“If we don’t change, we don’t grow.
If we don’t grow, we are not really living.
Growth demands a temporary surrender of security.”
Gail Sheehy
No change, no growth
Link: The Life of a Non-profit: Growth & Growing Pains (Robin Morgan)
Robin, in another post in her YOW series, expressed in four words a truism which all Executive Directors know all too well: No money, no mission.
Gail Sheehy sets forth another truth for all who lead growing organizations: No change, no growth.
Robin in the growing pains post cited above states:
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”. Charles Dickens’ words could be used to describe those non-profits which grow, but are faced with lingering growing pains . . . In the life of a non-profit there are three general levels of growth, namely: Early, Middle, and Maturity. With growth typically come growing pains. The day-to-day operation of a non-profit organization are where it’s growing pains flow from. In running a non-profit, each stage typically presents a distinct set of growth-related challenges and problems . . . Some organizations grow to this [middle] stage, suffer growing pains, and then get stuck! They reach a plateau, a middle stage plateau, and stay stuck there. They never move forward”.
