Partners in Organizational
Development Project

by Elizabeth Honsberger, Director of Program Development

MOSAIC was delighted to have had the opportunity to work with the United Way on a Partners in Organizational Development (POD) project from January-May/99. The $4,000 project allowed us to hire a consultant—the well known Vancouver-based consultant, Sandy Berman—to help us examine our mission statement from a service delivery perspective and formulate up-to-date operational goals and outcomes for the new millennium.

We receive regular requests from funders, clients and staff to offer programs and services to mainstream clients (non-immigrants). Historically, we have provided free settlement, language and employment-related programs and services only to immigrants and refugees. The exception to this is in the area of translation and interpretation where we have provided services to both mainstream and immigrant communities for about 10 years.

The purpose of the POD project was to survey MOSAIC’s constituent base—in other words, our board, staff, clients, funders and community partners—to collect feedback to three key questions:

Who are the audiences that MOSAIC intends to serve?
What programs and services are appropriate for the agency to deliver?
What impact would expanded service delivery have on the agency?

The project unfolded in three phases. Phase I (Consultation) provided an opportunity to develop the project design and communication strategies with representatives from the constituent groups. Phase II (Responses) was the activity-based phase of the project. Focus groups with board, staff, clients and community partners were held, in addition to in-class presentations for students and telephone surveys with funders. During Phase III (Final Report), the results of the focus groups, telephone surveys and presentations were analysed and distilled into a series of observations/recommendations that formed the essence of the final report.

The concluding paragraph of the Executive Summary clearly illustrated the overall consensus reached on the report questions:

“MOSAIC serves very specific needs for a clearly defined population. The agency is highly regarded for its demonstrated effectiveness and is widely recognized as the only provider of specialized services in some areas. Expansion to serve a wider range of people is seen as something that would, almost inevitably, be detrimental to the agency’s current service users. Enhancement of partnerships and collaborative projects with agencies that serve other client groups is seen as better way to share expertise and resources and provide additional opportunities for all service users.”1

The project is now complete, and we have on hand a report that will facilitate a number of positive outcomes for us. The report’s findings will allow us to develop a suitable mission statement, goals, programs and services that speak collectively to the constituency groups’ recommendations. They will also contribute to our annual strategic planning efforts, both from an agency and a departmental perspective. Lastly, the report supports our ongoing commitment to clarify and strengthen our mandate, especially during times of such rapid change.