Management In A Changing World: How to Manage for Equity, Sustainability, and Results

Magnify your real-world impact as you lead others in a social change organization

In Management In a Changing World: How to Manage for Equity, Sustainability, and Results renowned social changemakers Jakada Imani, Monna Wong, and Bex Ahuja deliver an effective and practical how-to guide for the equitable management of nonprofit and social change organizations. In the book, you’ll learn how to multiply your impact by using the authors’ insightful strategies for delegation, goal setting, and team culture-building. You’ll also discover how to fairly exercise power in an environment that spans racial, generational, gender, and other identity divides.

Management In a Changing World shows you how to:

Create work-life balance for your team members in an age when we have virtually unlimited access to our colleagues’ attention and timeSupport team members through life’s challenges while still meeting the demands your social change organization facesBridge the gap between your intentions and your real-world impact with actionable advice, tools, and resources

An essential resource for rookie and veteran managers, executive directors, and CEOs, Management In a Changing World will also earn a place on the bookshelves of organizers managing teams of volunteers.

From the Publisher

THE THREE DIMENSIONS OF EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT

A command-and-control view of management treats people like robots and the natural world like something to be tamed and conquered. It takes a stance of domination, extraction, and exploitation—classic examples of white supremacy culture in action.

Conspire and align, on the other hand, approaches management the way we’d ideally tend a garden: by engaging in reciprocal acts of care. By gardens, we’re not talking about manicured green lawns in desert climates and prize-winning roses behind fences. Instead, we’re talking about healthy, sprawling ecosystems that sustain life for generations through thoughtful, active stewardship.

This is why, under the conspire-and-align approach, we believe management can only be “effective” if it has three dimensions: equitable, sustainable, and results-driven. Equity, sustainability, and results are like three strands of a braided rope. The braid weakens if you try to separate the strands. They reinforce each other and depend on each other. And effective managers don’t play favorites—they don’t routinely focus on one dimension at the expense of the others.

EQUITABLE

In the same way that specific environments favor some plants while creating barriers for others, some workplaces are easier for some people to succeed in than others. Equity is about disrupting systems and creating practices so more people —especially those with marginalized identities—can thrive.

Note that equity and equality are different. Equality means treating everyone the same—but equal treatment doesn’t always lead to equal outcomes. Equity calls for managers to account for unconscious bias and systemic barriers in supporting people to succeed. Let’s say you work at a majority-white organization. You have a Black staff person who just joined the team and a white staff person who’s been on your team for years. Who might benefit from more of your time, energy, and support in the coming months?

A manager’s job is to spot where these different experiences and identities might disproportionately impact people and work to remove barriers and support their staff to succeed.

SUSTAINABLE

Social change work, while often purpose driven and joyful, can be grueling. In the worst-case scenarios, people start out feeling hopeful and energized, only to burn out and leave their organizations, schools, or even movements. In the introduction to this book, we named some of the downsides that lead to people leaving—lack of resources, long hours, and low salaries.

In the best cases, though, people stick around long enough to recruit, train, and mentor a new generation of leaders. Sustainability is about the longevity and durability of results, organizations, people, and movements. It means getting the results we need and doing the hard work but not at the expense of our individual or collective well-being.

RESULTS-DRIVEN

The “results-driven” part of management means grounding our work in what our team is trying to accomplish, whether it’s registering enough voters to build local power or increasing math scores for fourth graders. Being results-driven helps us understand the impact we can make if we succeed—and what’s at stake if we fail. This drive for results motivates us to strive for excellence, innovate, take calculated risks, and stretch beyond our comfort zones. And, when bolstered by our commitments to equity and sustainability, we set guardrails to avoid the dangers of prioritizing results over people.

An often-overlooked part of management is supporting others to get results, which makes it possible to go beyond the results you would have gotten on your own. After all, if you could do it yourself, you wouldn’t need to work with and through others!

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

JAKADA IMANI

Jakada Imani is the CEO of The Management Center, a nonprofit capacity-building organization based in Washington, DC. He is a coach and trainer with more than 30 years’ experience working in racial, social, and economic justice movements.

MONNA WONG

Monna Wong is the Chief Content Officer at The Management Center. She is a facilitator, organizer, and writer who has led teams in Ohio, Maryland, Maine, and California to build power for LGBTQ and Asian Pacific Islander communities.

BEX AHUJA

Bex Ahuja is the Managing Director at Rockwood Leadership Institute. Bex is a seasoned campaign strategist, organizer, trainer, and senior leader with 18 years experience working at the intersection of movement-building, leadership development, and racial and gender justice.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wiley; 1st edition (May 16, 2023)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 139416579X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1394165797
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.2 x 0.8 x 9 inches