"The Process is the Work" Reframing Strategy with Tony Richardson and Lisa Fisher | Philanthropy Northwest

Featured Image with Title: The Process is the Work. Reframing strategy with Tony Richardson and Lisa Fisher. Tony and Lisa's headshots are on the left side.

Aya Tsuruta and Lisa Fisher

August 13, 2021

Often when we think about strategic planning there’s a linear nature to it. One tied to activities that lead to tangible outcomes and results. The what of the work. But what happens when we focus on what’s behind the scenes? What happens when we focus on the people engaging in the work and the heart that’s driving the work?

To help us think about these questions, we sat down with the dream duo that is Tony Richardson, Executive Director of the Nord Family Foundation and Senior Advisor, Lisa Fisher – who are working together on the foundation’s strategic planning. We begin by exploring what it means to take a heart-centered approach to our work, the challenges and opportunities that it presents and the conditions necessary to create an environment that invites not only the mind but also the heart into the work. We explore why we as humans tend to default to certain work styles and expectations and offer a reframing of what strategy is all about.

Screenshot image of Zoom video screen with Lisa, Tony and Aya. — Above: Zoom call with Lisa (left) and Tony (right)

Thank you, Tony and Lisa, for sharing your perspectives with us.

What does taking a heart-centered approach to strategic planning mean to you?

Tony Q1.png

Tony: Sometimes when we think about work, we think of it like a linear transaction or a pop machine. You put your quarter in and you get a pop at the bottom of the machine. It’s like we only go in to get something out of it. But when I think of heart-centered strategy and how we’ve gone about this particular journey, it’s not so much entering the process to do or focusing on the what, but looking at the why, and then the how which comes later. And what sometimes happens, and has in other strategic planning processes that I’ve been a part of, is that we don’t take the time to really unpack people’s feelings, experiences and relationships – those real, human qualities that are so integral to our work. So heart-centered strategy to me is a deeper level of engagement. We’re not doing it to simply get to the end product, but we’re doing it in a way that is intentional, engaging, that’s going to get buy-in and actually has some meaning. And that’s why I think it’s important.

It sounds like strategic planning is more of a time to get in touch with your organization — to reflect and let that lead you to whatever might be next.

Tony Q2_No Icon.png

Tony: Absolutely. It’s this idea of being more of a journey than a destination. And I’m finding through this process that the journey plays out not just in the boardroom. It’s the conversations between meetings, the emails, the phone conversations -- it’s all the work that doesn’t show up in the boardroom that transcends the “strategic planning meeting”. And you can’t really put that on a chart. You can’t assess it with traditional evaluation metrics because there’s a human element to it – which is not only comforting but also eye opening. It’s allowed me to think about my leadership and incorporate this style of work, not just in this process, but as I’m leading the organization and other parts of our work. Lisa: It’s that holistic approach. It’s not mind or heart, but the integration of the two. And when we think about centering the heart, it’s really leaning into those feelings or emotions, which is not something that we necessarily think about in strategy. And people might think, “oh, it’s valuing emotion over thinking” but it’s not. It’s relational in the same way Tony described. It’s about relationships with ourselves, each other, our communities, and larger systems. And especially when we think about family foundations, there’s a whole emotional field that exists just around family.

Let’s dive into the perceptions of heart-centered strategy more. Why don’t more organizations take a heart-centered approach and what happens when they don’t?

Lisa_Theory U_Otto.png

Lisa: This is where we get into Otto Scharmer’s Theory U, which is something that we talk about a lot at TGP and Tony and I have talked about too. I think anybody can just hatch a strategy, right? You can just write down what we’re doing, a set of focus areas, our values and move on, and that is a fast-track way to get to strategy but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you have buy-in, or that the strategy will be successful. This is what jumping from one side of the U to the other looks like. Sitting at the bottom of the U means you really stop, reflect and take stock of what’s happening in your organization. It means thinking about what we want to let go of, what’s coming and processing where we are together. And that’s hard. It’s hard because you surface the assumptions you’re making, where you might be aligned, where you aren’t aligned, and it means stepping into difficult conversations. So that’s the reason for me that I think people have a little bit of a harder time and might run back to their old ways of doing things.

