Milan Kusmuk: Responding to our rapid growth in 2019
So far, even though still very young, I managed to directly work on improving processes and on leading different teams within four different organizations in 2 different countries. Entering different companies, I was able to identify weak points, which represented to me opportunities for improvement. Most importantly, they represented a source of motivation. My passion to solve problems, transform ideas into reality, work on change management and facilitate design processes led me to many challenging experiences.
In last year my intensive focus on Bosnia & Herzegovina Futures Foundation (BHFF) helped me contribute to the organizational development of one of the fastest growing Foundations in Bosnia. Since I was in Norway at least 70% of my time last year, I worked remotely and essentially in the background. I showed up twice at our Academies in Mostar and Srebrenica, coming all the way from Oslo to attend those events. In November, I returned and officially settled down in Bosnia.
We concluded 2018 with many initiatives and with the idea of doing more. Basically, things started to expand quickly and people, organizations and professionals started approaching us. We knew that we had to organise ourselves better in order to scale our operations and to prepare for the upcoming months and years. The main drive for change came from the top, from our Chair and founder Eddie who recognized the need for building a structure. Having an initiative for change is always less painful and more realistic if it comes from the top. In January 2019, together with Haris Selmanovic, the youngest Board member of our foundation, we created 7 distinct roles that would oversee the operation and manage certain foundation portfolios. With the help our the board leadership, a new body was formed, “Student & Young Professionals Leadership Committee” (SYPLC) with 8 members, consisting of current and past scholars of the foundation who had distinguished themselves with leadership characteristics. With a short description the 8 members were introduced to the following portfolios:
Project management (2)
External Cooperation and Partnerships (1 person)
Futures Academies (1 person)
Mentoring program (1 person)
Educational Activities (1 person)
Outreach Program (1 person)
Visibility and Presence at Events (1 person)
Given the freedom to organize ourselves as we wish, we structured it with a flat approach (since this is how the foundation was conceived) with formal Chair, Vice-Chair and Secretary roles. I was elected as chair of the committee and project management team lead. To be honest, as it is with all changes and roles, it took us approximately 7 months to reach equilibrium where the group became effective in delivering more than procrastinating. I knew all the members. Some of them I knew by the name and from what I heard about them from others. Some of them were my friends for several years. By working on a few small projects and events, we were discovering our strengths and weaknesses, unravelling our personalities. For me as a Chair, the main challenge was to figure out individual communication styles and visions. I was struggling to create equal workload in the team and to create an environment where everybody felt comfortable and useful. I even went as far as having a few calls with leadership and management consultants to help me make better decisions.
The main learning outcome from the seven months was that we have to make some leadership adjustments. We brought in new members to our team and added a new role of coordinator for our big project Futures Makerspaces. With 9 members we became an operational body that acts as a Middle Management Board of the foundation. Each member led a team of volunteers structured in a functional working group.
I had to develop a plan for these changes to take place. I asked them to send operational plans for next 4 months. The goal was to get an understanding about their motivation and their vision as a leader. You either survive by providing a clear operational plan for the rest of the year, or you step down and make space for another person to take a lead. Filtering people was followed by a clear policy that defines meeting structure, team communication, task management, role adjustments, processes for implementing cross team initiatives/ideas etc.
The next challenge that I set to solve was creating a higher sense of authority inside this large group, which gives me more power to lead. I learned fast that I should change the approach. I decided to work on developing leaders and managers for their own roles, where I would be more supportive than a chief. I was focusing more on filling our gaps and leading people in the direction where they can fit in and feel more useful. In order to do that, I had to focus more on each member individually and talk to them in isolation. This helped me to develop a bond with each person and to truly understand their vision, ambition and communicational style. I just confirmed what I already knew, that they are amazing individuals with outstanding work ethic and ambition. I wanted to enhance their leadership, freedom of expressing their needs and concerns, sense of responsibility and to open the door for their own development and own initiatives.
Looking back at all of this I can say that I failed at some things, but also managed to improve a lot and to deliver quite many tasks. What is more important that with each failure point, I was able to improve and bounce back with more enthusiasm. I do not want to take credit for the things my team members did in 2019, because my role was only to support them so they can be the best they can be. If you wonder what they achieved just check out this article.
At the beginning of 2020 we made structural changes again to make our team more agile and prepare it for rapid growth. We were only able to do this based on the 2019 experiences. This new structure comes as a new challenge for Haris Arnautovic, as our newly elected Chair. I am sure he will do an amazing job leading SYPLC.
I would like to thank to the amazing SYPLC team for believing in me and giving me the room to learn along the way and for tolerating me and showing true understanding. I grew as a leader to another level thanks to their commitment and amazing approach. It is an unbelievable feeling when you work with the people that deliver 100% all the time. All those previous organizations that I was involved in missed something that BH Futures Foundation has and I believe it is actually this 100% approach of such a large group of drivers and emotional connection or feeling of belonging to the high achieving community. It is our sense of belonging, it is our cohesiveness, our true belief that we are at the beginning of an incredible journey that can truly transform Bosnia & Herzegovina into a prosperous nation.
Leading by example is what our foundation leaders were doing and continue to do on a daily basis and it motivated me along the way. Recognitions in terms of new learning and networking opportunities were the main incentives in the volunteer driven organization. The availability, advice and down to earth approach made me feel comfortable to test my limits and be a better version of myself. Thank you for that.
I believe I answered the question how we actually came to this point where we are one of the fastest growing Foundations and brands in Bosnia & Herzegovina with only one half-time paid staff member. It is a result of large group of leaders that work around the clock to deliver. All of them work full time or study full time and they are still able to do so. Think twice, how you spend your time.
The last few years were incredible, I can’t wait to see what we can achieve in the next few.
P.S. I forgot to tell you that my hard work did not go unnoticed, I was promoted to become a member of the board of directors of Bosnia & Herzegovina Futures Foundation. Age, ethnicity, religion, sex or personal traits are completely ignored in our foundation. We focus on passion, drive, attitude, leadership, authenticity, integrity and belief that we can be the change needed!
NOTE: This article was originally published here.