Reflection 2: INGO productivity (or lack of it?)

When going through my office papers this week, I discovered a print off of the above. It made me smile.? It's a print off that has been stuck on walls, in lockers and on computers all over the world for the various roles I have has during the past 20 years.? It's battered and torn and you can barely read it, but it has stayed the course of time for one reason - to remind me that when I had a bad day, I should not beat myself up, because sometimes expectations of what can be achieved in the voluntary sector (whether self imposed or otherwise) are just too unrealistic.? It gave me the permission to let the stress go, and to start afresh the next day with a positive outlook.??

Planning in Disaster Risk Management is notoriously hard to get right.? Disasters have the nasty habit of arriving just when you are in the midst of a large “head down” project (disasters also frequently happen on a Friday, or when you are taking time off for the overtime you did in the previous response!).? Rightly or wrongly, I deliberately structured my annual team work plans with objectives that were never going to be fully achieved.? The annual plan was designed as if there were no emergencies during the year, which, of course, was never going to happen.? The teams I managed knew this.? Such an approach gave them the flex to adapt, recognising that a new emergency would nearly always result in additional synergetic objectives, either from lessons learnt or new opportunities arising.? The definition of a good year was an annual plan that achieved 70% of its targets.??

So then, when I started as a consultant, it was a new and unexpected feeling to finish a piece of work and hand it over!? What was more strange was how conscious I was of this.? The feeling went beyond the sense of pride when sending my first invoice.? It forced me to think about productivity, how it is defined in the voluntary sector, what that means for both individuals and teams.??

And that's when I realised I had stumbled across some uncomfortable truths.? Had I allowed the demand for agility to create a subconscious mindset of “constant de-expectation”, and that my actions, whether personal, co-delivered with my team or delegated from management, would never be complete?? Had we allowed the quest for social transformation and motivations for global and societal good to be disconnected from individual performance?? And, heaven forbid, are we getting “value for money” against the salaries we pay?? Yes, I am being deliberately provocative - many would deem this as a sacrilegious question in the non-for-profit sector!?

As I began to break it down, I realised the importance of separating individual productivity from collective team productivity.? The scope to support, direct and develop an employee to "effectively achieve" in their job was surely part of my role as a line manager.? By achiever, I mean someone who primarily feels a sense of satisfaction, even well-being, from completing actions against goals (whether self determined or delegated) within the hours they are legally employed to do.? By effective, I mean they feel valued, equipped, enabled, given the space to fail as well as succeed.? By being this kind of line manager, any staff member I line managed would be motivated to be the best version of themselves, so they can see the impact and change on the cause they signed up to. So, all good here then.?

As a leader, surely it is also my responsibility to set the ambition and motivation for change, then break it down into a mode of delivery against the resources I have, knowing that people and talent is the number one asset.? It is also about me anticipating change, and future proofing my team’s potential.? There is nothing that gives me more joy than to see people blossom in their roles and their capabilities, inspired by their work, confident about what is expected of them, in tune with future horizons, and ultimately self-selecting to go the extra mile because they love what they do.? My role thus is to create the enabling environment by increasing skills, mapping out potential, providing opportunities to think outside the box, and giving clear focused direction, and motivation. This is what I get out of bed for.? If you achieve this with the people you manage, who needs to talk about value for money against salaries?? Again, this gave no cause for concern so no need to over scrutinise.?

My quest continued.? Having concluded it was not my management of others which was the issue, I began to review others' management of me, and my own self management.? To satisfy this curiosity, I did my usual “quick and dirty” search for what others have written on the issue.? Leilla Billing’s blog on time and toxic productivity was a strong and insightful read.? I found myself resonating in so many ways.? I recalled the times I had witnessed or be part of “new managerialism”, where “key features…include: an emphasis on outputs over inputs; the close monitoring of employee performance and the encouragement of self-monitoring through the widespread use of performance indicators”, and where “new managerialism focuses service providers on outputs measured in terms of performance indicators and rankings (often regardless of inputs or resources)”.??

