Here’s a tip about some more support for you…
If you’ve been on our training that we’ve been running in Yorkshire and the Humber then you will already know about this site. And you’ll know that if you do come on the training we offer, you get access to your own special section of the website for even more tailored and interactive support!
As members of this site will know all too well, there are loads of tools out there to help you develop a strategy and a strategic plan.
Ever since we started work on our guide to managing change, From Here to There, my team’s been interested in approaches and exercises that help organisations think through how to implement changes to their organisation.
In our experience, one of the outcomes of a strategic planning process is that a group of staff conclude they need to make changes to the organisation in order to deliver their new strategy. Strategic planning tools might help open up options or compare and contrast different opportunities and external trends. Most good practice advice stops short of helping you with implementing your strategy or changing your organisation.
There’s good reasons for this. Organisations are complex things and it is hard to generalise about how to implement strategic change without just stating the obvious.
One approach I’ve seen recently that I liked is McKinsey’s 7-S framework.
It is a tool that highlights different factors that influence an organisation’s ability to change. These are described as,
style – culture and informal practices
skills – both institutional and individual
strategy – what you are trying to achieve?
shared values – bedrock of your organisation
structure – how you’re organised and where authority lies in your organisation
staff – all the different people in your organisation and how they’re developed.
systems – processes used in managing the organisation.
All these factors are interrelated and on an equal footing, underlining the point that significant change in one aspect of the organisation will be difficult to sustain without planning or accomodating change in the other aspects.
It doesn’t work any magic, sadly, but it can provide a useful reminder about the different issues to consider when planning strategic change in an organisation.
I can be allergic to some private-sector strategy tools. I have found some to be filled with jargon, over-complicated and focusing people on completing the exercise rather than finding and agreeing a solution to a problem.
While this framework isn’t a neat and easy solution to the complexities of change management you might find it a useful tool to add to your planning processes and discussions, whether you’re using it as a simple checklist or working through the framework systematically in planning meetings.
You can view a short narrated introduction to the framework on the McKinsey website here
I remembered seeing Natalie’s post quite a few months ago when I read last week media comments on the latest immigration figures published by the Office of National Statistics.
Andy Travis from the Guardian wrote in the article Immigration falls and set to decline further in recession: A decline in immigration is starting to accelerate as the recession bites, with a 36% fall in the number of Poles and other east Europeans coming to work in Britain recorded so far this year.
Apparently 59,000 Polish people and other east Europeans registered to work in Britain between July and September 2007, and only 38,000 over the same period this year. This is the lowest level since Poland joined the EU in 2004.
That’s an interesting question Stephen. The ‘disintermediation’ question came up many times when we were working on the ICT Foresight project. In relation to giving we concluded that intermediaries would not necessarily be cut out, but that new kinds of intermediaries would be required. Here is the relevant extract from ICT Foresight: charitable giving and fundraising in a digital world (download PDF)
Future organisational models
This report has explored how the internet can facilitate connections between donors and organisations, and between donors and beneficiaries. It has also explored how the internet can potentially empower donors to make an informed choice about which organisation to support, to choose where to direct their money, and to use their networks to fundraise for organisations. If indeed power does shift away from organisations and towards individuals then this will raise questions about the most effective models that organisations can use to direct donations towards their work on the ground. As Nick Booth and Andy Dearden discuss, some organisations may shift from being deliverers to facilitators and market makers:
Nick: What we’re describing in terms of the network means that charities become a couple of things: firstly a safe place to store money, and secondly a network to distribute other resources, but not much else. In the future you could imagine a model whereby beneficiaries are telling the stories and are nominating a safe place to store donations, so they’re saying ‘if you want to help us please do it through this mechanism’. And it doesn’t necessarily have to be a charity, it could be a bank. Obviously there are issues with this model but it could mean that potentially the role of charities is shifting or there’s a gap for a new kind of charity.
Andy: If we go back to the comparison with ecommerce we can learn from what Tescos do. Tescos don’t buy products to sell; they rent out shelf space to their suppliers who then compete. The Tesco brand operates simply to bring people to the market place; they’re the market makers.
Nick Booth and Andy Dearden (roundtable discussion, June 2007)
These new intermediaries already exist. Chipin.com provides a safe place to store money, raised for any purpose. Realitycharity.com connects donors directly to individuals requiring help. In the future VCOs may need to become aggregators of projects and allow donors more choice over who they give their money to, or else risk new intermediary organisations, which may not even be charities, moving into the gap.
I read an article this morning which stated that the most trusted source of information on the economic situation is not the Prime Minister or even the Chancellor of the Exchequer, but the BBC’s business editor, Robert Peston. This raises interesting questions about trust in institutions and where people get their information about events impacting on their lives. Something to think about for information providers?
