Organizational Development

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Osprey's work occasionally helps an organization address extremely difficult challenges that fundamentally alter its course. More often, however, our work produces vital incremental improvements that, as Jim Collins writes in Good to Great, increase the momentum of the flywheel. These efforts, working with management teams or individual leaders, improve clarity about goals, business plans, accountability, and measures of success.

City of Thornton Senior Leadership Team:

The Thornton Senior Leadership Team, which works closely with the City Manager, has done a good job in coordinating aboutday-to-day activities, but struggled with how to be address strategically important topics for the City. Osprey was asked to help work with the Leadership Team to help it identify major strategic challenges and determine how they could best address them. Osprey planned and facilitated a one-day retreat that produced consensus approaches and next steps for addressing the most important strategic issues facing the City and improving the functioning of the Leadership Team.

Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks:

Following the strategic planning conducted for the City's Open Space and Mountain Parks Department, Osprey worked with the Department to determine how it could operate more effectively. These sessions emphasized organizational structure and dynamics issues ranging from accountability to how to effectively conduct meetings. Specific recommendations to improve organizational dynamics were developed and promoted by a staff "core working group" and the Director implemented changes in organizational structure as a result of the discussions.

NCAR Advisory Council:

For a number of years Osprey facilitated the meetings of the Advisory Council of the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Composed of prominent scientists, scholars and leaders from academia and the private sector, the Council met twice annually to help NCAR increase its relevance to society and remain on the cutting edge of scientific enquiry.

Institute for Society, Landscape, and Ecosystem Change (ISLEC):

Based at Colorado State University, ISLEC is a start-up collaborative involving professors who want to help address challenging environmental problems using cross-disciplinary approaches. Osprey was hired to help launch the initiative and set up the Institute successfully. A half-day retreat set the wheels in motion by identifying Action Steps in four key categories along with the lead person responsible for each, the timeline, and the coordination that is necessary within the University.

National Science Digital Library (NSDL):

Osprey designed and facilitated several retreats for the NSDL, a National-Science-Foundation-funded effort to create a web-based approach to provide a variety of audiences, especially those involved in education, with access to a wealth of scientific and technical information. Osprey also provided executive coaching and management support for the Executive Director of the NSDL.

Adams County:

Osprey designed and facilitated a retreat for the Adams County Administrator and his department heads. The session focused on identifying critically-important goals for the county, but especially those that required a high level of cross department coordination if they were to be successfully achieved.

Peak Arts:

Peak Arts was created to achieve synergistic benefits and administrative efficiencies for three cultural arts programs in Boulder, Colorado. For a variety of reasons, the organization faced continual financial challenges and many believed there was a need to revisit its organizational structure. Osprey interviewed the board members, identified key issues, and facilitated a day-long retreat that led to concrete actions and a reorganization that improved the financial health of all three member entities.

RC & D Councils:

Osprey conducted interactive training session about how Resource Conservation and Development Councils, an economic development mechanism created by the Department of Agriculture, can be more effective in conceiving of and gaining approval for their project proposals. Thoughtful, objective-driven public outreach was a major emphasis.

Mediation with County Commissioners:

Osprey worked with three County Commissioners, in one of the nation's fastest growing counties, to help them identify common interests and break down barriers that were impeding their effectiveness.