Sunday, December 17, 2006

The Making of a Great Agency: Chapter Three: Everyone Buys In


When an agency is great, everyone buys into the mission. If the leadership is there and the wedge is narrow and the mission clear, then it isn’t difficult to be completely engulfed in that mission and have the movement carry you through the tough days.

We were able to see the YBG staff in several settings, but they could not stop talking about their mission. It wasn’t just their jobs they were talking about, it was their passion, their mission, their life.

There is a member of the staff who commutes over 700 miles and stays in the city at Pat’s house three nights a week so that he can make money doing what he loves. He’s been doing it for YEARS. And every time he is tempted to quit he asks himself where he would go that would be as fulfilling and he just can’t come up with anything.

There are many others who have long commutes. The organization has classes on Saturdays and Sundays because that is the only time that some of the prospective parents can come, and so they work on Saturdays and Sundays. Someone is always available 24/7 to take crisis calls. Their job becomes there life because it’s not just a job -- it’s a passion, a calling, a personal mission that they can’t shake.


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