As organizations mature, grow, or face changing conditions, the leadership, structure, management, and operating norms that once worked start to break down.  In fact, the management solutions for one phase often turn into the management problems of another.

In Seven Turning Points: Leading Through Pivotal Transitions in Organizational Life, Susan Gross names predictable crossroads that organizations face.  Your organization may face some or all of these turning points at various times.  Recognizing that organizations don’t evolve neatly, graduating from one life cycle to the next, Seven Turning Points provides a fluid, nuanced, and non-linear approach to organizational development that resonates with the realities of nonprofit life.  

Seven Turning Points goes beyond describing symptoms and challenges and offers leaders usable advice on what to expect and what to do.  With it, you’ll recognize when your organization is at a pivotal juncture, understand the underlying dynamics, and be prepared with concrete actions to make needed changes.  

Susan Gross can provide workshops, webinars, and speaking engagements exploring Seven Turning Points and managing change in different lengths and depth to meet the needs of the audience.  Topics might be:

• Overview of the turning points framework

• In-depth description of some of the turning points, including signs that change is needed, the adjustments that need to be made, and ways to manage the counter-tensions that arise

• Discussion of creative tensions between more structured characteristics and more fluid ones (such as directive decision-making versus collegial decision-making; well-defined, specialized staff roles versus fluid, adaptable staff roles; and strategically planned program development versus opportunistic program development) and how they play out in organizations at different turning points

• Helping participants apply the framework to their own organizations

• Application of the framework to deal with the challenges of the current economic downturn