One of the reasons Springboard for the Arts is able to take on and implement large scale projects with their small team is through leveraging their staff. The staff lives and breathes seven principles: We view artists as vital contributors to their communities. Our programs are delivered by artists to artists. Our capacity to build relationships is the basis of our effectiveness. We emphasize building systems of investment and support. We develop cross-sector collaborations. We operate with a sense of transformational … [Read more...]
Values: A Part of the Everyday
Our personal values relate to decisions we make every day. Even the most mundane according to, Joel Urbany, author of How to Make Values Count in Everyday Decisions. We know, this got us all thinking about what it says about you when you leave your desk for that third cup of coffee or that you always eat out for lunch. Urbany dives into the term values-based decision making and draws a direct line between organizational values and those of individual employees, noting that this directly effects the overall decision making ability of an … [Read more...]
Get to Know Your Team
“There is a real reason for getting to know the people you’re working with.” Surry Scheerer, executive coach and lecturer at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business and Ford School of Public Policy, suggests that leaders and their organizations take a more mindful approach to building and supporting teams. Sheerer emphasizes the importance of team building whether your team exists in a conference room or through virtual means. How do personal values influence teamwork? Do you know what your colleagues value most? Tell us in … [Read more...]
Constructive Conflict
Jeff DeGraff, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, expands on the Competing Values Framework, sharing how the creation of constructive conflict allows for internal innovation. How do you see constructive conflict in your own values? Do you see this between your personal values and that of your organization? Tell us in the comments section or at #ValuesNAS. … [Read more...]
Do Your Values Actually Mean Something?
In this Harvard Business Review article, Patrick M. Lencioni discusses how constructing organizational core values is not a simple or meaningless task. We cannot and should not establish values because “we think we should” or “it’s the right thing to do.” They must be based on true meaning and upheld to the highest standard. Ensuring the core values of an organization resonate positively with employees is essential. Lencioni states that core values should be integrated with every employee-related process in the organization and that … [Read more...]
Values and What We Do
It’s pretty easy to identify the values of a cultural organization or initiative. Most mention them somewhere on their website, if not have an entire web section dedicated to this. We talk about values often, too. Inclusivity, equity, excellence are all frequently discussed at our conferences. Values are important to identify and certainly important to name, discuss and debate. It’s helpful for potential stakeholders to know what you stand for and for the world to know what we stand for, as a field. But I’m less interested in talking … [Read more...]