We recently connected with Sera Deva and have shared our conversation below.
Sera, so great to have you with us today. There are so many topics we want to ask you about, but perhaps the one we can start with is burnout. How have you overcome or avoided burnout?
I came from an educational non-profit background. In non-profits in general there is a huge culture of burnout. Generally, non-profit workers are overworked and underpaid. This I ultimately believe comes from the white-supremacy-culture vision of philanthropy, where it’s expected that (originally financially privileged white women, who were the ‘founders’ of the non-profit structure, but now anyone who finds themselves in a non-profit job) do a lot of ‘good’ work for little pay.
So, I had been working in this burnout culture for about 6 years, and was an expert at it. I began to normalize working 60 hour work weeks and, of course, was beginning to feel very undervalued, beginning to resent my managers and the organization itself.
It wasn’t until one of my colleges and mentors shared with me advice that I will never forget that I shook myself out of the burnout cycle. She advised me that if I undervalue my own work (by working harder/more hours than required, not asking for a raise when I feel I need one, etc.) it will not only be detrimental to me, but also debilitate any organization I am working for. They will come to normalize the amount of work I put in, and expect that same level of labor from the next person in my shoes. As a result, they will likely hire someone with my same level of privilege (preventing socio-economic/racial diversity to grow in the organization)/inexperienced non-profit idealists (who are likely to quit quickly an cause major turnover)/etc. None of these characteristics are sustainable for the organization.
After receiving this advice, I quickly quit the organization I was working for, and committed myself to reinventing my relationship with my work. It wasn’t until I re-framed burnout in my mind to be a social justice issue that I was able to overcome it. My rest, the prioritization of my own care, is resistance to the patriarchal, capitalist culture that encourages us to burn the candle at both ends. By modeling having a healthy relationship with my level of work, I can encourage this in my clients and my team.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
Triple Creeks Consulting guides small businesses and nonprofits towards transformative, values-based success with practical solutions to common operational challenges.
We support you to streamline systems, clarify goals and resist urgent, capitalism-based culture that is hyper-focused forcing unsustainable growth. We care about nurturing the roots beneath the surface so you can bloom brilliantly and organically. We transform work culture for purpose-driven organizations from the ground up to be equitable, adaptable, and to steward the future.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
– Systems Thinking: Sometimes, I find myself describing what I’m doing with Triple Creeks Consulting by describing fractals (a curve or geometrical figure, each part of which has the same statistical character as the whole), like the ones that you see when you’re looking through a kaleidoscope with all the brightly colored beads orienting themselves in endlessly changing patterns. Systems that are built, on any level, are fractals that make up the kaleidoscope of existence. Each system is a reflection of what is smaller than itself; those reflections in turn reflections, and so it goes, smaller and deeper. Systems are also reflections of what is bigger than itself, which are – again – in turn, reflections, and so it goes, bigger and wider into the great unknown. With this in mind, we can begin to recognize how we, as seemingly insignificant humans, emanate our ways of being in every direction. We begin to cognitively understand that the best way to create the world that we want is to embody it. This is thinking in systems — and yes, it can be pretty vague, but it also can get really specific. It’s a great tool to understand for project, business and organizational management. Want to learn how to apply systems thinking practically? Sign up for my free talk, “Using Systems Thinking to Design Calendars & Projects” – https://lb.benchmarkemail.com//listbuilder/signupnew?IkfHTmyPVq9NzH3yGsPRav5pwVnAjsSIkH3DE3cpqwbtO5iNRn8gS049TyW7spdJ
– Human Management/Training: Learning to manage and train humans has been a long journey for me. I started off in college teaching fellow students genetics as a TA. I remember I learned then that everyone learns the same concept differently, and in order to fully teach someone something, you need to know it really well so you can explain/demonstrate/illustrate it from many different angles. Managing humans is no different. When you become a boss, you learn everyone likes to be managed differently, and in order to get the best work from them, you often need to cater to a managing style that works well for them. I would really recommend checking out “Team/Work” by Natalie Dawson as a great resource for learning how to manage humans more effectively.
– Meeting Facilitation: Facilitating meetings has been likely the most useful skill I have built. Being able to build and stick to a meaningful agenda has been crucial in moving my and my client’s work forward. To be honest, I don’t really have any resources for this — for me, the most effective way to do this was to dive in and get my hands dirty with a whole lot of practice. It’s a skill I recommend any business owner have.
Who is your ideal client or what sort of characteristics would make someone an ideal client for you?
Our work embodies the world we want to see; the services we provide are linked directly to our values of adaptability, equity and stewardship. We believe real change comes from adaptable, responsive organizations; actions that lead to a more equitable distribution of power; and a collective desire to leave the planet better than we found it. These values have shaped our focus around working with who we like to call ‘systemically excluded professionals’. To us, this means the ‘global majority’ (ie; everyone but white, cis-gendered men).
Our ideal client archetype is any systemically excluded overwhelmed, overworked organizational leader in either nonprofits or businesses. People often come to us when they need a refreshing outlook on their organization, and need to know where to delegate to be able to grow sustainably. Anyone who has an organization over less then 20 who want to grow to 50 or more without burning themselves out (more or at all!), we’re the right consultants for you!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.triplecreeks.org
- Instagram: @triplecreeks
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sera-deva-98b50192/
