Thanks so much for having me last Thursday. I felt like the oldest sibling who moved out and was asked to come back home for Sunday dinner. :)
Opportunity cost is the “the value of a choice that someone gives up when making a decision.”
We’ve all been there before: you’re in a class; the professor is discussing a topic you know very little about. You feel apprehensive about asking a question that’s burning inside of you, because you’re also thinking, “I’m I about to ask a really ignorant question?” or worse: “could I cross a line?” When you’re in your career, this internal struggle of to-ask or not-to-ask is a thousand times stronger as you fear being an example of the old saying: “it’s better to be quiet and look stupid than to speak and prove them right.”
If you do NOT ask the question, there’s an opportunity cost: what WON’T you know? When I noticed the high turnover of Job Developers at my CEO (the job which bridges upper management’s mission for the organization and those who actually develop employment opportunities for our population) I thought I could cross a line by asking why it was so high. But I felt there were serious implications on how this was affecting our mission. If we didn’t ask how turnover was affecting CEO, we risked not knowing how this devalued our services to the ex-incarcerated. Why should vulnerable populations receive sub-par services because the social organizations who work with them aren’t in the habit of looking inward? Professor Waterston is 100% right when she says that this inquisition - my final paper – opened the door to a position as a business analyst at CEO.
From day one, my boss told me that individuals should focus on making a career out of the way you think. What were some of the things that you wish we discussed further last seminar? What is the one question you wish you’re apprehensive to ask your mentor about your organization?
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11 comments:
Danielle,
Thank you for visiting us on Thursday (and the Thursday before that). I am glad that you were able to break ground at your agency!! This proves that there may still be some cracks that need to be filled and can be filled, at the various agencies.
Regarding the questions that you pose in your post, I do not have any questions that I wished I had asked. When I have a question, I usually ask it, even if there is a possibility that I will look ignorant. When you think about it, why else would someone ask a question? Most of the times, people ask questions because they don't know or understand something. Furthermore, I feel that if I have a question burning inside me, then it's worth the asking period! I'm not concerned so much about looking ignorant--I'm more concerned about learning.
So, as I was saying, I do not have any questions at the moment. But, thank you for opening up the floor to questions. If any questions pop into my head, I will let you know.
Much of the time when I am sitting in class I have questions running through my head, however I often hesitate to raise my hand and ask for fear that my question might give the impression that I am stupid. In my graduate courses my colleagues, in some cases, have a better background on the subject at hand than I do which deters me from asking questions, this may also be true to my internship. When I asked my mentor, Tracy, about the turnover at Esperanza just a few weeks ago, she explained to me that it was normal in the pubic sector. I must admit that I was somewhat nervous to ask this question because, much like you Danielle, I wondered if I might be crossing a line. Whenever I received an e-mail stating that someone was leaving and we wished them luck, I could not help but wonder why? Why is this portrayed as the norm? I thought that I was missing something and, when I asked why the turnover was so high, I assumed that my lack of experience and knowledge of the public sector was the reason for not understanding the turnover. If it were not for your paper, I would not have done more research into the turnover of NPOs. Your paper was the beginning of a very long pow-wow between Tracy and me last Friday. Tracy and I constantly have long, detailed conversations about various topics, but Friday was different. We focused on Esperanza, and I was not afraid to ask any questions and more importantly, I did not hesitate to dig deeper. Your paper was the catalyst for my need to question last Friday.
Finally, I find it interesting that your boss said, “that individuals should focus on making a career out of the way you think.” So often do I find myself wondering where my true passion lies, I am all over the place, and something as simple as playing close attention to what I think about could really give me some solid direction.
I wonder if these organizations with high turnover could to "exit interviews" with each person who does leave, and include in that interview a set of questions to try to find out the factors influencing their decision to leave. If these responses were then collected and collated, they could be a good database--a study, so to speak--to get a handle (internally) on why people do leave their jobs, what they liked about the job and what they did not.
I want to say a special thank you to Danielle for a great presentation, great discussion, and a great time having you with us. I'm thrilled.
