Outsourcing functions and hiring consultants for specific projects is a double edged sword. 

If a consultant always makes you feel good, have they helped your organization to make tough decisions?  A good consultant should not be afraid to identify problems in the organization that prevent a funder, donor or customer from wanting to associate with the organization.  While a report does not have to include every fact, it is important that a report shows areas for improvement and potential problem areas that should be addressed.   There is no perfect organization. 

If your organization has not had a serious discussion among its Board and Management of its direction in the past five years it is being too complacent.

Look out the window, what has changed around you in five years?  When was the last time your organization evaluated the services it provides, reviewed its referral system, reviewed the characteristics of the population being served, reviewed the funding streams,   and made decisions balancing business needs vs. program needs?

If not in the last three years, the organization is out of touch. 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 11th, 2007 at 12:01 am and is filed under Strategic Planning, Program Development, Human Resources, Budgeting, Grant Writing, Consulting, Research, Public Policy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.