Creating Our Future with Organizations by Design

An Interim Executive Director's most important job is to prepare an organization to work with the incoming permanent CEO/ED. A good interim executive deals with the day-today affairs of the organization, while at the same time building the platform for the permanent successor. Unlike an Acting Director, an Interim is a professional external to the organization, will not be a candidate for the permanent position, and does more than hold the organization in place. When an organization's Executive Director resigns, the board's first impulse is to find a replacement as quickly as possible. But that’s not always the wisest course of action. Interim Executive Directors keep an organization going when an executive leader leaves. Each organization is unique. They need someone at the helm who understands and is passionate about the mission, can navigate the many constraints on services; can relate to all the different personalities involved, and can do it all within the organization...

What is coaching? How can it change your professional experience, and your personal experience of the time you spend working? Coaching is generally considered a method of achieving set goals. The coach, through dialogue, helps the client to correctly set a goal, to find the best way to achieve the goal and reveal hidden inner potential in a person. The coach does not say how to achieve success, but asks questions through which the client themselves finds the solution to their own tasks. What coaching isn't: therapy, counseling or mentorship. Coaching is a partnership between coach and client. The coach helps the client to achieve their personal best and to produce the results they want in their personal and professional lives. Coaching ensures the client can give their best, learn and develop in the way they wish. What's different about coaching with Organizations by Design? Our coaching is a shared experience between the coach and the client, rooted in the practice of Appreci...

  POSTED BY MARIA SEMPLE This weekend, I had a chance to watch a beautiful egret fishing for its next meal. It was amazing to watch how focused the bird was on the task at hand. It got me to thinking……What can an egret teach business owners? What are the principles this egret learned from its mother and other egrets that make it the efficient fisherman that it is today? Patience . It’s important to take some time to plan and move slowly. Despite what you might think, nobody is truly “an overnight success”. There’s been a lot of groundwork laid that might not be apparent to you. Plan your work and work your plan. Practice . Learn from your “misses” and mistakes. You may not succeed at each and every new idea, but you should understand what mistakes were made, learn from them and then move on. Don’t dwell on it and don’t let it paralyze you from trying a new idea. Recognize Opportunities . We’re all so busy tending to our day-to-day business tasks, that we seldom take the...

Organizations by Design is committed to create the change we want to see in the world. Join us. TAKE ACTION REGISTER TO VOTE! Visit  I Am a Voter  to register to vote, check your registration status, and get local election reminders Sign petitions Reach out  to your local government officials Donate Support Black owned businesses: several listed  here ,  here ,  here , &  here BOOKS So You Want to Talk About Rac e - Ijeoma Oluo Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor  - Layla F. Saad The New Jim Crow  - Michelle Alexander White Fragility  - Robin DiAngelo Algorithms of Oppression  - Safiya Noble How to Be an Antiracist  - Ibram X. Kendi Just Mercy  - Bryan Stevenson Do the work: an anti-racist reading list  - Layla F. Saad Check out the  African American Literature Book Club , an online bookstore dedicated to books written by, or about, people of African descent in...

  Organizations by Design is thrilled to welcome Elizabeth Shaff Sobo (Betsy) to our team! Betsy Sobo  is a Fundraising and Vision Planning Professional with more than 30 years of experience working in the not-for-profit sector. She is a passionate believer that the arts are integral to our lives, and can be a transformative force for communities when managed organically as a response to need and opportunity. She considers among her greatest attributes strengthening the craft of relationship building for organizations, internally and externally. Betsy served as founding Executive of 10 Hairy Legs dance company for the entirety of its 8 year tenure (Highland Park, NJ) bringing it to national and international acclaim; founding Director of Development at Two River Theater Company (Red Bank, NJ); and held management positions in arts education, fundraising and marketing at The State Theatre Regional Arts Center at New Brunswick, American Repertory Ballet, New Jersey Ballet, Kean ...

Which kind of persona does your nonprofit or small business project? ·          A stodgy businessperson in a suit and tie? ·          A healer with deep knowledge and a friendly bedside manner? ·          A data-obsessed nerd with lab goggles and a tablet (replacing the pocket protector)?  ·          A caring neighbor with a casserole and a smile? Of course you don't actually say you are any of those things.  But the words you choose say volumes about who you are. When we think about organizational branding, we usually focus on design elements: logotype, color palette, typefaces, and so on. Brand identity guides that go a little deeper specify how to talk about the organization. For example, they might say: ·          Write Organizations by Design, never OBD. ·    ...

 Here's a playlist to get you going this Monday! Enjoy.