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When the Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio Foundation (Oak Park, Illlinois) expanded from a one house museum site to two sites plus a merchandise distribution center, the management and organizational complexity greatly increased. To meet the challenge, the Foundation engaged the services of Smith Beers Yunker & Company to conduct a comprehensive management study and to facilitate a strategic planning process. Senior management counselor Richard W. Beers served as the facilitator for a series of meetings involving the Strategic Planning Task Force comprised of staff and members of the Board of Directors.
According to executive director Joan Mercuri, the process “…went very well. Richard was very valuable in leading the Task Force, directing discussions, and keeping us focused. Having an outside facilitator helped us step back and look at ourselves much more objectively than we could have otherwise. The outcome was a very strong strategic plan that came together in a short time frame as a result of his keeping us on track.” The strategic plan was adopted unanimously by the Board of Directors.
Rob Wetherald, Board member and chair of the Task Force, echoes Ms. Mercuri’s comments and adds, “In taking on a second historical museum site, the Foundation faced many new issues. Mr. Beers was instrumental in assisting the planning group in identifying, analyzing and recommending to the Board a plan that articulates the strategic initiatives that the Foundation should undertake.
“The operations study presented by Smith Beers offered excellent suggestions on organizational staffing and communications methods for all three of our sites,” says Ms. Mercuri. “It also recommended improved ways for us to approach responsibility, authority and reporting relative to our new structure. Anticipating the inevitable consternation that comes with substantive changes, Richard was very good at protecting people’s feelings as he helped staff members work through the process.”
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