What We Count Truly Counts

I was listening to a presentation by someone named Chip Conley (never heard of him before). The thing he said at the beginning really jumped out at me -- it was a form of this "what we count, truly counts." And this struck me as true on many different levels.

What we count is what we act like is important. So, if we are running a mentoring program, a tutoring program, an after school program, or a feeding program - we count how many people show up - how many people are served - how many people show up every day - how many people volunteer. And we turn over those numbers to the people who support us. Here's the problem: What does that really tell us? It really tells us how many people showed up. That's it. What we count, truly counts. It shapes what we do. It shapes how we understand what we are doing.

If we count how many people show up for a program - then we say, we imagine, we believe that we are making a difference. We are not doing something bad - but whether or not it is good enough or even good -- is up for grabs. We don't know. Because the standard we have set is that if people show up it is good.

Yet I think there is more than enough evidence to show us that this is not true. We see it on the front pages of the Indianapolis Star every day - when we read that graduation rates are down - even though there are a whole lot of programs going on. Why do we keep doing these things if they keep not making a real difference in what we say is important?

We had an intern who worked at Broadway over a year ago who told us stories about how he used to run a grandparents program at a local social service center. All the funders (and the directors of the center) wanted to know was how many people showed up and how often. The crazy thing about it, of course, is that this isn't all that people wanted to know. We want to know much more than this. We want to know that we are making a difference.

The problem is that making a difference is a lot tougher and more nuanced that getting more children or grandparents to show up for a program. The problem is that we are a quick fix society when the issues that we face are not quick fix issues - nor are they six week program answers. Nor are they answered by good work with children and youth, while not paying attention to the communities and homes in which those children and youth reside.

IF we are going to count, let's count what we really think is important. I had a friend, Willis Bright, ask me if as a result of what we are doing in the community are there more neighbors giving one another rides to get tasks done. It's hard to figure out how to count that. But my bet is that Willis is asking us the right question. During the summer of blessings that we have we are asking our young people to name, bless, and connect the gifts that they see among their neighbors. As they do that - we want to find some ways to count whether the economy is growing more stable around us. We want to figure out a way to count whether there are more social networks that spread beyond the walls of neighborhood and family, and do those networks end up resulting in better health, more and better jobs being found, and a deeper mutual delight in one another (how do you count that!). We would like to count whether as a result of our investment in neighborhood gardeners, are there more gardens being grown - and are more people eating from their own gardens? We want to count whether there are fewer young people being locked up and getting in trouble (all these summer and year round programs for young people in our neighborhood hasn't seemed to really reduce that number in a statistically significant way). We want to count whether there are more parents who are being celebrated for the gift they are to their children, their families, and the larger community - and then we'd like to count whether that makes for more parties, more laughter, and more picnics.

What are you counting?

*The poster at the top of this comes from a wonderful artist by the name of Beth Mount. You can find this poster and many others at her wonderful website Capacity Works.