073. From a Hub and Spoke to a Horizontal Network Model: Anu Kumar @ Ipas

Summary

What are the main benefits of a network structure, where power, authority, and leadership are dispersed and shared across regions, from an effectiveness perspective? 

What are the most important enabling habits, practices and behaviors that go with that, as a change leader?

And what are the most valuable network-related frameworks, concepts, resources, and tools at work in moving towards this structure?

In this NGO Soul+Strategy podcast episode, I interview Anu Kumar, President and CEO at Ipas, on the why, the what, and the how of changing an organization from a hub and spoke to a horizontal NGO model.

Anu's Bio:

• President and CEO at Ipas
• Former Chief Strategy and Development Officer as well as Executive Vice President at Ipas
• Senior Program Officer, Program on Global Security and Sustainability, Population and Reproductive Rights, MacArthur Foundation
• Program Officer, MacArthur Foundation
• Social Scientist in Human Reproduction, WHO

We discuss: 

• Ipas is the leading technical org that advocates for access to contraception and abortion services, globally
• Traditionally, Ipas has had a hub-and-spoke organizational model, like many traditional NGOs
• A strategy change – for Ipas to contribute to a sustainable global contraception and abortion access ecosystem – demanded that countries would take over much of the lead in Ipas. So form followed function
• Ipas started its change towards a network model by defining what decentralization meant for itself
• It then defined shared leadership as its management model, and articulated change behaviors, practices, and management set-up as required next steps
• Subsequently, it changed its structure to that of a network in which the US no longer was the primary member, and a Network Leadership Group, a Staff Community Council, and a NetCare group were formed -- the latter nurtures the network
• Ipas explicitly chose not to become a (con)federated organization and to remain a corporate hierarchical structure
• As a next step, it adopted horizontal decision-making for some of its decision-making on budget aspects and recruitment
• Adopting a horizontal management approach does *not* mean there is no hierarchy anymore: the CEO, CFO, and a few other executive leaders still have some positional power, but their  realm of decision-making is now reduced
• Decentralized decision-making means faster decision-making; more cross-country collaboration is also happening that's not involving the US.
• Role clarity is still an issue to be improved upon. On the other hand, global coherence was facilitated through a codified collaboration agreement
• Ipas' board, still based in the US, retains fiduciary responsibilities, so compliance continues to be important

Resources:

• Anu's LinkedIn Profile
• Ipas Website
• LinkedIn article on Ipas change approach by Anu Kumar
• Bridgespan consulting group article on Re-imagining Multi-Country NGO Operating Models
• Samantha Slade’s book was informative for Ipas's change journey: Going Horizontal

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