Sally works for a large organization. If you are self-employed, you are part of your clients’ organization(s).

Decades ago futurists knew it would happen — acquisitions, mergers, right-sizing and bail outs! They undoubtedly saw it coming in the third (not-for-profit) sector as well. How many of us 20 and 30 years ago expected educational institutions to be among those entities purchased, merged, and closed — big time? Hospitals and other health care agencies have also been going through mergers, acquisitions, right sizing and some times, just closing their doors. Many 501(c)(3) organizations today are mere memories of their former selves. Partnerships are everywhere. It’s called survival. But then, we all know that.

What happens to YOU when you’ve been accustomed to working one way and suddenly find your employer or the consumer of your services and products isn’t the same as when you started on the job? Through a flurry of change, you’re not even sure where you fit into the big picture, especially when the culture and priorities appear to be altered. You can’t stop change. Dynamic organizations and dynamic people don’t accept status quo. You are accountable for your own job performance and you can manage your own role in the change process.

Sally was given five suggestions to help re-engineer (once a hot word in the private sector, now considered passe by some, but you get the picture) herself in her organization’s new and changing environment:

1. Study your organization’s (client organization’s) mission statement. Has it changed?

2. Review annual reports

3. Examine your organization’s annual and long-term plan. What are the goals and objectives?

4. Determine how you fit (or your department fits) into the organization’s plan. What’s expected of this area . . . how do you (how does your department) contribute to the goals of the organization?

5. Analyze all the information gleaned from this exercise to determine how, or if, you and co-workers fit into the big picture.

Sally said, "Well, these are all common sense suggestions. Like ‘duh.’ It took her several weeks to work through these steps and it was definitely worth the investment."

What Sally learned from the exercise was that she hadn’t been using her time effectively because she hadn’t changed direction. As her department set new priorities, she set new priorities for herself. The organization had changed and she was making an effort to adapt to the changes. And, wow! Considering the first appeared just 12 years ago in Sally’s organization, every desk now has a computer — linked to a network with electronic message capability and direct access to something called WWW — an indication the organization intends to give its staff what it needs to move the mission forward. In fact, home offices were established for some employees whose presence in the organization’s office wasn’t necessary on a daily basis.

This example was meant to be simple — our limited space won’t accommodate an in-depth problem analysis, a variety of alternatives and a choice of solutions. However, the bottom line is that we all have to keep a finger on the pulse of our profession, the changes in the industries we serve as a whole, new technologies, and our own organizations and clients. We have to find ways to get knowledge and experience. We have to create our own action plan. We have to stay connected. When we have that sensation of being lost, it’s time to assess our performance, our personal satisfaction, and ourselves . . . and make changes.