Shifting From Operational Focus to Strategic Leadership
Read about how the nonprofit sector can build strategic capacity when it’s structurally designed to operate transactionally.
Tag Archive for: organisation review
4 key words to help you navigate a crisis in your nonprofit
Anyone involved in leading or managing a charity or nonprofit dreads having to deal with a crisis under their watch. Despite adequate planning, we understand that even the best-prepared organisations can face unexpected crises. Whatever the focus of the crisis – funding, financial mismanagement, governance, safeguarding or reputational – here are 4 key words to help you keep a cool head at a stressful time.
1. Anticipation
The best way to manage a crisis is to prevent one occurring in the first place. This is what your organisation’s risk management and oversight practices are in place for: to identify potential risks at all levels of your organisation and putting in place effective mitigation or management structures, policies and practices.
2. Leadership
Crisis management involves quick decision-making and action. Consider establishing a small team of leaders to develop and implement a crisis management plan. Make sure that their remit, responsibilities and reporting relationship to your Board is clear from the outset.
3. Communication
Key to your management of any crisis – and maintaining or re-building trust – will be how you communicate and engage your stakeholders. Develop a stakeholder map and communications plan that covers all your key relationships, particularly employees, volunteers, supporters and funders.
4. Accountability
The best way to resolve any crisis is to ensure that there is appropriate action. It’s not advisable to shy away from acknowledging and investigating the incident, how and why it happened and its impact – and demonstrate accountability by identifying the clear steps that will be taken to redress its impact and prevent it from occurring again.
By prioritising anticipation, leadership, communication, and accountability, you will be in a better position to navigate any crisis that may arise. Remember, a well-prepared organisation is less likely to be caught off guard.
Get in touch
If you require additional support with your crisis management, 2into3 is experienced at supporting organisations to prevent anticipated crises and manage actual crises. Our governance and strategy services can help you to identify and mitigate organisational risks. Or, if the worst should happen, we can support you to effectively navigate through a crisis. In the last year, we have worked with six charities of different sizes to handle a range of funding, financial mismanagement, governance and reputational crises.
For more information, visit our webpage or contact our Director of Advisory Services, Sheena Horgan at sheena.horgan@2into3.com.
5 Reasons to Conduct a Board Effectiveness Review
What comes to mind when you hear the word “review”? If you think of criticism, judgement, or inspection, you might be approaching it the wrong way. A well-conducted Board effectiveness review provides numerous benefits for both your Board and your organisation, and should be seen as a constructive process instead of a fault-finding one.
Let’s look at five reasons your Board should consider conducting a Board effectiveness review.
1. Leveraging the strengths on your Board
Boards are composed of experts in their respective fields. However, in some cases, the skillsets and experience of individual Board members may not be fully recognised and utilised. A strengths-based Board effectiveness review allows you to map the skills and expertise on your Board and ensure they’re being maximised. When Board members engage in tasks that match their experience, it adds to the Board’s overall effectiveness and contributes to broader organisational success.
2. Aspiring towards best practice in governance
Regular Board reviews are a core requirement in the Charity Governance Code, and as a Board effectiveness review is an indication to your stakeholders – including funders, staff, volunteers and beneficiaries, as well as the public – that your Board is dedicated to best practice, transparency and accountability.
3. Adapting to a period of change
Nonprofits are operating in an evolving political and social landscape. This context demands Boards to be proactive and adaptable; capable of addressing challenges as they arise and identifying potential opportunities.
A Board effectiveness review helps to strengthen Board engagement and collaboration, to ensure that its committees have the appropriate composition and established duties, and that processes and structures are consolidated. This facilitates effective decision-making, leadership, and communication when faced with change.
4. Identifying and addressing gaps
So maybe it isn’t all good, and we’d be lying if we said a Board effectiveness review doesn’t consider areas for improvement. By taking stock of your Board’s its structure, dynamics, processes, people, and performance, you have an opportunity to reflect on what perhaps may not be working as well as it could.
