The Power of Practice

When was the last time you really practiced something?

The farther we rise in our careers, the easier it is to avoid trying - and practicing - new things.

We forget all the hours we spent earlier in our career learning what we know now - and the ways our leaders or supervisors created that space for us to learn and get better (i.e., to practice).

Today, we hear advice like "fail fast" or "don't be afraid of failure" - but if you're like most nonprofit execs I know - heck, most humans I know - failure doesn't really feel like an option.

Your community is counting on you.
Your team is counting on you.
Your board is counting on you.
Your family & friends are counting on you.

The pressure and scrutiny can be intense. Even more so when we subscribe to the false binary that the only possible results are "win" or "fail."

But most of the time, the results of our choices are that we learn something. That we grow in some way - sometimes in great big leaps and sometimes in imperceptible increments.

So let's be intentional about that growth by creating space for ourselves - and for our teams - to:
→ understand what we need to learn or where we want to grow,
→ learn the new content and behaviors needed to make that possible,
→ practice those learnings, and
→ reflect on what that practice tells us about what we can now do and what we need next.

Practice reveals opportunities for greater exploration, uncovers unknown roadblocks, and enables us to not just know intellectually what's needed, but to actually do it. Without it, we're dealing in theories and suppositions. We're missing the evidence needed to create clarity and choose a strategic, aligned path forward.

Looking for practical tips about incorporating practice at your organization? Get started here: https://bit.ly/3XcoOrm.