5 Reasons to Future Proof your organisation – By Henrietta Hopkins

I’m blogging today on Blue Monday.  This is ‘officially’ the bleakest day of the year when debts, taxes and bad weather are all pressing heavily on us.  It was suggested by The Guardian’s Helen Pidd yesterday that Blue Monday is no more than something ‘to give the publicity hungry a peg to hang their message on’.  Well I am feeling pretty blue today and I am publicity hungry to the extent that Creating Capacity is running a truly exciting event on 2nd February and I want the world to know!  Future Proofing your Organisation: a one-day action planning and networking event is about long-term organisational sustainability. So why is it important to dedicate time and commitment to considering this now?

1. Survival

Museums, libraries, archives and the heritage sector are all facing very challenging times.  Every day in the news we hear of cuts affecting what the sector is able to do.  The National Conservation Centre closed on 17 December 2010; Library closures around the country are being mapped by Voices for the Library; as are Museum Cuts by the Museums Association.  Just today we hear about plans which could severly restrict the activities of the Museum of Croydon and before Christmas the Dorset History Centre.  This is the tip of the iceberg.  Difficult times indeed.  Some things are undoubtedly beyond our control, but others changes can be managed through planning, leadership and effective advocacy.  Getting these things right will help us to do the best we can for our organisations when times are tough.

2. Confidence

Being proactive about sustainability, taking action when it otherwise might seem impossible, is a huge benefit in facing the challenges ahead.  Sometimes though we need help to think through the issues.  Once we’ve received that help our confidence increases and the mountains don’t seem unsurmountable anymore.  As one participant on a Creating Capacity course recently said, ‘The tools from this course will be useful in meeting the challenges of the upcoming restructure’.  This is what we’re bringing with Future Proofing, an opportunity to think through your organisation’s challenges and think creatively about how to act with confidence.

3. Being effective

I’m writing this blog knowing that I have not had a particularly effective morning.  I’ve been distracted by emails and drawn in to reacting to events.  This is not how I want to work having been through Sinead Mac Manus’s excellent from Apps to Zen mentoring programme.  Sinead is a keynote speaker at Future Proofing speaking about Mindful 21st Century Working. How often do you find that you are being busy but not effective?  Would you benefit from a day considering how to focus on what’s important for your organisation?

4. Demonstrating value

It’s easy to justify your work to yourself, less so to other people, particularly those that fund and support our organisation’s development.  This is critical at the moment.  So in our action planning sessions on 2 February we’re going to look at how to demonstrate the impact of what museums, libraries and archives are doing.  Anita and I will be running a session on precisely this and those on Empowering local communities; Developing volunteer roles and recruiting strategically; and Effective collaboration with business will all build up to a picture where through action plans you are in a better position to demonstrate your value.

5. Collaboration

Effective collaboration is essential.  New ways of working are demanding it with calls to share services; promote philanthropic giving and work more effectively with business.  Neil Coulson from The Social Investment Business will be helping organisations to strengthen their resilience through consortia working, working through the ins and outs of consortium-working and what organisations need to do to become ‘consortium-ready’. In Partnerships for Change Victora Ward from Sparknow will be looking at what it takes to construct robust and flexible strategic partnerships between businesses and the cultural sector. She will also run an action planning workshop on Effective collaboration with Business.

To be continued tomorrow. Watch this space and learn about 5 more reasons to future proof your organsiation, or add your own and let us know why future proofing is important to you.