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This holiday season, Diwali, Hanukkah, Solstice, Christmas, and Kwanzaa all celebrate by embracing the light. The light that shines through these darker days brings with it joy, delight, connection, and reflection. I like to think it also promises us more light ahead – not just in sunlight but in all the other ways we may need it, too.
In this particular season, I find myself wondering where we are right now in the grand scheme of history. There are no good words for it. It feels less clear to call it pandemic time and equally unclear to not think of it in those terms. We might feel more collective comfort if we could name it, but that label eludes us. Instead of a name, I am left to look and talk and listen to many in our nonprofit sphere to find my answer.
From this space, I hear we are collectively still recovering. We are still feeling for – in fact, desperate for – solid ground beneath our feet as we make our decisions. We are still holding our breath as we continue navigating a never-ending stream of decisions about how to make our budgets work for maximum good, how to do the best we can for the people we work alongside, and how to absorb the loss of funding and volunteers when we need them the most – all without losing the ground we just recovered. I see hands reaching out for safety, security, and assurance in so many ways that it isn’t clear whether those who are asking even know what they are seeking. The complexity of this time has us in unknown spaces and the weight of it all is real, even when we can’t name it.
I feel it, and based on almost daily exchanges, I know I am not alone. So it is that at this moment the promise of more light seems so very important.
For years we have been ruminating on what it means to live in a VUCA world – the place where volatility is met with vision, where uncertainty is met with understanding, where complexity is met with clarity, and where ambiguity is met with agility. Using VUCA to describe this overarching time in our lives has often given me solace. But as I think more about how the combination of these leadership traits works to move us forward, I realize that there is something else at play when I say “ambiguity is met with agility” and that is the belief that in the end, in fact, it will be okay.
There are some signs that our collective belief in a good ending to a workday, a project, our mission efforts, and our work relationships, might be slipping away. I wonder what you see and feel? For some context, one of my mentors often reminded me when I became a CEO that “if it is not okay, you are not done, so keep going until it is okay.” This made so much sense to me because I understood that we shared a common understanding that it would resolve and be okay. I never really questioned it.
But now I see signs from so many who also used to trust and believe – signs that something is different. This often looks like the loss of joy in the workplace. Sure, they are showing up and doing the work but with less spark that the belief in a good ending brings. I am also hearing so many mixed messages from both leaders and staff for a strong desire – even demand – for flexibility while simultaneously asking for a level of clarity and boundaries and a process that used to be unnecessary. I hear conversations and overgeneralizations about one generation or another in the workforce that manifest in questioning each other’s intentions rather than seeing a larger theme at play. These moments often result in less trust and less willingness to hold the belief together that it will be okay. Admittedly, it was hard to maintain the mantra of “trust the process” before 2020, but it seems now that even for those who could, the barriers are greater. I worry for us.
I worry because this belief, knowing deep down that it will be okay – that it will all work out in the end – this is our nonprofit superpower. This is how we get up and keep doing what we do.
This deep belief allows us to do what seems impossible on any random Tuesday.
This deep belief creates possibility and abundance when scarcity tries to win.
This deep belief suspends the rules or, better yet, lets us not need the rules in the first place.
This deep belief has us laughing with each other and provides the backdrop to our knowing nod that “we got this.”
This deep belief connects us and encourages trust that we are stronger together.
This deep belief comes with its own safety net that catches us when everything else seems in motion.
This deep belief reminds us that the work is worth it – because it is.
Despite the very real challenges we face, I still believe.
I want this belief to be strong for you. For me. For everyone in our work. Because WOW, a superpower like that can change the world and our way in it for the better.
So, if I could give you all a gift in this season that celebrates the light, I would give you:
Truly, I would shine all the light your way through this time and into the new year where we can remind ourselves and each other of our hope, our faith, and our belief that it is going to be okay.
Let’s shine bright together.
Laurie