Taking on a New Challenge

I don't know if you are facing a problem similar to the one I am attempting to confront. For many months, the central problem I have been attempting to address is that the organization I work for is underdeveloped. When I started at CUWiN, there was no Board of Directors, no real decision-making process, and no structures for accountability. We didn't even have an accurate accounting of our own books.

Since September, I have been working to address these problems with varying levels of success. While I won't go into the details of how CUWiN has gone about its organizational development here, I will note that it has been a process fraught with peril. Part of this is because I am completely willing to be confrontational, which some people simply can't handle (especially if they have ego-maniacal tendencies). However, the biggest part of the problem has been my foolish attempt to reinvent the wheel. I have been approaching organizational development as if one can get things together simply by reasoned argument. I still believe strongly in reason, but I am now aware of two things which are reasons to change my tactics: a) many, many people are unreasonable, especially when their relationships to other people are at stake; and b) there is a vast literature available from really smart people about how to develop an organization.

Given these new facts, I am altering my approach to addressing the challenges that I am confronting in my day-to-day work. I am embarking on a journey to educate myself about how to develop organizations and to organize that knowledge in my blogging. I am also inviting anyone who is interested in joining me. I believe that there are many people who are probably facing similar organizational challenges who will benefit from this work.

And yes, I'm calling it work because it is work.It is, in many ways, the most essential work that I can do at this time. To me, the stakes are the development or death of the organization. I don't believe the organization can survive the stagnation that has persisted for more than a year. I also believe that the organization has a lot to offer the community in which I live and the world at large.

My Strategy

I am starting with the following website: http://foundationcenter.org/. Having glanced through it, I have found many of the thoughts to be quite useful. I am going to the library this afternoon to locate some of the resources that are there. I will report the resource I find on the wiki, but I will comment on those resources in this blog. In this way, I hope to begin a resource center for VISTAs who are face similar challenges.

If you wish to engage this journey, you can do so in many ways beyond simply reading this blog. If you want to help review materials, I certainly welcome that. If there are things that you are already reading/reviewing/using, let me know and I will search for other materials, that way we can maximize our coverage. If you want to help review materials but have no idea how to get started, please let me know and I will point you to materials that need to be covered. Finally, if you don't really want to get involved but you have references or ideas, please share them with me. I'm hungry for new sources of information.

Comment from danielle martin on May 12, 2007 - 1:24pm

Hey Ross,

Kevin Palmer, the current VISTA at HOME Inc and future VISTA Leader at UMB, had done a lot of research this year on organizational development and strategic planning.

We had a great consultant last year, Jillaine Smith, who does TANP stuff but also does a lot of organizational development stuff as well. Her blog is http://jillaine.blogspot.com/ but I'm sure if you emailed her, she'd send you lots of info.

I also know that Lauren B. at Media Bridges in OH is asking similar questions about strategic planning.

And maybe you could put what info you gather on the CTC VISTA Wiki?

-Danielle

Comment from danielle martin on May 14, 2007 - 10:42am

I also found this org in my travels: Interaction Institute for Social Change - looks like a good list of resources.

-D