Organizational Development to Win From the Inside Out
In the corporate world, Fervor CEO Mike Farag recognized healthy teams produced better work product and better results. So when it came time to put his corporate business experience to use for nonprofits by launching a marketing company, he wagered the same would be true in the nonprofit sector. His wager? Spot on. Organizational development is essential to healthy growth.
Organizational Challenges for Nonprofits
It’s not uncommon for nonprofits to face tough challenges. When their target is growth, it can be easy to navigate around their best, engaged ideal advocates to work toward winning new connections. But when these organizations are not healthy on the inside, their efforts prove difficult, expensive and cumbersome to win outside. And when they do happen to win outside, the lack of clarity inside makes it virtually impossible to retain healthy relationships that would sustain donor, member and volunteer engagement over time.
Better People, Better Organizations
When we boil it down, what is marketing? Relationship. What is business? Relationship. What is nonprofit work? Relationship. Genuine, authentic, meaningful, purposeful, and lasting relationship starts on the inside first. And as faith-based organizations, we see this biblical paradigm in friendships, marriages, business relationships and more. It’s how God designed them to work. We don’t need to look outside for anything to make us whole or better, but rather, look inward. When we build better people, we build better organizations. This is the value of organizational development.
Winning Inside First
Every person wants to feel good about what they’ve accomplished. It matters how we get good results. The way we feel from those good results matters. When we win from a healthy place, it just feels good — and right. No one is happy by trampling others around them to cross a goal line. Now, we’re talking about someone’s life — living honestly with integrity — because they’re living out their faith by how they win, not just that they win. Developing a healthy organizational culture internally is critical to organizational growth outwardly. The key is to keep the priority on winning inside first.
Healthy Habits for “Inside Out” Organizational Development
So what are a few signs that an organization is developing internally? Here are a few ways you can start to assess or develop your organization’s internal health:
- The CEO communicates regularly to the organization.
- Senior leaders meet with upper management regularly.
- The internal team is actively engaged; they regularly connect with their superiors so their voices can be heard.
- The entire team — from volunteers to VPs — can articulate the organization’s quarterly goals.
- The team can say what the organization does and for who in 1-2 sentences, with most reciting it in a similar way.
The truth is, organizational development never stops. That’s why Fervor offers specific services to help nonprofits and faith-based businesses grow from the inside out:
- Need to better understand the ideal advocates on your team? We can help you assess your organization’s internal health and develop profiles for your most valuable advocates already inside your nonprofit.
- Lacking the extra hands necessary to execute internal communications? We can produce assets — from video to graphics and newsletters to bring your team together.
- Do your internal teams need an annual report to better align their work with your organization’s goals? We can help you pull the numbers, craft your messaging and produce a compelling presentation for a positive response.
What To Look For In An Organizational Development Partner
It’s important to realize that partnership requires trust and vulnerability. When it comes to finding a marketing partner for your nonprofit or faith-based business, few things are off limits internally. You need to be able to trust your marketing company like you would trust a senior member of your leadership team. With your finances, communications, challenges, goals and the big wins. Look for a company who is honest and open and who you can be honest and open with as well.
Remember also, that developing meaningful partnership takes time and effort. It’s like a marriage. A good one isn’t discovered overnight. Be willing to invest more than a few months. It is worth it.
The Fervor Way: Inside Out
There are many benefits of hiring a marketing company who understands organizational development from the inside out. What we want for Fervor is what we want for our clients. We aspire to be better, do our best work, and keep pushing the line of what the most good possible looks like.
This requires honest assessment and evaluation individually and as a team — and not in an unhealthy way, but in an intentional way. It can be easy for anyone to think they’re doing better, but we actually have to be better. People need our best and when we can come into partnership with other organizations — nonprofits, faith-based businesses, or any other organization — we can be better leaders for each other, fostering healthy, honest conversations that produce real, feel-good growth.
The Fervor team is here to help you do the most good possible — from the inside out. See our strategy and consulting services and reach out to us. We look forward to seeing your organizational development reach its maximum potential.