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Tool - Strategic Growth: A Guide for Nonprofit Organizations - - Free
Strategic Growth: A Guide for Nonprofit Organizations is a standardized assessment tool that benchmarks where each management system in an organization is relative to the developmental cycle of a nonprofit organization. Executive Leaders, along with other staff and/or Board members, can use this guide to determine their organization’s over all stage of development (Idea, Start Up, Growth, or Established) and to assess whether the development of internal management systems is aligned with their over all development. Ten management dimensions are captured in the tool. For more information on using the tool, click here.
Management System Indicators: Complete Set - $125.00
The purpose of this tool is to allow a group of organization members to examine aspects of the organization’s functioning in some depth and to guide that discussion to the Key Tasks and Indicators most relevant to its current needs. The tool is most useful as a contribution to the assessment of internal strengths and weaknesses in support of strategic management.
The Key Tasks and Indicators included here are illustrative of good management practice in nonprofit organizations that provide services. They do not cover every aspect of each function, but rather are designed to spur discussion around this function and to anchor that discussion around important developmental tasks. This discussion may prompt attention to additional areas of development that are unique to each organization’s development and context.
The tool includes Key Tasks and Indicators for four stages of development: Idea, Start Up, Growth and Established for each functional area. Before using this tool, you should use the FIO Partners Strategic Growth Guide to identify the set of Indicators you should start with. For example, if the Guide indicates that you have completed the Idea and Start Up stages in a particular function, there is then no reason to review those Indicators. Instead, start with the Indicators in the Growth Stage. If there are one or more Key Tasks left out in the previous stage, you can simply add those missing Key Tasks to your review. Similarly, if you have substantial work to do in the Growth Stage, there is no reason to review the agency against the Established Stage Indicators though Agency Leaders may want to become familiar with them so they can anticipate the coming challenges.
Qualitative Indicators are provided for a total of ten dimensions: Program Strategy Development, Human Resources, System Participation, Marketing & Public Relations, Fund Development, Information management, Financial Management, Risk Management, Physical Plant, Quality Assurance
Learning Survey for Organizations - $75.00
Organizational learning is a key element in continuous improvement for all aspects of organizational functioning. FIO Partners has created this tool to assess both how an organization obtains new knowledge, and whether it disseminates and uses it. The OLS tool measures organizational performance in these areas: the most common ways that staff learn new information; how and whether that information is shared; whether management has created a context for learning; whether the organization uses new knowledge to improve practice; the near term priority areas as perceived by staff where the organization needs new knowledge. These are key factors critical to an organization’s ability to institute performance improvement. If you are interested in building more of a learning organization, using this assessment periodically can help to measure change in this area. This assessment is of critical importance in pacing major change initiatives since it will reveal whether your organization is open and permeable to the entry of new information or closed and resistant to innovation. This largely depends upon the organization’s track record to date in allowing new information to influence practice, and that is largely the result of the context for learning created by management. This survey can be administered online and interpreted by FIO Partners for an additional fee.
Climate Survey - $100.00
FIO Partners’ Climate Survey is designed to create a snapshot of organizational health. This tool gathers information about such topics as the quality and timeliness of decision making, the availability of information for decision making, the clarity of authority and responsibility, and the clarity of job descriptions, realism of performance objectives, and fairness and equity. Section F of the survey will help you gain insight into how staff views the culture of your organization. If you don’t understand the culture types that are listed or want to know more about culture and how it evolves, download our article on Cultural Norms, available for free on this website. The survey also assesses staff views of management effectiveness and views of the organization as a whole. This tool can be used to conduct an initial assessment of climate health, to identify specific areas for improvement, and can be used periodically to measure progress. It is not recommended for organizations with fewer than seven employees. This survey can be administered online and interpreted by FIO Partners for an additional fee.
Board Survey for Start-Up Organizations - $25.00
FIO Partners has developed a Board survey for organizations largely still in Start Up Stage. We feel strongly that Boards in this early stage should establish a culture of self assessment and have made this tool available at very low cost to encourage that process. This tool gathers information about how well the Board is functioning, the health of the relationship with the staff, and the Board’s perception of its own accomplishments. It is a useful tool to help new Boards make sure they are operating appropriately. You may download a copy of the survey and administer it yourself, or, the survey can be administered online and interpreted by FIO Partners for an additional fee. Self-administration is recommended only if the capability exists to create and interpret the data tables.
