Public Engagement

This is the second in a three part series examining a recent trip that University of Minnesota student Steve Mullaney took to North Carolina to observe the student group and non-profit Nourish International. The first part looked at innovation at NI and the third will look at the implementation of exciting new ideas.

The story of why Nourish International is a high-functioning, successful, non-profit and student group is also the story of NI’s culture, created around engagement and involving people in the leadership process.

In a lot of student organizing at the University of Minnesota there is a constant search for more members, usually conducted with great zeal. The goal is numbers for the sake of numbers instead of really trying to find a win-win situation in which both organization and student benefit. Usually what happens is that numbers will be very high for the first couple of weeks or so, then plummet as individuals find they do not have the opportunity to become co-producers of the group’s output. When a small elite—no matter how well-intentioned—controls the decision-making process, there will be alienation and disengagement. When individuals are thought of as prizes (tokens?) and the goal is putting butts in seats instead of developing mutually beneficial strategies for newcomers to innovate and lead, there will be dropout and abandonment of the organization.

Conversely, NI creates many natural entry points to the organization for newcomers, and then encourages them to take on more leadership until they are seen as "voices of wisdom" for the next crop of newcomers.

The case study for this at the UNC chapter of NI is a guy named Graham Boone. When NI-UNC decided to hold the 2006 version of its highly successful series of poker tournaments, Graham wanted to be a dealer and through one of his friends was given that opportunity. As he met more and more people in the organization he took on more and more responsibility. This year, as a sophomore, he organized and led the 2007 version—one which raised $8,000 and is believed to be the largest poker tournament in North Carolina history. Next year, he’ll be turning over the reins and acting as a mentor to the next person.

Why? This culture helps bring in more people in an organic way. Graham could act on his ideas because the organization empowered him; the next person to run the tournament will be empowered in a similar way and there will be fresh ideas and innovation.

Why else? Needing to pass on the leadership puts a premium on relationships, the currency of engagement. Teaching, learning and innovating brings people together, builds relationships and strengthens the community. In my experience, folks are more likely to take active roles if they are accountable to other people instead of to a faceless entity.

Why else else? Without intentionality, those with the leadership experience will graduate and then, lacking experienced people, the organization will crumble. Organizing students in an undergraduate environment is challenging because of the constant turnover. Instead of moaning about this problem, wise student leaders should embrace the challenge and the potential it holds for a constant injection of new ideas into the organization.

Ultimately, in building a culture of engagement it’s important to look beyond the surface “do we have numbers?� question to a deeper “how can we create win-win situations?�. On a deep level most people want to give back to their communities. However, building a culture that can embrace new leadership and harness relationships into action will function on a higher level than one that uses coercion and artificial numbers-based goals as yardsticks.