A consultant this past week delivered to the Council on Aging Board a summary of two reports about how the COA operates and shared a slew of recommendations to make improvements (see Wellesley Media recording).
The studies were conducted before the recent departure of the COA’s director. The Board commissioned the studies to help improve COA services, which have grown in popularity even as the organization has seen considerable leadership turnover in recent years.
Jennifer Thompson of Capital Strategic Solutions presented highlights from the reports, one focused on the climate of the COA (morale, etc., not solar, etc.) and the other a deeper dive into organizational structure and policies (see the recommendations online). Leadership, governance, and operational efficiency were among the focus areas of the work, which including interviews with all staff and board members, she said (the board did not direct the firm to gather patron input).
The climate study found that COA employees largely liked their jobs. Thompson said she didn’t want to dwell on past leadership, but said areas such as communications should be a priority in hiring a new director. She also stressed the need to make clearer to employees the role of the board, which she emphasized is much more than an advisory body and has actual authority over policies. Misunderstandings about the board’s role could lead to concerns about overreach or micromanagement, she said.
Recommendations from the climate assessment included having a leadership development plan, a consistent performance management system, expanding board engagement in COA activities, and documenting institutional knowledge.
From the organizational audit, recommendations sometimes overlapped and included improving the onboarding process for leadership and other staff, considering a workload analysis for staff once a new director is hired, and standardizing policy enforcement.
One question about the reports from a board member was how the board might stay better in tune with staff concerns without overstepping. The consultant suggested one possibility might be to assign a board member to be a liaison with staff.
Board member Marlene Allen said she found the study’s interviewing of all board and staff members to be of great value. “So it was a composite of all of that, that only you were hearing, that we had not heard. And you put it in a format that’s easy for us to understand and hopefully correct… it’s an enormous opportunity for the future,” she said.
The board still has some research of its own to do before it posts a job ad for a new director, said Chair Judy Gertler.
The board also briefly touched on another assessment in the works in partnership with UMass Boston. A survey has already been conducted, and now focus groups are in the works. One challenge in setting up focus groups for mid-September is to identify seniors in town that are infrequent COA visitors or who have never come in, and board members were asked to each come up with a couple of names of people they personally know for possible inclusion.
Our hearts were warmed when a reader who presented at COA recently told us that numerous people who read about him on Swellesley earlier in the week made mention of this. Please encourage your friends, seniors or not, to subscribe to our free email newsletter & stay in the loop.