Board Survey for Growth and Established Stages - $75.00
Designed for organizations operating at the Growth and Established Stages, this survey of Board members is used to engage Board members in the assessment process and test the health of relationships at the leadership level. This tool gathers information about how well the Board is functioning, the health of the relationship with the Executive Director, and the Board’s perception of its own accomplishments. You may download a copy of the survey and administer it yourself, or, the survey can be administered online and interpreted by FIO Partners for an additional fee.
Management Skills Assessment for Middle Managers - $100.00
There are many lists of essential skills for middle managers. Ours comes from 10 years of training for the Office of Training and Development of the Rhode Island Department of Administration in Rhode Island, an organization that provides training to both government agencies and the nonprofit community. We have taught groups of middle managers and supervisors 15-24 hour courses in a variety of topics, including supervision, change management, critical communication skills, strategic management, and program evaluation. Over time, we have interacted with well over 500 middle managers and supervisors. As part of each of our courses, we have encouraged our students to keep a journal of their attempts to use their new knowledge and, in reading these journals, have come to a rich understanding of the unique challenges that individuals face in these roles. This survey is designed to help middle managers plan their own skill development and to assist government and nonprofit organizations to engage in meaningful discussions of professional development with their middle management and supervisory staff. It focuses attention on two areas: Human Relations and Conceptual Skills. The survey can be used by one individual in order to devise a customized professional development plan, or, it can be administered to a large number of managers and supervisors. The collated results will then indicate patterns of needed professional development and can be used to guide decisions about training needs and curriculum content as well as coaching. This survey can also be administered online and interpreted by FIO Partners for an additional fee.
Internal Norms Basic Instrument - $75.00
Nonprofit organizations often struggle to evolve the behaviors of staff that will best support mission accomplishment. The norm setting process, a unique intervention shaped by FIO Partners, is based on the concept that organizational culture stems from a series of agreements between management and employees about specific behaviors that are useful and relevant to the work being done. This basic instrument provides the basis for norm discussion for those organizations for which working with us on a customized version is financially out of reach. This instrument comes with full instructions for use and covers the following foundational areas for norm development, including: Decision-making, Communication, Recognition, and Feedback on Performance, Inter-staff Disagreements, Interpersonal Problems, Respect, and Integrity & Ethics. Instructions for administration are included. This tool can be very helpful in resetting norms in situations where groups of employees have developed dysfunctional ways of interacting. FIO Partners will work with you to develop a customized version of this tool to intervene in these more difficult situations. Please contact us for further information. Customized norms instrument and on-site administration: FIO Partners will conduct a series of interviews with a selected group of staff to identify areas that the group feels are important to their work as well as any problem areas that may exist. Once the areas for norm development are defined, a unique instrument to guide discussion is developed. The norms that emerge are then adopted by management and employees and norm adherence can be integrated into performance appraisal. Periodic norm checks allow the group to adjust their agreement over time, evolving an ever clearer culture. Organizations may choose to facilitate the norm development process on their own using their customized norms survey or may contract with FIO Partners for on-site administration. For customized norm instruments or on-site administration, contact us.
External Norms Instrument - $75.00
When considering how to approach relationships with other organizations, whether these relationships are collaborations or more formal strategic alliances, it is useful for an organization’s leadership to consider its own values and principles in seeking partners, how it will conduct negotiations, and manage these relationships over time. This basic instrument provides the basis for norm discussion for those organizations for which working with us on a customized version is financially out of reach. This instrument comes with full instructions for use and covers the following foundational areas for norm development: clarity of purpose, co-planning, vision for success, knowledge of partners, procedures and ground rules, roles and responsibilities, conflict management, and decision making. Customized norms instrument and on-site administration: FIO Partners will conduct a series of interviews with a selected group of staff to identify areas that the group feels are important to their strategic alliance work as well as any problem areas that may exist. Once the areas of norm development are defined, a unique instrument to guide discussion is developed. The norms that emerge are then adopted by management and employees and norm adherence can be integrated into performance appraisal. Periodic norm checks allow the group to adjust their agreement over time, evolving an ever clearer culture. Organizations may choose to facilitate the norm development process on their own using their customized norms survey or may contract with FIO Partners for on-site administration. For customized norm instruments or on-site administration, contact us.
Products by Tag
Growth (2 items)Organizational Development (14 items)
Strategic Management (13 items)
Management System Indicators (11 items)
Organizational Culture (5 items)
Board Development (2 items)