Organizational Consultation

At Jupiter Center, we apply the same philosophy to organizations that we apply to individuals and families—be real, address fear and conflict directly, and use your mind/ideas to find the best solution for responding to needs. We provide consultation to design new programs and projects, troubleshoot problematic organizational structures by working with them to resolve bottlenecks, inefficiencies and conflicts. We strive to be involved from the beginning and throughout the process of making the changes we recommend to ensure the changes are meaningful and effective.

We work with organizations to identify and understand:

(1) where they are now,
(2) where they want to be,
(3) what they need in order to get there,
(4) what is standing in the way, and
(5 ) how to change things so they can get there.

We stay with you through the whole process, wherever the problem may lie within your organization—from individual staffing issues, to program bottlenecks, department functional impairments, and even organization-wide mission drift.

Our work begins by fostering a level of trust among staff that we will listen without prejudgment or hidden agendas. We repeatedly find that all levels of staff and the organization share the same goals and can help find solutions to problems, as long as everyone is clear about what is needed, expected, and possible.
There is a powerful underlying attitude here: the only reason to study a problem is to find its solution. Back when Michael Kinzer was a young lawyer, he brought a legal problem to a partner in the firm. After Michael finished presenting the problem, the partner asked, “so, what’s your solution?” Puzzled, Michael replied, “I don’t know. That’s why I brought the problem to you.” The partner became angry, “Don’t ever bring a problem to me again without first coming up without at least one solution. Otherwise, it looks like you are simply handing the problem off to me.” Years later, using shorthand to express the sentiment when it was he who was managing others, Michael adopted the adage for himself and others: “solutions, not problems.”

Jupiter Center offers the following services to organizations:

  • cultivate consistent and best practice standards across programs;
  • create ways for programs to utilize each other’s services and staff to reach common goals;
  • draft and implement annual organizational work plans and strategic forecasts based on the organizational vision;
  • design and implemented entirely new programs that enhance its capacity to meet the organization’s goals and funder’s objectives;
  • interview staff and assess ways to increase staff morale and efficient use of operational resources;
  • draft policies, procedures and assessments to monitor and demonstrate achievement of project objectives;
  • negotiate and revise existing and new contracts with public and private agencies