Comfort
with Ambiguity and Risk
"Life
is unpredictable.PLAN offers planned certainty,
security and peace of mind"
Lifetime
Member
What
This Element Means
Comfort
with ambiguity and risk is the paradox at the heart of PLAN. On the
surface, ambiguity and risk do not mix with an organization devoted
to safety and security. However, it is through embracing the unknown
that PLAN continues to secure the present. Comfort with ambiguity
has enabled PLAN to keep struggling for the right answer rather than
accepting status quo solutions which have not worked.
This
paradox of comfort with ambiguity and risk emerges in several ways
across the organization. PLAN believes loving and caring relationships
are the best means to secure the future. Yet relationships are organic.
They change over time along with the individuals within them. Relationships
are the essence of a good life but they can be messy and unpredictable.
As each family and individual embarks upon the journey of creating
a personal network, they are called upon to stretch out of their comfort
zone and believe in the possibility that relationships hold. It requires
each one of them to take a risk and to follow a unique course.
Another
way ambiguity and risk flow throughout PLAN is in its entrepreneurial
approach to resource development. PLAN works outside the box of government
funded solutions to forge new partnerships and approaches to supporting
families. Each of these approaches requires willingness to risk.
There
is also significant ambiguity related to PLAN's growth and expansion.
PLAN is committed to sharing what it has learned with others but not
at the expense of its commitment to its lifetime members.
PLAN's
comfort with ambiguity and risk has changed our relationship with
time. We are not seeking instant solutions. There is a willingness
to struggle and rest in the uncomfortable place of not knowing before
a new solution emerges.
Of
all the elements, comfort with ambiguity and risk proved the most
challenging in the social audit to measure. Investigating the time
PLAN invests to explore complex issues was identified as one aspect
that could be evaluated.
The
Findings
No
survey data was collected related to this element. However, the issue
of growth and expansion presents an interesting example of how PLAN
is dealing with a complex set of challenges: the creation of PLAN
Institute took five years, consultations with a broad variety of legal,
business and human service professionals and a board committee composed
of the current and all past presidents.
The
social audit itself presents another example of PLAN's comfort with
ambiguity and risk. PLAN is the first not-for-profit organization
in Canada to complete an independently reviewed social audit. Conducting
the audit has required resources and commitment from across the organization.
However, with no road map, there has been a great deal of ambiguity
about how to conduct the social audit and what it should look like.
From first hearing about social audits to actually completing one
has been a five year process.
Analysis
PLAN
has been able to sit with ambiguity and risk while it has explored
complex issues. With imminent changes in legislation and potential
increased demand for growth and expansion, PLAN is likely to be pressured
to make some decisions sooner than it would like. In particular, there
is a need to examine how PLAN will handle its increasing membership.
For example, how can PLAN remain interconnected and relationship based
if it has a membership of 200, 300 or 400 plus? If relationships are
the heart of PLAN, and we know it is humanly impossible to have an
infinite number of relationships, what then becomes the limit to the
growth of lifetime members?
Addressing
this challenge needs to become a priority of PLAN's board. Working
with the current membership to explore options and potential organizational
structures should constitute a key element of PLAN activities in the
next two years.
Target
for 2004
- Decision
will be made regarding organizational limits to growth.
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