For me, it’s always been about the people.
When I look back on my career, the work I have been drawn to has always been about helping other people in one way or another.
When I was still at Uni, I started a casual job working as a support worker in group homes for people with disabilities.
After a fairly cocooned start to my own life – or at least, what I thought at the time was ‘fairly cocooned’ (if you are interested in that story, you can hear more about my early and subsequent journey in a podcast here), my time as a support worker really kicked off the awakenings of my awareness of the challenges that many people face in their journey through life.
I saw people in circumstances not of their own choosing, having to navigate the impacts and the issues that came as a result of those circumstances, and it ignited in me a desire to want to do something (anything!) to help make things a bit easier for them.
Early in the piece I became a Volunteer Citizen Advocate for a man with complex disabilities, (if you would like to know more about that story, you can read an article I wrote a few years ago about that experience here), as a way to help not only him but also his family navigate what is an ongoing mountain of bureaucracy and red tape (don’t even start me on the NDIS!), in order to have what most of us would consider the basic necessities of an ordinary life.
Over the decades I have continued to be drawn to volunteer with various not-for-profit organisations myself – either to make a difference in the local community, or to connect with like-minded people, or to work with others to create value for people experiencing some sort of disadvantage.
All that time spent involved in the governance, management and operations of not-for-profits myself, paved the way for the work I have now been doing in my own business for more than 10 years – helping other people to dial up the impact they can make with the not-for-profits they are passionate about.
My business has seen me work with a number of disability support organisations, with educational organisations, with environmental organisations, with community radio stations, with Men’s Sheds, and with many, many other kinds of not-for-profits across the country, and, on more than one occasion, be dubbed the Governance Queen!
I find this work I do now with not-for-profits incredibly fulfilling. Seeing the difference that some basic training in good governance, some help with strategic planning, and some coaching and mentoring to activate delivery of that plan, can make, is so satisfying! It all goes to create lots of fist-pump moments for me, seeing what people can achieve for their organisations with just a bit of help from little old me.
So if you think I might be able to help you or your organisation to kick things up a gear in the context of the value that you add to the world, I’d love to hear from you too!
Drop me a line at megan@mjbconsulting.net.au and we can start a conversation – and ask me about my Good Governance for Not-for-profits training and support package if you want a comprehensive solution, or my Strategic Planning Boiler Room program if you are after something a bit leaner.
I hope to hear from you soon!
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