Organizational Progress

Full Range Organization Development Services

Organization Development (OD) is a systematic and planned approach to improving an organization’s effectiveness, efficiency, and overall health. OD aims to align an organization’s strategy, structure, processes, people, and culture in order to achieve its goals and improve its performance.

OD involves a wide range of interventions, such as leadership development, team building, process improvement, culture change, and communication strategies. We involve a multi-disciplinary team of consultants, trainers, and internal organizational change agents who work together to design and implement changes that will improve the organization’s overall health.

OD is often used in response to changes in the external environment, such as changes in the competitive landscape or shifts in customer needs, as well as internal changes, such as mergers, acquisitions, or changes in leadership. The goal of OD is to help organizations adapt and thrive in an ever-changing environment by creating a culture that is supportive of change and improvement.

OD requires a long-term commitment from both the organization and its leaders, and is often implemented in stages, with ongoing monitoring and evaluation to ensure that the changes are effective and sustainable. By using an OD approach, organizations can improve their performance, increase their competitiveness, and achieve their goals more effectively.

Core Services

Consult

We’ll take the time to understand your organization, proposed organizational developments, and provide feedback in real time.

Planning

We facilitate discussions and strategic decision making with your leadership or collaboartors then follow up with a timeline everyone can support.

Policy Drafts

Many agencies come to us requesting help getting policy and procedure documents up to date – from emloyee manuals to risk management policies.

Process Improvement

Whether remote, hybrid, or in-person, project management and process improvement are often bigger pain points than agencies admit! We are here to get everyone on the same page and streamline where possible.

Communication

We find miscommunication and lack of communication are actually at the root of most situations that end up on our roster. We talk with staff, leadership, identify improvements needed, and provide the needed tools and training.

Leadership

Often we work with leaders and emerging leaders to strengthen the skillsets needed to continue managing and coaching the agency. Typically we do one or two meetings a month and offer executive round tables.

Culture

From favoritism to DEI to mistrust in leadership, we work with your team to identify the internal culture shifts required for a healthy team.

Development

We work with your current tools to help identify additional funding streams for your needs – we are successful with grants, municipal support, and donor engagement strategies.

What You Can Expect

Fresh Ideas

Collaboration

Communication

Book a Discovery Call

We’ll ask you about what changes your agency needs, where your pain points, where and who are your strengths, and we’ll be transparent about pricing and next steps.

Onboarding & Assessment

We’ll ask you to share what documents, data, and processes you currently have related to the project. In the meantime, we’ll be setting you up on our project management tool to share outlines of tasks and timelines. 

Road Map Draft

We provide you with a first very rough draft of our observations and propose recommendations about our next steps together. We ask that you provide review and comment to ensure we are going in the correct direction. With those comments, we do a second complete draft and together we do final tweaks until leadership is in agreement about the deliverables and budget.

Implementation

We are getting to work on the policies, procedures, descriptions, reports, and infrastructure updates including meeting with team members, submitting drafts, and facilitating committee meetings as needed for your projects.

Reassess the Relationship

At the checkpoint, we ask if you’d like to keep working together and, if so, what additional support or caps would you like to have in place. We’ll update the timeline and start the cycle again!

Frequently Asked Questions

Change Management

Change management refers to the process of planning, implementing, and managing organizational change. Change management professionals help organizations effectively transition from one state to another by analyzing the impact of change, communicating the changes to stakeholders, and providing support to employees during the transition.

Change management teams, like us, are focused on the process of change while providing direction to organizational leadership.

We’ll discuss a custom plan with you, but generally we follow:

  1. Assessment
  2. Blueprint
  3. Implementation

During Assessment, we like to talk with staff, board members, and key stakeholders as well as take a look at your organizational systems, processes, and documentation. 

During Blueprint, we’ll draft a plan for where we notice your bottlenecks and painpoints to be and how to address them. We engage in an iterative review and comment process that involves various team members to ensure applicability, achievability, and general buy-in.

Finally with implementation, we can either be your accountability partner during this phase or be right in the trenches with you making change happen efficiently and as smooth as possible.

Policies and Processes

Improving the workflow of a non-profit organization can help to increase efficiency, reduce costs, and improve the overall effectiveness of the organization. Here are some steps we take to get started:

  1. Assess your current workflow: Start by understanding how tasks are currently being performed in your organization. This will give you a baseline to work from and help you identify areas that need improvement.

  2. Identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies: Look for areas where tasks are taking too long or resources are being wasted. These are the areas you’ll want to focus on first when improving your workflow.

  3. Involve your team: Your team members will have valuable insights into the challenges they face in their daily work. Involve them in the process of improving your workflow by asking for their suggestions and feedback.

  4. Streamline processes: Consider ways to streamline processes to reduce redundancies, eliminate unnecessary steps, and increase efficiency. Automating certain tasks can also help to speed up processes and reduce the potential for errors.

