It’s a vivid metaphor, a nightmare easily imagined by more than one person I’ve coached: Your organization is the circus tent, and the people who have paid good money to see you perform are, instead, tossing jeers and big sloppy spitballs at you from their comfortable seats on the sidelines.
Those who should be gasping when you teeter, seem distracted, and absolutely uninterested in your success.
What is worse, even from mid-air, you recognize their faces: The spitballers are your board members, the men and women who supposedly have the largest stake in your organization.
In meeting after meeting, you do everything you can to engage them. But still, they keep lobbing their excuses and bad advice.
You’ve tried every way to quiet them. You’ve gone along with their ideas, and spent weeks following up on their suggestions. You’ve empathized about the demands of their busy lives, and you are falling-down-dizzy from rushing back and forth responding to their requests and attempting to anticipate their needs.
But, the harder you try to please them, the more precarious your position on the tightrope. You forget where you are going. You’re frustrated. You can’t get anything meaningful done. Your staff is starting to notice.
If you don’t get it together, you are going to crash and fall, and the organization will come tumbling after.
There is a way through.
When you get shaky out there on the tightrope, in the middle of the tent, far from the ground and without a net, the only way through is by going back to basics.
When it seems like no one is on your team, it’s up to you to reconnect with the reasons that you came out to play in the first place.
Reconnect to the purpose of your work.
Ask yourself: What is the purpose that drives my work in civic life? What is the deepest purpose of my work in this organization?
Take a moment to remember the excitement you felt when you took the job. What inspired you the most? What did taking this job say about who you are and what you care passionately about? What opportunities and challenges are even more important than your position or your paycheck?
Think about your aspirations.
★ What kind of impact does your organization make when it is at its best?
★ What does the community need from you right now?
★ What is the first step?
★ What is your priority for the week?
★ For the month?
★ What can you accomplish in the next three months that will give you a deep and real sense of satisfaction in your work?
Breathe deep. Reconnect with the strength of your commitment and the power of your skills and experience. Forget for a few moments about the spitballs. You are purposeful rubber. Spitballs bounce.
When you reconnect with your purpose, your breathing steadies and the teetering slows. You do what needs to be done. You ignore what needs to be ignored. You assess carefully. You say “no” to the peripheral. You say “yes” to the essential. You speak from your heart. You make requests for the help you really need.
Don’t get reckless or vindictive. Take smart, purposeful risks. Don’t lose your job . As Marty Linsky says, disappoint your own people at a rate they can absorb.
Walk your wire with confidence, driven by purpose, and hearts will fall in line. The spitballs will dry up as team members reengage with a shared purpose. You’ll remember what fun it is to be a civic leadership acrobat.
