Revisiting Honest Practice

Belinda Rawlins — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 18:44:01 +0000

Looking back through my writings about honest practice, I came across this piece originally published in the NAMAC eBulletin.

“You can’t copy your way to the top.”

This “meta lesson” from The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership struck me when advising a colleague on a grant that wanted applicants to document the use of “best practices” in their proposed project. The real kick was that the funder was only interested in new projects and proclaimed to support innovation.

My mind reeled. If “best practices” are the standards of excellence within organizations considered high performing, how can it be expected that those standards could be immediately implemented in startup programs? What of differences in organizational culture and constituencies, not to mention technical and information systems? Is innovation supported if funding follows conventional wisdom? How do we know that wisdom is valid when our industry is trained to share only the lessons of success and not of failure?

Organizations need support not just in their success, but also in their mistakes. Since the funding community is unlikely to be first jumping on this bandwagon, I propose cultivating space to learn from the honest practices we experience every day. Encourage reflection on reality when possible.

Alliance for Nonprofit Management Annual Conference, 2009

Ben Sheldon — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:28:02 +0000

The Alliance for Nonprofit Management is holding their 2009 Annual Conference July 15 - 17. 2009 in Palm Springs California.

Delivering impact: Improving nonprofit effectiveness

With more than 30 sessions and workshops, the Alliance Annual Conference is designed by and for nonprofit capacity builders, nonprofit leaders, grantmakers and academics. Our goal is to provide you with the resources and tools that will enhance your skills and increase your nonprofit’s effectiveness and impact.

Transmission Project - grantmakers

Revisiting Honest Practice

Alliance for Nonprofit Management Annual Conference, 2009