Introducing Blueprints for Change
We’re excited to launch a new blog series that takes you behind the scenes of Headwaters’ journey to transform our internal structure, policies, and key practices. Since 2022, we’ve reimagined how our organization operates - from leadership structure to pay. Each change we’ve made has more closely aligned our internal practices with the values we practice in our grantmaking: distributed power and shared decision making.
This series is our way of sharing what we’ve learned, what we’re still figuring out, and the tools we’ve built along the way. Whether your organization is just beginning this kind of work or in the thick of it, we hope these stories spark ideas, affirm your path, and offer practical support as we work to build more resilient, liberatory institutions to guide our movements.
Telling our story: a tool for collective resilience
Why are we sharing this story now?
In this increasingly fraught political landscape, we know we’re not alone. Many organizations are facing hard questions about how to work in ways that are sustainable, values-aligned, and responsive to a political moment of increased instability and repression. The pressures are significant: shrinking resources, increased surveillance, burnout, and growing threats to movements for justice.
At Headwaters, we’ve spent the last three years doing the internal work, and we’re stronger for it. Both within our own organization and in our community, we’ve seen that organizations that care for their people and live into their values are more resilient. And decades of supporting organizing prove that resilient organizations are key to sustaining long-haul fights for justice.
We hope to offer something useful to organizations on a similar path. We offer our story as one example of what is possible, and as encouragement for others doing the work of transformation.
What to expect in this series
Over the next year, you can expect:
- Blog posts digging into each of our three major organization transformation projects of shared leadership, collective decision-making, and pay equity.
- Takeaways from our work and questions we’re still chewing on.
- Resources including a decision-making guide, pay structure model, and benefits policy model.
- Links to materials that we used to support our own learning and growth.
- Concrete ideas about how your organization, collective, or formation can begin to implement changes to align your culture and work with your values – from small steps you can take right now to long-term plans for change.
Introduction to Headwaters’ organizational transformation work
To kick off this series, we 're sharing the beginning of our path towards our organizational transformation. Our work officially began in 2022 amid organizational growth and the ongoing disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As Headwaters grew, its leadership recognized the need to right-size staff workloads, build a culture of sustainability, and invest in staff development to support our work of funding movements.
Staff and board formed Headwaters’ Organizational Development Committee (ODC) to lead this work. Headwaters also contracted with Dragonfly Partners, a Philadelphia-based consulting team that “helps social justice workers get ‘unstuck’ and cultivate strategic growth.” Dragonfly brought expertise, capacity, and perspective to the big work we had in front of us.
In the fall of 2022, Headwaters, like many organizations since the beginning of the pandemic, faced a major leadership transition. This unexpected change necessitated an organization-wide pause.
To kick off this series, we 're sharing the beginning of our path towards our organizational transformation. Our work officially began in 2022 amid organizational growth and the ongoing disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As Headwaters grew, its leadership recognized the need to right-size staff workloads, build a culture of sustainability, and invest in staff development to support our work of funding movements.
Staff and board formed Headwaters’ Organizational Development Committee (ODC) to lead this work. Headwaters also contracted with Dragonfly Partners, a Philadelphia-based consulting team that “helps social justice workers get ‘unstuck’ and cultivate strategic growth.” Dragonfly brought expertise, capacity, and perspective to the big work we had in front of us.
In the fall of 2022, Headwaters, like many organizations since the beginning of the pandemic, faced a major leadership transition. This unexpected change necessitated an organization-wide pause.
Staff discuss organizational structure at all-staff retreat in early 2023
In the fall of 2022, Headwaters, like many organizations since the beginning of the pandemic, faced a major leadership transition. This unexpected change necessitated an organization-wide pause.
In our case, the departure of our senior leadership team opened space for questions about how power and decision-making worked at Headwaters. It also invited us to take a hard look at whether the way we’d been working was serving us, our values, grantees, and mission.
While this period offered an opportunity for change, it was also deeply challenging. The sudden leadership transition resulted in stress and disruption for staff. While uncertainty and over-extension often spilled over into conflict, Headwaters’ staff drew on our commitments to our values and each other to move through what was an often-rocky period internally. We were also supported by a deeply dedicated and experienced board who stepped in to offer critical support, guidance, and direction.
In our case, the departure of our senior leadership team opened space for questions about how power and decision-making worked at Headwaters. It also invited us to take a hard look at whether the way we’d been working was serving us, our values, grantees, and mission.
While this period offered an opportunity for change, it was also deeply challenging. The sudden leadership transition resulted in stress and disruption for staff. While uncertainty and over-extension often spilled over into conflict, Headwaters’ staff drew on our commitments to our values and each other to move through what was an often-rocky period internally. We were also supported by a deeply dedicated and experienced board who stepped in to offer critical support, guidance, and direction.
In our case, the departure of our senior leadership team opened space for questions about how power and decision-making worked at Headwaters. It also invited us to take a hard look at whether the way we’d been working was serving us, our values, grantees, and mission.
