For as long as I have been associated with the Mission (10 years) we have discussed a reorganization that many felt was necessary due to the growth of the Mission ministry over the past 20 years. This conversation has mainly centered on a reordering of the executive branch of the staff by adding a Chief Operating Officer (COO). While I served on the board there was very serious conversation about this happening and nothing much came of it, but I made it a part of our short term plans as soon as I became Executive Director 3 years ago. Since then we have been doing internal adjustments to make room for this position both financially, structurally and emotionally. Our first step was to give more authority to the Operations Directors (Kathy and Holly) so that the Executive Director would not be the center of the operational wheel. My experience is that many people would just rather skip all the hard work of communicating through proper channels and just ask for permission from the boss, but this slows things down and stunts growth of the organization. Organizationally I feel that we are ready for taking the next step and so we are hiring a COO to help give over-site of the day to day functions of the Mission. For this important job I have asked Rev. Alvin Helms, formerly president of our board, to come join our staff team. Alvin has been the senior pastor of Oberlin Community Church in Steilacoom for 10 years and has great leadership experience and a warm and personable demeanor. My desire was that we find someone who was familiar with the organization, had senior leadership experience and would be compatible with our team and values. Alvin fits this description to the T. Some will ask: how does this change Kathy and Holly’s job? The answer is that it doesn’t change their jobs at all, they continue to manage the same people and have the same authority for operating the ministry. The details of their jobs are so expansive that we need a COO to give attention to the big-picture operational questions. It does change my job by allowing me to spend more time on strategic projects like our Adams Square Family Center and on board and donor relationships. To put it simply, as CEO my job is to make sure that TRM is healthy now and into the future, both strategically and financially, and the COO position is the one who is responsible for the day to day decisions that need attention, much as Sue Horgen is responsible for the day to day financial functions of the Mission and her staff. I’ll be expanding on this more in the future but I wanted to let you know about this development as you may begin to hear more about it. Please welcome Alvin Helms as he begins to come around and introduce himself to the staff. I might add that Alvin will be finishing his service to his church for the next couple months and will officially join us July 1st, but he will be participating in budget discussions and other meetings prior to that. Any questions please feel free to post….dc
