FUNdraising Good Times The gift of imperfection

In a world that can seem driven by the search for perfection we offer a gift this holiday season: the gift of imperfection. We recently facilitated a workshop and tried out a new exercise. A team member pulled us aside afterwards and shared that we really got people interacting. She said this with a smile and a positive tilt in her voice. We listened to her comments, smiling at each other as this was one of the goals of the workshop. Then she mentioned that she saw that some participants were uncomfortable with the exercise. We stopped smiling and looked at each other in distress. She continued, “You were being you – you’re known as out-of-the-box teachers, and you were out-of-the-box. You know, no matter how great a job you do there are always going to be a diversity of reactions. That’s just the way we are as people.” We stopped holding our breath and relaxed our shoulders. What? We don’t have to be perfect? We don’t have to meet all the expectations of 100 different people, every time? How wonderful to be reminded of our humanity – our human fragility, emotions, and imperfection – especially during a time when...