In a desire to be a lifelong learner, I seek insight from looking at how things are done outside of the voluntary sector.? Both the public sector and private sector have much to teach non profits, but the clue is in the name, we are not profit seeking. Nor are we service providers as determined by political mandate. There are limits to what can be transposed between sectors, and it's obvious the voluntary sector needs to continually re-evaluate how their bespoke management approaches contribute towards transformational change. We need to carve out their our own third way.?

I have long stated that project cycle management is ill suited to INGOs operating in cross cultural norms.? The sooner we can move away from this practice (often imposed by donors), the more likely we will see sustainable change, self determined by affected populations and the control they want to have for their lives.? We have also allowed a narrative that “competition is good” to be integrated like a slow creeper into the doctrine of INGOs.? Let’s face it, not all competition is good when you are seeking unified societal good and social change.? Don't get me wrong, diversity and complementarity are core to a balanced aid and development sector.? But this requires coordination and conversation, not competition.? Leilla Billing’s perspectives on growth driven ambition creating a sense of toxic urgency is based on her research and her role as a consultant. A heavy handed drive for financial growth inevitably leads to negative productivity in staff as they become exhausted and disillusioned.? No way to change the world eh?? When was the last time you heard a voluntary sector organisation setting an “ambitious plan to shrink”???

Ultimately, this was all very interesting, but it did not scratch where it itched.? It did not answer my question on why, on occasions, are the voluntary sector and INGOs vulnerable to ineffective use of time, leading to lack of productivity, and ultimately limited or no social, economic or developmental transformation. What my crude search failed to find was any blogs, papers or formal research about voluntary sector decision making and productivity (reader, please share if you know of any!).? It was here I began to unpack these uncomfortable truths, both of myself and of others.?

I realised that my mindset had evolved to subconsciously accept that decisions and direction from executive and board leadership were going to constantly change.? As a result, direction was ultra fluid and delegated ambitions escalated and de-escalated like “snakes and ladders” in the game of prioritisation.? Longevity of focused ambition was often switched for a highly responsive adaptation to the rapidly changing external environments.? To put it bluntly, research to develop a briefing for an emerging opportunity would be downgraded in favour of a new funding proposal, which would in turn be overtaken by a board request for a performance report, which was then superseded by a new digital system we must learn.? You get the idea.? Even if a task was completed, how convinced was I that the delegated output I achieved was constructively utilised, or even contributed towards successful organisational ambition or impact?? Leilla Belling has a strong analysis that time to effectively complete your role is an unspoken driver of exclusion. Subsequently, she advocates time as a “right” for every employee, but her blog only lightly touches on capability in senior decision making and its ripple effects on organisational productivity.? And this is where my itch starts to get scratched.??

Before going any further, I need to stop and regroup with you here reader. I am writing this article with hesitancy because I have been in both the position of decision maker as well as recipient of decisions made.? We need to be questioning the role, identity and function of senior boards when it comes to accountability to affected populations, and their disproportionate hold on power, but, note, I think this a separate thesis from this piece.? In addition, I do not write this reflection from the perspective of blame.? I have been a member of, chaired, and advised boards and directors in a cross section of different roles in the past 15 years.? I know how hard it is to make a decision without the fullness of knowledge and confidence of understanding.? Equally, I know how debilitating it is to wait for executive decisions from volunteer boards who may not get around to your agenda item in that meeting (and you need to wait 3 months till the next opportunity!). The worst situation is when decisions are reversed.? I have sat on, and been the recipient of, boards changing their minds and the consequences that brings.? Not pretty.?

So my journey ends with a dis-satisfactory conclusion.? My personal concerns about productivity (or lack of it) boil down to (in)competent decision making and (in)effective corporate governance.? This is a daunting revelation as these are senior decision making roles I have held, do hold and hope to continue to have going forward.? Thus, this lesson is for me.? Will it become an enlightened reality or a flying pig?? Join me next time as I tackle the logical next step in my reflections, suitably called “boards behaving badly” and effective governance.?????