Background: A $12MM non-profit provided a product and two services in support of it's mission. The board of trustees and the President agreed that a forecasted increase in their beneficiary group created an imperative opportunity to expand their impact nationwide. Their expanded strategy required that the President travel frequently as the chief marketing/business development resource. This change underscored the need to complete the migration from a relationship/personality based organization to a more business/accountability focused culture. Samuels Consulting was engaged to help the organization define an organization structure and key roles to support culture change and the day-to-day operations in light of the President's new, predominantly external, role and the expected increase in product/service volume.

Approach

• Agreed on the project scope and deliverables
• Held in depth discussions with the President, each member of the executive team and key staff members to understand their understanding/view of the expansion opportunity and what they would need to successfully execute the new strategy
• Assessed the needs of each area, the skills/experience of each leader/key staff member required to meet/exceed their objectives and the strengths/weaknesses of the current organizational structure

Areas of insight

• Functional organization:
• Provided 'key manager' authority/accountability for results
• Ensured that all items/data necessary to deliver product/services were controlled within the executive team
• Appropriate management span of control
• Human resource skill sets needed for new organization and roles
• Defined job functions to improve flexibility, work flow and control
• Established, documented and communicated protocols and work flows
• Established and implemented quality and timeliness standards; measurement and reporting templates
• Established daily production metrics, volume and aging: new items, items processed, items in process
• Established daily dashboard of key measurements for the executive team
• Recommended new position to measure, analyze and report on customer/client feedback and identify opportunities for customer satisfaction improvement