As the leader of The Fedcap Group, an ever-growing network of non-profit agencies, it is my job to
ensure that we are credible, accountable, and responsible to our boards, staff, donors and funders.
And, we do not want to be a part of the well-researched statistic that tells us that 75% of the time,
businesses—both for-profit and non-profit—fall short of delivering on their strategy—due to poor
implementation.
What gets in the way of implementation? And how do we do it better?
Research tells us there are three key issues that get in the way of successful implementation and that
these issues are also at the heart of improved implementation: organizational leadership, structure,
and culture.
At The Fedcap Group, we are working to improve and ultimately excel in each of these areas. We talk
about it, we disagree about it, we find solutions, and we solve problems together.
Finding top talent to effectively implement strategy is challenging in this current market. We have to
work hard to be considered a premier employer and then equally as hard to ensure that we our
outreach and recruitment strategies outpace other premier employers. We are currently in the process
of redefining our leadership characteristic, our job descriptions, our recruitment interviewing and
onboarding strategies to make certain that we find and keep the best of the best.
We also need smart and effective structures in place to advance the precision of the work. My staff
hear me say all the time: Good people fail in the absence of structure. In fact, organizations fail all the time because of the absence of structure. Goals, Strategy to advance the goals and Structure
to advance the strategy are three effective implementation. We require that all of our leadership staff are trained and skilled in mapping process—and know how to build structure. At The Fedcap Group we have embraced the concept of a cube. Advancing the work of our companies by leveraging the national expertise and program models of our practice area leaders, through regional framework supported and sustained through Corporate Services.
Finally, culture as we all know, is said to eat vision for lunch. Each year, we bring our leadership
together in person at least three times. These gatherings are a large investment of time and talent and
resources, and worth it. They help to build the culture of the agency. Here we set the tone, we seek to
inspire, to motivate and we work to build a cohesive way of driving change. We have also instituted a
Leadership Academy, Brown Bag Lunches, Fed Talks and a variety of new employee engagement
initiatives to support our culture building efforts.
It is through this collaborative leadership, structure, and culture that we are building the kind of
organization that effectively implements—meeting the promise of board, staff, donors and funders.
How do you implement effectively?
As always, I welcome your thoughts.