Mission, Models, Money – Driving up performance

There are major capability issues relating to the core competencies currently required to drive up organisational and financial perfomance. Given that the prevailing mindset in most organisations identifies training as one of the first areas to be cut when budgets are tight, the consequent lack of investment in people and skills development is at the root of many issues that dominate the sector.
Some of the solutions certainly lie in up-skilling in key areas such as finance, fundraising and public engagement activities, and in leadership development; but there also needs to be a focus on identifying new, emerging competencies which will help manage the complexity around us. In a wider context, and not only relating to the arts, research in the workplace suggests that 60% of positions now require a range of multiple intelligences that only 30% of the population possess. We need to start understanding what these might be as there is evidence that our existing leadership group is hiring the wrong people with the wrong talents to the wrong job specifications.

The lack of sophisticated financial knowledge and skills within A&COs at both executive and non-executive levels, and indeed among funders, is a widely recognised feature of the sector. We have found that the financial dynamics of non-profits are not well understood either at Executive or Trustee levels, and there is an urgent need for both A&COs and funders to deepen their understanding of capital structure. Appropriate financial information at a strategic level is not often available, and many people in senior positions cannot read a balance sheet. There is often an inability to distinguish between bidding for funds and business planning, especially on capital projects, with both funders and A&COs colluding on this.

In relation to IT, recent studies reveal below average understanding and engagement with IT at all levels of operation. And this is not only affecting back office functions. Interviews with artistic directors paint a picture of thwarted aspiration: ideas are not limited by imagination or lack of ambition, but by a lack of inclusion in formal strategic documentation, budgets and capacity planning, and organisational development thinking.
Many of the barriers to adapting to the changing external environment lie at the top end of the food chain with the incumbent Chief Executive Officer or equivalent, and with Trustees. This existing leadership group is trapped in old ways of thinking: fixing not transforming. With regard to governance we have found that behaviours generally are not changing fast enough to reflect the new operating context where the challenges are of a different order to those in the past. All too often boards operate in such a collegiate, consensus-driven manner that individuals are uncomfortable in challenging management or questioning inconsistencies or the quality of information they receive. Trustees also need to regularly revisit the relevance of the mission of their organisation and become more aware of  mission creep being forced upon them by funders and other stakeholders.

At the same time where best practice does exist it is not sufficiently shared across the sector and is very slow to be taken up. For example, relationship-building strategies continue to be compartmentalised internally into audience development, fundraising and education, thus preventing more holistic engagement strategies, and whilst there is a growing willingness for more effective horizon planning to manage accelerating change, there is generally inadequate time allocated to this.

True or False?
I am investing sufficient resources into developing the relevant financial and organisational competencies of my team and the knowledge and skills of my Trustees.
Go to http://www.artsprofessional.co.uk to answer this and other questions in the MMM consultation.

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