Sometimes the problem isn’t where it appears to be.
Julia Cuba Lewis works with CEOs, senior teams and boards to examine what's really happening, address the conditions underneath it, and build organizations that can carry more of the work.
Something important isn't working as it should.
The senior team keeps circling the same issues.
Decisions take longer than they should.
Responsibility is concentrated in too few people.
Conflict is avoided, personalized or repeatedly unresolved.
The board and staff are working from different assumptions.
The organization has grown, but the way it operates hasn't grown with it.
Sometimes everyone can feel it before anyone can explain it.
Conflict is information.
So is the decision that keeps coming back.
What looks like a people problem may be a problem of structure, role clarity, decision-making, competing beliefs or the system itself.
The work begins by slowing things down enough to see what is actually happening.
Once people can see the system more clearly, they have more choices about what to do next.
A senior team should be more than a group of people who report to the same CEO.
The strongest senior teams operate as a first team. They can disagree without destabilizing the group, surface difficult information early, make decisions together and carry responsibility beyond their individual functions.
When that isn't happening, the work begins by understanding why.
“Julia Cuba Lewis has an exceptional talent for active listening, quickly pinpointing the root causes of complex issues.”
Heather Bendes, Owner, Bendes Consult
The work follows the organization.
Conflict, decision-making, accountability, first-team behavior and how the team works together.
Senior Teams
Purpose, vision, mission, theory of change and how impact is measured.
Strategic Direction
Governance, roles, expectations and the relationship between board and executive leadership.
Boards
Major-donor strategy, culture of philanthropy, authentic fundraising and elevator speech.
Fundraising
Sometimes one engagement is enough. Sometimes the work continues.
Organizations change. New questions emerge. What begins with a senior team may lead to work with the board, the CEO, organizational strategy or fundraising.
For some organizations, Julia becomes an ongoing advisor to the CEO, senior team and board over time..