Surviving scarcity
Lack of resources can affect an organization’s culture, but there are ways to counteract its effects
Lack of resources can affect an organization’s culture, but the effects can be counteracted
New Mexico is one of the poorest states in the nation, and dealing with scarcity is a reality for many public and private organizations. How does this dynamic affect the culture of an institution, and what lessons can be gleaned from those who create success when additional resources are unavailable?
The Journal sat down with Rebecca Avitia, executive director of the National Hispanic Cultural Center, who spoke at the New Mexico Association of Commerce and Industry last year on scarcity and what managers can do to counteract its effects. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: Tell me about your upbringing. Did it impact the way you think about scarcity?
A: I was born and raised in Albuquerque, and my parents are Puerto Rican, so there was always the culture around me and then the culture my parents brought with them. I would always be struck when I talked to the family in Puerto Rico that there was this idea of “I have more than I need, so let me give some to you before you’ve even asked.” Whereas in New Mexico, there’s that dance we do where when we introduce ourselves, we immediately date our presence here. We will often begin with “I was born and raised here” or “I moved here when I was 15” so we give ourselves a claim to the resources.
Q: Fast-forward to taking your position at the National Hispanic Cultural Center. From your speech, it sounded like there was very much a scarcity mindset when you arrived. What did that look like?
A: When I first started (in 2014), I was the 12th executive director in 14 years. There had not been consistent or sustained leadership, and as a result, there hadn’t been a continuous advocate for the budget, for private fundraising or drawing on collaborations. That amplified the scarcity we already have in New Mexico with limited public funding and private dollars. What I immediately noticed is that everyone really hoarded what resources they had. The first thing was to just call it out and put it on the table, and say, you know, “I notice there are two exhibit prep rooms and we don’t have enough resources to stock one of them; maybe we should consolidate them.” Just calling out what was happening had a really dramatic impact for many people.
Q: Objectively, it makes sense to call that out, but sometimes when you’re inside an institution it’s hard to think objectively. So how did you know to do that?
A: The analogy (that is) culturally resonant for me is a kitchen, let’s say one in your mother’s home. My mom could cook for a certain number of people, but if she had more help in the kitchen, we could cook for a whole lot more — but only if it functioned in a particular way. (If) I arrive at my mom’s house, and I notice that the tortilla on the comal (is) burning, I would just go and flip it. I wouldn’t
ask, “Can I flip the tortilla?” I taste the soup, and if it needs salt, I add salt. That dynamic is immediately destroyed in the kitchen of someone who is really controlling. You ask, “How can I help?” and they say, “No, no, it’s fine, just sit down.” It screeches to a halt and it goes so much slower. So my thought process was to come in here and create, you know, my mom’s kitchen. So that everyone here was functioning in a way where they felt empowered, they knew what the soup was supposed to taste like. Instead of saying to our custodial staff, “Set it up this way,” we say, “Why don’t you come and see the way the event works so that you can understand why we’re setting it up this way?” And then, of course, the next time, when they know something about the event, they tweak it without anyone having to tell them how to set it up.
Q: Tell me about this idea from your speech of creating little pockets of abundance where you can.
A: In places where there’s scarcity, success becomes disconnected with merit. So you succeed because you know the person, or because you’re the loudest, or the most manipulative, but not because of the merit. When I (first arrived at the NHCC), I was really struck by the fact that our education program, which had only 1½ employees, was creating the second-highest number of programs. So I thought, well, I need to indicate that there is some connection between success and merit, so I am going to prioritize some of my fundraising efforts to support this group. … In many ways it also relieved the tension for me, because instead of having some secret formula about how I was deciding to prioritize things, it was really defendable.
Q: What did it mean to apply that rubric to yourself as well?
A: I started these coffees that were once a month, where artists were invited to come and have coffee with me and the head of our performing arts program, our visual arts director and our curator. The idea being: Let’s take away the unknown of how we select artists for exhibits and performers for performances. But we had people who already knew us coming to it. I realized that I’m taking up all of these people’s time, and we’re not even reaching the folks who aren’t comfortable coming to us, so this is clearly not the right approach. It’s really important to say, “My bad, that was a bad decision. Let’s think about what the lessons are that we can learn from my bad decision.” And then other people start being willing to come forward and talk about their own mistakes, which is really important when you don’t have a lot of resources.
Q: What other steps did you take to tie merit to success?
A: In the private sector, you have the freedom to terminate certain people and hire new people. But there can sometimes be a false sense that if you just change the people then it’s all going to get better. What’s been really neat (at the NHCC) is that we’ve changed as an organization without changing the people. What I’ve really been pleasantly surprised by is that when you make clear that 100 percent is expected of everyone, people who are unwilling to give 100 percent know that and they sort of self-select themselves out. We have this dynamic of “Please can I work more? Because I now understand how what I do impacts what the center does, and I understand how what the center does impacts the community, and I’m way too bought into that pipeline to just walk away from it at 5 o’clock.” Our strategic planning process involved every single person at our organization, including our groundskeepers, our custodial crew and our security guards. As a result, it really shifted from being a pretty document for leadership to use to (being) “in our blood.”
Q: What would you say to a business owner in the private sector who is dealing with some of the byproducts of the scarcity mindset?
A: They really need to sit down and think about how they’re contributing to it. I think it’s worth asking everyone at an organization, “Do you believe that merit is tied to success here?” And really, honestly being willing to listen to the people who say no. Also, my first year, I met with every employee and I asked them, “What is your Christmas morning moment?” Or whatever holiday you celebrate where there are lots of presents. What makes you really excited? And then, conversely, what is the day where you’d be totally fine with a snow day? ... So then, after all of these meetings and all of my notes on this, I went through all of the job duties, and I figured out how I could take out as much of the snow day stuff from people and put in as much of that Christmas morning stuff. You can’t do it all, but there’s still plenty that can be done. … When we implemented it, that was when our productivity as an organization jumped the fastest. My first year, we went from 175,000 visitors to 225,000 visitors, and then we went to 280,000. The way I think about it is, yeah, I may have been given these cards, but I decide what game we’re playing, so, change, it’s Go Fish, I win.
IN PLACES WHERE THERE’S SCARCITY, SUCCESS BECOMES DISCONNECTED WITH MERIT. REBECCA AVITIA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL HISPANIC CULTURAL CENTER