Keeping goals visible

Getting lost in the minutiae of the everyday running of a social enterprise is

all too easy. There are countless details associated with keeping it going: the

demands of immediate events, the effects of external forces, and the naviga-

tion of interpersonal exchanges all day long. In the midst of day-to-day activi-

ties, your enterprise’s goals may get pushed aside — at least in the minds of

your staff and volunteers.

 What can you do to keep the mission clear at all times? Here are a few ideas:

 ✓ Create and hang posters that spell out the mission and goals of your

enterprise throughout the work space. They should be unobtrusive and

attractive, but visible from almost anywhere. The idea is to ingrain these

words into the workday, into the very environment in which people

work, so no matter what’s happening, the enterprise’s main purpose is

never forgotten.

 ✓ Talk about the mission and goals frequently in one-on-one and group

meetings of staff and volunteers. Don’t worry about repeating yourself —

you need to. Incorporate the mission and goals into broader discussions

about, say, recruitment practices, media policies, or choices of funding

sources. This repetition not only reminds your staff and volunteers of

the importance of your mission and goals, but it also places the mission

and goals in different contexts that are readily graspable and real.

 ✓ Bring up the mission and goals even during informal interactions with

staff and volunteers. You can easily slip in a reference or two to one or

more goals while engaging in light shoptalk at an organizational picnic,

holiday party, or after-hours get-together with them at a nearby bar or

restaurant.

 ✓ Ask individual paid staff and volunteers to review, however briefly,

the enterprise’s goals every day. Printing up and distributing small

cards entitled something like “What are we here for?” with the goals

listed below can serve as a quick reminder of what the social enterprise

is trying to accomplish. Conspicuously placed in offices or work spaces,

this notice can work wonders in keeping all personnel pointed in the

direction of your mission.Burnout among paid staff commonly stems from being given more respon-

sibilities than the exhausted worker can effectively handle in the time avail-

able. Often, when burnout is an issue, the increase in responsibilities is not

accompanied by a raise in pay, even though more hours of work may be

demanded by the employer. But the burnout of paid staff is not usually the

compassion burnout of volunteers. Most staff work for social enterprises

because they need and like the job.

 Whether with paid staff or volunteers, you want to do everything possible to

avoid burnout. The good news is that wise management can go a long way

toward controlling the conditions that lead to burnout. Here are some sugges-

tions you can try to keep your volunteers and paid staff from burning out:

 ✓ Know your personnel. Learn as much as you can about each employee

and volunteer, and write it down. The more you know about a person’s

skills, knowledge, and experience, the better you’ll be able to find the

best fit between that person and his role in the enterprise, lessening the

chance of burnout.

 ✓ Be realistic about expectations. Assignments for employees and vol-

unteers need to be manageable. Ones that are too difficult, too compli-

cated, or too large risks burning someone out.

 ✓ Use committees to spread out responsibilities and involve different

people in everyday operations. Committees are a good testing ground to

see how much work is involved for a volunteer assigned to a committee.

 ✓ Be clear in what you ask for. Your paid staff and volunteers should

know what you think they can do and what you think they’re good at.

There shouldn’t be any ambiguity. Write it down and talk about it face-

to-face with new employees and volunteers to get their buy-in.

 ✓ Issue plenty of reminders about when things are due, and check in

often. Whether by phone or e-mail or face-to-face, make sure you know if

someone has fallen behind in time to catch up and help that person get

back on track. Give constructive feedback that will remedy the situation.

Or, better yet, get someone help before he fails.

 ✓ Highlight the importance of any project you’ve assigned. Everyone

wants to be valued.

 ✓ Be a role model. For example, demonstrate through your own work

habits a reasonable pace for meeting responsibilities and an ability to

maintain a cool head while doing so.