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The capacity of an institution to function effectively, adapt to challenges, and achieve its mission is fundamentally tied to its people’s qualities, capabilities, and commitment.
I regularly challenge leaders with the truism, “If you tolerate the underfunctioners, underperformers, and incompetent in your organization, you will lose your best people first. In due time, at your next crisis, you will not have the human resources you need to manage it successfully.”
Whether it is a business, congregation, or non-profit, leaders can help ensure their organizations benefit most from their human resources by:
Leadership Development and Succession.
Organizations with strong institutional capacity actively develop their leadership pipeline. Change expert Kotter (2012) noted in Leading Change that successful institutions create a leadership culture at all levels. This involves intentional mentoring, professional development, and clear succession planning. When people are developed intentionally, the institution’s capacity grows organically as people become invested in the work and mission. Do you provide a budget for staff and executive leader development?
Collective Knowledge and Expertise.
Senge claimed that institutional capacity is enhanced through the collective learning of its members (The Fifth Discipline, 2006). The organization’s overall capability increases when individuals continually expand their expertise and share knowledge. This creates a “learning organization” where institutional memory and expertise become embedded in its culture and practices. Organizations with high turnover and recidivism rates among their staff will fail to develop a culture with collective knowledge, ethos, and norms. They will experience a constant drip in losing corporate memory and expertise. This is a matter of attracting the best people and keeping them. What are you doing to cultivate collective, shared knowledge among your staff? In what ways do you encourage your staff to develop expertise?
Relationship Networks and Social Capital.
Effective leaders will invest in cultivating institutional capacity strengthened through the relationships and networks people build both internally and externally. According to Nahapiet and Ghoshal (1998), social capital, which consists of the resources available through relationship networks, significantly enhances organizational capabilities. Strong interpersonal connections facilitate collaboration, innovation, and problem-solving. Leaders should, therefore, be aware of how organizational silos inhibit the development of social capital within their organizations.
Cultural Alignment and Shared Values.
Research by Schein (2017) in Organizational Culture and Leadership demonstrates that when people share common values and purpose, institutional capacity increases on several levels. When individuals align with the organization’s mission and values, their collective effort creates a synergy that enhances the institution’s overall effectiveness. In what ways are you helping staff pull together in the same direction to realize the vision?
While systems, processes, and resources are important, the people within an institution determine its capacity to fulfill its mission and adapt to change. Investing in developing people, fostering relationships, and building a strong organizational culture directly correlates to institutional capacity and resilience. Your congregation, business, or non-profit organization is only as good as the people in it.
~Israel Galindo is Associate Dean for Lifelong Learning. He directs the Pastoral Excellence Program of the Center for Lifelong Learning.
