RED CROSS CASE STUDY: Outline • close •  

The Following is an outline of what you will find detailed in the Report:

The Symptoms
After consulting to many organizations over the years, often in turnaround situations, certain symptoms quickly become obvious when reading about the Red Cross. How many of these symptoms does your organization have?
#1: Disputes About Your Ability to Truly Accomplish Your Mission (vs. doing the best we can with what we’ve got)
#2: “That’s the Way We’ve Always Done It” Syndrome
#3: An Overly Powerful Executive Committee (and a Weak Overall Board)
#4: High Turnover vs. Life Terms (and Often Both at the Same Time!)
#5: Trying to Effect Organizational Change by Changing Staff and/or Board Personnel (and an Overall Tendency to Solve Problems One by One)

The Diagnosis
Organizations usually treat symptoms, rather than root causes of problems. Larger, more encompassing issues are often invisible, while their symptoms are highly visible. It’s happened at the Red Cross. Is it happening at your organization?
#1: Inability to See the Real Issues
#2: Failure to Use Long Term Vision and Values as a Guide for Every Organizational Decision
#3: Lack of Meaningful Planning (They may plan, but towards what end?)
#4: A Board That Misconstrues the Purpose of Governance

The Prescription
For every symptom noted in the bad press the Red Cross receives, year after year, there are probably a dozen symptoms we don’t know about. The important question is not how to treat those individual problems. The important question is how to make the organization’s efforts healthy and strong, so these symptoms stop cropping up.
#1: Focus on Vision and Values
#2: Plan for a Visionary Future
#3: Plan to Make the Board Exceptional
#4: Plan for Excellence in Every Function
#5: Engage the Community You Serve
#6: Improve Board Education

Clearly, the issues facing the Red Cross are NOT what everyone seems to think they are. Otherwise, with all the efforts they have undergone to fix their problems, they would be fixed! The same holds true for your own organization - often the real problem is not what we think it is.

As you start to consider your own organization, there is much to learn from watching the Red Cross. But the question for your organization shouldn’t be “What is the Red Cross doing?”

The bottom line for your organization is:

Could your organization stand up to that kind of scrutiny?

And what will you do to ensure that it can?

UPDATED !!
RED CROSS
Case Study Report     

If I Were a Consultant to the American Red Cross (or to Your Organization!):
Simple Things Your Organization Can Learn from the Red Cross’s Mistakes

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