From Seedling to Stalwart Key #2: Empower your Team
May 8, 2025 | By David M. Wagner
How do you build the organizational capacity you need to thrive when specialized expertise seems out of reach?
For the SEE Science Center in Manchester, NH, the answer was empowering existing staff to step into new roles and responsibilities.
Just a few years ago, SEE faced underinvestment in its infrastructure, limited development capacity, and separation from a parent organization.
Today, it’s a well-attended museum and frequent partner with community organizations, bolstered by a sustainable funding model.
You might think SEE had to hire an expensive development professional to make those changes.
But that wasn’t their story at all.
Building Capacity from Within
Instead, Executive Director Shana Hawrylchak took another approach: recognizing the untapped potential of the Science Center’s staff.
It wasn’t easy in the beginning.
“If you've been doing something one way for 25 years, and then all of a sudden you ask staff to do something entirely new - it's overwhelming and confusing,” Hawrylchak acknowledges.
The key shift was creating an environment where staff felt equipped and empowered to take on new responsibilities.
A Strategic Approach to Staff Empowerment
Building staff capacity took more effort than just asking staff to step up.
SEE’s deliberate approach involved:
Identifying the existing skillsets of staff
Demonstrating confidence in staff and asking them to take on new responsibilities, such as presenting to the board
Providing support like training for new job functions, allowing time for staff to take on new tasks, and making space for errors and mistakes early on
Marrying big-picture goals with staff responsibilities so everyone understood how their work supported the organization’s strategy
Over time, building an organizational chart with a “home” for all essential business tasks
Shana admits that the transition required a lot of extra work.
But the transformation was worth it.
“Now,” she says, “I have confidence that any of the staff could jump into something and be like, ‘Yep, got it.’ Even when they don’t have the background knowledge, they have confidence enough in themselves to start it.”
This empowerment is more than just its own reward.
Management, including Shana, have more time to focus on long-range planning and development while the staff handle programs and administration.
The board shares that faith. Trusting the staff to operate the museum means they can govern more effectively and strategically.
Empowering your Team
If you need to build capacity without breaking the bank, ask:
What untapped potential exists within our current team?
How can we better communicate the connection between operational tasks and strategic goals?
How can we support staff in taking on expanded responsibilities?
Some final wisdom from Hawrylchak: recognize what you need to fix before you can grow. Resist pressure to grow first. “We realized, no, we have to fix it first – or else everything is just going to fall apart.”
This post is the second in a series of case studies highlighting the steps established nonprofits have taken to develop from seedlings to stalwarts. If you’re feeling the pressure to grow, let’s talk about how I can help you figure out what needs fixing, how, and how to get your team on board.
Clear Mission Consulting, LLC, was not involved in the transition detailed above.