Organizations that need to do a lot with a little have to be creative in order to be successful. Organizations (and people) that do not engage actively with the future go stale. Organizations that fail to use their collective imagination remain imprisoned by existing structures that are causing or perpetuating obstacles to success. Together, these concepts are at the heart of innovation and innovative family services. At RCPCC we take these concepts to heart and strive to model them as individual staffers and as an organization, and to embed them in our programming.
Our innovative approaches include:
Shared Leadership
Shared leadership involves increased autonomy to individual staff members to explore, initiate and implement project development. Staff can also initiate interagency outreach and collaboration. For instance, if a staff member identifies energy for a cooking class for parents, the staff member is free to make it happen (within budgetary constraints, of course). This approach helps us get more done more quickly – and staff feel more invested in the organization. This also requires a “mistake-tolerant” atmosphere.
In our own microcosm, we try to model how we envision a healthy, organically growing community functioning. It requires openness, trust and commitment – while also expanding these qualities. It is “de-siloing” in its truest sense.