Organizational Development and Leadership
Leading Your Organization Forward
Since leading a successful effort to restructure student government at Lewis and Clark College—where he became the first president of the new system—Rev. Cook has built over 36 years of leadership experience. He has guided three churches and served as a key leader within the New York State Council of Churches, bringing a steady, collaborative approach to organizational change and growth.
If your organization is seeking direction, stability, or renewed vision, Peter is available to serve as a consultant or Interim Executive Director to get your orgaizatio back on track.
What Rev. Cook can do for you:
Work with your board to evaluate organizational structure and make changes in structure which better serve your institution and encourage transparent and accountable decision making.
Defining healthy roles for staff and board leadership to clarify reporting relationships and foster collaboration rather than conflict or competition.
Advise on stewardship and capital campaigns and help you decide on workable and realistic fundraising approaches
Assume a leadership role in your organization to help you get on your feet and move forward
To further collaborate, please fill out the form on our Contact page to be in touch to discuss your vision.
Pointers
Do refer often to your mission and remember, if you are a Chrisitan organization, remember that Jesus Christ is the head of your organization and not the trustees, pastor, or executive director. Also remember that how you as an organization behave internally should be consistent with how you behave externally. Your integrity as an organization is your greatest asset,
Remember that your integrity in how you hire, support, and terminate employees must meet a high standard and be consistent with the policies of the denominations that support you. The justice you do on the inside needs to match the justice for which you advocate on the outside. No matter how small your organization, you should not attempt to make personnel decisions or engage in evaluation without a personnel policy and board approved evaluation procedures which allow for transparency and mutual review.
Do encourage your staff to be creative in coming up with program ideas and funding sources as long as they generally conform to your mission.
Do cultivate strong relationships with denominations and ask for their support. Invite them into your decision making. At the same time, recognize that you must diversify your financial support since denominational giving at best will stay steady if not decline.
Please understand that while you may be a Christian based organization, you are called as Christians to work on relationships and coalitions with people of other faiths. Interfaith work is central to your Christian identity.
Please understand that the working relationship between the Executive Director or Pastor and the President on your board must be healthy and not be vulnerable to triangulation by other board members or staff who may try to build unhealthy alliances with staff and other board members or side with the Executive Director or the President to the exclusion of the other.
Budgeting must always be transparent. As a rule, a budget hearing is helpful solicit feedback followed by a meeting a week or two later where the budget is approved.
Do pay attention to your by-laws to be sure they are supporting healthy relationships and promote transparency and accountability in decision making. Stick with them as best you can and require all board members to read them at least once a year. It’s ok to have a trial period to try on a by-law change before it is solidified but the trial period needs an end point and decision from the government body about its intent to incorporate into the by-laws. Adequate notice should be given to make changes in the by-laws.