There are many gifted facilitators that specialize in guiding a nonprofit boards through the process of strategic planning.  For a foundation going through its first planning process, using one of these resources will meet their needs and get the job done.  But what should a foundation do if over the course of years it has worked through this process, maybe even worked through an updated plan, and needs a jump start? 

Yeager and Associates stands ready to "raise the bar" in helping foundation leadership to re-imagine expectations of foundation performance and community impact. We will bring a depth of expertise to the table to illuminate current practices, stimulate discussion, and to assist a board in discerning a path ahead. 

Securing a thorough sense of the organization’s capacity is the second link in the chain that aligns strategic goals with operations capacity.

The keys to navigating the sheer volume of detail within an organization are:

• Selecting the right techniques to guide the approach.
• Selecting consultants who bring foundation expertise to the table.

The Business Operations Assessment gathers insights to challenges across the organization in a non-judgmental problem focused manner. See below for a full description or (download PDF)

Change management begins with making sure that strategic and operational planning are aligned.

But this first link in the chain between strategic planning and business outcomes is broken: planning exercises confuse brain storming with planning; operations plans, when they exist, are only loosely connected to the strategic plan.

The Business Strategy Audit links up existing plans to an in-depth analysis of an organization’s historic and current reality.

A Business Strategy Audit engagement serves to bring focus to the “business” objectives embedded in planning documents, and bring into relief whether this plan is aligned or at odds with historical trends. See below for a full description or (download PDF )

The Gap Analysis distills and articulates the capacity building needs identified in the strategy audit and operations assessment.

The Business Objectives define core competencies that address each of these gaps.

The Solutions Landscape is the series of solutions (applications and management practices) to be deployed to meet each objective are sketched. It represents a domain of potential projects that will build required competencies. See below for a full description or (download PDF)

This article is written for a staff member that has been drafted into writing a technology plan.  You need a plan.  You need it quickly.  You don't want to look like an idiot.  You would like to be successful.   It sounds so simple.

The life-cycle of change management may have aligned planning, assessed operations and sketched a landscape of needs, but up until now, it still has not implemented anything.

When confronted with the laundry list of things that need to be done, managers have been known to run away and hide…

The Wish-List to Action Plan engagement provides the methodology to reduce the list to the 4-5 projects that will be undertaken over the next year. See below for a full description or (download PDF)

The time has come to make it happen/ to implement/ to bring about change.

Is this your comfort zone?

Yeager and Associates understands change management: this is our core competency. We can help.

Technical Services engagements are designed to supplement your in-house resources, performing tasks with a minimum of process overhead.

The pages that follow describe several types of engagements designed to meet a client’s specific requirements, or (download PDF)

this is the stub for implementation services

H. Implementation Preparation
Implementation and Transition planning is important because it pulls together the tasks necessary for placing a system in the hand of its users and customers.  It includes elements that will facilitate communication and coordination across the team for a successful rollout.  .
This engagement will focus on three aspects of implementation planning:
o    Resource Requirements – Making sure you have all of the resources (financial, staff and management) to have a successful rollout.  This section includes detailed templates for task assignments.
o    Best Practices in Implementation and Transition – What are the things you need to watch carefully?
o    Training - The proof is in the pudding: if users don’t use the system, it is a failure.  But training is expensive.  This section includes strategies to formulate a cost effective just-in-time training plan
 

note to self: remember resource document

“Change”, with a capital ‘C’, describes life within an organization in the midst of a transition in senior leadership. 

When searching for a new CEO, most organizations do not hesitate to spend considerable time and resources to find the best candidate.

But has the organization spent the resources to make this candidate successful?

Transition Services provided by Yeager and Associates can help.  See below for a full description or (download PDF)

Agility in a Time of Change:   Professional Services

by: Douglass Yeager and Associates, LLC

Managing transformation represents a chain of orchestrated actions organized in the pursuit of a common goal. The life cycle shown on the right shows the links critical to effective alignment between strategic goals and operational results.

• Does the operations plan reflect the strategic goals of the organization?
• Do investments in business technology support operational objectives?
• Do business activities adapt to take advantage of new technologies?

Managing transformation means attention to all aspects of the life cycle:

• Strategic planning alone will not lead to changes to operations,
• Technology acquisitions per se are without substance,
• Action Plans without direction are as a march without a drummer.

Yeager & Assoc. offers tactical business deliverables to meet a foundation’s needs across each aspect of the transformation life cycle. Each engagement focuses on its own ROI, schedule of milestones and deliverables, yet is grounded in an understanding of a projects role within this life cycle. Yeager & Assoc. will supply unequalled expertise in fulfilling these assignments.

For a more detailed description of these services, please see the following chapters:

•     The Business Strategy Audit (download PDF )
•     The Business Operations Assessment (download PDF)
•     From Gaps and Objectives to a Landscape of Solutions (download PDF)
•     From Wish-List to Action Plan (download PDF)
•     Technical Services: Making it Happen (download PDF)
•     Transition Services: Agility in Times of Change (download PDF)

We would like to invite you to become part of the circle of foundations that have chosen Yeager & Assoc. as their partner in transformation. This network shares in a commitment to making things happen, to the development of ideas, and to the forward movement of the field.

[1] See Grantmakers Information Technology Survey Report, September 2007, http://www.cof.org/files/Documents/Research/Tech%20Survey/2007FullReport.pdf