You have been called in by the Executive Director (ED) of a small non-profit that provides after school programming for inner city children. The ED states that she needs help with her hiring process to find the right person for the Program Director (PD), who oversees all on-the-ground operations with the kids. The PD manages 8 staff who run 4-5 different activities throughout the afternoon, as well as overseeing two kitchen staff who prepare healthy meals for the kids. You find out that there have been three different people in the PD role over the past four years. The ED is desperate to get someone long-term: "It's been impossible to find a reliable person who can carry out the Program Director responsibilities. Can you PLEASE help us determine if this is the right person?" The ED pleads: "I'm on my last leg. I can't run this place on my own for much longer."

You schedule a meeting with the Executive Director and as you arrive and wait to meet, you observe that the environment seems chaotic and disorganized,and a fight breaks out between several students seem unruly.

During your meeting, the Executive Director, explains that she spends most of her time off-site fundraising. She tells you she doesn't have time to raise money to hire more staff and needs someone who can "handle" things - like her trusty Program Director five years ago, although she admits that was before adding the meal program and enrollment has doubled since then. The ED says that donors love the notion of providing healthy meals in addition to after-school activities, and the meal program has helped keep the organizational afloat.

Finally, you ask the Executive Director if any other OD consultants have been hired. "Yes, we had another consultant come in and redo our whole interviewing process. She guaranteed that it would get us the right person, but then the next PD we hired left after just six months! That consultant was so worthless, I warned everyone not to use them. A good friend referred you to me and I'm counting on you to do a better job or honestly, I'm swearing off consultants altogether!"

Based on this week's reading:

2. What are your assumptions about the case?
4. What questions would you ask in this initial meeting?
6. What are your initial suggestions for building an assessment?