Trace the source first.
When people lose creative fuel and trust, the cause is not always obvious. Let’s find it together.
Two ways to start
#Put it in writing.
You know what needs defining
A contribution policy
For when you know who contributes and how. We put it in writing, so everyone knows where they stand.
- Your team
- Who decides, who reviews, and how is work credited?
- Volunteers and members
- Who can contribute, and what is their next step?
- AI tools
- Where do tools do the work, and who checks it?
- Funders and partners
- What do you declare, and to whom?
Optional: one first session with your team, where you apply the policy to your own work and raise questions while I’m there. Using it after that is up to your organization.
You need to find the source
Governance review
For when you’re not sure what’s wrong. We find the real problem together, and your team learns to spot the next one.
See the four-week processIs this for you
#Tick what’s true right now.
Why it happens
#The hidden rot.
- People stop speaking up.
- They stop trusting you.
- They treat you, and what you built, as a transaction.
How I start
#Ask before you build.
- Is the problem real, or a what-if?
- Does it serve people, or take from them?
- Who gets hurt if it misfires?
- Lately there’s a fourth: who, or what, did the work?
Governance review
#Four weeks, one thing to keep from each.
- Week 1 · Listen
What we heard
In people’s own words, with names removed if they prefer.
- Week 2 · Mapping
The pain-point map
Each pain point traced from its root, to what it’s costing you, to what fixes it.
See an example - Week 3 · Work with your team
A way to speak up
One that keeps working after I’ve gone, in whatever form fits your team.
- Week 4 · Direction
The note
What’s wrong, what to fix first, what to stop building, and who owns what next.
In week 4 we decide together whether to keep going. People are saying what’s wrong again, you know what to stop building, and people other than you are holding it together.
Week 2
#What a pain-point map looks like.
| Root | Problem | Cost | Solution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pleasing mode: trying to keep your team, community and customers all happy. | FOMO, where every request feels urgent and nothing gets finished. | You end up losing all three. | Decide who it’s for, and say no out loud. |
| No spare fuel: there isn’t enough time, energy or money. | Your team can’t be creative. | The work happens, but nothing new comes out of it. | Protect some slack the team doesn’t have to account for. |
| No clear roadmap. | Going in all directions at once. | Months of work that don’t add up, and people stop believing the plan. | One written roadmap, including what you won’t do. |
Next
Work together
Tell me what isn’t working. I take a few organizations and communities at a time. If you want a plan approved rather than questioned, I’m the wrong person.
