The key to employee-driven impact is an employee-first culture – the mantra is echoed by the likes of Richard Branson and Kip Tindell but is often (falsely) regarded as a significant financial burden or implemented as a list of superficial fringe benefits. A truly integrated employee-first philosophy promises significant ROI in the form of decreased turnover, increased engagement and productivity, improved mission outcomes – and in the case of Mental Health America, a seven-figure turnaround and industry-leading impact.
This presentation highlights the myriad benefits of assimilating an employee-first approach into the heart of an organization. How did MHA’s leadership and culture shift transform the “impact-ability" of its employees and enable it to lead its field? How does great culture drive great ideas?
Similar a From Seven-Figure Loss to Industry Leader: This Century-Old NPO Prioritized its Employee-First Culture and You Won't Believe What Happened Next!
A New Look At Executive And Trustee Leadershipmichaeleguillot
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From Seven-Figure Loss to Industry Leader: This Century-Old NPO Prioritized its Employee-First Culture and You Won't Believe What Happened Next!
1. Culture as a Lever for Impact
Sachin Doshi and Jessica Kennedy, Mental Health America
From Seven-Figure Loss to Industry Leader
This Century-old NPO Prioritized its
Employee-first Culture and You
Won’t Believe What Happened Next!
2. About Us
Sachin Doshi
Financial and SystemsAnalyst
Joined MHA in January 2015
Jessica Kennedy
Chief of Staff andVice President of
Finance
Joined MHA in June 2009
3. Net assets, year over year
$2 M
$3 M
$4 M
$5 M
$6 M
$7 M
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
NetAssets,millionsofdollars
4. Turnover rate, year over year
42%
48%
8%
53%
20%
30%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Turnoverrate
5. Gain/loss, year over year
-$1,600,000
-$1,400,000
-$1,200,000
-$1,000,000
-$800,000
-$600,000
-$400,000
-$200,000
$0
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Gain/loss
15. What do we mean by culture?
Cul·ture (noun):
a. “the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that
characterizes an institution or organization.”
b. “the act or process of cultivating living material (as bacteria or viruses)
in prepared nutrient media.”
It’s the shared experience of what it feels like to be in our work environment.
“We want to understand what works here rather than what worked at any other
organization.”
Laszlo Bock, Google
53. The 3 P’s
If you have the right people, you can set the
right policies for your cultural fit.
If you have the wrong people, you have to set
the wrong policies.
54. People-First
What were the qualities of the good people who stuck
around?
• Passionate about the cause
• Creative
• Efficient
• Sense of humor
• Solutions-oriented
• Good at synthesizing information
• Tech savvy
• Opportunities vs. challenges
• Highly anxious and slightly neurotic
55. People-First
How do we find more people like them?
• Hire for these qualities above experience
• Prioritize cultural fit
• Find them in new places
• The street
• Reddit
•Be real in interviews
56. People-First
How do we KEEP them?
Prioritize them!!!
Put them in a place to succeed
Pay them
No, really, like… pay them
Make your policies people-first
65. Policies
Sick notes
Office hours
Soda and snacks
Telecommuting
Professional development
The 3 P’s
66. Policies
Sick notes
Office hours
Soda and snacks
Telecommuting
Professional development
From https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20130928223455-2042198
-will-your-firm-endure
The 3 P’s
67. Policies
Sick notes
Office hours
Soda and snacks
Telecommuting
Professional development
Communication - Slack
The 3 P’s
73. MHAScreening.org
Almost 2 million screens completed
3,000+ screens daily
$600K+ in funding to build follow-up
Screening-to-Supports platform
What changed?
Link to external tool with no quid pro
quo or data AND internal tool with no
data
Inability to decide between tools
Conflict over service
Instinct-
driven
Data-driven
Conservative Innovative
Meticulous “Good
enough”
74. May is Mental Health Month
23M+ reach in 2016
Thousands of downloads, millions of
impressions
From $0 in funding to six figures per
year
What changed?
“This is just fluffy stuff.”
Unfunded for several years
Unmeasured outcomes
Instinct-
driven
Data-driven
Lecturing Listening
Supervisors
are managers
Supervisors
are mentors
75. Public Policy
Strong leadership position
Guiding philosophy – B4Stage4
Major mental health legislation
passed in 2016
What changed?
Difficulty moving forward from past
legislative success in 2008
Weak definition of priorities
Fear to ask for our own priorities
Slow Fast
Non-uniform Uniform
Vaguely
defined
Strongly
defined
76. Mental Health Report
40,000 hits
Featured in U.S. News and World
Report
What changed?
Board concerns
Affiliate concerns
Staff concerns
Hierarchal Flat
Meticulous “Good
enough”
Slow Fast
77. Affiliates
New dues structure
Positive relationship with affiliates
Clearly defined value
What changed?
Somebody promised there would be
no dues
Shrinking staff support and benefits
to field
Irritation with national
Lecturing Listening
Non-uniform Uniform
Hierarchal Flat
82. And it’s not perfect
We’re a little TOO close
Can still have cliques/silos
Need some policy/process
Hard for some people to fit in
83. What do I need to do?
Figure out where you are… and where you WANT to be.
Does your culture even need to change?
Where are you on the various sliders?
Poll the staff. Poll the Board?
Associations: Members?
Small orgs:Volunteers?
Large orgs: Different Departments?
You can make it binary for them and then adjust accordingly
SurveyMonkey, Google Forms, webform on site
84. What do I need to do?
Figure out what’s getting in your way.
Raise your hand if…
You’ve ever made a policy for ONE person.
You have any policy that is longer than two pages.
Management doesn’t trust employees to work from home.
You had a meeting this past week where everything ended in the
same place it started.
You had three meetings like that.
85. What do I need to do?
Figure out what you CAN change.
CEO
Management
Board
Staff
Policies
Size matters
86. Resources
Dan Pallotta’sTED talk on nonprofit compensation and the double standard, ”The way we think about
charity is dead wrong”
https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pallotta_the_way_we_think_about_charity_is_dead_wrong
The Hofstede Multi-Focus Model on Organizational Culture, for a model that influenced our work
https://geert-hofstede.com/tl_files/The%20Hofstede%20Multi-Focus%20Model.pdf
TheCulture Engine: A Framework for Driving Results, InspiringYour Employees, andTransformingYour
Workplace by S. Chris Edmonds
https://smile.amazon.com/Culture-Engine-Framework-Inspiring-Transforming/dp/1118947320
Work Rules!: Insights from InsideGoogleThatWillTransform HowYou Live and Lead by Laszlo Bock
https://smile.amazon.com/Work-Rules-Insights-Inside-Transform/dp/1455554790