The Only Constant Is Change

Many nonprofit organizations are focused on changing society, yet they often fear changing themselves. Whether it's a recent change in executives, a contemplated merger, a new organizational structure, or a dramatically changing market that requires new ways of thinking, La Piana Consulting can help the individuals in your nonprofit adjust to and embrace change, using it to strengthen the organization.

Change is often hard to navigate. When grappling with uncertainty, it is tempting for nonprofit organizations to mistakenly rely on myths about managing change. We can help you dispel those myths and lead your organization through the transformation.

Myth #1 - Things will calm down.

Nonprofit organizations tend to think that if they can just get through the present period of turmoil, all will settle down. Actually, the nonprofit world has never been very calm, and it looks to remain chaotic in the coming years. Drivers of change include:

• Economic upheaval on a scale not seen since the Depression will radically change both the need for nonprofits as well as their means for providing service
• Demographic changes, including minority majorities in many states and communities, aging of the baby boomers, etc.
• Competitive forces stemming from economic and demographic change
• New demands from funders and the public for accountability and measurable outcomes

La Piana Consulting can help your organization to define and appreciate its place in the environment in which it operates, anticipate the external forces that will necessitate change, and identify successful strategies to address needed change.

Myth #2 - Planning can fully prepare us for change.

Nonprofits desperately want to predict the future, often creating five-year plans to prepare for a future that will little resemble the one anticipated. As a result, many of our nonprofit clients are turning to annual planning cycles in an effort to better anticipate changes in a timeframe they can grasp and act upon.

We can support your organization in translating its long-term plan into a coordinated series of short-term steps to keep you moving in the right direction. We can also take you through a full Real-Time Strategic Planning process that will better position your organization and help your leadership understand and respond to the changing environment.

Myth #3 - We can control change.

Judging from the number of books and articles on the topic, nonprofit managers like reading about change. But can you control change? Certainly not on the macro level. Can you control the direction of the stock market or the level of individual philanthropy? The answer is no.

The prudent nonprofit leader looks at what she can control, but also tries to prepare to manage and govern her organization in a dynamic and uncertain world. La Piana Consulting can help your organization define and advance toward change in a way that will best enhance its mission – starting with tools to help prepare you for change you haven’t anticipated.

Our clients come to us with a host of changes that are needed, desired, and/or feared. We have helped organizations affect positive change in a variety of ways, creating results such as:

• A more active board of directors
• A staff that works together more effectively
• An organization that can develop and stick to a reasonable budget
• An executive director who more effectively brings in necessary resources
• An end to a board-management conflict that has festered too long
• Lower staff turnover/better morale
• A change in the way staff deliver services (to meet changing funder or client needs)
• An organization that does not repeat the same mistakes
• An end to a constant financial crisis that is draining everyone's energy
• A larger market share - i.e., a greater portion of the target population served

We can also develop proactive or responsive marketing, public relations, and internal and external communications strategies to support organizational change and help assure its success.