Earlier this week, I gave a presentation for the National Human Services Assembly’s Field Services Council about how to develop a new generation of nonprofit leaders. We talked about some of the new research about what Generation X and Y nonprofit professionals need as well as ideas for how managers, organizations and associations might experiment with different strategies.
What I wanted to share here today is part of the conversation we had about the language we use in nonprofit leadership development as it relates to young people in the sector.
Develop vs. Support
The conventional wisdom in nonprofit leadership development is inherent in the term itself. It can be seen as the idea that nonprofit professionals need to be “developed” from what they are to what they should be. Like tadpoles. Or, it could be interpreted as a continuum of support systems that are required for professionals to reach their full potential in life and work.
I like the latter much better.
That’s why I wonder if now is the time to explore using the term ‘support’ more than we say ‘develop.’ When organizations hear that they need to develop their younger staff, they often go immediately into, “Oh, we don’t have money to develop our staff. It’s expensive to send them off to training or conferences.”
Sure, it is. But there are so many other ways to support young nonprofit professionals that cost little to no money. And the problem is that these opportunities are being grossly underutilized. Maybe because the language we’re using sounds a bit daunting for the average organization.
In contrast, the word support can refer to a wide range of activities from something as simple as saying YES when a young staff member asks to sit in on an important board meeting to giving permission for a group of interns to attend a free nonprofit panel discussion during the day.
Next vs. Now
Another thing we discussed was the language we use when we talk about younger nonprofit leaders. Whenever organizations talk about under-40 professionals, they tend to use the problematic term “next generation” or the more hip “next gen.” While it’s extremely important for groups to have programs geared toward this age demographic in the sector, the term implies that these young people will ONLY become leaders once they get older, over 40. Beyond that, it’s not clear who or what determines when (or if) a “next gen” professional actually transitions into a NOW generation leader.
See the problem here? The very programs that seek to help young nonprofit professionals can, by their very name, defer – or worse – belittle, the leadership they are already exhibiting within their communities, day after day.
In a previous post, I’ve written about The Normative Problem with the Term ‘Next Generation’ Leaders. I invite you to read it and then consider whether that term is really appropriate or useful for the field of nonprofit leadership development and where it needs to go.
My hope is that in 2012, we start thinking beyond who’s “next” and focus on who’s “now,” standing right in front of us with the courage and capacity to lead in a bigger way.
What do you think about the language we use in the field of nonprofit leadership development? What else, if anything, needs to change?
