Whatever “it” is – more budgetary support, an additional team member, increased giving totals – that statement is almost never true.
Manufacturing emergencies and creating a sense of urgency can capture attention and can make people respond.
But they rarely respond with their best. They rarely respond with inspiration. They rarely respond generously.
If we want to inspire donors, or colleagues, or bosses, or teams to respond with their best and behave with generosity, it is far better to say, “We need a plan to serve tomorrow better than we can today, and we need your perspective to help put the plan together.”
We can either pinball from perceived emergency to perceived emergency, serving no one particularly well, or we can engage people in deep planning that leads to serving all involved far better.
