Wearing Many Hats with Rachel Bearbower
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We all wear many hats in our lives. And working in small nonprofits, we wear even more hats at work. All the time, our to-do-list is overwhelming, and we can’t seem to be able to get to the bottom of it.
How we do our work every day has such a great impact on our long term success.
On today’s episode, Rachel Bearbower, founder of Small Shop Strategies, shares her journey from starting a small nonprofit as a newbie to the sector to becoming a consultant that helps small nonprofits strategize and maximize their productivity.
Wondering how you can design your week, manage your team, and wear many hats and do great work? This episode is for you.
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3 myths Rachel wants us to leave behind:
Because we run small shops, we have to be good at everything: Delegating is the key to success for small nonprofit managers and EDs.
We always have to know the answers as managers: Great managers don’t always know the answers, but they do know how to do one thing very well: helping their employees and volunteers to find their passion lanes and support them to excel.
The utopia of “work life balance”: There is no such thing. Instead, think about work and life integratively and find the productivity tips that work for you.
Rachel’s top 3 tips on wearing multiple hats:
Find a best friend on your volunteer committee: Managing a board or a volunteer committee can be overwhelming. Start by finding that one person that you can trust and lean on and expand from there.
Be both specific and generous when you are delegating: give people concrete details of what you’re looking for, a deadline to work towards, and leave them plenty of space to do their work.
Block time slots in your schedule to get things done: batch time in your schedule to get tasks done and move closer towards your weekly goals.
My favourite quotes from today’s episode
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“Something that I always tried to keep in the back of my mind is giving my board members, my employees or volunteers the support that they need to excel, but also have the safety net waiting for them. If they fail, help them get back to whatever they're doing. And make sure that they feel confident because when they are confident and they feel like they're excelling, then they're going to do better work.”
“There is no work life balance. That's not really a thing. I don't know anyone who has found like: I got my work life figured out; I got my personal life figured out. Life is beautiful. I don't know anyone who’s able to say that, but I do think that they work in tandem.”
Resources from this Episode
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The Small Nonprofit is produced by Eloisa Jane Mariano
