“Simply put, reengineering is not for the faint of heart. It requires enormous risk taking, confidence, trust, willing leaders and followers, and perhaps the most important, the willingness to admit when mistakes are made, to learn from them, and to go forward with renewed strength and self-confidence.”
Alceste T. Pappas “Reengineering Your Nonprofit Organization: A Guide to Strategic Transformation”
If we take the assertions that change is needed, the time is now, and there is no map as clear and unarguable facts, why not stop and take a minute to gather some resources on organizational change theory?
I hope to offer here just a short sample of some people and places to get guidance as these transformations begin in earnest, or need a refresh, or are stuck. Organizations are in all stages so not everything may apply, but take a look and perhaps something will resonate. I'll try to provide some non-biased explanations- no promises.
The Cycle: Management of Successful Arts and Cultural Organizations Created by Michael M. Kaiser and now taught at the Devos Institute at the University of Maryland, this is the system that Kaiser developed throughout the 1990s to revamp and shift arts organizations as varied as the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre Foundation, American Ballet Theatre and many others from struggling to successful. Published in 2008, The Art of the Turnaround: Creating and Maintaining Arts Organizations” discusses through case studies the application of a four part self-sustaining system. See PDF.
Using this as a baseline for conversations and examining if it is a good fit for your organization can inspire and fuel good self-reflection and discussions. If you have time, read through the white paper here and take 30 minutes to think through its application.
Diving further into the mechanics of change management I happened upon this terrific podcast from Joan Gerry. Recognizing that signs of poorly managed change are lack of conversation, silos, lack of internal staff feeling that they belong, and lack of diversity and/or conflict around diversity, many nonprofit staff or board might be stopped in their tracks. This is a wake up call that even if you are doing great work, most organizations are going to find at least one of these areas that needs attention. If this resonates, take a deeper dive into the work of the Center for Creative Leadership and specifically Michael DePass.
Another topic to think about is simple structure and process. In the museum sector, the organizational structures are generally very hierarchical which reinforces power structures that need to be reexamined and in most cases disassembled completely. In addition, this top down approach tends to make divisions based on old business models with a strong separation between products (collections, programs, earned income) and process (marketing, HR, finances, contributed income) with little overlap or collaborative planning occurring. Not only is this outdated, it also causes inefficiencies anxiety-fueled turf wars that bog things down and further separate interests and abilities from actual work.
In reinventing a museum internal structure the Oakland Museum of California has been a model for over a decade of a different option. The case study of change is interesting in itself, but also by reorienting structure to focus specifically on the audience there were new opportunities for collaboration and definitions of success.
And I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that this work is - pick your adverb- hard/difficult/exhausting/scary/overwhelming/risky.
Big organizations that we admire fail. The Gates Foundation does amazing things, but they aren’t immune to handling change poorly.
More to dive into
Conversations for Change from Nonprofit Quarterly
Finally, there really is no better time to take a risk. Look around- the world is on fire. What we choose to be as we emerge from the ashes will not be the same as before. It can’t happen that way. So be a change agent. As Gandhi said “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
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