We’ve tried that before…

I was at a board meeting tonight when, once again, I heard that old chestnut: “We tried that a few years back, but it didn’t work.”

It was a board with old and new – well, not exactly factions, more like wings. The newer board members were eager to explore how they could become more active in fundraising, and how they could hold each other accountable for delivering on what they agreed to take on, instead of just talking about what they thought they could do.

As I started to go into detail about the concept of a Board Member Fundraising Agreement, the board member with the longest tenure (he’d been on for almost 20 years) nodded his head glumly and said, “We did that awhile back, and it didn’t work.”

Talk about doing one’s best to ensure that a new idea doesn’t get any room to breathe…

Yet I knew, from prior conversations with that board member, that he’d been an enthusiastic participant in the decision to bring Cause Effective into that room, especially because he saw that the newer board members had a lot to contribute and didn’t know how. So if he thought there wasn’t any hope, why had he bothered?

The answer is complex, and has to do with human resistance to change as much as the actual activity in question. It’s easier to think of failures as due to immutable environmental factors. In other words, to blame the world and say, “That’s the way things are.” It’s a shortcut that avoids reproach – and that short circuits new effort.

My answer to that board member was: “I understand it may not have worked in the past, but I think it’s worth a try…why not?” I didn’t directly contradict his negative assessment – but I didn’t let the conversation stop there.

We don’t have to be trained facilitators to take on this attitude wherever we see it. Gently, with respect for the speaker’s years in the trenches, but firmly. “Let’s give it a shot…” can go a long way towards getting the ship moving forward.