Addressing Bottlenecks to Program and Organizational Performance

Sometimes it is challenging to see the forest through the trees. Nonprofits often have many programs running at the same time, and an endless “to do” list for each program. This workshop will guide participants in taking a step back to assess the big picture for their organization, program, or activities. Participants will engage in an evaluation exercise that will include identifying bottlenecks and “traps” their work may have fallen into. Identifying and addressing these bottlenecks and traps will lead to increased organizational agility, resilience, and sustained performance. This learning opportunity will utilize the Liberating Structures EcoCycle Planning micro-structure, an open-source tools.

Nonprofit Austin reserves the right to postpone this opportunity if there is not adequate registration.

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Our facilitator, Christine Gendron:

Christine Gendron is an experienced and entrepreneurial leader, a systems thinker, connector, collaborator, and capacity builder. She has nearly 20 years of leadership experience serving as a resource for nonprofits, policymakers, government, and philanthropy organizations on strengthening outcomes for children, youth, families, and underserved populations.

Christine previously served as the Executive Director of a statewide association and advocacy organization for eight years. She stepped into that role when the organization was struggling, defined a new strategic direction, streamlined administrative functions, established partnerships with stakeholders across the state, and raised new funds, ultimately tripling the organization’s annual budget. She led legislative advocacy efforts that secured legislation and new state appropriations, led the coordination of high-profile capacity building initiatives for direct care providers, and oversaw the provision of training on best practices for thousands of professionals. She served as an advisor on legislative and regulatory policy, among other topics, for leaders at 60+ direct care member organizations.

Christine has also served as Vice President for two larger nonprofit organizations, through which she was responsible for advocacy/lobbying, program development, and capacity building. She was previously a Senior Research Associate for the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin, where she evaluated programs for public agencies. She is a skilled and experienced facilitator, and she has helped numerous organizations and initiatives with assessment, consensus building, engagement, and planning.

Christine holds a Bachelor of Arts in history from Texas A&M University and a Master of Public Affairs from the University of Texas at Austin’s Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. She lives in Austin with her husband, Ben, and their rescue poodles. Christine has served on numerous nonprofit boards, she has been heavily involved in the LBJ School alumni association, and she is active in the philanthropic community. In her free time, she enjoys reading, cooking, staying active/fit, learning Spanish, and supporting high school debate.