“Social” versus “enterprise” nonprofit lives and leadership

Last weekend I went to see Quantum of Solace with a friend. Didn’t particularly enjoy the movie, but I did enjoy the conversation we had throughout the night. We began discussing whether or not each of us could do (successfully!) the other’s job. We work with a similar population in organizations in the same field, only he does direct service, while I work in an administrative capacity. The conversation moved far beyond this though to a discussion of the differences and divide between service workers and administrative workers in the organization he works in and many other organizations he and I had interacted with separately in the past.  Here are a few notable aspects we discussed:

Career trajectory.

Like him, I’ve witnessed many recent graduates with fresh careers in the sector leap frog front-line work, at least initially, and I’ve also seen front-line professionals get stuck doing front-line work even though they aspire to so much more.

Professional development activities and networks.

Though we have similar aspirations—to affect large scale social change within a rather similar population—there was no overlap in the networks we relied on to help us achieve these aspirations. In other words, you’d never find my friend at a Young Nonprofit Professionals Network gathering, just like you wouldn’t catch me at one of his service providers workgroups or trainings.   Through his traditional channels, he wouldn’t be exposed to innovations in philanthropy and social impact measurement, and I would never be exposed to innovations in credentialing or instruction.

Skills and competencies.

I, having studied business, have a toolkit full of management skills and abilities (and of course a lot of frameworks) that I’m honing for social change. My friend wouldn’t know the first thing about benchmarking or Excel, but he has tremendous empathy and does a heck of a good job at listening, coaching, and teaching.

Perspective.

Inherent in our roles are differences that cause us to take different perspective on the organization and we do.  I view the organization and its activities from a macro perspective, usually also with a financial lens and a lens that thinks about how current activities relate to long-term metrics, goals, and plans.  My friend sees things on a micro-level.  He’s worried about his current client and what he can do in the short-term to keep him or her engaged and on track.

With such a big difference in these aspects of our nonprofit lives, how could we both be driving social change effectively, especially 10 years down the road when we’ve emerged as leaders in our organizations and the sector?

My thoughts: This focus on “social enterprise” that is increasing the divide and differences between front-line (social) and administrative staff (enterprise) in some organizations (proudly, not the one I work at currently, though my friend couldn’t say the same) might have swung too far. As opposed to 15 years ago when everything in these relevant organizations was skewed to the “social” side of things, dramatically so, and these organizations spent time cultivating managers from direct service workers, they now see a benefit in buying “enterprise” talent like myself.

But what about the folks from the enterprise side of things that have no direct service experience—like myself? Can people like me fully understand the social complexity that is inherent in the direct service work my friend and others like him are doing, let alone sell it to donors or measure it?

So the question isn’t can I do my friend’s work; it’s can I do my own work. The answer? I don’t think so. Not without a better grasp of direct service work.

What’s the solution here for organizations that find themselves with a clear divide between social and enterprise talent and for the sector at large?

1. First, I think professional networks need to be more proactive in bringing all types of people driving social change to the table. I will do my part by dragging my friend to YNPN, some Net Impact events, and by allowing him to pull me along to his professional networking events.
2. Second, I think organizations that are buying enterprise talent need to do some sort of reverse training where all administrative staff are taught about direct service work. This avoids discouraging enterprise talent—some much needed talent—from entering the sector and particular organizations where direct service work makes sense. So, instead of cultivating managers from MSWs and direct service workers like what was done in the past, organizations need to cultivate holistic leaders with an understanding of both the enterprise and the social side of things.
3. Third, I think academic institutions and sector thought leaders need to do some thinking around what makes a nonprofit leader in relevant subsectors and organizations unique, what competencies are critical for success in these subsectors/organizations, and whether or not it makes a difference if one has social or enterprise experience alone or a combination of both.