learningorganizations

Learning Organizations

The hallmark of great nonprofit organizations is their passion for getting better at what they do. They always seek to improve their performance and results, even when they are already deemed successful by others. Qm² has developed a host of tools to help you create a "learning organization."

De-Briefing A Project or Event or Situation

by Will Phillips

Here are the design parameters that help make a debriefing a learning activity. Doing good debriefings and disseminating the insights quickly and deeply throughout the organization are one of the sure signs of a learning organization.

Managing by the Numbers

by Will Phillips and John Durel

The numbers reveal the business. Managing by the numbers drives the business. This briefing outlines concepts and a process for using KPIs - Key Performance Indicators - to shape your decisions and actions.

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

By Malcolm Gladwell, (2000, 2002)

Reviewed by John Durel

We are accustomed to thinking of organizational change as a deliberate, evolutionary process. Leaders develop a strategic plan, with a vision and goals, and a timetable for gathering resources and taking action. The actions are rational, designed in a logical way to move the organization toward its goals....Malcolm Gladwell examines another kind of change, one that is unexpected and occurs in an extraordinarily short time.

Increasing Work Flow Productivity

by Will Phillips

As organizations grow in complexity the number of problems increases. Managers, naturally address and solve these problems by creating systems, policies, procedures, forms and informal work rules. In most cases, the overall system grows piecemeal and is not well coordinated or well understood. The result is a work flow that is usually inefficient and often ineffective. This briefing outlines a procedure for work flow analysis and improvement which is quite simple and extraordinarily effective in improving the coordination, communication and control between the different elements of an organization.

Too Much To Do

by John Durel

When someone feels too busy at work, it may not be because there actually is too much to do. It may be due to a lack of focus. Either the individual does not know how to get organized and attend to the most important matters; or the organization itself has no clear direction. Another cause of feeling too busy is a lack of energy. Some people are energized by their work, others are drained.

Why Changes in Organizations Do Not Succeed and How Managers Can Manage Change Better

by Will Phillips

Life and work is full of change. When organizations become involved in change, there are many barriers which will impede it. This management briefing will address some of the major barriers. Understanding these barriers can help you understand the difficulties of change and address the barriers in a productive manner.

Mission AND Profit

by John Durel

Most nonprofit organizations have little trouble in coming up with new ideas for programs or services. The needs of their constituents are so great, and their own desire to create and serve is so strong, that the staff and volunteers can always think of more to do. The challenge is not to come up with new ideas, but to choose the best ideas. How do you determine what is best for your organization?

Innovation and Discipline

by John Durel

In great organizations leaders are both highly disciplined and entrepreneurial. Here is a way to assess the leaders in your organization.

Increasing Efficiency

by Will Phillips and John Durel

Healthy organizations must blend a spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation with discipline and efficiency. Innovation without discipline may lead the organization to take unwise risks and waste precious resources. Failure to keep an eye on efficiency saps resources that could otherwise be used for innovation. Management’s challenge is to integrate these two forces, which at times are at odds.

Getting Results

by John Durel

Many leaders, who are very good at seeing the big picture and acting strategically, fail to create organizations that perform effectively day-to-day. The visioning and planning are excellent, the results are merely okay.

Designing Nimble Organizations for a Changing World

by John Durel

There once was a time when cars were only for the rich, Mickey Mouse was just a cartoon, Japanese products were cheap, and accountants used adding machines. Then along came Ford, Disney, Sony and IBM. These successful companies did not wait for the future to just happen. They were pioneers. Their leaders built strategic organizations that were able to respond to opportunities and shape the future.

Curiosity and Discipline: Reflections on the Words of Jim Collins

By John Durel

This briefing was published in Hand to Hand, the journal of the Association of Children’s Museums in the summer of 2008, following a talk by Jim Collins at ACM’s annual meeting in Denver in April. It focuses on two key concepts: curiosity and discipline.

The Second Agenda

by John Durel

If your organization has recently created a major new service or program, and all you have achieved is a new service or program, then you have missed an opportunity to make important changes in your organization. Even if the service or program has been immensely successful, coming in on time, under budget, and reaching record numbers of constituents—alone it is just a project. Every major project should have two agendas. The first is to create something of value for your constituents, to produce an service, product or program. The second is to use the project to improve the ways the organization as a whole gets things done.

Be-Know-Do: Leadership the Army Way

By Frances Hesselbein and General Eric K. Shinseki (USA Retired)

Reviewed by John Durel

What can nonprofit organizations learn from the U.S. Army? Be-Know-Do: Leadership the Army Way describes how the Army builds leaders who can carry out a mission in hostile and rapidly changing circumstances. While few nonprofits face life and death situations, many experience unanticipated events where the ability to respond quickly and appropriately can make the difference between success and failure. Learning from the Army’s way of developing leaders may help nonprofits prepare for these eventualities.

A Whole New Mind: Moving From the Information Age to the Conceptual Age, by Daniel H. Pink (2005)

Reviewed by John Durel

Leaders of organizations that serve or employ young people should consider the insights offered by Daniel Pink in this book. If your organization seeks to prepare children for a fulfilling life in the 21st century, or if you currently employ those who will eventually lead your industry or profession in years to come, then this book will help you understand how the world they will live in will differ from what you have experienced in your life.

A Museum Disconnect: Program and Board Development

By John Durel

A decade ago a major museum in the Midwest underwent a dramatic change in the way it developed its exhibits and public programs. Seeking to bring new voices and diverse perspectives to its offerings, it reached out to its community through collaborative projects, roundtable discussions, focus groups, and the like. The staff became adept at listening to and working with constituents. Outside participation became the norm for program development. In the case of the Midwestern museum, while the staff changed, the board did not. As the leaders of the change departed, the museum drifted back to more traditional programs and exhibits.

Learning and Leadership Style Assessment

Management invariably involves people working together to accomplish goals. Many of

the challenges of working together arise from the fact that people are different in

fundamental ways. By understanding these differences people can often better accept differences between themselves and others. This is an instrument which helps people see their differences.

Just a quick note to thank both of you for all your assistance in making the Museum's strategic thinking effort productive. Although the process has been lengthy (and is still far from over!) and sometimes difficult, I strongly believe that it has been extremely helpful and healthy for the Museum staff and curators.

Jeremy A Sabloff, The Williams Director University of Pennsylvania Museum

A Golden Age for Historic Properties

By John Durel and Anita Nowery Durel

Historic properties are on the verge of a golden age. Over the next two decades Americans will turn to historic houses and sites as a source of learning, enjoyment, and fulfillment. Increasingly, people will choose to spend time in places that connect them to their past, to nature, and to beauty. They will provide financial support to help sustain the properties, so that succeeding generations will benefit from these places that they value so much. This future will occur only for the organizations that abandon the thinking of the 1980s.

This article appeared in History News (Summer 2007,) the journal of the American Associatioin of State and Local History, and Forum (Spring 2008,) the journal of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Entrepreneurship in Historical Organizations

by John Durel

Published in History News, the magazine of the American Association of State and Local History, Spring 2009

It seems almost preposterous to describe historical and cultural institutions as entrepreneurial. The popular view of an entrepreneur in America can be seen any month on the cover of Inc. Magazine. Young, smart, ambitious, hard driving, probably living in California, with a bright idea or new product that will make millions. Not the kind of people one usually finds working in archives or at historic sites. Read More.