Where’s Your Comfort Zone?

• “We’ve never done that before.”
• “But that’s the way we’ve always done it.”
• “I don’t know those people.”
• “But they’re for-profit!”
• “Why would those liberals care about this?!”
• “Why would those conservatives care about this!?”

Over the years, I’ve heard variations on each one of these statements from nonprofits across the country. Each statement is more a reflection on our own comfort zone than on reality.

When we allow our habits to keep us from trying new things, we keep ourselves from growing.

When we find new board members just like ourselves, we allow our current lives to restrict our future growth.

When we allow our assumptions to keep us from reaching out to a new contact, we allow our assumptions to narrow our view.

Each assumption we make is based on stories we tell ourselves. Because we know one thing about a person, we assume other things about them. We create stories about what they must be like.

• Because she is pro-choice, she must also want to take away our guns.
• Because he wants to repeal Obamacare, he must also be anti-gay.

And since we’re not comfortable with what we believe we know about them, we don’t reach out.

Reaching out to other individuals gives us the opportunity to hear their stories. We learn about a new person and we learn new ways of thinking. Hearing the path they took to their current work gives us points of commonality. They sold encyclopedias door-to-door? So did I! They took their experience with a deaf teammate, and turned it into a new professional path? How inspiring!

When a group of people – your board of directors, for instance – learn each other’s story, they become more open to new ideas. They’ve just immersed themselves in hearing new things, and their minds are open to contemplating new ways of looking at the world.

Stepping out of your comfort zone and reaching out to someone you don’t know is immediately rewarding: you meet someone you hadn’t met before, learning new things you hadn’t yet had an opportunity to learn.

With each step we take, it gets easier to see people as individuals, not ideology.

Most importantly, each time you step out of your comfort zone, your comfort zone gets bigger.

Let’s talk about leading your board to push their comfort zone. Reach me at The Detwiler Group or sdetwiler@detwiler.com.