Overview

Since January 1, I’ve been working to sort through day to day functions in order identify priority needs for Interim Management. I’ve identified and begun tackling 3 priorities, as detailed below:

1. Shoring up Role Clarity and Lane Discipline

Inconsistent communication and expectations have led to mutual frustration and inadequate collaboration amongst key supervisors. I’ve been working to shore this up by doing the following:

• Reviews and goal-setting with WI Director-Level staff. (Tracy, Jen, and Amanda essentially haven’t had reviews.)
• Working to more clearly define roles for key staff.
• Establishing and enforcing stronger role discipline.
• Tying up loose ends about role ownership, policy enforcement, etc.

Optimistic Outlook: The team is responding well to clear guidance and expectations.

Key Challenge: Establishing lane discipline is an uphill battle in our current high-stress environment.

2. Cleaning Up Communication

Team communication is poor on the whole; with instances of both siloing and triangulating. I’ve been prioritizing the following:

• Establishing clear, healthy communication channels & patterns.
• Addressing and re-directing communication into the appropriate channels and patterns.
• Firming up expectations for and modeling consistent, concise, professional meetings.

Optimistic Outlook: Much of this was low-hanging fruit, and I believe that a few months of consistency will do wonders for team culture and morale.

Key Challenge: In some instances, staff have enjoyed a low-communication environment, and are in no rush to close the resulting gaps in accountability.

3. Shifting Statewide Support Systems Towards Local Ownership

Some of our systems for statewide support have been built with centralized efficiency in mind. While this has been effective in many ways, I’m learning the extent to which this can come at the expense of local ownership. I’ve begun exploring how we can re-prioritize local ownership in these processes in order to necessitate consistent touch points on clearly defined KPI’s, including:

• Fundraising
• Expense Controls/Budgets
• Family Support
• Volunteer Engagement

Optimistic Outlook: More grasp of KPI’s will lead to more buy-in from key stakeholders, including Development Boards and staff Directors.

Key Challenge: The team has a low tolerance for change, and has not received much management or leadership in this area.