Disentropy Consulting

Meetings. When they go well, they are efficient and productive. When they don’t the result is frustration and demotivation. Does any of this sound familiar? There is no clear agenda, and there are no clearly established goals for the outcome of the meeting. It’s not clear who’s in charge of the meeting, or sometimes even who called the meeting. We keep having the same meeting over and over. We have a meeting and agree on something, but nothing seems to happen as a result. The person that called the meeting doesn’t really seem to want the other attendees’ input; it’s just a formality to check a box. The person facilitating the meeting is the boss, and no one is willing to say what they really think or to disagree. There’s polite conversation, but there’s an elephant in the room that no one is willing to address. Some attendees seem to have a different agenda, and hijack or derail the meeting. People are constantly on their phones or computers. You keep looking at your watch waiting for the meeting to end. Many times business meetings are straightforward and they achieve their goals. But sometimes there’s a big, meaty topic, with a critical decision to be made. It really is important to get everyone’s input and buy-in, but it doesn’t happen. In these situations, an independent. unbiased facilitator can be invaluable. Yes, it costs money to bring in an outsider. But what is the price of lack of progress and wasted time? Good meetings start with good preparation. This means anticipating what the point of view of all of the attendees will be and being ready to address their concerns. It means having all of the data that is necessary to make the critical decisions and making sure all of the right people are in the room. It means having a well-defined agenda with clear goals and expectations for the outcome. It means being willing to expose the elephant in the room and being prepared to deal with it. At Disentropy, we don’t just show up and run the meeting. Ideally, we start by talking to the participants individually, to gauge their positions and understand their questions and concerns. It’s surprising what people will tell an independent party that they wouldn’t directly tell their co-workers or their boss. A good lawyer will tell you that you never ask a witness a question in court that you don’t already know the answer to. We believe that for critical matters, you shouldn’t have a meeting unless you know everyone’s position in advance. A good meaning has clear action items, with responsibility and timelines established. And when the meeting is over, Disentropy can continue to follow up to ensure that the action items stay on track and are completed. When you have a critical meeting, with a difficult topic, consider an outside facilitator. You will find that it is money well spent. Contact us today to discuss your needs. We strive to always work with you to work within your budget to meet your needs.

The first step in creating a successful business is to have a clear, well thought-out strategy. But that strategy will never be successfully or efficiently executed unless you have the right organizational structure and people in place to make it happen. Too many times, there are unclear or overlapping roles, people who are getting things done even though they are not part of their official job description, and things falling through the cracks. It’s great in the short term when people jump in to get things done, but it inevitably means that they are not getting to something that is in their job description, and then those things fall through the cracks. In addition to things just not getting done, this organizational inefficiency creates stress and frustration among employees. They tend to think that if they don’t do it, no one will, and begin to question what everyone else is actually doing. They often don’t get praise or recognition for these “extra” tasks. This leads to resentment and burnout, and ultimate employee turnover. Then the organization is really stuck, because a person who was holding things together through their individual heroic acts is gone. And management may not even be aware of all the things they were doing, so it’s hard to write an accurate job description to hire someone new. Does any of this sound familiar? Stuff isn’t getting done. Or it’s getting done, but by people who aren’t “supposed” to be doing it. No one is sure exactly who is supposed to be doing certain tasks. There’s no clear division of responsibility. Everyone feels that they have to be involved in every decision because they don’t trust others to do things the right way. Employees are working extra hours to do things that aren’t in their official job descriptions. When it’s time for critical tasks to be handled, the same people wind up taking up the slack. Employees are so fragmented with so many tasks, that their efficiency and effectiveness drops. Employee burnout and turnover are high, and there is a general feeling of resentment. In one organization that we worked with, they were having staff meetings with all staff twice a month for three hours each. Everyone felt that they needed to be at the table and have a voice in every decision. People were wearing many hats, and some core functions were spread across several people. They had long ago given up trying to create an accurate org chart. We worked with them to reorganize the tasks into more logical groupings, and redefine employees’ roles. Over time, the employees began to trust each other to do their jobs and realized that they did not have to be involved in every decision. They trusted that they would be consulted or informed when necessary. As a result, the organization now has a staff meeting once a month, for one hour. Employees are less fragmented, and spending less time in meetings, far more efficient, and ultimately happier. And this led to better decision-making and results. You may feel that the problem is that you just don’t have enough employees to get everything done, but what if you could make your existing employees more efficient? Do you have an updated, accurate org chart and job descriptions? How much time are employees spending in meetings? Disentropy Consulting can help you with an audit of your organization, and help find areas of inefficiency that can be addressed, saving you time and money, and leading to better and faster results.

