It is important every now and again for an organization to test its values. The process reinvigorates the idea that how an organization works is as important as what it does. It engages new team members in the fundamentals of the mission. It reminds us that values are more than slogans on a wall; they are meant to be lived. They are muscles we need to stretch and build.
I am pleased to share Island Institute’s new values with readers of The Working Waterfront. They are the result of deep discussions about Island Institute’s work, how we engage with communities, how we navigate a complex and constantly changing world, and why we center our work in Maine.
While organizations may share some fundamental values, like respect, integrity, and accountability, we have worked to identify those characteristics that make us unique among our peers (or, in fact, our piers).
For those of you who know Island Institute well, I hope you can see the heart of our work in the values below.
• Hopeful Persistence: We are reliable, nimble, and relentless with a bold vision for Maine’s future. We move forward enthusiastically in the face of changes.
• Connection to Place: We appreciate the value and the beauty of the natural resources unique to where we work and live. We approach challenges creatively while respecting history and culture.
• Authentic Collaboration: We are present, engaged, and build long-term connections to foster trust and deeper understanding. We respect different perspectives and adapt based on input.
• Clarity of Purpose: We work where community needs align with our mission. We focus our efforts where we add the most value.
• Resourcefulness: We solve real world problems with practical solutions and an innovation mindset. We allocate and manage the financial and human resources entrusted to us with thoughtfulness and integrity.
Of all these values, the one that we are exercising quite a bit these days is “hopeful persistence.”
I am old enough to remember when the acronym VUCA became a common term in the policy and organizational leadership worlds. Volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. VUCA described a world that seemed at the time unpredictable and opaque with entangled and complicated parts. This was the world of the famous “unknown unknowns.”
It is not unlike today, where the unknown certainly seems to overshadow the known.
It is not unlike today, where the unknown certainly seems to overshadow the known. Will the intensity of last January’s storms revisit us, and if so, when? What dynamics will shape Maine’s critically important fishing industry and the jobs that rely on it? Can small rural, coastal towns hold fast against eroding infrastructure and the soaring cost of housing? What is lurking outside of our line of sight?
There is no one right way to approach such overwhelming uncertainty. For us, hope and perseverance provide much needed purchase on this shifting ground.
The concept of hopeful persistence, where pragmatism and hope find common cause, is both aspirational and grounded. We know that hope, when linked to goals and willpower, is not a pie-in-the-sky feeling. It is a framework that allows us to plan for a better tomorrow.
From the first day I stepped into this role, I have never wavered in my hope that Maine’s coastal communities will chart their own future. I alluded to this two years ago in this column where I wrote, “even in the most challenging times, we’ve seen ingenuity prevail.”
Our newest value, “hopeful persistence,” captures that ingenuity and compels us to be reliable, nimble, relentless, and, yes, enthusiastic in the face of change. Hope tethered to pragmatic solutions has never failed us, and persistence in the face of so many hurdles is our only path forward.
Kim Hamilton is president of Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront. She may be contacted at khamilton@islandinstitute.org.
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