PBN 2021 Innovative Companies Awards
Nonprofit: Children’s Friend and Service
In 2018, Children’s Friend and Service launched its Volunteer Army, an outgrowth of a strategic planning process and an effort to better serve its employees and clients.
Roughly a third of the organization’s 450 employees participated, and of that third, 60% were line staff and 40% were managers. They designed a series of program improvements, which led to the development of a staffed Innovation Lab.
This lab, which is not a physical space but rather an approach to process, provides support for implementing strategic recommendations, as well as the creation and early implementation of new approaches to organizational challenges.
“Innovation at Children’s Friend is about creating a culture to empower and equip people throughout the organization,” said David Caprio, CEO and president, noting the goal is to be proactive instead of reactive to change, and to always be evolving. The Volunteer Army, he said, is a tool used to empower employees by providing “space and time for staff to be purposeful and playful around change.”
Children’s Friend was founded in 1834 and is based in Providence, where it has been serving the city and surrounding communities for 187 years. Through its mission, the organization seeks to be an “innovative leader in improving the well-being and healthy development of Rhode Island’s most vulnerable young children.”
For Joshua Wizer-Vecchi, innovation manager, getting employee perspectives is central to ensuring the success of the organization’s mission, especially when that work spans 16 programs across 14 locations. He said some changes are “little ‘i’ innovations,” which can include “simple fixes,” such as streamlining the process for when people call the main line looking for a certain service and the staff member answering that call is able to transfer the client to the right department, smoothly and efficiently.
“There are a lot of moving parts and getting a lot of people across the organization to think together” is essential, said Owen Heleen, director of program development and innovation.
Enter the Volunteer Army, about to convene for the third time, still going strong and still a useful resource for gathering employee feedback and addressing ways that Children’s Friend can continue improving and innovating.