Also, on another note (not to take the discussion elsewhere but....) considering some of the issues we discussed in class, I thought you might find this interesting and perhaps food for thought. It's an RSA Animate, "First as Tragedy, Then as Farce (Slavoj Žižek): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpAMbpQ8J7g
I've never really analyzed my question asking tendencies. I think that asking questions is directly correlated with how social a person, the more social and talkative a person is the more I would think they would ask questions. This may however be skewed by a person's curiosity as well I suppose.
I'm not one who is afraid of asking questions, I in fact have a tendency to ask an overabundance of sarcastic questions. But I also think my habit of asking questions is fueled by my love of philosophy, which requires asking questions concerning everything.
I think that asking questions is a necessity of many things. It's necessary to ask questions of your political representatives, of your teachers and parents, and most importantly yourself to realize if you have made self-discoveries or progress in life. So overall I agree wholeheartedly that asking more questions is better.
Danielle,
It was our pleasure to have you for Sunday dinner.
Thank you Prof. Waterston for an interesting link. I enjoyed watching the video. I like the way it describes the transformation of capitalism from 1968 to a post-modern era using an example of the Starbucks coffee. We buy coffee every day without realizing that there is something deeper behind a simple act of purchasing a cup of coffee - we save environment, we help starving children in Guatemala, we restore the sense of community. By purchasing a cup of coffee, “we want to remedy what we see, however, our remedies do not cure the disease,” said Oscar Wild in his book “The Soul of a Man under Socialism.” We are repairing with the right hand what we had ruined with the left hand. For instance, people try to solve a problem of poverty by keeping the poor alive or by amusing them. The solution for this problem, however, is deeper. It is poverty. We have to make some radical changes within our society in order to solve it. What are those changes? What are the ways to fight it? How can we use our both hands for fixing the problem?
Danielle,
Thank you for coming to class on Thursday and for explaining your essay and its theories for the class. Writing the blog must bring up memories; just try not to get all choked up before reading our posts!
I like to keep by the philosophy that “a wise man asks questions whereas a fool has few.” (I got that off of Google!).
What were some things I wished we discussed further last class? I wished we went more in depth on how the donors view the non-profit agencies. It seemed that we touched upon that concept; that the donors sometimes view the agencies in a skeptic way, a very “black and white” way, and a quantitative way. Is it always tough to get donations? Couldn’t a good rapport or track record of good standing with other donors aid in getting donations renewed; or does the agency always have to prove its worth each and every year? The turnover rate seemed like another big issue. It appeared that donors don’t want to hear how that affects the agency; I think you said because it falls under administrative costs. Why are these administrative costs so scary to donors? Danielle I think you asked another question.
I believe the second question you asked was “what was the one question we were apprehensive to ask our mentors?” I feel childish for the question I want to ask. I want to ask my mentor how to fix poverty, to erase its existence from society and make it a lesson learned in history class.
Thank you again for coming to class and good luck at CEO.
Our class is more critical than it is pragmatic, which means that I would have like to talk a lot more about the implications of things like business and money in the work of doing good. I think it is more than reasonable to understand that current humanitarian efforts and social service efforts would not be possible without donations from the Federal Government or private corporations or people. But should this money determine the goals and the direction of our efforts, do we sacrifice principle for the dollar? Concessions are sometimes necessary; no one can be helped if there is no money to fund programs, but the underlining principles that guide our programs cannot and should not be compromised. How much of one’s mission statement of goals can be sacrificed for the almighty dollar?
Chad Out!
I have a six year old sister that is very shy. So much so that even when she knows the right answer to a question, she is to afraid to say the wrong answer. Many times she knows it but that fear of being wrong prevents her from showing people just how intelligent she really is. As frustrated as I get with her, I experience the same thing in my everyday life. I think that for any of us to say that we don't experience a time when we might be hesitant to ask a certain question because we fear sounding ignorant is denial. Sometimes we fear being out of line because of our hierarchical status, or because we are in an unusual setting, maybe you don't have a question at that moment but will think of one later. What if time does not permit you to ask every question that you have? What if it is not a question that you pose, but a statement and you fear that you might be ridiculed. Sometimes we hold back for different reasons, but I think that it is important that we speak our minds, even if others will disagree. This is an important part of communication, and I am working on this skill.
Professor Waterston, I believe that Danielle mentions exit interviews in her paper, however I was wondering how likely it is that people who don't like their jobs will stick around for yet another interview.
