Strategic Restructuring Made Simple

Leadership Workshops

The board and the management team are the key players in any strategic restructuring discussion. While we do not suggest that all nonprofits should undertake strategic restructuring, we do see it as a tool that belongs in every nonprofit leader's toolbox.

Funders also play a crucial role in nonprofit strategic restructuring. They are often the first to recognize that particular nonprofits could benefit from such an effort, but may be unclear on how to broach the subject appropriately. On the other hand, a funder may be approached for grant support of a strategic restructuring effort. How should such a proposal be met? What questions should a funder ask?

La Piana Consulting offers a variety of workshops pertaining to different aspects of strategic restructuring, focused on different audiences including staff and board members of nonprofit organizations as well as private and public funders. We can present a range of strategic restructuring concepts in a user-friendly format, on both introductory and advanced topics, explaining the 'why,' 'when' and 'how' of a tool that can help organizations coming from either positions of strength or positions of weakness.

If you are interested in a customized workshop for your organization, contact us today.

A partial list of potential topics includes:

• Beyond Collaboration: Strategic Restructuring for Nonprofit Organizations
• Board Training on Strategic Restructuring
• The Funder’s Role in Strategic Restructuring
• Consolidating Back Office Functions (for nonprofits or small foundations)
• Implementing a Strategic Restructuring Decision
• What to Expect When Your Organization Goes Through Strategic Restructuring: A Workshop for Managers
• Case Study Panel: SR Survivors
• Developing Multi-Funder Partnerships for Special Initiatives

Consultant Trainings

An important element of Strategic Solutions Initiative that founded La Piana Consulting’s Strategic Restructuring practice, was to train a cadre of consultants in the specific skills and tools that are required to successfully facilitate strategic restructuring projects with nonprofit organizations. There are specific processes we have found to be particularly helpful and important elements of a successful effort. Though many of the necessary skills are similar to those employed in other types of consulting work — strategic planning, board development, and conflict resolution, for example — there are others that are more unique.

Research has shown that very few consultants have experience in this area. As more and more nonprofits pursue strategic restructuring, the need for skilled consultant-facilitators will grow. There is already much greater demand than supply, and we have heard from countless nonprofits who would like to find a strategic restructuring "expert" in their own region. Our goal was to help meet this need through expanded training and support for those consultants who wish to take on that challenge.

To this end, Strategic Solutions developed a Three Phase Training Program for consultants interested in facilitating strategic restructuring efforts with and for their nonprofit clients. Phase I is a full-day session that provides a basic overview of our method for negotiating a strategic restructuring process. The second phase of our program is an in-depth three-day training based on an extended role-play. Phase III is a "learning community" for training participants, enabling them to share their experiences with others as they begin to work in the field of strategic restructuring and brainstorm approaches to the challenges they may be facing.

If you are interested in sponsoring a consultant training in your region, contact us today.