Org Design in Practice
Bringing Good Design to Social Impact Organizations
Julian Chender – Founder & Principal Consultant, 11A Collaborative
and
Brandon Curry – Founder & Managing Advisor, Work Arts
An illustration of how we have applied outside-in (corporate → nonprofit) and inside-out (nonprofit → corporate) organization design approaches to meet the unique needs of social impact organizations.
Organization design is well used in the corporate sector but infrequently undertaken by nonprofit organizations. This session seeks to bridge the gap between organization design’s vast experience in the corporate world and the potential for more application to the nonprofit space.
We will share two case studies to show how we have applied some of the fundamental concepts of organization design to meet the unique needs of nonprofit organizations. Our approach takes an outside-in and inside-out look at the relationship between corporate and nonprofit organizations. In one case, we will look at a 20-year-old nonprofit experiencing hypergrowth and business model innovation (outside-in, corporate to nonprofit) and in the other we will examine the realignment of a philanthropic foundation within a Fortune 100 corporation (inside-out).
We will share specific takeaways and tools from these cases and help participants apply some of them to a third case that we will work on collectively.
Objectives:
- Understand the similarities and differences between org design in the corporate and non-profit sectors
- Learn how we applied first principles to adapt corporate organization design tools to social impact organizations
- Practice adapting your design approach and tools to a social impact case
Social Impact organizations are often human-centric in their external work and internal practices. In translating our tools to a new(ish) and underserved sector for organization design practice, we are working to expand the practice of organization design to serve social impact organizations.
Julian Chender is the Founder and Principal Consultant of 11A Collaborative, where he focuses on creating a healthy society through healthy organizations. Julian’s work focuses on facilitating human connection and shaping behavior at scale. He consults with purpose-driven businesses, nonprofits, foundations, public offices, and government agencies. In his early years at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Julian’s portfolio included leadership and team development and enterprise strategy, all focused on the agency’s response to the global Ebola crisis. From there, he moved to external consulting, eventually joining Accenture’s Operating Model & Organization Design practice shortly after its acquisition of Kates Kesler. Julian is a Certified Organization Design Practitioner and an ICF-Certified Coach who holds a master’s degree in Organization Development from American University. In 2020, he received the Emerging Practitioner Award from the Organization Development Network (ODN). He has served on the Board of Trustees of ODN and currently sits on the Board of Advisors for the Organization Design Forum.
Brandon Curry is the Founder and Managing Advisor of Work Arts, where he advises senior management and their teams to build more effective and engaged organizations. He founded Work Arts after 20 years in industry, where he led teams spanning 5 continents in HR, Talent Management, Organization Development, and Continuous Improvement roles. His knowledge base is informed by diverse global experience delivering performance improvement, increased capability, and high-stakes organizational change initiatives including global M&A and integrations, organization design, divestitures, business segmentations, start-ups, restructuring, and global technology deployment.
Brandon is a Certified Organization Design Professional (CODP). He earned a Bachelor of Science and Master of Training and Development degrees from Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan.