Does your organization face nearly overwhelming demand, yet you have limited resources or staffing to fulfill that demand?
I am told that being under resourced and understaffed is a common constraint for nonprofits. Despite such limitations, community action councils (CACs) are doing amazing work as the last line of support to address poverty in their communities. But our communities need more help.
In this blog series, you will read how CACs are engaging staff to change how work is done, resulting in a bigger community impact. I will share with you ways your team can meet and exceed community and program needs with the resources you have now. CAC employees who use these approaches are feeling engaged and empowered. Boards are satisfied and communities are being served at a new level. Would those outcomes be valuable to you?
All organizations have two aspects to their work: what they do and how they do it.
Both are important and both are needed to make an impact on the communities that they serve. Now let’s look at each side of the organizations’ work.
What we do: This aspect consists of the services an organization offers. What we do is based on decisions we think long and hard about. We test them. We adjust them. They are important. Collectively, these decisions about an organization’s mission guide the development of that organization’s strategy. Generally, people think that strategy creates community impact.
How we do it: How we execute that strategy or how we do work is also important. It relates to how we deliver services. This is generally considered operations. We spend about 90% of our time and resources on operations. Therefore, the how is important.
Figure 1
Looking at organizations through the lens of strategy and operations is common in for-profit organizations. Many have a chief operations officer who is accountable for how the work gets done. For-profit organizations typically have operational titles and roles at the director, manager, and individual contributor levels. These organizations understand the power of the how.
Within CAC agencies, decisions about strategy and tactics are made by CAC leaders in conjunction with the board. For example, some energy assistance programs offer three levels of energy support as shown below.
The specifics of an organization’s operations are determined by the agency’s staff. They design how work should be done. In this example, the five steps describe how an agency might provide the various levels of support to its clients.
Figure 2
Given my experience and certifications, I see myself primarily as an operations coach and trainer. I help teams put good ideas into practice. I believe CAC employees are the right people to improve how processes and operations happen. With strong process improvement skills, they can achieve impressive results for their community. I have seen it over and over again. Working with teams to enhance their skills-and-will to do work better and deliver impact is my passion and my vocation.
The good news about operations is that we have tools and approaches to make processes work well and deliver great outcomes, with the primary goal always being to maximize community impact. These levers include work steps, equipment, roles and responsibilities, training, forms, and internal rules.
Figure 3
Regulations may mandate the forms you use, yet it is these six operational levers that can help you maximize your impact in the community.
I recently worked with a CAC transportation team to help them better leverage their six operational levers. Through process training and then a one-day deep dive, the CAC team determined that they could improve their ride intake process and outcomes through maximizing use of their existing tools, adjusting roles and responsibilities, retraining request intake staff, rethinking their internal policies, and simplifying work steps. As a result of the team’s work, they quickly implemented their new mobile vaccination van, employing new processes to deliver an improved rider experience.
All nonprofit organizations, including CAC teams, can improve their operations to provide more services and generate greater impact for their community. If your organization is experiencing unlimited demand with limited resources, you have the opportunity to look at your operations to improve outcomes. Other organizations are expanding their community impact by leveraging these six operational levers. You can too.
Learn more about improving operations through our next blog post, or contact Lee Kuntz to discuss your unique situation.
Is your foundation preparing the annual plan for next year? The strategic plan for the next five years? This is a time for big ideas. An important one is how to fulfill your organization’s mission by making day-to-day operations function well.
Is your foundation being held back by a process that is no longer working as it should?
In this live, no cost webinar, hear how community foundations are planning for success by gaining support to fix daily operations pain points. Hear return on investment and the resource needs to finally solve the pain points that hold up your team’s success.
Register in advance for this meeting: Registration Link
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Recently, a software vendor told me that organizations considering a new software system would do well to supply their vendor with a detailed process map. Having such a map helps the vendor better address the organization’s needs and generate a more accurate quote. In four hours of work with your team, my firm can produce a process map that will help you achieve a better software outcome. Contact Lee Kuntz, CLSSBB to learn more.
Wednesday, February 15, 2023, 2-3 pm CT
Are you looking to do more for your community? To increase your foundation’s impact? Yet are staff working long hours, without the capacity to do more?
In this workshop, learn and experience how foundations are creating the capacity to do more for their community by improving how work is done. Through this improvement in how organizations do work – their operations – they are recapturing capacity and enhancing their community impact.
In this hands-on workshop, see and learn, then take away concrete ideas to improve how your foundation’s work is done. These ideas can help you deliver increased community impact.
Learning objectives
This presentation is a Midwest Series Webinar sponsored by the Indiana Philanthropy Alliance, Philanthropy Ohio, and the Council of Michigan Foundations. Members are invited to register with their organization.
Operations—the work done to execute an organization’s mission—is critical to achieving success. Even during the pandemic, communities and foundation boards are asking for more from operations staff—more effectiveness, greater efficiency, and a higher degree of accuracy. They want faster turnaround time and the capacity to administer more programs.
Operations and process improvement are key to delivering on these increasing expectations.
In this webinar for the Florida Region FAOG members, Lee Kuntz, certified process coach, will share how foundations have improved their approach to getting work done. Next, Lee will help attendees identify potential opportunities for maximizing how processes, people, and systems can lead to better outcomes and enhanced impact. Finally, Lee will explain the steps needed to achieve great results from operations and process improvement.
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUsce6gqD0pH93GGVaqsVkLrdQaG5ISNKdA
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Are you working around the clock, working remotely, in transition or onsite? Yet is there even more to do? Are employees feeling stressed out? Are they at risk of leaving the foundation?
In this professional development session, leaders and individuals will hear and practice three employee productivity best practices in fun activities.
Learning Objectives
Learn about or register for PEAK2022 here:
Operations—the work done to execute an organization’s mission—is critical to achieving success.
Are you looking to improve the operations outcomes of your organization? Are you looking to make service to your community better, faster or more impactful?
Our coached process deep dive helps teams see and solve their process pain points. They improve quality, reduce turn-around time and deliver more efficiently and effectively to their community. Experience our process transformation deep dive in this short video.
Operations—the work done to execute an organization’s mission—is critical to achieving success. Even during the pandemic, communities and foundation boards are asking for more from operations staff—more effectiveness, greater efficiency, and a higher degree of accuracy. They want faster turnaround time and the capacity to administer more programs.
Operations and process improvement are key to delivering on these increasing expectations.
In this webinar, you will learn how foundations have improved their approach to getting work done. Next, we will help you identify potential opportunities for maximizing how processes, people, and systems can lead to better outcomes and enhanced impact. Finally, we will explain the steps needed to achieve great results from operations and process improvement.
Speaker: Lee Kuntz, Certified Process Coach and CLSSBB
Date: May 25, 2022, 2:00–2:45 pm CT
Once you register, you will receive a Zoom meeting invite. We hope you will join us for this free informational session.
Do you want to learn to transform processes and operations, which is different content than this webinar? Then contact Lee Kuntz at 651-330-7076 or lee @improveprocess.net to share your needs. And click here to experience our process deep dive.
Operations—the work done to execute an organization’s mission—is critical to achieving success. Even during the pandemic, communities and foundation boards are asking for more from operations staff—more effectiveness, greater efficiency, and a higher degree of accuracy. They want faster turnaround time and the capacity to administer more programs.
Operations and process improvement are key to delivering on these increasing expectations.
In this webinar, you will learn how foundations have improved their approach to getting work done. Next, we will help you identify potential opportunities for maximizing how processes, people, and systems can lead to better outcomes and enhanced impact. Finally, we will explain the steps needed to achieve great results from operations and process improvement.
Speaker: Lee Kuntz, Certified Process Coach and CLSSBB
Date: March 24, 2022, 1:00–2:00 pm CT
Once you register, you will receive a Zoom meeting invite. We hope you will join us for this free informational session.
When a foundation updates its software system, the purchase typically requires years of research and a financial investment that can run well into six figures. So it’s important to make the most of that purchase. The most effective way to do that is to use system upgrades as an opportunity to reexamine internal processes.
In this live, no-cost “About Process Transformation” webinar, you will hear a couple of best practices for redesigning and maximizing business processes and practices during new system implementation.
Speaker: Lee Kuntz, Certified Process Coach, CLSSBB
Webinar: Thursday, May 19, 2022; 1:00 pm–1:45 pm CT
Register in advance for this meeting:
Once you register, you will receive a Zoom meeting invite. We look forward to you joining us for this informational session.
Presentation link: IPD webinar 2022 – Process Redesign to Maximize New Systems Success Three Case Studies
Do you want to learn to transform processes and operations, which is different content than this webinar? Then contact Lee Kuntz at 651-330-7076 or lee @improveprocess.net to share your needs. And click here to experience our process deep dive.
Contact Lee today to discuss your challenge.
