Posted on March 22, 2012
In this truly insightful article, Todd Cohen makes the point that nonprofits need to allow their team time to be creative in order to cultivate ideas for their own projects and for the projects of the nonprofit itself. “The job of actually doing all [the] work lies with the staff, and the pressure they face leaves little time to think. Time to think, however, is fundamental to improving an organization and the services it provides. So nonprofit boards and CEOS, and the donors and funders who support their organizations, need to find ways to encourage and foster creative thinking by the staff.” He goes on to write about Google who encourages their employees to “spend 20 percent of their work time, or one day a week, on projects that interest them.” This creative thinking “has sown the seeds for some of the company’s big new services, such as Gmail and Google News.” We should all follow in Google’s footsteps and allow our employees time on their own to be creative without being interrupted. So much good can come from listening to our staff and allowing them to have an individual voice which can help the organization immensely.
