Another "Power Post"

The weekends are a great time to play catch-up. That is if you don't mind working 7-days per week. Alas, building a new organization is a very time sensitive activity. There is always a "bleeding" of the workload into the weekends and "down time" of our week.

Saturdays are a prime time to catch-up on a variety of "To Dos." This weekend is a busy time because we are getting the last minute details together for the Team Peru trip - a trip that takes place in less than 4-weeks. There are last minute reservations to confirm, in-country flights to secure, and a number of small tasks associated with running a medical outreach project into an impoverished school district that require an endless array of emails and phone calls. Thankfully we have a great staff of volunteers and employees who make such work pretty easy.

The real challenge is continuing to keep a focus on the "building" aspects of our organization - all the while attending to the day-to-day tasks of running the projects. I think this is the difference between "managing" a project and "leading" an organization. As we are such a small team of people - I have to continually push myself not to get mired in the "managing" aspect of growing our NGO at the expense of the "leading" or visionary aspects of our new organization.

Every organization that I have evaluated - from the very large NGOs like World Vision to the small upstart groups like Med-to-One, require a balanced focus from their leadership. There is a need for the daily, task oriented aspects of leadership; and a need for the visionary, planning aspects of leadership. I am working everyday to find the right balance that will enable HBI to grow, prosper and fulfill our mission of sustaining health through the creation of partnerships and the unending dedication of service to the poor and underserved.