathing a bit more the coming weeks.
Take care!
Job
As the Executive Director who has worked for an organization for 30+ years the challenges you speak about are a daily experience for me. We are in a major growth phase struggling with what areas to focus our financial and staffing resources for the best product output areas and at the same time in a succession planning phase. Many of the staff have been here for 20+ years and we are looking at major staffing changes in the next 3-5 years through retirements and questioning the processes we have used for many years that got us to this growth phase. I always have to go back to the core to remind myself and everyone on staff why we do what we do and how that has made us successful, and yet how that core is continually changing and evolving with our growth and with future staffing changes. Your analogy about breathing is exactly what we are doing. The trick is not to hyperventilate at times because the challenges seem to be coming faster and faster.