Building vs cultivating

If you're a carpenter, you can build a greenhouse anytime you want. Do it all in a weekend, or in fits and starts over the course of many months.

But if you're a gardener, you must cultivate that garden by doing things at the right time, a little at a time, for a long time.

Here's the thing:

Your organization’s programs, policies, and systems are, for the most part, built. You can undertake the work anytime you want.

But your relationships — with donors, service recipients, staff, advocates, and others — must be cultivated. It takes careful effort, applied consistently, over a long period.

That's the difference between building and cultivating.

All the best,
A.