Not For Profit Coaching
Australia
What was the opportunity?
In July 2019, TDi received an email from a medium-sized Not For Profit that works with children at risk and is a respected and successful sector leader. It was an invitation to submit a proposal in response to a standard RFP detailing a need for research into new customer segments for a social enterprise. The client had allocated about $50K for this research, reporting including some customer testing.
TDi was only able to have the usual stilted conversations that often occur during EOI’s and RFP’s and won the contract.
Tell us the ‘Nitty Gritty’ details…
The genuine conversations began after winning the contract and it became clear that this newly started social enterprise with a powerful business model was floundering after early promise.
The solution was thought to be in finding new customer segments.
However on inspection, TDi ascertained that the initial idea and market analysis was sound and yet the follow through had not delivered on the initial direction.
We met with the manager in charge of this social enterprise numerous times at no charge. This was to enable an open, trusting and deep conversation about the core problems facing it. Only then, were solutions proposed. In this case, two very very common problems surfaced. Firstly, the structure, governance and daily running of this young enterprise were established as though it was a mature NFP reliant on government funding. Secondly, genuine entrepreneurial activity such as unearthing assumptions, testing these quickly in market, delivering early prototypes and driving for sales were missing. All this established a strong head wind, denying success. We then spoke with both the CEO of the parent NFP and the Chair of the social enterprise to discuss the situation, outlining both the current problems and the remedy
The Outcome
The parent NFP was able to act quickly and understood immediately the diagnosis. This resulted in adjustments to structures, expectations and staff with a new person leading the growth of the enterprise. We supported this change with a short report to the board of both the NFP and the enterprise. Our suggestion was to focus on building the skills of the staff member through coaching, with a focus on key areas -firstly customer sales and then increased efficiency in delivery. The likely cost of the report and a year of coaching is around $10K. We are delivering significant savings to this young enterprise (with no money to spare on consultants) and is enabling their staff to be successful through sales and growth.
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