A new CEO realised she had a problem when few staff members could say who they reported to - or how their work helped the organisation achieve its strategic goals.
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Chief Executive: Maria Mercurio
Company: RSPCA Victoria
Business type: Not-for-profit animal welfare organisation
Employees: 230 paid staff; 1,200 volunteers
Turnover: (2004 - 2005) About $23M
Head office: Burwood, Victoria
Contact details: +61 3 9221 0080
The RSPCA Story
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Key learning points:
- Staff buy-in - Make sure all staff understand how their work directly helps achieve the organisation’s strategy.
- Restructuring - The key is to let all stakeholders see the long-term benefit - and then be part of achieving it.
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Maria Mercurio became Chief Executive of RSPCA Victoria in August 2002. As she walked around its facility meeting staff, she asked many of them “Who do you report to?” In most cases, staff members scratched their heads and said, “I’m not sure”. Mercurio was shocked. And then came a dawning realisation: a profound organisational restructuring was needed - and she would have to make it happen.
The RSPCA originated in England in 1824 to ensure an act of Parliament to prevent cruelty to working animals (especially horses) would be implemented. The Melbourne society began 135 years ago and has developed a great reputation for its work with domestic and farm animals. It has always had an enthusiastic, passionate workforce of paid and voluntary staff. But with virtually no organisational structure in place, RSPCA Victoria was in danger of collapsing.
The Challenge
To develop a corporate strategy and structure for RSPCA Victoria in order to provide a sound funding base for its animal welfare activities and a safe, efficient workplace for staff. Mercurio’s challenge was to do this without alienating staff, volunteers, donors or the board. Many stakeholders had a deep, emotional commitment to animals, but little understanding of how crucial their individual roles were to the successful running of the organisation as a whole.
The Solution
Mercurio knew that many RSPCA people would feel threatened by the changes she was about to introduce so she started by acknowledging the enormous commitment of the staff and recognising the good work that had been done before her appointment. She talked about the need to shift from a culture based on raw emotional commitment to one that also had a clear strategy, logical lines of management and a strong ethic of accountability. Many staff were unfamiliar with these terms, making education an important task. Mercurio had to link their work and achievements to the strategic direction and success of the society.
Mercurio worked with the state council - including its well-known president, Dr Hugh Wirth - to develop a three-year strategic plan. This involved revamping corporate governance and fund-raising, introducing new financial and IT systems, and bringing in practices such as accountability and performance management. She also appointed a new executive management team with specific roles in marketing and development, animal welfare, education, corporate affairs and finance.
Mercurio chose occupational health and safety (OH&S) as the change agent for introducing the new concepts. Before Mercurio arrived, the organisation paid $800,000 a year in Workcover premiums to cover the many workplace injuries, mainly caused by dog bites and cat scratches. Investigations into why so many accidents were occurring showed that lack of training in handling the animals and poor equipment were usually to blame. This could be easily fixed by providing the necessary equipment and training.
Staff elected safety representatives - who became safety champions - and an OH&S committee were appointed. People were trained to assess risk, investigate accidents and report every single accident or incident. Managers were held accountable for doing something about each incident.
The result? Over the past four years, premiums have been reduced by a staggering $700,000, down to $150,000 per year. Days lost to workplace injuries have been reduced by 95%, down from 1899 in 2001 to 91 in 2005. Mercurio also introduced a people-management framework. With this, it was made clear to staff who they reported to and how their particular job helped to achieve the organisation’s goals.
Performance management systems had to be established. Staff sometimes become very emotionally involved with animals and upset when a decision is made to euthanase them. Mercurio says: “We can’t operate on the basis of emotion. We need good, clear policy that is well grounded in animal welfare and veterinary science, not just individuals making individual decisions based on their own emotions.” To help achieve this, staff groups worked on values and standards of behaviour so that the emphasis shifted from just working for the animals to working well with each other and being aware of policy.
The Result
As a result of the changes at RSPCA Victoria, more animals can be rescued and properly cared for because the organisation has become more efficient and financially viable. Its new reputation for efficiency has given the RSPCA greater clout with governments in terms of making changes to legislation and enforcing law.
RSPCA Victoria has developed corporate partnerships with, for example, ANZ and NAB and Ernst and Young. In the past three years, corporate volunteer numbers have grown by 240%, income from fundraising has increased by 24% and the cost of raising funds has decreased by 8%.
Mercurio’s achievements have been widely recognised, including a 2005 award from the HR Institute of Australia for “Best Change Management”.