On April 29, 2022, as part of our This is the moment to care campaign, we held the workshop Intentionally building a culture of caring from an executive level. After a very productive session, these reflections were shared by Wendy Wolff, Maryland Nonprofits’ Director of Strategic Engagement, who is leading this revolutionary initiative.
Nonprofit Executives: this is a clarion call to declare your workplaces as caring spaces that truly value and care for your people. This is the moment to care is a giant revolution about intentionally changing the workspace into one that honors and includes the diverse perspectives, attitudes, cultures, attributes, skill sets, and values of the people who execute our missions.
Maryland Nonprofits believes that culture change is one of the greatest untapped sources of performance improvement for organizations and that when we deliberately concentrate on caring for the workplace culture, success naturally follows.
So much of this mindfulness movement is about creating a heart-centered experience, where we emphasize the inner perspective that guides us and knows the truth about who we are and what we bring to the mission and work.
How do we give this equal emphasis in our organizations while acknowledging the workplace trauma that has hurt people along the way? How do we acknowledge the American business practices that have been oppressive, helping some and not others, and leaving many people out of important conversations because they are not part of the “dominant” leadership model?
It’s time to eliminate unconscious, robotic sector practices that result in high turnover rates, low salaries, no health benefits, drastically urgent deadlines, and often “lip service” to equity and true inclusion of all.
The mind intellect and the heart-emotional intellect have equal parts and responsibility for cultivating organizations that are containers where people are honored, valued, considered, connected, and supported across the board, and where nothing remains unattended or invisible. We are worth the investment of time, money, thought, and action.
What the Executives left this session with
The volatility and unpredictability of the future coupled with our collective anxiety in the wake of the pandemic show us there is no one size fits all, no one method, and no one expertise to follow – the expertise sits within each of the members of your system. Stand up and declare that your people matter. Do it with us. We can’t wait to watch everyone flourish!
