Baseline Report: Organizational Development Activity (ODA) for USAID/Uganda

The ODA team began its engagement with the Mission in August 2018. During the startup months, the team used a variety of approaches to assess the Mission's current organizational health and operational performance. This included a Mission-wide listening tour; reviewing previous Mission organizational health surveys; learning more about the Mission's current organizational development practices; facilitating office retreats and workshops that included self-assessments of current team effectiveness; and conducting an online organizational health pulse check of all Mission staff. The ODA team identified five organizational health domains for the Mission to focus on to ensure that it can achieve and sustain optimal organizational performance. These domains include direction and leadership, working environment, motivation, capabilities, and learning and innovation. Based on the assessment approaches described above, supplemented by direct observations by the ODA team, below is a summary assessment of the Mission's current organizational health, represented on a scale of strength from low to high with key insights briefly summarized for each domain. The direction and leadership domain remains an important area for growth. The Front Office is doing a good job of messaging the vision for the Mission and has very high buy-in for the vision of the Mission as a whole, and that of each office, among staff. However, the listening sessions and pulse check survey identified a need for better guidance on how to implement the strategy. In particular, significant uncertainty remains in how offices, teams, and individuals can work together across traditional siloes to accomplish it in an integrated way. A need exists for more actionable processes, and clearer decision-making authorities. The working environment is another area that requires improvement. There is a deficit of trust within the Mission. A significant number of Mission staff perceive their workload as unreasonable, which affects morale and staff retention. Many staff feel that people and team management require improvement, particularly in how supervisors provide feedback, incorporate diverse opinions, and encourage an open and trusting culture. Most respondents, however, do feel that there is sufficient collaboration among staff. Responses made clear that there is a lot of room for improvement with workflow, how teams work, and workload distribution in order to improve employee satisfaction. The motivation domain also presents challenges. Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) scores and interviews show that personnel find meaning in their work and that of the Mission. However, while the Mission is increasingly recognizing employee accomplishments, respondents report that they are not supported in career development, do not feel they have a clear career path, and are not sufficiently guided, trusted, or empowered. A significant percentage (51%) say they would leave if they could find another job. The capabilities domain is another area that requires attention. Respondents note the need for greater capabilities and talent management through individual coaching, trainings, workshops, and retreats to improve professional development. The most significant theme highlighted throughout the studies was the need for better talent management, pertaining both to systems and supervisor capabilities. Finally, the learning and innovation domain presents opportunities for growth. Most staff confirmed that they receive constructive feedback and feel encouraged to come up with new and better ways of doing things, albeit there is not always enough time to do this. However, creativity and innovation are present and key to the Mission's success. The ODA team will build upon this baseline assessment over the coming years to determine the impact of ODA's specialized organizational development technical assistance and in conjunction with internal USAID/Uganda efforts, shift the Mission's organizational health over time.