Kathryn
Reply to 'KnowHow NonProfit' by kathryncook
Here’s a tip about some more support for you…
If you’ve been on our training that we’ve been running in Yorkshire and the Humber then you will already know about this site. And you’ll know that if you do come on the training we offer, you get access to your own special section of the website for even more tailored and interactive support!
Jake
Planning for strategic change: the 7-S framework
As members of this site will know all too well, there are loads of tools out there to help you develop a strategy and a strategic plan.
Ever since we started work on our guide to managing change, From Here to There, my team’s been interested in approaches and exercises that help organisations think through how to implement changes to their organisation.
In our experience, one of the outcomes of a strategic planning process is that a group of staff conclude they need to make changes to the organisation in order to deliver their new strategy. Strategic planning tools might help open up options or compare and contrast different opportunities and external trends. Most good practice advice stops short of helping you with implementing your strategy or changing your organisation.
There’s good reasons for this. Organisations are complex things and it is hard to generalise about how to implement strategic change without just stating the obvious.
One approach I’ve seen recently that I liked is McKinsey’s 7-S framework.
It is a tool that highlights different factors that influence an organisation’s ability to change. These are described as,
All these factors are interrelated and on an equal footing, underlining the point that significant change in one aspect of the organisation will be difficult to sustain without planning or accomodating change in the other aspects.
It doesn’t work any magic, sadly, but it can provide a useful reminder about the different issues to consider when planning strategic change in an organisation.
I can be allergic to some private-sector strategy tools. I have found some to be filled with jargon, over-complicated and focusing people on completing the exercise rather than finding and agreeing a solution to a problem.
While this framework isn’t a neat and easy solution to the complexities of change management you might find it a useful tool to add to your planning processes and discussions, whether you’re using it as a simple checklist or working through the framework systematically in planning meetings.
You can view a short narrated introduction to the framework on the McKinsey website here
Véronique
Is migration from Poland reaching a tipping point?
I remembered seeing Natalie’s post quite a few months ago when I read last week media comments on the latest immigration figures published by the Office of National Statistics.
Andy Travis from the Guardian wrote in the article Immigration falls and set to decline further in recession: A decline in immigration is starting to accelerate as the recession bites, with a 36% fall in the number of Poles and other east Europeans coming to work in Britain recorded so far this year.
Apparently 59,000 Polish people and other east Europeans registered to work in Britain between July and September 2007, and only 38,000 over the same period this year. This is the lowest level since Poland joined the EU in 2004.
Megan
Ease of reaching niche groups
That’s an interesting question Stephen. The ‘disintermediation’ question came up many times when we were working on the ICT Foresight project. In relation to giving we concluded that intermediaries would not necessarily be cut out, but that new kinds of intermediaries would be required. Here is the relevant extract from ICT Foresight: charitable giving and fundraising in a digital world (download PDF)
Future organisational models
This report has explored how the internet can facilitate connections between donors and organisations, and between donors and beneficiaries. It has also explored how the internet can potentially empower donors to make an informed choice about which organisation to support, to choose where to direct their money, and to use their networks to fundraise for organisations. If indeed power does shift away from organisations and towards individuals then this will raise questions about the most effective models that organisations can use to direct donations towards their work on the ground. As Nick Booth and Andy Dearden discuss, some organisations may shift from being deliverers to facilitators and market makers:
Nick: What we’re describing in terms of the network means that charities become a couple of things: firstly a safe place to store money, and secondly a network to distribute other resources, but not much else. In the future you could imagine a model whereby beneficiaries are telling the stories and are nominating a safe place to store donations, so they’re saying ‘if you want to help us please do it through this mechanism’. And it doesn’t necessarily have to be a charity, it could be a bank. Obviously there are issues with this model but it could mean that potentially the role of charities is shifting or there’s a gap for a new kind of charity.
Andy: If we go back to the comparison with ecommerce we can learn from what Tescos do. Tescos don’t buy products to sell; they rent out shelf space to their suppliers who then compete. The Tesco brand operates simply to bring people to the market place; they’re the market makers.
Nick Booth and Andy Dearden (roundtable discussion, June 2007)
These new intermediaries already exist. Chipin.com provides a safe place to store money, raised for any purpose. Realitycharity.com connects donors directly to individuals requiring help. In the future VCOs may need to become aggregators of projects and allow donors more choice over who they give their money to, or else risk new intermediary organisations, which may not even be charities, moving into the gap.
Caroline
The impact of an economic slowdown on the VCS – seminar summary
I read an article this morning which stated that the most trusted source of information on the economic situation is not the Prime Minister or even the Chancellor of the Exchequer, but the BBC’s business editor, Robert Peston. This raises interesting questions about trust in institutions and where people get their information about events impacting on their lives. Something to think about for information providers?