At Olive Grove we take learning seriously. Just over one year ago we implemented a rigorous quality assurance process that allows us to hear from and learn from our clients and our consultants. The final link in our learning circle was to share the lessons out to the general public through the following article. This article outlines our learning from 67 phone calls conducted over the last quarter of 2011 and the first quarter of 2012. So what did we learn?
Organizations that we work with engage with Olive Grove during critical transitions such as:
- Leadership transition
- Infusion of funds for a new initiative
- Governance review and overhaul
- Financial crisis
One of the most interesting aspects of the feedback was that clients reported that the process of working with Olive Grove was as important if not more important that the outcome/s. Working with Olive Grove allows clients to step back from the issues, from their role, from the day to day and see themselves as part of a larger ecosystem. Clients noted that our staff and consultants play a strong role in creating a safe space, guiding, enabling and supporting the client to develop their own capacity rather than doing the work for them. In addition clients reported that working with Olive Grove is frequently a catalyst to other changes that allow them to take advantage of unleveraged opportunities.
Along with the positive feedback, we admit openly that we heard some negatives too. But understanding where there is failure is critical to understanding how to improve our service delivery. What we learned from our clients in the past six months allowed us to make important changes to our processes. These changes included clarifying the roles of each staff member engaged in executing client contracts, shoring up lines of communication between Olive Grove staff, network consultants and clients, and streamlining internal communications between operations and finance staff to better serve our clients. We are happy to report that by listening to our clients, and introducing improved internal communication between internal departments, we saw a significant decrease in concerns on this topic from clients over the first quarter of 2012.
An unanticipated but very notable piece of information that we learned through the quality assurance process was the reaction of our clients to Olive Grove actually having a quality assurance department. Our clients were genuinely surprised and impressed by the time and energy we invested in the process and some noted that they consider it a differentiator for the firm. We heard from clients that the calls we made as part of the quality assurance process provided them with an easy and neutral outlet to provide feedback, and created a safe space for reflection. Many thanked us for making the effort to provide that outlet for clients to be heard.
Over the last year of implementing our quality assurance process we have learned how important it is to provide channels for our clients to communicate their feedback openly because when they feel heard they feel empowered and feel like they have an impact in how we deliver our services. We believe this information has larger implications for organizations in the any and every sector. Allowing your beneficiaries, donors, customers, stakeholders, and others to become part of your learning loop and empowering them to express their opinions will help you improve your processes, programs, services, products and delivery, and build better relationships with those your serve.
So what can you learn by asking, “how did we do?” Try it and see what you hear! Just remember, don’t be scared of feedback – embrace it, learn from it, and incorporate it!
“It is great what you do to be able to help any time an organization is going through change, and how difficult it is for organizations to deal with change. So often consultants put people through exercises, but Emily is a very nuts and bolts and practical person, but at the same time she has vision. She gets the most out of people. A lot of people call themselves consulatants, but really being able to add value is difficult.”
- Mary Hohensee, Board Member, Women’s Recovery Association
“The most surprising thing: it wasn’t what we did as much as how we did it. I had a sense that the process mattered, I knew I couldn’t manage the process myself because everyone had a vested interest (including me). Truly what ended up mattering was that [our former board chair] could be comfortable and proud of his own daughter. That emotional success was really important. We facilitated greatness, made people look good.”
- Kim Laughton, President, Schwab Charitable Fund