Image: Crossing the Threshold: Stepping in the Field of the Future. — Above: Theory U Image (Source: https://www.ottoscharmer.com/theoryu )

Tony_Theory U_2.png

Tony: Great points, Lisa. I think there’s something to be said about the way we traditionally work: calendars, timelines, and deadlines. This has to get done within this frame or we fail or don’t meet a goal, right? And so you take that approach to work and try a higher strategy and nine times out of 10 you’re going to fall short. You’ll hit that goal of finishing during an allotted time period, but to Lisa’s point, were you able to surface the issues that are so important to the people that are connected to your work? In our case, our grantee partners, trustees, members and community stakeholders at large. Did you get a chance to iterate and have that discovery phase where you’re really allowing people the space to connect to the work and process the information in a way that they operate? If we’re looking at the traditional linear way, we’re assuming that everyone thinks and moves in a linear trajectory. But the way we’re doing it is a lot more all-encompassing. I’ve seen that we've been able to really unearth and unpack issues, for better or worse, that we haven't had the space to address in the past, and in a way where there's intellectual safety and space for people to speak from their own experience. We have tried to create an environment for people to show up and participate in a way that makes more sense to them and is comfortable for them.

What kind of conditions have been helpful to creating this environment where people can show up and participate with both their heart and mind?

Tony_Facilitation.png

Tony: Facilitation is so important. You have to have a facilitator who listens, knows how to push, when to push, when to pull. One that is thoughtful about how the work is introduced and knows how to read a room. And those are the skills that you don’t necessarily just pick up on any sort of consultant that just wants to come in and give you a plan. And there’s also something to be said about the fit between your consultant or facilitator, and leadership of your organization and where you want your organization to go. I don’t think it’s for everyone just to be honest, right? There has to be a culture of leadership, and specifically one of leading people. And leading people is not just leading in front -- it’s leading from the back, front, above, under. So that’s one. Two is that you can’t be in a rush. If you’re in a rush just to get a product done or say you did something, I think you’ll fall short. And three, you have to be comfortable with failing in public and not having all of the answers. And that can be difficult for people in leadership roles, because you’re a leader. You’re supposed to have all of the answers but you know, I don’t have all of the answers and am perfectly fine with that reality.

Did this leadership style – leading people, valuing time to process over jumping to outcomes, and modeling vulnerability – come naturally to you or is it something that you developed over time?

Tony_Comfortable.png

Tony: I’m totally comfortable being uncomfortable. That’s been my life’s journey. Being a person who experienced homelessness from the time I was 10 years old to when I graduated law school, I understand and appreciate the notion of time and timing. I understand the importance of being able to sit and say, “Hey I’m going to go on this journey to change the trajectory of my life and future generations,” and practice the type of patience needed for sticking to a goal and working through the process - the pitfalls, setbacks, successes. And so how do you bring that patience, grit, ambition and steadfastness to the professional world? You say okay, I can run fast. And Lisa and I can both run fast. She’s faster than me and we can make it to the end goal. But what’s the use of finishing if you can’t cross the finish line together? One thing you have to understand is that in any organization people are going to be at different places, and you have to be comfortable being where the most uncomfortable person may be. And how you show up as a leader will impact their engagement level. Lisa: Tony’s leadership has been critical in this process. Sometimes you’re in the middle of the process and you want to say, “Okay time is up. Let’s get this thing done.” And especially if you’re feeling pressure, things are getting more uncomfortable and you want to accelerate the process to move through that discomfort. But Tony has just held center – being really faithful to whatever is emerging. And that’s the thing right? You have to get into the work to know what it’s going to look like. You don’t know what’s going to come up during discovery and how the processing is going to go. And Tony has really modeled being comfortable in that uncertainty. Tony: I think there’s something to be said about reframing our assumptions, beliefs, mission and vision too. Because that’s the work, right? We’re not here to come up with a grant strategy. We’re here to ensure our organization continues to develop in all facets of its functioning. And what’s fascinating about this reframing is that in addition to developing our organization, we’re going to experience some empathy and compassion and ultimately come out better people. Better human beings with stronger relationships with each other, because now we’ve gone on a journey. I think sometimes we, as organizations, especially foundations, are always looking externally about how we show up in communities. But, you know, you really can't meet and serve a community in ways that are impactful if we don't do that internal work first.

Switching gears, what makes this process unique or different for family foundations?

