Leadership in Focus: Lynn Eakin
By Elisa Birnbaum
March 1, 2010
This month in our Leadership in Focus series we feature Lynn Eakin, a nonprofit sector mainstay and trusted expert consultant. Shortly after receiving a degree in social work, Lynn entered the nonprofit arena and has never looked back. In 1980, after numerous years entrenched in agency management, Lynn launched Lynn Eakin and Associates, providing specialized consulting services to nonprofit organizations, associations, funders, and community groups. As a Metcalf Foundation Fellow, Lynn is committed to advancing the Ontario Nonprofit Network (ONN), a network of networks helping to build communication and coordination amongst nonprofit organizations.
CharityVillage: What are the main challenges facing the nonprofit sector today? How different are they from the ones the sector faced a decade or two ago?
Lynn Eakin:
For the last 15-20 years I've been consulting but before that I was in the trenches. What was different back then - just shortly before the social safety net collapsed - was there was a much stronger public and political commitment to community and to helping those less fortunate in our communities. So that's fundamentally different from today where we really have an individualist approach, where people think, "I'm going to take care of myself and mine." That's fine until something goes wrong and then, to their horror, they find that the supports and services aren't there to support them.
A perfect example is how we're going to have families falling into poverty and homelessness because there's really no net between losing your job - especially if you're not eligible for EI - and welfare which is really below-subsistence. But the general public doesn't understand that. And when they do, they're horrified. But, for the most part, we don't have that public discussion going on right now and we don't have that public support which means there's no political pressure to deliver that. And all of our funding practices that funders developed over the last 30 years stem from that base. And there's no reverse accountability because the public isn't demanding that of their politicians.
And when you have a community that doesn't value its collectivity and doesn't come together to work together - even if you still have a lot of people committed to making things right and changing the world - they start to find other ways to do it. So what we've seen over the last while is a huge proliferation of new little charities and lots more people out there trying to raise money. And what we've seen in response from the governments is a clamping down. So, not only is there no public accountability for the public dollar, but there's also this clamp down. For example, getting charitable status is much more difficult than before and the terms of what you can do are so specific that I worry we're creating a whole bunch of institutions that are going to be obsolete, that can't respond to changing communities, changing circumstances. It's a huge dilemma and it's the context within which we're trying to do our work.
CV: What is the sector doing "right"; what can it improve upon?
LE: Notwithstanding there's no broader commitment to the public good, the sector still has a very strong value base. No matter where you are, sports, social services, arts etc. the values and commitment of people working in those sectors is absolutely as passionate as ever. However, it's the best kept secret because the rest of the community doesn't understand or appreciate what's happening in the sector. And I think that's the piece we could improve upon. Which is why I'm working at trying to get the ONN going.
We've failed to address the systemic issues. We've had a poverty mentality in the sector and the individualism has crept in in a way that we really haven't come to terms with. So we've had everyone and every organization scrapping for themselves. And that hasn't served us well. But, most importantly, it hasn't allowed us to address these huge systemic issues. Until we collectively address them, we're bound to fail.
CV: Where did all the focus on individualism stem from?
LE: There's been such an emphasis on individual accountability and sustainability and EDs, top management, and boards are very preoccupied with how their organization gets their grants. Part of that is systemic to the sector because they're running on grants. I liken them to walking on a tightrope and juggling at the same time. And they can't stop juggling so they can't figure out how to get off the tightrope, or perhaps do something different, like build a bridge. Everyone is on the tightrope juggling like crazy and no one has any time to look around and say, "What if we all stopped at the same time or looked at some alternative." That's the problem.
CV: So how can the ONN help the sector take necessary steps forward?
LE: I think that the network model can support the people in the sector who are trying to make things move. And it can pool our expertise. Even if we don't have the resources, we have the energy, the enthusiasm, the commitment, and if we can mobilize all that with the expertise that's out there, we'd be so fast off the mark and could play a really significant role in Ontario and Canadian life.
For years I've done studies and research and explained to funders what our problems are. We haven't got the kind of voice we need that says this is no longer okay. My solution is to get this network and the sector working collaboratively. If we could pool those kinds of expertise and knowledge and ways of doing things, it will be dynamite.
"I'm optimistic that in the next decade we're going to learn our lessons and we're going to come together as a sector." |
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Of course the sector needs to be sustainable but that's not the "be all, end all." The real goal is to have a civil society for organizations that are there for the public good. How do we speak up about our values and concerns and help people we serve? The recent Poverty Coalition is a good example. I'm optimistic that in the next decade we're going to learn our lessons and we're going to come together as a sector.
People have used networks before but we think, for this sector in particular, it offers some real opportunities. Especially with technology these days, we can really help people get the information they need when the need it, help people come together when they want to. Before, if you wanted to organize you had to create an umbrella and get organized. Now it's through the ONN. We can pull in people from different sectors, put together committees to do great work. I'm convinced we will eventually take on much bigger systemic issues.
CV: How are leaders in the sector faring today? What challenges do they face?
LE: I think they're on that tightrope juggling. They have all these balls in the air and they're drowning in adminis-trivia and they're really frustrated in terms of their ability to lead. They face a hard leadership job right now.
I'm always blown away by the quality of people working in the sector and their commitment and skill-base, given they have such broad responsibilities with so little to deal with them. Given what they've got, the quality always surprises me. However, many are getting very tired out. And many are getting older and that's a serious problem. But the biggest problem is they're kept so busy keeping their organization afloat and keeping all their balls in the air, they can't attend to the larger issues.
CV: What do you wish leaders in the nonprofit and private sectors could learn from each other?
LE: How we foster loyalty, commitment, and passion in our employees is something that business can learn from us, as well as our ability to manage multiple stakeholders over time.
What we can learn from the private sector is the strength of working and speaking together. Take the Small Business Association. They are as diverse as our sector yet every small business owner invests in the SBA because they know that, collectively, they can look out for their interests much better than they can individually.
CV: Why hasn't our sector been good at that?
LE: It's partly been this commitment to mission - this thinking that you can't spend anything on yourself. But if you don't spend anything on the sector, then we won't have a sector. And that's a huge problem. Look at the Canadian banks. They know how to speak with a voice. We don't understand the strength we'd have if we spoke with one voice. The sector is huge and filled with people who want to do good. But they can't get their act together. That's why I'm trying to build the ONN.
CV: Is the sector doing enough to foster young leaders?
LE: Some people are worried about young leaders but I think there are a lot of young people who are absolutely passionate about helping; certain people are just wired that way. I think young leaders are going to come. Frankly, I'm not sure we want to indoctrinate them to what we've been doing. The best thing we can do for them is clear away some of the terrible clutter we've got in our sector and make it possible for them to emerge, let them run and develop organizations that are able to respond to the new millennium. Because we will have to do things very differently in the future and it will come from those young leaders.
CV: What traits make a leader effective?
LE: You must have a willingness to take risks, be enormously articulate, and persuasive. And you have to be able to listen. Really listen and learn. If you can do all those, you can learn the rest, like how to be strategic etc.
CV: Do you have any mentors who've inspired you and your work over the years?
LE: Over the years, I've always had a small group who I run things by, who give me their straight feedback: "You can't possibly say that Lynn." I've always needed that tempering. They're just people I find whose opinion I really respect and who give it to me straight. And that's been invaluable to me.
CV: What books or resources about leadership would you recommend?
LE: I don't read a lot on leadership because I don't think leadership comes from books - I think it comes from passion and commitment.
Elisa Birnbaum is a freelance journalist, producer and communications consultant living in Toronto. She is also president of Elle Communications and can be reached at: info@ellecommunications.ca.
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