Have you had the blessing of being an outsider lately?
I’m an amateur photographer, and the last month or so I’ve gotten really into photographing birds. I mean, really into it. I walk through the woods for hours, looking for different birds to photograph. On my last work trip, I built in an extra morning to look for birds in that specific region.
This new bird thing for me is either a new ADHD hyperfocus or something I am building my whole personality around.
It’s really hard to know at this point.
As I have found myself deep into this new world of birds, I’ve learned that it is indeed a whole new community, culture, and way of life that I didn’t know existed.
I’m getting up to speed, but there has been a learning curve. I am having to learn new words like “lifer”, “dipped”, “spark bird”, etc. (Btw, my spark bird is a California Scrub Jay).
It has all made me realize that sometimes it’s good for us to remember what it’s like to be an outsider. The older we get, the less this kind of experience happens naturally. We get pretty settled in our lives and ways, and it’s very comfortable to be an insider in the places we live, work, and play.
It often takes a new hobby, or if you have kids, them getting into a new hobby, to be reminded of what it’s like to be, as the kids say, a noon. (Wait, do the kids still say that?)
When we step into a new place as an outsider, we’re quickly reminded that we do not know the customs, the language, where to stand, when to sit, or generally how to be in this new space.
We know we will learn it over time, but those first few weeks can be uncomfortable as we learn a new way of being on our path to becoming an insider.
You know what helps the most in these spaces? When someone comes alongside of us and helps us understand, teaches us a new language, and shows us how the whole thing works.
These are people who guide us along the way.
In your nonprofit organization, you are the guide to your field of work, not just your organization’s mission, but the space that your organization works in.
A good guide will not overwhelm you with jargon, nor will they ignore it.
They’ll bring you along gently, explaining in plain English the insider words that your spaces use and yes, eventually teaching you to speak like an insider.
A good guide will lead with clarity, as my business partner Bill Cummings says, it is a true act of hospitality.
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