Chad, I wish that we did not have to include money in any of our efforts towards the work of doing good. It seems that the well being and happiness of individuals and communities is not something that corporations and our government find to be a worthwhile investment. But how can they? Our beauty, our love, and our spirits are priceless. We are resilient and limitless, but the question still remains, how do we reexamine the worth of "the almighty dollar" and regain the value of our human essence?
Thank you Danielle for being strong support for me at CEO, for writing such an eye opening paper, and for helping us realize that there is nothing wrong with sounding naive.
Dear Danielle,
Thank you so much for your post. When in class I tried to think about the turn over rate at Job Path, but I saw that many people that work there have been there for a long period of time. I find that interesting because I feel that unlike the other agencies, my agency specializes in helping those with disabilities to have a life of their own. In many ways these employees have worked with this unique population and specialize in helping them compared to others.
I was wondering, what are your thoughts and or theories towards the long term stay of employees in Job Path due to, specialization, compared to CEO?
I want to respond to Nadiya’s observation that we are always attempting to rehabilitate with the left hand what we have broken with the right. I wonder if it is inherent in capitalism to do so, as the business cycle relies in part on creating demand where none existed before. How does this relate to the evangelism of the “social entrepreneur” who ties a market driven sensibility to a do-gooder mentality?
Danielle persuades me that NGOs have much to learn from for-profit companies. After all, corporations seem to be very good at maintaining and growing their bottom line-money-while NGOs struggle to produce single digit change. Danielle is interested in an organizational model that would help NGOs to use business acumen and the vicissitudes of the market to create that social value. Thus, “Newman’s Own” sells you salad dressing and donates the profits to charity or, as someone mentioned in class, Tide sends free samples of detergent to Hurricane Katrina victims and hopes that this “cause branding” will increase their profitability margin. Look at all the free advertising! (Of course, we have to wonder whether Tide will abandon its social aims if profitability lags, or when social entrepreneurship becomes less fashionable.) And, in the meantime, has the salve on the wound served to make the problems less visible, and discouraged governments from intervening when they should? How much should we worry that when companies donate computers to third world countries that they are creating markets for their products? The race for “the next billion users” has perhaps propelled Microsoft, Dell, etc. to assist communities they never would have considered going into and might, long term, pressure governments into building the infrastructure to support technological advances that would bring poor countries into the global economy. On the other hand, initial research on the “one child, one computer” programs now proliferating in poor communities both in the U.S. and abroad has suggested that the programs have done nothing to enhance educational goals.( Although, the kids do get pretty addicted to them and become consumers of related goods and services.)
Similarly, lottery tickets finance education but lottery tickets are usually bought by people who cannot afford them. Are we helping or hurting? What do you think? Can we use corporate greed to further laudable social goals or are we naively turning over the reins to entities whose missions are basically at odds with social justice values?
I'm so sorry I missed class. It sounds like a great discussion and it's always wonderful when the kids come home for supper!
But the comments have had me reflecting on recent situations in which I've both asked and not asked questions. For what it's worth, here are those reflections.
I missed class because I was giving a paper at an academic conference. Questions there are funny things. Sometimes people will have a genuine question, but most of the time people just want to talk about their own work for a few minutes and then at the end they will raise their voices in query and it is your responsibility to figure out the question in there. It is a little disheartening as it seems like posturing rather than a real exchange. As a result, I tend to stay silent unless I have a very concrete question.
Then just yesterday we had some first meetings at the temple because my oldest son is being bar mitzvahed this year. I was not raised Jewish so I had a lot of questions to ask. But I was aware of filtering them ("Is this the kind of question a Jewish mother would ask?" "Would this question look insensitive?") and generally being much more silent than I am prone to being.
And this is really weird. Because what I wanted to say in these comments is that, overall, I find that no one loves anything more than getting to feel like he/she knows more than someone else. So if you are genuinely seeking knowledge (rather than disguising criticism or anger in a question), I have always found people at their charitable best in responding to questions. I always tell my kids there is no such thing as a stupid question and, honestly, when I think about my most engaging students they are generally the ones who ask questions, who don't seem like they've figured it all out. After this past weekend, what a breath of fresh air!
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