Leadership Formation, Frank DeVito Interview Episode #DCLXVIII The Doctor of Digital™ G. Mick Smith, PhD

So from your vantage point, then where do institutions most often begin to break down and why is it usually invisible at first?

Yeah, so I think institutions can mean a lot of things.

Right.

Most generally, that's just any intermediary between the individual and I suppose the state.

So everything from the family to the school, to the civic association, to the think tank, to a business.

These are all institutions.

But I think I'm most familiar with the world of nonprofit institutions, both religious and secular.

So I guess I'll speak from that side.

So I think where they break down is mostly mission creep, which I think is a big focus area, especially with the leadership that has helped train me in the world of nonprofits.

It's very easy to, and it's a creep, right? So that's why I think it happens invisibly.

I think that's where people often get off course is that your organization is formed to do something particular, right? That could be more or less wide.

It might be one specific program.

This is why we exist.

It might be a more general few policy goals or common good works or what have you.

But those are clearly defined, especially for nonprofits, right? You have articles of incorporation that'll say what your exempt purposes are.

And then generally you have some kind of a mission statement articulating that a little bit, but An organization from its founding should have a couple sentences that explains this is what we are, this is what we're here for.

And it's very easy to creep away from that.

I think for a couple of reasons.

I think sometimes it might just happen... slowly and organically without intentionality, right? You have this kind of core mission and then you get interested in something that's close to it or that does fit around the peripheries of your mission.

But then that starts to take focus for a number of reasons.

It might just be more interesting to the leadership or sometimes, frankly, it brings in more money, right? It interests donors more of a hot topic or it just interests the current staff or leadership.

And then all of a sudden you find yourself more there than at the core of your mission.

And then once you're doing that thing at the peripheries, then you start to get into other programs or projects that are surrounding that new program.

And then before you know it, you haven't stopped and evaluated that you're no longer doing what your organization exists to do.

So you had a great deal of formation yourself, this personal side.