Preparing for the foundation of a support institution and laying down its strategic directions is usually undertaken by a small group of highly motivated professionals, trainers and/or consultants who commit to the “project” besides their full-time jobs. This means that the work on setting up the institution has to take place in their scarce leisure time after work and on week-ends.
The conditions for setting up an institution are critical to its eventual success due to scarce availability of time, money and people resources. Formal decision and management structures do not yet exist. The risk of failure before start-up is very high!
Tip 1 Support for setting-up
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Organise and maintain a group of interested senior executives, trainers and consultants |
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Define a foundation team – the core group |
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Define a support team |
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Hold presentation and discussion meetings with the support team and interested group |
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Form the constituent assembly out of the support team and interested group |
Do not try to go this stony road on your own. Contact your professional network (colleagues, ex-colleagues, business partners, conference and seminar peers, friends, etc.) and arouse interest for your idea of setting up a professional support institution. Hold regular presentations and/or send updated information on the foundation process and news to the group of interested people.
Many potentially great institutions have burned out in the first year of operation, or under achieve on their goals as the original development team try to do everything themselves and become martyrs for the cause.
Learn to get comfortable with the delegation of duties and responsibilities. Establish clear timelines and confirmation mechanisms at the start. Put a cost on all the institutional development activities you undertake to see if someone else can accomplish them more cost-effectively. Give praise and visibility to people who offer to help and who deliver on their promises.
The foundation team should ideally consist of a mixture of experienced people with different specialisation and skills, e.g. supply chain professionals with finance, law, sales or public relations backgrounds, trainers and consultants, etc. These people should be highly auto-motivated and commit fully to the idea of founding a support institution. Experience showed that groups formed by an odd number of people are more efficient than those based on an even number of people. The size of the foundation group should be limited to a maximum of 7 people if you do not want to create a difficult decision taking and meeting situation.
The foundation team will manage the market research, elaborate the business plan and lay down the financial and administrative basics of the future institution. After reaching a milestone, e.g. first market research results, the support group and interested group should be invited for presentation and discussion of the findings.
The support group will unite those interested people who do not have enough time and/or dedication to be part of the foundation team. The support team performs a motivating and supportive role. It can help the foundation team in supplying additional research and information, in making contacts and providing important know-how. Furthermore, it will be responsible for motivating the foundation team in critical phases to continue and find the right direction for the future institution.
Furthermore people of the support and interested groups will form the “constituent assembly ” that will officially start-up the support institution or association and sign off the statutes or bylaws.