ROUND EIGHT: Everything's Peachy

Here's what I take away from 99% of the online communications I see from organizations operating in and around the cerebral palsy / neurological disorders / brain research / special needs arena: 

Everything's peachy.

You had a great 2013. 
You're right on track for 2014. 
You know just what you're doing. (You're "collaborating.") 
Sure you could use a ton of money -- for what, you rarely say -- but outside o' that?

Peachy.

If I'm reading you correctly that means:

• Your operations are going like gangbusters and need no improving. Your processes are smooth and efficient. As for your programs, products, and services? They're all grand slam home runs.

• The dozens of projects to which you've committed are being broken down into smaller task-chunks and getting checked off -- on time, in every department, to great effect. (That you selected the right projects based on the right strategies in the first place goes without saying.) 

• You're adequately addressing all the "look into" things you and your staff have been hoping and meaning to explore or pursue but haven't had the time to. 

If that's what you're telling me, I'm sorry but --  

I don't buy it for a minute. 

For a variety of reasons. Not the least of which is the fact that so few organizations are as well oiled or productive as they could be. 

I believe you could use all kinds of help. 

Curiously enough, though, your communications never say so explicitly. You show no signs you're in the market for any of the kinds of help I alluded to above. You never say you don't know. You never acknowledge you need more expertise or resources. You never discuss things that flop.

You never let 'em see you sweat. 

That's par for the management and organizational-communications course historically. Remember earlier web sites? 100% PR-filtered and one-way. ("This is what we decided to say about ourselves after we had a chance to deliberate.") I'm not surprised that many of your sites still are. But the fact that I'm seeing the same sorts of patterns with regard to your blogs and Facebook pages concerns me.

How come?

Well, I tend to go along with an observation Dan Pallotta made in his much circulated TED speech from March of 2013, that "Our problems are massive in scale [and] our organizations are tiny up against them."  

Our problems are massive. 

Current conventional CP therapies offer only a 4-10% average gain for any particular individual.* One in eighty-eight children is being diagnosed with autism. We can't afford for our organizations, individually and /or collectively, to be tiny up against our challenges. Not everything's peachy.

What's social media got to do with it? 

I wouldn't go so far as to say that our social media approaches and practices are keeping us tiny. I would say, however, that they're not doing much to make us bigger up against our challenges. And I believe they could.  

And must.

What makes social media special is its two-way-ness. The ability to use it to "engage with" (as opposed to "broadcast to") others. Especially w/ lots of others. A general formula that seems to be emerging for using social media to advance one's mission? Help others help you. Improve your performance by helping smart and passionate others improve their own performance.

Practically speaking, the idea is to (1.) put your true organizational self out there, (2.) tell the world what, specifically, is important to your future success, and (3.) invite people to apply their talents, creativity, and skills to it. How to do these things, e.g., what inducements to offer would-be participants, depends on you and your context. 

My response /call to action:

I'm experimenting with something that could conceivably help your organization "open itself up" to additional help from the outside. Via my Parents2Projects Facebook page and "Calls 2 Action" map (below) I'm trying to get the word out to potential workers / helpers / service providers that there's much important work to be done in our community. 

You may be able to help your organization by telling me what help you want or need. Tell me about projects, would-be projects, or specific tasks you could use some help completing. From the profound to the mundane. Of any size or scope. Shoot 'em my way and I'll see what I can do to connect you with low- or no-cost "people power" to get them done. Please contact me here, or through Facebook.

What's there to lose? Who's to say we couldn't drum up a critical mass of participants and amplify our productivity and impact beyond our wildest dreams?

Create your own mind maps at MindMeister 

*per Dr. Iona Novak from CP Alliance in Australia