It’s easy to talk about engagement and we do it a lot in our work.
Donor engagement. Prospect engagement. Team engagement. Volunteer engagement.
It’s more difficult to consistently behave in ways that engage donors, prospects, volunteers, and colleagues, though.
And, it’s incredibly uncommon to consistently behave in ways that would warrant the addition of qualifiers like, “delightfully” engaged. Or, “meaningfully” engaged.
Or, even, “durably” engaged – meaning that others adhere to or stick with our institutions through the good times and the rough patches.
But isn’t that what we should be aiming for? Behaving towards our donors, prospective donors, volunteers, and colleagues in ways that make them want to do their very best for the institution’s mission for the long-haul?
Maybe all this focus on engagement needs to be rethought.
Maybe, we should focus our efforts far beyond simple engagement and, instead, work toward consistently creating environments where we are gaining adherents.
