FEBRUARY 2021

As the commitment to a new monthly blog hopefully shows, communication is really important to us as an organization. There are many ways to promote Arts, Culture and the Environment but we find that doing it well in our context requires our constituents to understand who we are, what we do and how they can get value from what we offer. As we make strategic plans for movement and growth, we have to work on telling our story in a way that is clear and compelling. This work has been a priority since I joined the team as the Executive Director and we have learned some key lessons along the way. This month, we would like to share them with you as a way to tell more of our story and in hopes that they will help you improve communication in your organization or personal relationships as well.

1. External communication reflects internal communication

Even before the distancing protocols for COVID-19 became part of our lives, we were a fairly dispersed staff. The institute offices and AIR Serenbe are housed in Chatt Hills at the Art Farm but Terminus is located at the Westside Cultural Arts Center in Midtown Atlanta. From the different offices around the area, our staff (the institute and the divisions) were all fulfilling their own portion of the vision, with no unifying leadership to encourage collaboration and connection. With no centralized communication touchpoints, we found that that natural distance between staff created totally separate workflows. We were working like three different organizations (Serenbe institute, AIR Serenbe and Terminus) instead of one organization with different parts.

It’s no surprise then, that there were also few centralized messages going to our many constituents. There was no good way for a Terminus patron to understand or feel the connection to the Institute or any way for someone participating in the programs of the Institute to know about or connect to what was happening at AIR. We were not talking to each other and that made it hard to have a clear central message to send out to others.

The changing reality that we faced as a community because of the pandemic, helped to change the way we had been working. During COVID, we had to become intentional about finding ways to connect. Everyone’s plans were changing and the only way to support or understand each other was to prioritize communication. At first, we started having weekly senior staff meetings but this year have expanded that to inviting the full team to all staff meetings. We have also worked hard to centralize the internal processes and departments that we all need (like finance!), so that there is a go-to person for distributing important information that is important to the entire team.

Intentionally coming together like this has given us so many more windows into the full work of our organization. More clarity leads to more synergies, more collaboration, more and better support of Arts, Culture and the Environment and ultimately, more ways to serve our constituents, patrons and friends. 

2. Culture & communication go hand-in-hand

We are working towards a company culture that values six operating principles: Excellence, Collaboration, Safe Risk-Taking, Ownership, #OneTeam and Staff Driven. Given the atmosphere that I described above, you can likely imagine that these were not the energy that permeated our offices. A dispersed staff without good centralized communication structures will each work towards their own vision. The staff of the institute and the divisions were each doing their work in alignment with a different roadmap of success and it created a culture that prized competition instead of collaboration.

Seeing, understanding and valuing each other’s work -- the natural consequence of effective communication -- is the first step in rebuilding organizational culture. Seeing, understanding and valuing each other AS PEOPLE is another. The intentionality to share our work has led to many instances of sharing our lives, which has in turn led to stronger personal connections. Working together towards the same vision is only possible with communication and connection... the perfect atmosphere for us to not only obtain but maintain our six operating principles.

I asked John Welker, the Artistic and Managing Director for Terminus what he thought of our new regular staff meetings. Through laughter he replied, “It's more time out of the day, but it's needed. Through this, we have learned the benefit of (COVID safe!) in-person communication, one of the biggest being that it's easier.” Michael Bettis of AIR Serenbe said, “I've been here for a while, so I've experienced different levels of communication between the Divisions and the Institute. Most recently, in the past year and a half, it has felt more collaborative and inclusive, more open to listen and hear ideas and to provide support. Like most people, I'm not a fan of meetings, but when they are useful and fruitful, they are generative. It's good to hear what everyone is doing and to stay connected with John and the other Terminus staff. It's also inspiring as you hear what others are doing and how they are getting innovative.” Their honest reflections are strong evidence that communication is changing our culture into one we can all be proud of. 

3. Effective communication is how we grow

We recently had a situation where an artist visited one of our divisions. The medium that that artist works in is a perfect match for the type of work another one of our divisions is doing. Without communication, that artist would have visited and done their work in the division that invited them and gone home. WITH communication, the artist was able to support the objectives and programming of TWO of our divisions. The artist’s cross collaboration brought the audience from the first division to the second AND exposed even more of our local community to beautiful artwork.

Instances like this are why communication is so important. Not only does it help the individual artist, it helps the divisions’ growth goals, it gives back to the community and it fosters community. It is the gift that keeps on giving! Stories like this teach us again and again that communication is how we grow. It is how we thrive.

It is our hope that ongoing, more and more people will engage with the breadth of who we are an organization. As we continue to prioritize communication, we hope that the broader community will start to understand and feel our current and potential impact. If you are new to the blog or if you have been a patron for years, the best ways to understand who we are is to interact with us! We are sending newsletters once a week so if you’re not signed up to receive them, visit our website, serenbeinstitute.org to do so. We are also active on social media so follow us on Instagram for updates, insights and stories.

Did you learn anything about communication that you can use at home or at work?? Email and let us know or comment on any post on IG!