What is important here is to focus on what happens next. After hearing constructive feedback from all your Board members, you can create an actionable roadmap to address any gaps and overcome challenges.
5. Returning to your purpose
Let’s return to the core purpose of serving on a Board and take a moment to reflect on the reasons and motivation behind this commitment. We are reminded of the passion, interest, skills, and desire to give back. A Board effectiveness review serves to remind all Board members of these fundamentals, generating a renewed sense of purpose, clarity, and confidence moving into the future.
Interested in learning more?
Engaging an independent and external third-party perspective in a Board review can offer a valuable objective insight, removing any bias and allowing Board members to be honest and transparent with their feedback. We can work with you to tailor a Board evaluation that reflects the nuances and complexities of your organisation, out of which will emerge constructive recommendations that resonate with your Board members’ experiences.
If you are interested in learning more about what a Board review would look like for your Board, please contact our Director of Advisory Services, Sheena Horgan at sheena.horgan@2into3.com.
4 Signs It’s Time For an Organisational Review
An organisational review enables you to be intentional and deliberate in how you set up your staff and organisation for success. However, making the decision to pursue a review and the changes it might entail can be a daunting proposition, especially when you are already under pressure.
If any of the 4 signs below sound familiar, it may be time for you to undertake an organisational review.
1. Your team is much bigger than it used to be
While efforts and energy are often focused on the day-today, significant growth or change within an organisation can often unfold organically over the space of a few months or years. It can also happen very suddenly in reaction to a new opportunity. Negative side effects can include lack of clarity around roles and responsibilities, unclear reporting lines, or too many direct reports to your CEO, or managers.
An organisational review allows you to reflect on this growth, identify challenges and bottlenecks, and take the necessary steps to move towards a stronger structure that is sustainable and scalable for future growth.
2. Things don’t work as smoothly as they used to
Another side effect of growth and change is that the way you use to collaborate and communicate with your colleagues, or manage your team, is no longer fit for purpose.
Organisational design is about more than just structure; it’s also about workflows and relationships. If the way you used to operate is no longer leading to the same results – or if it feels slower and more painful to do your work – it might be time to take a step back and consider if your structure and working relationships are aligned with your organisation’s strategy today.
3. Your team’s work is constantly behind schedule
Another way in which an organisational review can support you is by identifying where you are missing capacity and capability in the team. If your workloads have grown at a faster pace than your staff team, its only natural to then experience delays, frustration and stress.
Assuming that you have correctly identified your priorities in a strategic plan, an organisational review is the ideal opportunity to think about how you are going to deliver your work:
What capacity do you need in what areas?
What skillsets do you need?
How should each team be structured?
How will they work together and with others?
4. You are overspending on agency staff or consultants
Agency staff and consultants are a sticking plaster to the issues identified above. If you have more work than the people to deliver it – and don’t have the time to take a minute, assess and plan for the long-term – these expensive short-term solutions can feel like your best option. However, it’s not sustainable in the long-term.
An organisational review can be an investment that pays dividends in the medium and long-term both financially and for your team’s wellbeing and happiness at work.
External consultants can be valuable in an organisational review process by creating an objective and confidential environment in which everyone in your organisation feels comfortable to share their honest feedback about what is and isn’t working.
This will ensure that the final recommendations reflect the concerns and expectations of staff, and build buy-in for implementation of your new structure. We can also bring in our experience and learnings from comparable organisations.
Interested in finding out more?
Our team at 2into3 our experience in delivering effective organisational reviews that transform organisations for the better.
If you would like to find out more about our approach, visit our webpage here, or contact our Director of Advisory Services, Sheena Horgan at sheena.horgan@2into3.com.
3 Reasons Why a Theory of Change Could Increase Impact
Nonprofits and charities are at the forefront of catalysing positive change for individuals, communities and society. Whether that is through the provision of frontline services, lobbying and advocacy, or the contribution to policy and research. United by a shared purpose and vision, organisations have developed unique responses to addressing some of the most pressing challenges of our time. It is increasingly important to capture and measure the effectiveness and value of such responses, but how can organisations do this in practice?
