Purpose over Method

The not for profit organizations throughout the world are often characterized by grave inefficiencies. It is surprising that these inefficiencies continue to persist over time given that these organisations receive and disperse large amounts of funding every year. Last week I had the honor of listening to Matt Zieger who is a leading executive at the Forbes Fund. Several good questions emerged from his presentation including the challenge faced by organizations working in the development sector of acquiring and retaining good talent.

It was interesting to read the research published by the California Review Magazine titled “Organizational Blue Prints for success in high tech startups: Lessons from the tech industry” as it gave some answers to the questions raised above. The research followed 200 tech startups and gives excellent insights on what sort of organizations prosper and why. The article mentions the importance of having a clear mission or value statement and other organization building tools to the success of the company. It also emphasizes that the “origins matter” and a company’s early organization-building activities might preordain the startups destiny. Further, “change is disruptive” especially if the changes are being made to things as fundamental as the values which serve as the guiding post of a company. Research shows how changes in CEO’s and top management often resulted in a change of the organizations blueprint which was detrimental to the startup as it adversely affected employee turnover and henceforth financial performance.

What made this reading interesting in the juxtaposition to Matt Ziegers presentation was that it is important for an organization to be committed to its purpose rather than its method. The article outlined how the tech industry has to keep up with technological innovation and redevelop their products to meet a constantly evolving market. However, if the organization is focused on its value and mission it is more likely to succeed but the method should be constantly revised to best meet the mission.

Similarly, Matt Zieger’s presentation highlighted how the development sector is standing at a cross road. On one hand we have conventional donor driven aid models where a target area is decided, beneficiaries are selected and aid in the form of good or services is delivered. This is often problematic due to several reasons including sustainability, the “us and them” paradigm, and talent acquisition amongst others.  However, the new model around social innovation is gaining a lot of traction especially amongst millennials who are reportedly as a generation more conscious of their social responsibility compared to the previous generation. While the mission is similar between donor driven aid models and social innovation ventures, the method is different. It is important for people in the sector to understand that their commitment is to the purpose of serving people and be open to a change in the method. The new way allowing social innovation is open to greater creativity as it allows for home grown solutions and has been successful in developing partnerships across the public/private sector and not for profits. Hence I believe that this is an exciting time for the development sector and the next few years will see a pivotal shift in how social good is achieved especially in developing countries.