Organizational Focus and Goals Essay

Forte is a nonprofit organization in its infancy. The organization is only three years old and has already seen substantial changes to its structure and business strategy. Currently, Forte is mostly unknown. However, this past year the organization took a huge leap in firing its Artistic Director and choreographer and hiring a new Artistic Director and choreographer. Both new additions bring a wealth of knowledge of the performing arts industry that has catapulted Forte to setting their sights higher than the two performances a year. In the past two years the organization was funded primarily through parental donations, which were small and only allowed the organization to perform twice a year. This past year with the addition of the new employees, the organization saw ticket sales increase tremendously and interest from many more students in joining. CURRENT FOCUS AND GOALS Forte is focused on gaining a reputation within the performing arts community. As a young organization located in a small community, it is imperative that the organization remain focused on establishing the company’s reputation. The goals of Forte are now to be able to increase the student membership, increase the amount of performances per year, and to increase funding to make the other two goals possible. TRAINING NEEDS Forte is a very young organization with a board of directors that are in desperate need of training. The knowledge that is lacking within this board of directors is staggering. â€Å"Training refers to a planned effort by the company to facilitate employees’ learning of job-related competencies† (Noe, 2008, p. 4). The board handles all the business end of the organization with little knowledge of what is available to them. Training in two areas is suggested. Those two areas are educating the board on best practices in producing a production and in communication standards and ethics. As no current board member is educated in the performing arts, they are hemorrhaging money on expenses that are not needed. Training in where to buy and rent production equipment is an area with huge opportunity to cut costs and improve the quality. By improving the quality of production equipment and cutting costs, the organization will have more money to spend in other areas such as set design and costumes as well as space rentals for performances. By educating the board on proper communication standards schedules can be met and instruction from the artistic director and choreographer will improve. As it stands now, far too much rehearsal time is spent with the board asking questions and interrupting rehearsals. By training in effective communication between the employees and board, the time taken away from instruction will increase, increasing the talent of the organization. EFFECTS THE FOCUS AND GOALS HAVE ON PRIORITIZING THE TYPE AND AMOUNT OF TRAINING Forte’s focus and goals affect the type of training and amount of training  needed. Because Forte desires to gain a wider reputation and increase available performances, the training needs to be comprehensive and happen quickly. Both the new Artistic Director and choreographer have taken several board members into a sort of internship for this year. This on the job training will accomplish in a short amount of time the massive training needed. PRIORITIZING TRAINING NEEDS Forte will prioritize those areas that will direct the finances of the winter season first. Gaining a handle on the hemorrhaging funds is a top priority in order to allow those funds to be put to better use. In order to progress to the goals of the organization, it is suggested the training prioritize the financial aspects of training first. As it stands now, this is the largest area of opportunity for training and the largest area of opportunity for growth. CONCLUSION Training develops the skills needed to perform job-related tasks efficiently and effectively which directly affects the organization. (Noe, 2008) Training also creates a positive work environment. Creating a positive work environment attracts talented employees and customers. Forte seeks to attract more talented performers. In order to this, training in how to produce a performing arts production properly needs to happen, or the talent will not join. Reference Noe, R. A. (2008). _Employee Training and Development_ (4th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin..