A Midwest nonprofit that provided temporary housing and social services to women and children had more than doubled over the past 10 years to over 110 employees, resulting in increased employee turnover and declining program outcomes. The Executive Director and the Board agreed that it was time to revisit the organization’s structure.
The central question we agreed to explore was, “How should the organizational structure be adjusted and realigned to best support program services, reduce turnover and drive improved outcomes?”
In the course of the project we also agreed to review all major strategic areas of the organization — programming, funding/development, operations, information technology (IT), finance, marketing, human resources, the board of directors, management, paid staff and volunteers.
Approach
We started with an assessment of the organization, focusing our attention on program services and outcomes, and how the different groups and departments supported the organization’s mission and vision.
We gathered background data on the organization. This included annual reports, financial statements, hiring and turnover data, marketing campaigns and plans, fundraising efforts, program outcome data, employee morale survey reports, etc.
We visited the organization’s offices and housing units. We also designed and analyzed several surveys for managers, staff, and volunteers. These were supplemented by approximately 50 in-depth interviews with board members, managers, staff and volunteers. We then had several group meetings with board members, managers, staff and other groups.
Over several months we collected data, analyzed results and developed preliminary conclusions. We conducted follow-up interviews and meetings, presented our preliminary findings and recommendations to the Board, solicited comments and gathered feedback. We then made adjustments to the reports and submitted final versions to the Executive Director and Board.
Results
Our main conclusion was that the organizational structure — the ‘org chart” — had become unbalanced over time. Some departments had become bloated and added functions that didn’t fit the central purpose of the department, whereas other departments didn’t have enough personnel or resources to function effectively and sustainably. We also uncovered a wide spectrum of other issues, including ineffective leadership in some areas, woefully outdated technology, personnel issues in the HR department, major pay and performance misalignments, as well as internal and external communications issues.
We recommended several major changes, as well as over a dozen smaller changes, to the organization. The Executive Director and the Board took our report seriously, and followed through on most of our suggestions. Today the organization is in much better shape, with lower turnover, better program outcomes, and a significantly better financial condition.