The Challenge

Working with a client with a 20,000+ member presence on a vastly distributed global landscape, the challenges to consider were myriad. These constraints included orientation, socio-economic status, geographical diversity, and disability.

Lessons Learned

• Human-centered: Age and user orientation were not effectively considered for this project. Challenges were evident with a dominant late Gen X to Baby boomer population of creatives. Looking ahead, future assessment designs will assume a more intentional audience-targeted approach accounting for demographic and social normative influences. In this instance, we will account for fewer lines of questions and more time for the creative minds, and more intentional socialization before the live sessions to get adequate participant buy-in.
• Time zone divide: With geographical challenges due to varied time differences across Australia, Europe, North America, & APAC region, this presented a challenge. Layered on top of that is a predominantly (>60%) working population, and difficulties with availability were evident. We employed intentional approaches such as time zone converters to find the best common hours. We used multiple sessions at varying times of the day to capture the different time zones. Looking ahead, we will leverage asynchronous data-gathering methods to ensure inclusion and maximize reach.
• Universal Access divide: Individuals living with physical disabilities are often disadvantaged when it comes to accessing the internet. They may have the necessary skills but cannot exploit the available hardware and software. Some parts of the world will remain segregated from the internet and its vast potential due to a lack of digital literacy skills, low education levels, and inadequate broadband infrastructure. Individuals on the autism spectrum and those with reading challenges may need extra time to comprehend text and compose a response with adequate cognitive processing time. Asynchronous data collection methods can be leveraged to offer more time for responses.

The Challenge

What started as a leadership transition project rapidly grew into a multi-month effort to help the new Executive Director of a literary association transform her organization with clear goals and an authentic DEI approach. Transformation required growing from a 50-year-old, founder-led creative organization with limited standards and a risky revenue model to a transparent, sustainable industry leader. Our early assessment revealed immature budgeting approaches, limited financial systems, and gut- rather than data-based decision-making.

What We Did / Results

Our team partnered with the ED to analyze the issues, build financial capacity in the board, and equip the ED with foundational financial knowledge. As a result, the organization was pushed to make data-informed decisions about its priorities, revamp its membership model, and address financial transparency issues. The most significant change took place within the ED who grew from a place of fear and financial ignorance to having confidence that she and her board could identify and solve the organization’s financial challenges.

The Challenge

For over 50 years, the founder of the client organization built a vibrant literary association with the help of a close friend and industry influencers. Organically, the organization grew until it reached 20,000+ members and boasted chapters worldwide. Despite the growth, the organization remained connected to the founder, with decision-making power closely held by a few individuals. Over the years, the world changed, but the organization maintained its legacy leadership, ad hoc operations, and personality-led approach. When a crisis around transparency and equity triggered the founder’s early retirement, her daughter-in-law was next in line for the Executive Director role. While the new ED was highly qualified for the role, the promotion was complicated by external critique, split loyalties within the board and advisory council, the outgoing ED’s new staff position, and interpersonal dynamics between the ED and her mother-in-law.

What We Did / Results

Conscient Strategies and our partners Axle were brought in to help usher the new ED through a tumultuous leadership transition and set the organization on a new course. With a combination of advisory support, coaching, conflict mediation, and strategic support, we were able to help the ED stabilize the organization, transition legacy leadership and, in time, calm the relationship with the founder.

What We Did

Coaching was a safe place created for the ED to talk about the leadership struggles. The coach became part of select calls between coaching sessions to gain context for the organization and observe the ED’s behaviors. We established a weekly cadence to work with the ED on the goals and actions necessary to implement organizational changes.

What We Discovered

Ongoing coaching and observation uncovered the leader’s struggle with follow-through and that she was overwhelmed by the deliverables. Our agile process helped her set more attainable actions to deliver results and we were able to adjust our delivery at the right level for the ED and her team.

Results

The coach reported that the ED was able to practice hard conversations with staff around change and build confidence through coaching. Everyone involved in the project, internally and externally, saw a dramatic difference in the new ED’s executive decision-making skills from the beginning to the end of the project. 

What We Did

With a combination of organizational assessment, advisory support, coaching, conflict mediation, and strategic support, we were able to help the ED stabilize the organization, and set it on a new course.

To begin, we employed the Conscient Strategies Organizational Assessment to evaluate past experience, current context and future opportunities.  This tool considers the impact that mission, programmatic practices, structure, organizational culture, leadership and team dynamics, and decision making considerations may have on an organization’s success. To complete the assessment, we considered the following:

Attract Talent

Of key importance in attracting talent is reflecting the commitment of the company to DEI principles and actions. We worked with the team to develop a DEI business case, ensuring that everyone understood the value of a diverse team and was excited to proceed. DEI was already part of the values of the organization, and we worked to improve the language and make the value more visible on the website. We established recruitment goals and job description best practices so that everyone within the organization was executing against the same standards and to ensure that wording and job requirements optimized inclusivity.  In order to attract a more diverse talent pool, we identified target communities that were rooted in DEI principles and could identify and refer potential candidates.

Recruit Talent

The processes the organization had for recruiting were evaluated and an overhaul of their processes was conducted.  We undertook a review of the interview process, sourcing, and outreach.  It was discovered that there was a limited scope for each of these.   We expanded the locations where this organization sourced talent.  Importantly, we worked with the team to establish relationships with organizations who could refer individuals, expand the locations where they typically posted announcements, and expand the audience who would be interested or hear about the opportunities. We also updated all job descriptions to ensure that they met best practices.

Hire

Recommendations and an implementation plan were created to advance the direction for hiring decisions. Specific criteria were established for interviewing candidates, and the team worked to broaden identification of experiences that would be relevant. We also established an Applicant Tracking System to track demographics of applicants.

Retain

Retention is heavily influenced by a sense of inclusion and belonging. A survey highlighted some of the issues that currently existed across different groups of employees. We conducted two all staff, virtual retreats to explore concerns and potential opportunities. Recommendations ranged from specific tactics, such as always sending slides and agenda ahead of meetings to accommodate staff with visual and other access impairments, to broader issues such as staff development efforts, performance management, and ongoing feedback. In order to ensure that DEI principles were integrated into all operations, we developed an Equity Lens. The purpose of the Equity Lens was to provide a framework to evaluate decisions and actions that result in more equitable outcomes. Decisions and activities are being filtered through the Equity Lens for all aspects of the organization – from recruitment and hiring practices, to operations processes, vendor selection, partnership efforts, and programmatic work.