Fixing the Future

Spreading the Workload

Attacking and winning the battle against pet overpopulation is a lot of work. Opening a clinic to provide effective spay/neuter is a lot of work. Raising money to do all of this is a lot of work. It’s more work than anyone could imagine unless they’ve tried to do it themselves.

So how does it get done?

First, no one gets to own the issue. That’s key. It’s great to have passion for the cause – imperative, in fact – but that will only get you so far. One person, or even two, can’t do it alone. It’s a business that is being developed, and we have found that it’s best to approach everything from that perspective.

This is harder to do with volunteers, of course. It’s hard to fire someone who is giving freely of his or her time. Yet things can change in people’s lives, and someone who once could give lots of time suddenly finds they can give little, leaving the organization in a proverbial lurch. Dealing with that is difficult at best, but it can’t be avoided.

Running a business also means making tough decisions.

In UCAN, we’ve formed a formidable board. The greatest advantage is that it is a board of business people committed to a cause. Comprised of 15 trustees, it has an engaged nucleus of members who have the time to devote to the effort – or who are willing to make it. This core is supported by a board large enough to absorb the ebb and flow of people’s other time commitments – annoying things like family and business obligations. (Just kidding – really!)

So we’ve decided that changing people’s jobs to reflect their abilities, interests AND time availability is the way to go. In other words, we’re flexible. We change titles, positions and responsibilities as needed, recognizing that someone can easily get over-loaded by taking on more than he or she can handle, or by finding that a manageable responsibility suddenly explodes into a lot more.

It’s important to have a viable back-up plan for getting every job done so that not a beat is missed, and without passing judgment on anyone in the process. People must have the ability to step back as necessary – the only requirement being that they first must send up a flare. After all, it’s the mission and the animals that come first.

In our case, because no one person owns the issue, there is very little ego involved in this process. This is a good thing, because as someone once said, “There’s no limit to what can be accomplished if it doesn’t matter who gets the credit.”

Mission + People + Organization = Results

The above formula is easy to write, but very difficult to do --- particularly in a non-profit organization.

Mission
In our case we spent almost all of last year trying to reach a consensus on our Mission, i.e. who we were and where we were going. One might think this would be an easy task; it was not. While we never did achieve a consensus, we did make a decision, i.e. spay/neuter, and more specifically Humane Alliance.

+ People
Late last year, we began recruiting to the Mission. Our criteria were simple, i.e. does the candidate have:

• A commitment to the Mission
• The unique and/or complementary skills we are seeking
• A willingness to serve
• The time to serve

We believed then and we continue to believe that if we cannot convince people to give of their time and talents, we will not be able to convince them to give of their money.

By the end of January, we had successfully recruited the following people: former president of the League for Animal Welfare (the oldest no-kill shelter in Cincinnati), marketing manager from the Cincinnati Zoo, corporate fundraiser, advertising company executive, strategic planning and public relations consultant, VP of Corporate Communications, corporate general counsel, Certified Public Accountant, CFO, VP corporate finance, Price Waterhouse Coopers management consultant, VP of Corporate Information Technology (IT), and small business IT consultant.

By the end of February, as planning for the Clinic intensified, we added a commercial developer, a commercial architect, and a construction/engineering manager.

Our recruitment efforts have led us to the following conclusions:

• Acceptance and respect for people from all walks of life is an absolute requirement
• Quality people attract other quality people

+ Organization
At the end of March at our Annual Meeting, it was time to elect officers. The incumbent president called for a fundamental change in the Presidency: “For this organization, last year was the year of looking inward, of fixing what needed to be fixed, of redefining our Mission, and refocusing our efforts. This will be the year of looking outward, of building a regional coalition, developing an identity and a ‘brand’, and formulating a message that can change hearts and minds and attitudes. We need a different kind of President.”

We answered the call and chose for our new President Carol Sanger, a retired VP of Corporate Communications from Federated Department Stores, a recognized leader in the community, and a recent recipient of a “Lifetime Community Service Award” from the University of Cincinnati. The outgoing president is this year’s vice president and she remains a force for organizational development.

The previous example tells you all you need to know about our approach to building an organization, i.e. put the right people in the right place at the right time and setup the organization in such a way that people can make the maximum contribution.

= Results
Well, the bottom line is we don’t have any results yet --- and won’t for another 6 months. There's a lot of good work being done by a lot of good people, but only results will benefit the animals --- and so we look forward to the day when the marketplace will be able to judge us by our results.

Until then, the readers of this blog will have the opportunity to “look through a peep hole in the construction fence” and watch what we're doing. Hopefully there's something here of value to you in your own efforts. If not, spectators are always welcome.

-steve-

“Spaying pets. Educating people. Saving lives.”