VOAGBR Partners with Success Labs’ Spring Management Incubator
Volunteers of America Greater Baton Rouge is a nonprofit community organization that focuses on supporting abused and neglected children, at-risk youth, people living with developmental disabilities or chronic mental illness, the homeless and others in need. We’re excited to work with VOAGBR as our community partner in Success Labs’s spring Management Incubator, which starts today and runs every Thursday through May 5.The Management Incubator brings high-potential employees and new leaders together to go through leadership development exercises and coaching. They’re also challenged to find an innovative, effective solution to a real-world problem the community partner organization is facing. Participants are divided into two teams and given a starting budget of $250. Then they must work together raise additional funds, and then develop and execute an on-budget solution to the challenge at hand.We have worked with VOAGBR before. This time, Management Incubator participants will be focusing on improving the Partnerships in Child Care office, which provides support for child care providers and parents of preschoolers, says Amanda L. Gustavson, VOAGBR marketing and fund development director. The office has been located on Jamestown Avenue near College Drive at I-10 for many years and holds staff offices, a resource area and a conference room.The Management Incubator participants’ task is to redesign the office’s lobby area, Gustavson says. “Since this is the first impression that visitors have when entering, we want the lobby to have a professional appearance that also makes it easy and comfortable for visitors to access the resources they need.”
New Ideas, New Perspectives
Management Incubator participants will be tasked with designing and implementing improvements to the lobby area, including creating a functional layout that includes a space for the receptionist and a waiting area for guests, creating dedicated spaces for resource materials and increasing storage capacity, Gustavson says. Their goal is to produce an overall design that conveys a welcoming, appealing and professional atmosphere.“I think the teams’ biggest challenge will be working together to make sure that the flow of the areas makes sense and is conducive to effective daily operations,” Gustavson says. Ensuring the spaces are comfortable, useful and welcoming is key.Gustavson collected staff input to share with Management Incubator participants as they start work on the project. She says staff members are looking forward to the site visit, collaborating throughout the process and getting a fresh perspective on the space. “We definitely know that the layout we have is not the ideal one, but since we ‘live’ there, it’s hard to think outside of the box.”
A Long-Term Partnership
Being the community partner for multiple Management Incubator projects over the years has been great for VOAGBR, Gustavson says. The organization has been able to address a lot of needs it otherwise wouldn’t have had the resources to tackle. “The teams have brought not only manpower, funding and supplies, but creativity and passion to every project we have done.“Every project we have done has the goals of enhancing our facilities’ aesthetics, organization, and functionality for the people we serve and the staff who support them,” she explains. “Since the people we serve are some of our community’s most vulnerable children, adults, seniors and families, every effort that Success Labs has made has had a lasting impact on the services we provide.”The energy and passion participants bring to the projects is always impressive, Gustavson says. “No matter if it’s a resource library for foster parents, a chapel in our senior apartment building, an outdoor space at our children’s therapeutic home or offices for our staff that support people with disabilities, they throw their whole hearts into improving that space.”In the past, one team was assigned a bathroom and laundry area in an apartment building for people with mental health issues. “I was a little worried that they might be disappointed with their assignment. My fears were completely unfounded because that team jumped right in during the site visit and started throwing around ideas and measuring walls. They instantly understood how their project, though maybe not the most glamorous one, impacted the lives of the people who call those apartments home.”Let us know if you’d like to have some of your company’s emerging leaders participate in our fall Management Incubator.Success Labs is a leadership development and management consulting firm in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. For more than 25 years, our expert team of consultants has worked with hundreds of companies to explore their business potential and improve their company and cultural performance. Contact us to get proactive about your people strategy.