Laying it on the line: Organizational Development in Tough Times

Reflections on a workshop by David Rodgers with Partnership for Safety and Justice

I don’t suppose you can’t get much more relevant than this topic.  As I am sure I don’t need to bring to your attention, the economic downtown has many organizations struggling more than ever to make ends meet and to remain effective in their social justice organizing.  The workshop conversation started with the participants generating a lengthy list of the “top ways to kill an organization.”  It was a little frightening to see how quickly we packed the whiteboard with a list of organizational disasters we had experienced or witnessed.  And yet it was reassuring to see the shared experience in the room of the very real challenges organizations face and the all too common mistakes they make -- thus exemplifying how clearly universal these problems are. 

Next we explored an Organizational Life Cycles model illustrating the natural sequence of birth, growth, stabilization, crisis and rebirth (or even death) that almost all organizations experience.  David encouraged us to look at these distinct challenges that present themselves at the various stages of the organizational life cycle as predictable issues that need to be patiently and diligently addressed through clear and thoughtful leadership, not simply slipped under the rug or avoided by disengaging from the organization.

One of the key learnings I took from the day, was the necessity of keeping an eye out for early warning signs of organizational problems through honest assessment tools, and then taking these issues on promptly as opposed to letting them fester and poison the organization.  David drove home the argument that having difficult honest conversations about our work and being willing to make tough decisions about our true capacity and effectiveness, although often painful in the moment, is critical to creating a healthy organization for the long term.  One such hard discussion was generated through an exercise where we were asked to “lay it on the line” as to whether organizations should lay off staff in tough times.  Being asked to choose a course of action in this situation prompted a lively discussion about the difficult balance organizations have to walk between supporting staff leaders and putting the mission first.

In order to secure funding and gain influence our organizations are so often asked to put our best foot forward.  As a result, it is a very rare and fruitful moment when we are allowed to discuss our common struggles and think clearly and creatively about how to take them on.  I wish we had had more time to problem-solve our individual organizational challenges together, but thank the Western States Center and David Rogers for helping create the space today to begin this process.