“Because those of us who work in large or small organizations frequently see ineffective leadership, it’s really uplifting to know there are people who care about improving their skills as supervisors and leaders in a mindful way. They want to be better supervisors, staff people, and employees - they want to be more whole at work.”

This is how Joan Gabriele, Director, Special Undergraduate Enrichment Programs, University of Colorado at Boulder, described the importance of integrating her personal values into a high-stress work environment to become a more humane and conscious leader. Joan manages a five-person team responsible for scholarship and grant funding programs for talented and motivated undergraduates. Her desire to become this type of leader led her to a series of Mind to Lead retreats presented by Suzanne Kryder, Inc., a Washington, DC-based training and coaching company.

• Fast-paced team operations
• Personnel challenges
• Desire to lead with integrity and humanity

Joan described the fast-paced nature of her team’s operations: “We have four programs that have different applications, timelines, and trajectories and involve lots of students and processes. There’s a ton of stuff going on at all times. It’s easy to get stressed out.”

Commenting on how personnel challenges contributed to individual and team stress, Joan said, “I had an employee who suddenly had a serious medical crisis that was affecting her ability to be present at work, and there was one task in particular that would send her into a tailspin. Of course that not only affected her work but the team dynamic as well.” She also talked about the stress of terminating employees: “Over the years in various positions I’ve had to let people go. Click here for entire case study.

Erik Gustafson, Executive Director of the Education for Peace in Iraq Center (EPIC), summarized the challenges facing the organization and its needs for strategic planning and improved productivity. Headquartered in Washington, DC, EPIC promotes a free and secure Iraq by connecting and supporting organizations and individuals taking humanitarian action for peace. “It was the classic dilemma that many nonprofits find themselves in: dealing with a crisis far greater than any organization has the capacity alone to fundamentally change, and needing to find how to best devote its limited resources to create what change might be possible, while also finding ways to grow its base of support. For EPIC, that crisis was the war in Iraq.”

• Rapid growth
• Ambitious scope
• Low accountability

Founded in 1998 to reform US/UN sanctions policies and to reduce civilian suffering in Iraq, EPIC’s mission rapidly expanded in 2003 to address a flood of humanitarian concerns and human rights violations stemming from the war in Iraq. During that time, the organization experienced rapid growth: staff and budget more than tripled, and email subscribers grew from 5,000 to nearly 50,000. Click here for entire case study.

While organizational change ultimately leads to improvements in operational efficiencies and service delivery, getting there often involves leadership challenges.

Questions arise: How do we build leadership skills and confidence in people promoted to new positions? How do we increase accountability, responsibility, and consistency in implementing policies and procedures? How do we help staff resolve conflicts?

These questions faced Eastern Plains Community Action Agency (EPCAA), the organization that delivers Head Start services to children and families in six eastern New Mexico counties. To address these challenges, Mary Rose Jimenez, Director, and Susie Zamora, Associate Director, contracted with Suzanne Kryder, Inc., a Washington, DC-based training and coaching company that offers The Mind to Lead leadership development program.

• Accreditation at risk
• Low accountability
• High absenteeism

Several factors impacted the agency’s mission, and they required change. In the previous organizational structure, mid-level area managers oversaw local supervisors at sites up to 100 miles from EPCAA’s central office. The following challenges arose:

• In some cases, area managers were either not involved enough or overly involved.

• Inconsistencies among the area managers put national accreditation at risk.

• Though retirements provided opportunities for new people to step into leadership roles, some supervisors did not have the necessary skills to fill these positions. Mary Rose said, “I was becoming concerned that we were having staff retire. I felt some staff – those here long enough who should be ready – weren’t ready to move into higher-level positions. Transitioning them was of real concern, because they were unable or unwilling to take on that additional responsibility.”

• The agency struggled with accountability and responsibility issues at all levels as employees were not following policies and procedures. Susie commented, “Staff members were able to make excuses. Things didn’t get done, and excuses were accepted. Personnel pieces and dealing with personalities were huge challenges keeping us from offering the services we wanted to provide.”

• Staff members avoided difficult conversations and did not hold each other accountable.

• Absenteeism was high among supervisors and employees. Click here for entire case study.