Organisational Development for Adaptable Charities 

Organisational development tends to arrive late in a charity, usually after the budget has already been cut. Charity Recruit’s latest virtual boardroom made the case for bringing it in much earlier. 

“People don’t change unless the system changes. People are driven by the incentives around them.” 

Funding Pressure Across the Sector 

A live poll set the tone early. Most attendees said the CEO owns culture and change, though a few answered everyone or no one. One small charity leader said they were the HR team, the CEO and the leadership group at once. 

Alex Boulting, a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD, then described a sector under strain. Costs have risen, mainly through National Insurance, while income has fallen. Some 49% of charities say closure is a risk and mergers reached a record in 2024 and 2025. 

Organisational Development as the Missing Link 

Organisational development sits between a charity’s strategy and the impact it delivers on the ground. Alex described it as behavioural science applied to structures, processes and technology, because nothing changes until behaviour does. 

Funding gaps often turn strategy into cost cutting, so the CEO asks HR how many redundancies are possible. The harder question of redesigning how people work gets skipped. 

Organisational Development Versus Culture Programmes 

Broad culture programmes drew scepticism. The evidence linking culture to performance is thin and values statements rarely change what people do. His own check of sector data found public approval of charities slipping from 67% to 62% over five years. What the research does support is specific, namely team goal setting, honest feedback, shared lessons and clear decision rights. 

Warning Signs When Hiring Support 

Four red flags came up for any charity bringing in an organisational development specialist. 

• Solutions before questions: A consultant who arrives with answers and no plan to gather data is probably selling the latest fad. 

• Weak evidence: Peer reviewed research across many studies carries more weight than CEO interviews in a consultancy report. 

• Individual fixes only: Resilience training alone rarely works because people respond to the system around them. 

• No capability left behind: Managers should finish with tools, evidence and metrics to handle the next change. 

Measuring Culture Through Behaviour 

The Charity Governance Code expects boards to monitor culture but never defines it. A low-cost scorecard was his answer, built from staff and volunteer surveys, burnout measures, exit interviews and board attendance. 

“it’s better not to run a survey at all than run a survey where you don’t act on the results.” 

One attendee runs six pulse questions each quarter covering workload, role clarity, support, wellbeing, feeling heard and confidence. 

Small Steps Over Big Bang Change 

Small planned changes, explained properly and finished before the next begins, were his preferred route. Big restructures often fail to deliver the expected value and lower wellbeing. Managers matter most because listening to struggling staff and explaining decisions helps people accept unwelcome outcomes. 

One attendee leading a strategy process with no organisational development team asked where to start. His advice was to diagnose the problem first and set metrics for the impact wanted. Then agree the behaviours and systems that deliver it, scrapping any objectives unrelated to the problem. 

In Summary 

Organisational development gives charities a steadier way to adapt before a funding crisis forces rushed decisions. The session showed that behaviour, evidence and manager capability matter more than values statements or large programmes. Charity Recruit hosts these boardrooms alongside its work placing senior leaders across the charity sector.