In the deep darkness of a winter night, there are lights in windows of homes across Copenhagen.
These lights are welcoming beacons, warming the coldness of winter and creating light in the darkness. This is only one action of many that create ‘lykke’ or a level of happiness that has Denmark leading the United Nations annual happiness index.
My background is in the world of marketing and specifically in the field of marketing automation where the focus is on having meaningful interactions with customers online based on the digital cues they provide. This is called reading their ‘digital body language’.
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Earlier this month I participated in a workshop on collaboration at a gathering of several hundred grantmakers, hosted by Philanthropy Northwest. During the session, Collaborative Exchange, I presented on Graduation Matters Montana, a public-private initiative that resulted in record-breaking high school graduation rates.
As I was preparing for the session, I was reminded of a Tamarack Institute talk in which Liz Weaver and Mark Cabaj described what effective change efforts have in common. There are three things, they posited: (1) a framework; (2) principles; and (3) practices. How, I wondered, could I describe our work raising graduation rates, based on Weaver and Cabaj’s insights?
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In our last V-News update, I explained that vulnerability-based trust on your team is what allows your team members to feel comfortable engaging in passionate debate. Your volunteers will feel as though their voices matter, because everyone’s diverse opinions are considered. When everyone has a chance to weigh in, that is when you achieve collective buy in which creates committed volunteers. It all starts with trust.
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This weekend I was asked to speak at Maple Grove United Church in Oakville, Ontario about some of my reflections working in the social change sector over the past few years. This offered me a great opportunity to think deeply about my journey so far and opened up some amazing conversations with Oakville residents about taking on complex challenges in our community.
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What a summer it has been. I am currently on a summer break to rest and reflect and am feeling pretty grateful to our board, Liz Weaver (Acting President) and our team for giving me this opportunity. As you can imagine, getting some extended time away can make one optimistic. I am finding it pretty easy to smile these days.
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