  5. Implement new technologies: Investing in technology can help to improve your workflow. For example, using project management software can help to track tasks and deadlines, while using collaboration tools can help to improve communication and teamwork.  (WE LOVE CLICKUP)

  6. Continuously monitor and evaluate: Once you have implemented changes, it’s important to continuously monitor and evaluate your workflow to see what’s working and what’s not. This will help you make further improvements and ensure that your processes remain efficient over time.

Ya know, just to get started!

From over 10 years of doing this work, we have 100+ templates for yoru board to implementation. Having clear policies in place is essential for any non-profit organization. These policies help to ensure that the organization operates in a transparent, accountable, and consistent manner.

Here are some key policies that every non-profit should have in place:

  1. Conflict of Interest Policy: This policy outlines the procedures for identifying and addressing conflicts of interest that may arise in the course of the organization’s work.

  2. Financial Management Policy: This policy sets out the procedures for managing the organization’s finances, including budgeting, accounting, and reporting.

  3. Human Resources Policy: This policy outlines the organization’s policies and procedures related to the management and treatment of employees, including hiring, compensation, benefits, and performance management.

  4. Data Privacy Policy: This policy outlines the organization’s procedures for collecting, storing, and using personal information, and explains the rights of individuals with respect to their personal data.

  5. Code of Conduct Policy: This policy outlines the standards of behavior expected of all employees, volunteers, and board members, and provides guidance on how to address violations of the code.

  6. Whistleblower Policy: This policy provides a mechanism for employees and volunteers to report unethical or illegal behavior, and protects them from retaliation.

  7. Gift Acceptance Policy: This policy outlines the procedures for accepting gifts and donations, and sets out any restrictions on the types of gifts that can be accepted.

  8. Procurement Policy: This policy outlines the procedures for purchasing goods and services, and sets out any requirements for competitive bidding or ethical procurement practices.

These policies can help to ensure that your non-profit organization operates in a responsible and effective manner, and can help to protect the organization from legal and financial risks, just to get started!

Team Development

Improving work culture can lead to increased employee satisfaction, better performance, and a more positive work environment. Here are some steps you can take to improve your work culture:

  1. Clarify your company’s values and mission: Start by clearly defining your company’s values, mission, and goals. Make sure everyone in the organization understands and is aligned with these values.

  2. Encourage open communication: Encourage open communication and feedback from employees at all levels. Listen to their concerns, and make sure their voices are heard.

  3. Foster a sense of community: Foster a sense of community by encouraging collaboration and teamwork. Create opportunities for employees to get to know each other and build relationships.

  4. Recognize and reward good performance: Recognize and reward good performance, and provide constructive feedback to help employees grow and develop.

  5. Empower employees: Empower employees by giving them the resources and support they need to succeed. Provide opportunities for professional growth and development, and encourage employees to take ownership of their work.

  6. Create a positive work environment: Create a positive work environment by promoting work-life balance, promoting diversity and inclusion, and taking steps to prevent burnout and stress.

  7. Lead by example: As a leader, it’s important to lead by example. Model the behaviors and values that you want to see in your organization.

Improving work culture is an ongoing process, and it’s important to regularly assess and address any issues that arise! With effort and commitment, we can create a positive work culture that benefits everyone in the organization.

Developing your team can lead to improved performance, increased job satisfaction, and a more motivated and engaged workforce. Here are some steps we take to develop your team:

  1. Set clear goals and expectations: Start by setting clear goals and expectations for each team member. Ensure that everyone understands what is expected of them, and how their role contributes to the overall success of the team.

  2. Provide training and development opportunities: Provide ongoing training and development opportunities to help your team members grow and develop professionally. This can include workshops, training sessions, mentorship programs, and other learning and development opportunities.

  3. Encourage collaboration: Encourage collaboration and teamwork, and provide opportunities for team members to work together on projects and initiatives.

  4. Offer constructive feedback: Regularly provide constructive feedback to help team members understand their strengths and weaknesses, and identify areas for improvement.

  5. Promote work-life balance: Promote work-life balance by encouraging employees to take time off when they need it, and by providing flexible work arrangements where possible.

  6. Recognize and reward good performance: Recognize and reward good performance, and provide incentives for employees to strive for excellence.

  7. Empower your team: Empower your team by giving them the resources and support they need to succeed. Provide opportunities for professional growth and development, and encourage team members to take ownership of their work.

Developing your team takes time and effort, but the results can be significant. Regularly assess and address any issues that arise, and actively seek feedback from your team members to understand what they need to be successful, we can help.

Getting Started

Chances are, if you are here you should explore it. Something made you want to look at how your organization can improve and in a 15-minute call or less, we can get you pointed in the right direction.  

Additionally, benefits lay in the objective third-party observations and planning. These services can strengthen and support your mission opposite to someone too entrenched in “how it’s always been” will cling to unhealthy habits.

YES – We have so much for you! We keep costs lower for you by assigning an intern to assist in some of the heavy lifts.

Let’s talk more. Schedule a call.

Let’s do a consultation call, we’ll write up a proposal for your board to consider at their next meeting. There are typically follow up questions, which we are happy to answer for a final decision at the following board meeting.

We have also attended board meetings to answer questions on the fly, we find this helps meet a more urgent timeline.

We have no placement or management fees.

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