My non profit is going through some significant management changes. A few weeks ago, our CEO of eight years announced his intent to retire. Then our EVP of Human Services resigned. We have not had a head of financial development for several months, and we’ve been without a CIO (my boss) since February.
Don’t get me wrong, I love change. I think many of these are great opportunities to reshape the way we work; not so much what we do, but how we do it. It’s an exciting time, and opportunities are endless. However, we’ve had so much change lately that it seems the only constant is being “on hold”. With the CEO search underway, major initiatives are understandably on hold. But what are we to do while we wait? Specifically, what could I be doing?
My CIO left in February, so our hold time is already longer, and when he left, so did our budget. Our technology was already years behind the times for a variety of reasons, but at least our CIO had a great vision and developed our first technology strategic plan. He spent weeks surveying technology: software, hardware and the network, to be sure, but more importantly, he talked to the people who use our technology. He didn’t just talk to them about technology per say, but about their goals, their challenges and opportunities. At the end (or the beginning, depending on how you look at it) we had a vision, a plan, a budget and, for the first time ever, exposure and support from the board. With a few exceptions, that is all on hold now.
Our ERP replacement is on hold for the fourth time since 2006. Talking about it to staff, other NPO’s, and vendors is simply embarrassing. Our HRIS upgrade is on hold again, so our management has no access to manage employees, they just get weekly “rank and number” reports. Our email migration is on hold for the third time, which means our Lotus Notes database replacement is also on hold, and 84% of staff remain without email. So while we’re on hold for the next two years (give or take 2-4 months to replace each “C” position) we continue to live with inefficient systems. Just as importantly though, we continue to live with “broken processes”. The perfect thing for us to be doing right now, while we’re on hold, would be to improve our processes.
I will not be the first techie to say that IT Alignment is much more important than hardware or software, but we all know that change management is difficult. I will not get detailed about these complex topics here, but this is certainly true for my org. Because continuous process improvement is not part of our culture, and so much technology needs to be upgraded or replaced, we could be headed for serious trouble if we only focused on software. As the saying goes… “Adding technology to a bad process only adds speed to a very bad process” As I see it, there are several benefits to embracing process improvement in our org:
- Tactical: it would force us to evaluate how we do the work we do – to measure whether our technology can meet tomorrow’s goals, not just repeat the way “we’ve always done things”.
- Cultural: It would help us create a culture where change management is welcome and sought, not avoided or feared.
- Financial: we could do it now because planning doesn’t have to cost money, beyond staff time.
- Technological: not having process improvement tied to a budget means we can’t jump directly to a purchase or implementation, which would force people to understand the difference (or, as my CIO used to say, “process before technology”)
- Strategic: recognizing where we have problems isn’t something I want my new CEO or CIO to do for me – I live here, this is my house to clean up. Instead of waiting for new leadership, we should identify our problems and turn them into opportunities for them. If I was going to be a CEO (God help us all)… would I rather walk into an org that realized its challenges and wanted to change, or would I want to start telling people what they are doing wrong, only to have staff resent that?
- Social: if you are a funder, wouldn’t you rather fund an org that purposely and continually maximizes your investment?
A few months before our CIO left, we had started a BPI process that most people were really excited about, but which was cancelled (not just put on hold) when he left. We were told that process improvement is only a good exercise on paper, and that knowing what you have today (your current state) isn’t very important. I was actually told not to use the word “process”! That’s the last time we talked about process improvement in my org, so the question now is how to re-start this conversation in a more positive light, and without fear of retribution.
It will be challenging to have this discussion while the current CEO is transitioning, which could take months. What I am trying to do, in part, is to change the culture of the past eight years, and that will be difficult while he still oversees things. I am rather curious to see what the new CEO’s position about process improvement (and of course, technology overall) will be. I wonder what the interview process is like for a new CEO coming into an org like ours – one that lists technology as one of the top priorities of the strategic plan, yet has drastically reduced the IT budget, and stopped almost all projects since February.
Lastly, I would hope the new CEO isn’t afraid to hire another great CIO and can do it quickly. Better yet, bring ours back! (A selfish plea, I know, but it’s my blog). I hope we don’t have to rely on another set of consultants for months, doing the same types of analysis already done, asking the same people the same questions for the third or fourth time, and validating what we already know. This might sound a little bitter, but it’s not. I simply hope our previous work does not go by the wayside. While I value the unique experience and approach some consultants bring to the table, I would hope that our staff experience is valued first and foremost. My two-person department has a collective experience of more than 20 years in the same org!
That sounds like a good topic for my next post…