Offsite retreats are useful tools for digging into subjects in-depth, when an extended period of time (a half-day or more) is required to get through all of the details. They encourage creativity, camaraderie, interpersonal relationship building, and networking. Strategic planning is probably the most common use of offsites, but anytime there is a big, complicated issue that needs to be dealt with, it is worth considering this option. Because of the number of people and amount of time that is being invested in the meetings, this is a good place to consider the use of an outside facilitator. (See Meeting Facilitation for more reasons why an outside moderator is useful in some circumstances.) As with any meeting, the success of an offsite depends on the preparation. It is not enough to simply prepare an agenda and have people show up. At Disentropy, we recommend that input be collected from all of the participants ahead of time, to ensure that you know what issues and concerns are on their minds, and that you are prepared to address them. It is not helpful if a critical question comes up in the meeting and you are missing the data or information that is needed to address the meeting; this can sometimes bring the proceedings to a halt or at minimum make them less effective. When Disentropy facilitates offsites, we strongly suggest that we interview all of the attendees one-on-one ahead of time. This can be by phone if needed, although in person is better. This gives everyone a chance to vent any concerns or frustrations they have so that they feel that they have been heard and had an opportunity to say what they really think. These conversations are kept confidential between the attendee and the facilitator; the results are only read out to the group in aggregate, without attribution. You would be surprised what people will tell an independent third party under these conditions! It also lets them become familiar with the facilitator, and for a relationship to begin to build. All of this saves time in the meeting and makes the meeting much more effective by helping to shape the agenda. Yes, it costs more, but if you are going to make the investment of a lot of staff time for an offsite, it is worth doing it the right way. It is also critical that the right people are in the room, for the same reasons. Ideally, everyone would be present in person; it is much harder to read tone and keep people engaged when they are on the phone. If you must have people in the meeting remotely, consider a video connection for them (such as Skype), to bring them into the room more intimately. When planning logistics, choose a location that is separate from any official work locations. Pick a neutral site (not the boss’s house) so that people feel comfortable. A setting that is near nature, or has some other unique characteristics that can provide stimulation and an interesting backdrop (e.g., a meeting room in a museum) is often helpful to get people in a creative mindset. You want people to be relaxed, present, and mentally alert, and you want to take them out of their normal routine. If your organization is usually more formal, consider casual dress, event shorts if appropriate. Plan some fun time during the day, especially right after lunch: a game, walk, or other group activity. If your offsite will be more than half a day, consider breaking it into two days, if logistics allow. This breaks up the day and avoids the fatigue that sets in after lunch. Mornings, when people are alert and rested, are better than afternoons. It also gives you a chance to regroup, adjust course, and gather any data that might have been missing during the first day. We’ve all been to offsite retreats that were not effective, and even a waste of time. With proper planning and preparation, your offsite will be effective and even rejuvenating. Disentropy can help make this happen.

How effective is your board? Are they engaged? Are you providing regular updates to them? Are they in agreement with your mission and vision? Is everyone on the board contributing in their way; do you follow the guidelines of the 4Gs — Give, Get, Grunt or Get Off? Are all of your board documents (bylaws, conflict of interest, nondiscrimination, confidentiality, etc.) current? Do you have Director and Officer liability insurance? When was the last time you asked your board for formal feedback on how the board is being governed? Your board, just like your staff, requires continual care and feeding to ensure that they are effective and content. The first thing to think about is the type of board that you have, and the type that you really want. Are they a “working board,” a “fundraising board,” or some combination of the two? Many nonprofit organizations and their boards are formed when an individual starts a new nonprofit and recruits people to help. Usually, the initial board is a working board, and indeed there is sometimes no staff other than the board. But over time, as the organization grows, staff are hired to do the actual work, and the duties of the board shift away from the execution of work to strategy, fiduciary oversight, and fundraising. The graphic below shows the typical evolution of nonprofit boards. A successful and content board usually has these characteristics: A clear vision and mission that is shared by all board members Updated and accurate bylaws A regular feedback process for board members to evaluate the governance and processes of the board A regular schedule of meetings that meet the needs of the organization, without being overly cumbersome or time consuming A well-functioning committee structure. Committees have clear charters and a designated, dedicated chair, and regularly meet and report out to the rest of the board Appropriate protections, including Director and Officer insurance, confidentiality agreements, conflict of interest statements, nondiscrimination, and other documents They receive regular communication from the organization on matters of interest to the board, including programs, development, marketing and communications, financial position, etc. Some of these are baseline requirements, and often in place. But in many organizations that we have worked with, the committee structure is dysfunctional or nonexistent. This is perhaps the key ingredient to an effective board. One symptom of a poor committee structure is too frequent board meetings that go on for way too long because every decision has to be brought to the board. With a well-functioning committee structure, the committees can examine issues in-depth, and then make recommendations to the full board. Once the board recognizes that the committees are properly doing their jobs, the board can spend less time on the details, and less board meeting time is needed. Disentropy can help by doing a Board Health Checkup. We will audit your documents and policies, interview your board members to see what they are really thinking, and make recommendations on how to restructure your committees and your board meetings to make them more effective and efficient. We can also design a customized Board survey so that you can collect annual board feedback. This is time and money well invested! Contact us today to learn more. We strive to always work within your budget to create an effective project for you.

Do you know what your customers needs really need and want? Do you know what your competitors are doing, what they do better than you, and vis versa? If you don't have this information, you are flying blind! At Disentropy, we take a three-phased approach to customer and competitive insights. You may not need all three phases, depending on how much you already know. First, we start with one-on-one customer interview (10-20), and competitive research, including shopping at or soliciting proposals from your competitors. This helps us uncover the big issues, and helps to define the questions to ask in the next phases. The second phase is customer focus groups. These are very useful for letting customers bounce ideas off of each other and help define them, testing ideas that you have, and brainstorming new ideas. Finally, we move to online quantitative research in the form of online surveys. This allows us to gather quantitative data from a statistically significant number of respondents (500 to 20,000) so that we can quantify how much customers like your product and service offerings, and how likely they would be to actually purchase them. From this, we can get a rough size of the potential market for your business, which is critical to creating pro forma financials for your strategic plan. Contact us today to discuss your needs. We strive to always work within your budget to ensure an effective project that works for you!