Organizational Coaching

Based on input from previous Barr Fellows, the Foundation created the role of Organizational Coach to provide strategic advice and guidance to Fellows and their leadership teams as they develop customized plans to strengthen and support their organizations or agencies during the Fellowship period. This is not meant to be an in-depth engagement, but a targeted resource to help Fellows and their organizations do a quick assessment and planning process to prepare for the sabbatical and strategically use that time and the grant resources to meet organizational goals.

The Barr Foundation has identified a pool of Organizational Coaches, paid for by the Foundation (i.e. separate from the Fellowship grants), from which Fellows can choose. Each Organizational Coach will help facilitate a targeted process that will support the Fellow, his or her senior management team, and the organization’s board, as appropriate, in working to maximize their use of the resources provided through the Barr Fellowship. Organizational Coaches are seasoned professionals who can assist Fellows and their teams to think about the Barr Fellowship as more than sabbatical planning, but as a unique opportunity to invest in organizational capacity.

Coaching Services

In particular, the Organizational Coach will:

• Assist the organization or agency as it assesses its strategic priorities and related organizational needs to determine what types of consulting and organizational development support would be beneficial.

• Assist the organization or agency as it determines the appropriate targeting, sequencing, and allocation of the Barr grant to support prioritized leadership and organizational development needs. For example, support for:

  • Staff Capacity: individual or group coaching, training, professional development, etc. for the interim leader(s) and senior management team.
  • Organizational Capacity: training, technical assistance, and/or consultation to develop organizational capacities (e.g. communications, financial systems, fundraising, outcomes measurement, stakeholder engagement, strategic planning, etc.)
  • Experimentation & Innovation: the design, pilot, and evaluation of a new or refined program, initiative, service, product or structure that tests innovative ideas to advance the organization’s mission, as appropriate.

• Assist the Fellow and senior management team/board to develop a plan for interim leadership and staff development during the Fellow’s sabbatical, including: identifying criteria and potential candidates for interim leadership roles to ensure sustained attention to strategic and operational priorities; mapping key responsibilities for interim leadership; and considering how the Interim Leader(s) and Fellow can best transition into the sabbatical period.

• Serve as an on-call resource to the Interim Leader(s) to advise on issues that may arise during the sabbatical.

• Provide advice to assist the organization as the Fellow transitions back from the sabbatical, with particular attention to: any potential shifts in roles and responsibilities of the Interim Leader(s) and senior management team post-sabbatical; and implementation of more distributed leadership going forward.

Timing & Agendas

To accomplish these tasks, Fellows and Organizational Coaches should schedule the equivalent of three (3) half-day meetings between October 2019 and February 2020 as well as a follow-up consultation after the sabbatical. Timing and agendas are recommended as follows, and may be adapted based on the timing and frequency agreed upon by the Fellow, their organization, and the Organizational Coach:

• Meeting #1, October-November 2019: discuss organizational needs, status, desired goals, and ideas to maximize and leverage grant and consulting resources; discuss tools for organizational assessment, financial/operational analysis, staff survey, as needed; and assess how to construct interim leadership roles and responsibilities and engage the board, as appropriate. Fellows will need to send materials to the Organizational Coach in advance of this first meeting so that the coach may get to know the organization and its work.
• Meeting #2 and #3, November 2019-February 2020: continue to plan for the sabbatical and use of grant resources to support staff and organizational needs and priorities so that Fellows and their organizations can finalize decisions and key components of the Barr Fellowship Grant Plans, which are due February 12, 2020.
• Post Re-Entry Consultation, August-September 2020: discuss and identify appropriate support for the Fellow’s re-entry, any shifts in roles and responsibilities of the Interim Leader(s) and senior management team, and continued professional and organizational development.

Additionally, Organizational Coaches should budget time to become familiar with an organization or agency’s needs/status, review relevant materials, and summarize meeting content and outcomes. Organizational Coaches should also plan to follow up with Fellows and/or designees in between meetings to ensure desired progress.

Selection

The Foundation has a short roster of vetted Organizational Coaches. Fellows are encouraged to talk with the Organizational Coaches after the September 25 orientation and to select one for this targeted assistance by Friday, October 18, 2019 so that Barr Foundation can proceed with contracting, as appropriate. Organizational Coaches may work with more than one Fellow’s organization, based on Fellow’s interest and the Organizational Coach’s capacity.

Responsibility

While the Organizational Coach provides important assistance, it is essential that the Fellow and his or her organization or agency own and take responsibility for their grant plans and deliverables. So that the Organizational Coach may be an effective on-call resource during the sabbatical, Fellows should provide them copies of the final grant plans when they are submitted to the Foundation. Barr Foundation will respect the confidentiality of the Organizational Coach’s relationship with the Fellow, who is the Coach’s primary client.

Scope Parameters

These engagements are limited to the scope described above. In this capacity, Organizational Coaches help Fellows and their leadership teams to develop a plan that best meets the organization or agency’s needs. Assistance with implementation is not part of this scope, and Fellows are under no obligation to continue working with an Organizational Coach beyond this targeted scope. However, if the Fellow and his or her organization or agency determine that they would like to engage the Organizational Coach as a consultant to implement any portion of the plan, that must be contracted between the two parties and paid by the Fellow’s organization.

If you have questions, please contact Kimberly Haskins at khaskins@barrfoundation.org or (617) 854-3138.

Download the Organizational Coaching Overview