Ready to handle the current environment?
By Linda Mollenhauer
December 7, 2009
In these volatile times, it is more important than ever to assure your board, management team, donors, and partners that the organization is positioned to handle the challenges of diminishing or flat revenues and increasing demand. They need to know that you have done what it takes to understand your real financial position, trim your sails, capitalize on successes, be agile and accountable, and attend to your most important relationships.
The following checklist can be used to build board and staff confidence in the organization's ability to make sound strategic decisions and deal with the current environment. The CEO or executive director can review the checklist to see how the organization stakes up. If most of the items can be checked off, it provides a good opportunity to let key stakeholders know. If not, use the checklist to work with the board and management team to celebrate what work is done, identify the areas that need to be strengthened, and put them in place.
A. Know your core business
- Identified the core business and the human resource competencies required to achieve them so it is clear what needs to be protected
- Defined key outcomes and indicators of success so decisions aren’t based on personal agendas and in order to make a stronger case to funders and donors
- Evaluated and, if necessary, revised our priorities in the context of the current environment
- Established a vision that inspires commitment and keeps us focused on future possibilities
B. Safeguard revenues, people, assets and reputation
- Communicated with our funders and major donors to demonstrate our value, alert them to issues, test revenue assumptions, and engage them in finding solutions
- Collaborated with our community partners to make a stronger case for support
- Found new and better ways of generating revenue
- Diversified our revenue streams as much as possible
- Identified our most significant risks and developed polices and procedures to protect us
C. Understand the financial situation
- Developed a transparent and accurate system to report on changes in our revenue and expenses
- Demonstrated a track record of realistic budgeting
- Identified direct and indirect costs so we know exactly what costs are saved if we make cuts
- Distinguished between unrestricted and restricted funds and understand our obligations
- Identified specific financial performance metrics that are critical to watch in this environment
- Demonstrated that all board members and management staff understand critical financial information
D. Manage operations and costs
- Streamlined our programs, services and processes to maximize impact
- Determined that each committee and advisory group plays a critical role
- Monitored key performance indicators
- Found ways to more aggressively manage our costs
- Explored better solutions for meeting peoples needs with our community partners
- Used our technology to the greatest advantage
E. Apply rigorous decision-making
- Applied our values to decision-making so when we make tough decisions, we don’t lose sight of them
- Monitored key aspects of the environment and analyzed the impact on a regular basis
- Make decisions based on thorough, accurate, timely and incisive information
- Designed planning processes that allow us to be agile and responsive
- Engaged the board, management and frontline staff so they take ownership for decisions (because if they don’t now, they sure won’t when it gets down to tough decisions)
- Determined the criteria that will be used in making decisions about significant changes
- Developed contingency plans and identified the triggers that will set them in motion
F. Support board, staff and volunteers and promote innovative thinking
- Cultivated a team approach to problem solving and an atmosphere of supportiveness
- Celebrated successes and individual achievements so people feel proud, even in tough times
- Developed mechanisms to monitor and address issues of board and staff morale
- Communicated openly and frequently about the current issues and choices we face
- Demonstrated that we value a sense of humor
- Shared and debated ideas across the organization and found new and better ways to do our work
- Allowed stakeholders to constructively challenge assumptions and the status quo so that we are truly open to innovation
Mollenhauer Consulting has guided more than 100 organizations toward excellence in organizational development, governance, communication, and planning. Linda has developed many resources, including Benchmarks of Excellence for the Voluntary Sector.
Contact her at 416-767-4059, or by email at mollenhauerl@rogers.com.
