Person Centered Housing Options Tackles Staff Retention and Org Growth

The mission of Person Centered Housing Options (PCHO) is to address, prevent, and alleviate chronic homelessness within Monroe County and the surrounding communities using the Housing First model. PCHO was founded in 2015, and in less than five years the organization developed a continuum of programs that combine innovative approaches to housing with essential supportive services.

CHALLENGE

PCHO was facing the same challenges many nonprofits deal with, like staff burnout. Their specific context as a rapidly growing organization also left them with a lack of clarity for roles and responsibilities of different positions within the organization, as well as the need to have staff capacity match the demands for their programs moving forward. PCHO was ready to engage in its first strategic planning process to chart its future course and plan for continued and sustainable growth. 

SOLUTION

The process started with engaging stakeholders and receiving input from all of them: partners in the community, individuals who were receiving their services, and staff. The insights from this stage were clear: retaining qualified staff to provide high quality programs was essential, today and for the long-term. The group determined the initial focus would be on increasing employee satisfaction and retention, as it would have the most significant impact on reaching PCHO’s mission.

The strategic planning process included multiple facilitated sessions between Causewave and the team of board and staff members who developed a one-page strategic framework with four key result areas. Once the group reached consensus on the key areas of focus and the initial goal to increase employee satisfaction and retention, an implementation work book was developed that included a variety of strategies, actions, timelines and owners. The process included a staff pulse survey to determine a baseline for this primary goal of the plan, which was repeated at the end of the plan execution to measure progress.  

IMPACT

The strategic planning process brought to light the need for reorganization and shifting of responsibilities and PCHO did not hesitate to begin making the changes called for in the plan. PCHO made incredible progress in a short time. After implementing a number of changes articulated in the implementation work book, the staff pulse surveys showed they had improved staff morale, satisfaction and likelihood to stay–surpassing their goal in just a few months. 

As a result of the strategic planning process and changes they’ve made to their internal practices, PCHO is ready to take on the next big challenge, with confidence.  

To learn more about PCHO, visit: https://pcho.org.