December 2008
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Dear Friends: This month I return to the series of articles on topics related to the specialties of this consultancy. In this second installment, I reflect on organizational assessment. Your comments and questions are always welcome. You can now post them to the new blog or e-mail me at davidnorgard@OD180.com. Peace, The Five Foundation-Stones of Organization-Building
Courage of Commitment...Creativity in Method...Generosity of Spirit... Honesty in Communication...Steadfastness of Purpose Organizational Assessment: Constant and Exceptional or Regular and Comprehensive?The Situation In some ways, we are constantly assessing our organizations. We review financial statements, monitor service statistics, and receive updates on accreditation or licensing reviews. In other ways, organizational assessment is an exceptional undertaking. A key senior manager leaves, so we review the structure of the whole department. Or, the complaints about technology become so loud that we decide to review all our technical systems. Ideally however, our assessment should not just be constant; it should be regular. And it should not only be exceptional; it should be comprehensive. The Comprehensive Assessment of Current Conditions Have you ever returned home after a long trip to "discover" that the living room carpet really does need shampooing or the entryway closet has no room for your coat? Most of us become accustomed to our surroundings, whether physical or institutional, and eventually stop seeing what may be obvious to fresher eyes. Similarly, we may hear the garage door opener creaking but skip looking at it until we can't drive our car inside. We see a problem but basically we ignore it until it demands our immediate attention. A periodic comprehensive assessment of current conditions is valuable in two ways. First, it helps us see truths about our organizations which have become so familiar as to become invisible. Secondly, it helps us focus on the important but not necessarily urgent topics that the press of day-to-day business sometimes leads us to ignore. What: A comprehensive assessment of an organization is comparable to a full physical for an individual. It looks at all the critical systems, namely program, development, administration, and governance and structure. It is essentially a research project resulting in findings which are relevant to the organization's long-term health and vitality. Typically, an assessment will also include recommendations that pertain to how organization leaders can stay more attuned to trends and dynamics going forward. Instituting use of a "dashboard" is an example of one such practice. (See below.) How: In most cases, four methods of inquiry are used: 1) review of documents, such as client/customer satisfaction surveys, service statistics, and financial statements; 2) interviews of representative stakeholders; 3) observation of actual practices, such as board and staff meetings; and 4) visits of facilities. When: If the terms of trustees are relatively long, such as four years, then conducting assessments at the same intervals is advisable. Every five years is a good general rule. The "Dashboard" Do you receive so many reports at board meetings that you walk away at the end unsure of how things are really going? Does your membership organization forget to review membership trends or your community organization miss looking at participation levels? The "dashboard" is a tool designed to keep what is important but necessarily urgent in front of the organization's leaders, i.e. to help them keep focused on what matters in the big picture. Like the dashboard of a car, it provides indicators about critical operating functions. An effective dashboard is a report of perhaps two pages in length, consistently formatted, and containing charts, graphs and a modicum of words about the current status and trends of important data. For a sample, go to www.od180.com/Background-Briefs Due to the nature of the information provided, the dashboard is a group project with input coming from development, program, and finance leaders. Depending upon the flow of business, it is most effective when distributed frequently to senior staff and to board members at every meeting. Q&AThis month's question is courtesy of Guin Kerstetter from San Diego CA, the Chief Financial Officer at Jewish Family Service of San Diego.
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