Operate Intentionally to Grow Sustainably

Growth can be exciting and is often a major goal for mission driven organizations and their funders, as they seek to expand their impact and solve critical societal challenges. Yet many growing organizations find themselves facing similar internal challenges, as the operational practices that met their needs when they were small begin to fall short when faced with growth. Despite thriving by many measures – with expanding budgets, staff, and programs – growing organizations often find themselves grappling with decreasing effectiveness and increasing staff burnout and turnover.

This session aims to help organizations that are growing or planning to grow avoid common pitfalls and build a people-centered operations foundation that supports sustainable organizational growth. By building foundational systems and practices before growing substantially, an organization can minimize the distractions and inefficiency caused by the constant work-arounds and confusion that persist absent operational foresight, and save themselves from having to spend significant time and resources playing “catch up” to eventually build a reliable foundation.

We will talk about:

• Key philosophies to guide sustainable growth
• Key people-centered operations systems to have in place, diving most deeply into those that are often overlooked or undervalued
• Resources to help organizations build these key systems

Intended Audience

Executive Directors and any staff directly responsible for managing operations (including finance, facilities, technology, data, risk, internal communication, and human resources) in an organization that’s growing or planning for growth.