The Power of Listening - How partnering with SERES revolutionised my organisation

Nick Kershaw , Founder & CEO Impact Marathon and Sara Hurtarte , SERES Co-Executive Director

Early on, when I first began looking for organisations to support with my own project, Impact Marathon Series, I had a super clear vision for what we were looking for. We wanted to bring runners from around the world to spend one week volunteering and working with local organisations, bringing their work to life, fundraising and climaxing in a running event to bring everyone together. 

It was so clear, I knew exactly what I needed, and I was so fired up by passion that I was telling anyone who would listen about what we were doing, why it was so powerful and why our grants were different. 

I would arrive in a country, jump into meetings and tell the potential charity everything we needed them to deliver. I’d see excitement at a new form of much needed funding and I’d see brainstorms happening over how to then bring this grant to life for our Impact Runners, in line with the vision I had laid out. I’d see organisations stretching outside of what they normally do to accommodate my vision.

Then, I’d see projects not come to life in the way that I had envisioned. I’d see fundraising not hit the targets I had set. I’d see people fly home from an Impact Marathon having gotten their hands dirty and having had an incredible week, but with something distinctly missing. And I kept asking myself what I needed to do to improve this, but I was asking the wrong person. 

The answer lay with our partners, they already knew. 
But I wasn’t listening to them.
And the Impact Runners weren’t being given a chance to listen either.

You may well already have noted the amount of “I” in the previous paragraphs. The more eagle-eyed will have noted the amount of “seeing” that was going on. This is not by accident, it is representative of my early forays into grant-making.

In the world of philanthropy, too often the grant-makers are the ones doing the talking, being listened to and I had fallen right into that trap. I was taking my concepts and telling the guys who work with beneficiaries day in, day out that I would like to fund projects that fit my concepts of what is needed to catalyse change. There was no moment of clarity, or epiphany, but a slow waking up to what was clearly happening at our events – our goals were well-intentioned but lacked a true connection to the outcomes our fundraising was actually going to create.

In Guatemala, it was clear that we were returning home with no real understanding of what life looks like for an indigenous Guatemalan woman, or her daughters. We had no real understanding of the systemic pressures that prevent the social mobility that offers the kind of opportunities afforded to others in the country - to have a voice and to create change. We had no real understanding of what SERES actually did and, why they did it. 

As we approached our 3rd Guatemala Impact Marathon, we stopped talking. From an organisational standpoint, we handed the story to SERES, to Guatemalans to tell their story, unfiltered.

Visiting a permaculture farm in Tecpán, Guatemala.

This led to us changing the very make-up of what the week had previously entailed. The team took ‘my’ vision and made it ‘our vision’. The work of SERES is focused on the power of listening, cultivating ideas, setting plans and then acting upon them. And so the 3rd Guatemala Impact Marathon transpired, as less time was spent ‘doing’ and more time was spent listening.

As we listened all those questions that had previously been left unanswered were now the story of the week. Discussions amongst the runners were more inquisitive, connection to the communities was more engaged and we had an opportunity to question our own concepts of how we, as individuals, can make our most powerful impact.

When we listen, we begin to understand. 
In that understanding, we can challenge ourselves.
In that challenge, we can rise to be creative, to be powerful. 

Impact Runners  taking part in the first International Women's Day March in Tecpán, Guatemala.

 When we combine the power of deep listening with our actions, we see that perception precedes change. We are only truly powerful when we actively seek out that which we do not know and bring thought innovations together into united, unrelenting action. 

We’ve identified two key times where we tend to switch off our minds to listening more deeply: when we understand a concept well; and when we don’t understand the topic. This evening, write a list of topics where you would consider yourself knowledgeable then pick out one to review, find someone who is an expert and listen to them, what have you missed? What have you not thought of in that way before? How could you deepen your understanding?

Let us know how it goes…