Knowledge Base · Getting Started
Can continuous improvement work in a non-profit?
Yes, on the book's evidence. It describes a non-profit with a passionate team and stretched resources that started with a 15-minute daily huddle, streamlined its intake process, and added a visual board for key projects. Within a year it had doubled the number of people it served, without any new funding, and staff morale rose sharply.
The non-profit in the case study was doing work its community valued, but its processes were inefficient, resources were stretched thin, and staff were close to burnout. It had no time to improve its processes, so it kept fighting fires, which drove staff turnover, which drained resources further.
- Start small rather than with a top-down overhaul: the team began with a simple 15-minute daily huddle.
- Ask three questions in that huddle: What did we accomplish yesterday? What are we working on today? Where are we stuck?
- Use the answers to solve one small problem a day, which in this case led to a streamlined intake process that freed up hours of administrative time.
- Make work visible: a simple visual management board for key projects improved communication and alignment.
The result, as the book states it, was that within a year the organisation had doubled the number of people it was serving, without any new funding, and staff morale soared.
The takeaway the book draws is that a big budget and a team of consultants are not the deciding factors. Starting small, giving the team a hand in the fixes, and being consistent are.
Related questions
- What results can continuous improvement actually deliver?
- What is a huddle board, and how do I set one up?
- How do I run a daily team huddle?
Source: Continuous Improvement in the Workplace, Ch. 12 (The Impact of CI on Organizational Success).