Tony and Lisa_Family Foundations.png

Lisa: With family foundations specifically, one is just the family relationship and the balance between this real desire to come together while holding independent identities. As we do as family members. How do we allow for that independence and also attunement with each other to execute on the larger work? And it doesn’t mean everyone has to be aligned or everyone has to be doing their own thing, but it’s asking, where in your family foundation do you find yourself? And this is especially important to the process of bringing new generations to the fold, which can be challenging. There’s almost always questions of geography – where and how to fund where when family members live in different areas. We think about what will be most relevant for each family member or generation of family members. So just being as nimble as you can be as a family foundation is definitely an opportunity and something I really like to work with. It’s challenging, because you have so many options and there’s a lot of different interests and perspectives. Tony: In addition to what Lisa said I think it’s the why in a lot of cases. What is the why for a particular family member? What is it about this family foundation that invites me to participate? Why do I want to participate? And how do I see myself as part of this legacy of work? As the director I’m also navigating that stewardship piece; how do we move this organization forward? What are the governance pieces that need to be really honed in on so that we can, in this case, exist in perpetuity? There’s the vision and the work, but 25 to 40 years from now, we want this organization operating at a high level, infrastructure pieces in place, connected to community, listening to grantee partners and community, boards functioning and engaged. I want people to look back at their time here and say that they cared about the organization and they cared about the community, and that we held ourselves accountable to the professional responsibilities of leading an organization that is responsible in so many ways to really push our social fabric. It’s not about a grant. It’s not about the hubris that may come with grantmaking. It’s about an institution. It’s about community. That’s why I wanted to do strategic planning when I became a director. You know, I’m not ignorant enough to think that we’re going to solve poverty, right, but let’s keep this organization in shape so that whatever comes our way, we are poised to meet the moment.

It sounds like a lot of decentering ourselves so that we can ultimately center community.

Centering Family.png

Lisa: And there’s also this piece around centering family, too. I think that’s sometimes an “aha” for family foundations. How do you want to be as a family in this? Tony: That made me think, Lisa, of our last working group when I think I might have said, “when we talk about values, what about family?” And there was just silence. Like, “wow we can?” as if we needed permission. And yes! You can. You do value it. I hear it, I see it so let’s make that a component of our framework.

Why do you feel like as humans, we need permission to value the things we do? And maybe it's particular to a business setting.

Lisa and Tony_Dominant Culture.png

Lisa: To me, this instance felt more like a digesting period for the family. And this goes back to that idea of being faithful to what emerges through the process. Or what Tony’s team has talked about, which is the power of making the implicit explicit. When Tony brought family up as a value, there was a kind of opening or invitation to come at the work differently. But to me, I think a lot of the reason we do what we do has a lot to do with white dominant culture. More specifically we have these structures, systems or ideas based on that, and part of this work is starting to challenge or think about, why do we do this this way? And how do some of these structures and systems result in more of a continuation of things we don’t want? Tony: When you think about a dominant culture, we’ve been ingrained and socialized to do our work in a certain way from the time that we enter work consciousness or the “work world”. And because of that, the marketplace of ideas is only going to yield outcomes or outputs that perpetuate whatever those cultural norms dictate; and that is why we keep bumping our heads because there are only so many ideas that can come from a particular set of circumstances. There’s only so much juice in the apple. So you have to create new fruit, we have to create new food in general.

Let's dive deeper into the idea of making the implicit explicit.

Tony_Explicit.png

Tony: When we talk about inquiry, it’s inquiry of thought and relationship. Of what can I say, what can’t I say? Once we know we can say it, like Lisa was saying, we can digest it. But that had to surface through a process first. So really the process is the work and I think at times, that’s what might not be as explicit.

The process is the work. And that’s hard to measure sometimes, especially when we often equate concrete outputs to productivity.

Lisa Tony Productivity.png

Tony: That’s a great point, Lisa. I always use sports analogies, and this is similar to, for example, the beginning of say a basketball season. Everyone is excited for the first day of practice and then the coach says “we're not bringing a ball in for four weeks.” But this is basketball, right? What do you mean we are going to practice without a ball? So you spend four weeks doing conditioning, drills and walkthroughs, and you don’t really know what’s happening until the coach introduces the ball four weeks later and everything clicks. Like wow, that’s what we were doing the whole time? Going through the process is the work. And sometimes when we’re going through it, we don’t see that we’re doing the work until it comes to life. So bringing it back to the basketball analogy: when we’re going to run a particular play, we don’t need to call it out. We’re just going to run the play. We don’t have to name it because we have built a rapport with each other, established a vision and have agreement on how the offense should operate.

And that’s when you don’t even need a document right? The strategy becomes ingrained in your organization.

Tony Final.png

Tony: That’s what culture is. It’s an understanding of how things operate and work without having to say it. And you have to trust the process that will get you there. We're not looking for some end document to hang on a wall somewhere and say this is who we are. We're building relationships. We're building values. We're building connections. We're rethinking how we're doing our work. We're growing as professionals and as human beings. We're being thoughtful. We're being empathetic. We're being compassionate. That’s what this process is about. We could end this process without a one-pager, and it would be a worthwhile experience. I would have never been where I am with this board, at this iteration of my leadership with this staff, but for this process.

Learn more about the Nord Family Foundation here.

Tags

Leadership & Governance

Join our mailing list to stay up to date on our latest reflections, insights, interviews and more.

Stay Connected

Sign up for our quarterly newsletters to get the latest TGP reflections and resources right in your inbox.