Often, start-up organizations, especially nonprofits, have great aspirations but have difficulty reaching their goals, either through lack of funding or management skills. Time may pass and things may get done, but nothing seems to be happening. Frustration grows, and sometimes, the venture fails. Even mature organizations may experience similar peaks and valleys, perhaps in venturing into a new locale or launching a new product or service.
Though passing through these life cycles may seem the natural course for organizations, leaders have to decide in every instance whether to stay the course in the belief that events will turn positive or whether it is better to abandon the effort and conserve resources and energy for other opportunities still to come.
What everyone awaits is the turning point, when the path to the goal seems clearer and within reach. A consensus builds that the time is right to take action, and the resources and the energy are available to make it happen.
Last night, with the Jewish Art Education organization, it happened for us, when we decided to develop a three-minute "trailer" to promote our documentary film project, "The Art of Jewish Life." While the longer documentary still remains a challenging and realistically a far-off goal, this sign of our own faith in this venture -- and the fact that we could raise enough money to undertake this small initial step -- is our own turning point. Much remains to be done, but we have moved forward.
This is how organizations thrive.
