For the past year, program directors from Catholic Charities of Oregon have gathered twice monthly to raise issues from frontline staff, set strategy, develop leadership skills and plan for the long-term thriving of the 90-year-old helping agency.
Zulma Arreola, Facilities Manager for Catholic Charities, prepares to preside at a Leadership Team meeting. Managers and directors take turns at the helm of the twice monthly meetings.
It’s a new kind of meeting marked by candor, teamwork and growth.
“I love how everyone comes together and is so open about their input,” says Executive Director Natalie Wood, who established this broader group, called the Leadership Team. “I love the way staff is able to come and communicate and take risks and talk about some of their challenges. I really see it raising the overall standards and quality of the agency.”
Natalie Wood, Executive Director, addresses the room during a Leadership Team gathering.
Meetings include about 20 leaders who oversee areas like affordable housing, service to homeless women, refugee resettlement, immigration legal services, fundraising, food banks and accounting. It’s here where directors bring concerns from staff and share stories of the work that often make it to funders and members of the board of directors.
“This is where direct service and the executive team come together,” says Wood. “A leadership team is needed to ensure that everything in the agency is functioning correctly. These are the leaders who set the tone for the rest of the staff.”
Wood said she looks to program leaders to develop an agency culture “deeply embedded in Catholic values and also with a very strong leadership style.”
John Herrera, Director of Immigration Legal Services, takes part in a discussion during a meeting of the Leadership Team.
Wood meets frequently with funders and stakeholders and often can bring news and reports from the team gatherings.
Rose Bak, Chief Program Officer, said the Leadership Team fosters work outside the silos that tend to form in every organization.
“I always tell staff that we don’t have Housing Transition clients or Refugee Services clients or whatever program; we have Catholic Charities clients,” says Bak. “The leadership team gives us an opportunity to work across that and make sure we are all on the same page.”
The leadership team has jelled under Wood’s guidance, Bak explains.
“We talk about things that are important,” says Bak. “We bring up challenges and concerns from the staff. We are discussing a plan and a direction for the agency and trying to continue the long-term sustainability of the organization…. We are not meeting just to meet. We are meeting because we have things to discuss and projects to work on.”
Claudia Munoz, Program Director of Refugee Services, makes a point at a Leadership Team meeting.
Sally Erickson, Community Services Director, said the conversation is a good balance between challenges and opportunities.
“The leadership of the organization is working together,” Erickson says. “We’re all rowing in the same direction.”
She adds that frontline workers should care about the Leadership Team because their supervisors are participating and can bring concerns forward and answers back to the programs. Often, if one of her workers expresses a concern, Erickson can say something like, “Funny you should ask. We just talked about that in the Leadership Team.”
Erickson says that the Leadership Team also builds camaraderie, a vital part of a healthy agency.
“Coming out of Covid we are all working on different schedules, we work on different floors, we work in different buildings even,” Erickson says. “For me to have an opportunity to meet on a regular basis with my colleagues is super helpful.”
Susan Petitt, Director of Human Resources, speaks to colleages during a session of the Leadership Team.
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