A Theory of Change (TOC) is both a process and an output which logically and rationally captures how an organisation is achieving the change they want to see. It is a practical and living tool that can be applied to define goals and encourage recognition of achievements, to enable impact measurement and strategic thinking, and to successfully communicate impact. Here are 3 reasons your organisation should develop a Theory of Change.
1. Understanding and Recognising Goals
A Theory Of Change allows your organisation to come together and map how your work is having the intended positive impact and addressing an identified challenge; essentially breaking down what success looks like and the steps to get there. Both the process and the final output of a TOC lead to a renewed clarity and understanding amongst stakeholders, and can contribute to increased focus, engagement, and motivation. It encourages people to work collectively to reach goals, to take ownership of the impact they are having, and to recognise the important achievements they have made.
2. Impact Measurement and Strategic Thinking
A Theory Of Change is an extremely useful tool for impact measurement, giving you a foundation to collect relevant data and feedback, and to gather insights. Your organisation can then capture the progress being made against your TOC, test your assumptions, identify areas for improvement and adapt accordingly. This cycle of continuous learning, reviewing, and improving is conducive to strategic thinking; enabling you to make impact driven decisions, prioritise and allocate resources effectively, and develop long-term plans and projections that are informed by evidence. A TOC and subsequent impact measurement allows you to be more deliberate and proactive, and ultimately do more for the people benefiting from your organisation’s work.
3. Communication
A Theory Of Change is as a framework that succinctly clarifies the logic and evidence driving either your work as a whole, or a specific programme/project within your organisation, By linking together your motivation, your activities, the results, and the wider impact you are creating, you are effectively condensing the story and the strategy that guides your work and capturing the contribution of your organisation to the community or a sector. In a competitive funding environment and with increased emphasis on organisational transparency, a TOC demonstrates to partners, funders, and the wider public, that you have a logical and coherent plan to achieve your goals and have gathered evidence to back it up.
How to develop a TOC?
In order to build collective buy-in and be truly reflective of your organisation, a TOC requires meaningful input and collaboration from staff and other relevant stakeholders. It is most effective when developed iteratively through consultation, generating ownership from relevant stakeholders.
If you would like to hear more about how a Theory Of Change would benefit your organisation, or what our process for developing a TOC looks like, do not hesitate to contact our Director of Advisory Services, Sheena Horgan at sheena.horgan@2into3.com or visit our website.
Written by Alison McGearty, Analyst, 2into3.
3 Reasons to Hire an External Facilitator
Running effective workshops and meetings is about so much more than gathering people in the same place, at the same time. If you are bringing people together, it’s important to make that time investment count – and all the more so when the stakes are high. Bringing in an independent expert facilitator to design and deliver your meeting can transform the effectiveness and outcome of your session.
Whether it’s strategic planning, a reflection session, a stakeholder consultation, announcing an organisational change or strategic shift, or team building, here are 3 reasons why you should consider hiring an external facilitator.
1. The right tools
An expert facilitator will take into account your organisation’s history, the relationships between participants and your desired outcomes – be they hard (such as strategy) and soft (team culture). A facilitator can create the most appropriate meeting setting and experience for you. This includes the set up of the room to enable participation, to setting ground rules; ice-breakers to create the right headspace and methodology that results in the decisions you need.
2. Space to participate
Engaging a facilitator allows the leader to fully participate without worrying about the objectives of the meeting, the time keeping or the dynamics. You will be allowed the freedom to listen, think and participate alongside your colleagues. You will be able to contribute as a participant.
3. A neutral navigator
A facilitator can ask the difficult questions with objectivity and a fresh perspective, encouraging divergent views to result in something powerful. The facilitator’s role is to ensure every voice is heard equally across the board. Furthermore, if any difficult conversations arise, an external facilitator will have the ability to progress the conversation into a more productive space.
Contact Us
If you would like to discuss how 2into3 can help you to design and facilitate a successful meeting or workshop, please visit our website for more information, or contact Sheena Horgan at sheena.horgan@2into3.com.