The sixth instalment in a year-long series of posts by RFF Founder & Executive Director, Rev. Dr. Brent Hawkes, on the origins, mandate and work of the organization.
Many years ago, a friend who really believed in the concept of Rainbow Faith and Freedom taught me a very important lesson. HIs research showed how crucially important values can be in shaping the culture of an organization and helping it to stay true to the ideals that values can represent. However, he also found that if values work is not done carefully, it can end up doing more damage than good. When corporations or organizations have a values-defining exercise and come up with too many values, then in essence, there are no values. They need to be small in number so that the work can be done to fully shape the organizational culture, ensure ongoing evaluation, etc. It takes consistent work to ensure that values live up to their potential, and when that work isn’t done it can lead to deep skepticism about the organization itself from both the inside and the outside. A similar danger exists when values are determined and placed on fancy plaques without the commitment to implementation. It becomes very difficult to get “buy-in” to do it again if you didn’t do it right the first time. It’s also crucially important that there is regular evaluation throughout the organization to ascertain how well the organization is doing regarding its values. This needs to be a very open and honest conversation.
We are very fortunate at RFF to have made a commitment to do the values work early on. It is much easier to shape the culture of a new organization around values than it is to reshape the culture of an existing organization. With or without values named explicitly, every organization develops a culture, and without intentionality, that culture may prevent the organization from reaching its full potential. RFF began the process of values clarification by consulting several community members with an extensive brainstorming day with a highly qualified facilitator. That info was then discussed by a smaller group, including myself and the volunteer management team, with the same seasoned facilitator. Once the values were named, brief descriptions were written to give clarity for what we meant by each value. This was then given to the Board as a discussion item and the Board’s input was taken back to the small group for revisions and finally presented back to the Board for final approval. We are excited to present the following as the Values for RFF:
Results
· We are results-oriented, effective and we impact the world to achieve our Vision.
· We have an impact on communities while fostering love and kindness among others.
Learning
· We want to be a learning organization, expanding our own hearts and minds, and expanding learning through listening and engaging with others.
Respect
· We will have respect for others, cultures, and different faiths and beliefs respecting diverse experiences and perspectives.
· Through this respect we will create safe spaces for people and organizations that we work with.
Compassion
· We will be grounded in humility, acceptance and our deep connection to create empathy. This will create a culture of love, kindness, and belonging.
Teamwork
· We are a human-centered community, which collaborates and creates partnership, friendship and deep relationships.
· We will support each other, respect dissenting views and work together to build community.
Phase 2 of our values work involves developing an implementation plan. This will be led in partnership between the Board liaison of values and myself. We are committed to having an implementation plan and getting feedback from inside and outside RFF on how we are living up to our values. Part of our strategy will be seeking feedback from people we work with on the ground. Our goal is that one day it would be clear that the culture and the people within RFF are really living our values and that people outside of the organization are truly impressed that the values of RFF are lived out and evident in all that we do.