While this period offered an opportunity for change, it was also deeply challenging. The sudden leadership transition resulted in stress and disruption for staff. While uncertainty and over-extension often spilled over into conflict, Headwaters’ staff drew on our commitments to our values and each other to move through what was an often-rocky period internally. We were also supported by a deeply dedicated and experienced board who stepped in to offer critical support, guidance, and direction.
In this context, the staff and board at Headwaters made the decision – supported by Dragonfly - to devote our organizational development efforts to exploring shared leadership, collective decision-making, and pay equity. These three interconnected issues were at the center of how staff had experienced growing pains at Headwaters in the preceding years and were at the heart of how we imagined creating a more just workplace.
Staff discuss organizational structure at all-staff retreat in early 2023
Staff discuss organizational structure at all-staff retreat in early 2023
Staff discuss organizational structure at all-staff retreat in early 2023
Alongside these three bodies of work, we also committed to exploring how to define and live into Headwaters’ stated values of gender justice, Black liberation, and Native self-determination.
As we embarked on this work supported by Dragonfly, our staff-led ODC gained new members and energy. The first order of business was clarifying our decision-making process.
Stay tuned for our next installment to learn how we moved towards the advice process and modified consensus decision making!
In our case, the departure of our senior leadership team opened space for questions about how power and decision-making worked at Headwaters. It also invited us to take a hard look at whether the way we’d been working was serving us, our values, grantees, and mission.
While this period offered an opportunity for change, it was also deeply challenging. The sudden leadership transition resulted in stress and disruption for staff. While uncertainty and over-extension often spilled over into conflict, Headwaters’ staff drew on our commitments to our values and each other to move through what was an often-rocky period internally. We were also supported by a deeply dedicated and experienced board who stepped in to offer critical support, guidance, and direction.
In this context, the staff and board at Headwaters made the decision – supported by Dragonfly - to devote our organizational development efforts to exploring shared leadership, collective decision-making, and pay equity. These three interconnected issues were at the center of how staff had experienced growing pains at Headwaters in the preceding years and were at the heart of how we imagined creating a more just workplace.
Alongside these three bodies of work, we also committed to exploring how to define and live into Headwaters’ stated values of gender justice, Black liberation, and Native self-determination.
As we embarked on this work supported by Dragonfly, our staff-led ODC gained new members and energy. The first order of business was clarifying our decision-making process.
Stay tuned for our next installment to learn how we moved towards the advice process and modified consensus decision making!
- Get outside help, experience, and perspective however you can. Our partners at Dragonfly have been critical in moving our work forward. They serve as project managers, content experts, and facilitators. Not all organizations may be able to contract with a team like Dragonfly, but any support in managing the work can help. Consider hiring outside facilitators for retreats, bringing in organizational development experts for staff education sessions, or having content experts help develop policies.
- This work takes much longer than you think – don’t rush and get comfortable with the unknown. Organizations take years to build and years to transform. This means working in a space of “in-between”: in- between how your organization used to operate and how your organization will operate when the work is complete. Getting comfortable with a slower pace of change and the ambiguity of the in-between is required when making big changes.
- Balance serving the community and serving your organization. The demands of your work serving community can easily push internal transformation work to the backburner. And in the nonprofit grind, focusing internally can feel like a betrayal of your mission. But we’ve learned that when you’re stronger, your work is stronger. Organizational change means prioritizing your organization’s wellbeing by balancing your everyday work and carving out time to do the work that serves you.
- Take self-care and staff-care seriously while doing transformation work. Transformation is hard work. It will add to your workload and stress. Make sure you’re not adding extra work to your team without figuring out how to reduce their other bodies of work or extend timelines.
- Invest in relationship-building. Particularly if your team is engaging in shared-decision-making, building strong relationships and trust among staff is critical. Make time for shared meals, non-working retreats, and intentional relationship-building to support connectedness among staff.
- Learn how to have conflict well. Conflict is a part of any workplace. If you want to transform your workplace into an institution that works for its people, wrestling with hard questions is necessary. Take the time to learn how to navigate conflict in helpful and healthy ways that move your work forward instead of stalling it out.
- Not everyone will want to transform with you and that’s okay. Some of your colleagues may not want to take on the extra responsibility and work of a changing organization. Be prepared for transitions and be intentional about how to onboard new employees into a changing workplace.
SMALL
- Make space for open conversations during staff meetings. Get curious and pay attention to what feels sticky and hard - don't put it aside, attune to it.
- Encourage your team to host casual, drop-in style “coffee hours” where staff can host low-stakes, exploratory discussions about potential areas of change and opportunity.
MEDIUM
- Form a staff organizational development committee and begin outlining potential bodies of work.
- Invite organizations who are working on issues your staff wants to know more about to do a lunch and learn or other informal meetings.
- Have conversations with friends and connections at other organizations who have gone through big changes. What have they learned about doing organizational change? What advice do they have?
LARGE
- Hire an organizational development consultant.
- Talk to institutional funders about supporting your organizational development journey with increased general operating funds.
- Consider all-staff trainings on skills or practices that help align on elements of work or culture that are important to your team and transformation. Generative conflict, giving and receiving feedback, or team culture building could be starting places.