What We Do
Change Management
Ideally, change is intentional and incremental. Most often, change is unexpected and chaotic.
Change is a part of life, as necessary and inevitable as breathing. As every business goes through cycles of growth and change, this is an opportunity to analyze how the organization is doing and prepare a strategic plan for its future.
If you want to weather the storm with a road map and a navigator who will facilitate the difficult conversations that come with change (especially unexpected change like a leadership transition, sudden loss of a significant funder, or even a pandemic) then we want to be with you on that journey and bring you out to the other side where you can be an even better organization than you were before you walked into the fire.
CLIENT SUCCESS STORIES
Reduced staff turnover by 87% by restructuring organizational hierarchy, targeting employee development using current trends, and outreaching to targeted community organizations.
Secured more than $32 million in funding from governmental entities, private foundations, corporations, community organizations, and individuals.
Diversified funding streams by increasing individual giving (+28%) and corporate giving (+20%), and developing fee-based business models, while maintaining less than 15% operational expenses.
CHANGE MANAGER TOOL BOX
INTERIM LEADERSHIP
All too often when nonprofits are confronted with unexpected (and sometimes even expected) change, the goal is to survive. A Change Manager - as a Trusted Adviser or Interim Director - can be an effective tool to help your nonprofit navigate the inevitable change and not just survive but thrive.
Interim Leadership includes providing operational support and stability as Interim Director; assessing organizational capacity; and establishing a strong framework to set the new executive leadership up for success. It may also include identifying the qualities, skills, and characteristics needed in the next Executive Director and leading the search for the ideal candidate.
EXECUTIVE COACHING
As an Executive Director, you are often overworked and underpaid. One day you are making decisions about a new capital campaign, and the next day your cleaning the toilet. You are asked to do the impossible with few tools and little money. You often feel isolated in your position because your staff trusts you to handle everything perfectly, and they cannot and should not necessarily be privy to general operations of the organization. And you are in this strange no-man’s land with the board – where you report to them, but are also trying to train them in the guiding principles of governance. As a result, a staggering 80% of newly hired Executive Directors will leave their organizations within two years of hire. Maybe you are new and they haven't yet built trust. Maybe you are seasoned and the board just doesn't hear you anymore. Whatever your season, an outside advisor can walk along with you so you (and your organization) don't become a statistic.
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Trusted Advisor services include helping the the Executive Director troubleshoot and identify priorities. It may also include magnifying the Executive Director's voice with Board and Staff through individual coaching or group training.
STRATEGIC PLANNING
If you had a nickel for every time you have you heard "we just don't do it that way" or "that's not how it works" . . . And your board of directors and/or founders seem comfortable (and maybe almost committed?) to maintaining the status quo? Do you feel like some days you are just spinning your organizational wheels trying to make an even the smallest impact in an unreachable vision? If you are not operating under a clear directive from your board using a strategic plan, then you have not been set up to succeed as an executive director. If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail. Your strategic plan – set by all stakeholders not just the staff – is the key element to everything you do in your organization. The strategic plan is your road map. Without it, you are simply standing still. Big conversations around dreaming your visions into reality are exciting and bring you together as a team, united in an agreement of how you will achieve your mission. I walk alongside my clients from organizational assessment to implementation to change the status quo and make an even bigger impact to achieving your organization's vision.
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Strategic planning services include an organizational assessment (operations and governance), environmental scan, mission/vision/values development, project management, group facilitation, plan drafting, and implementation support.