The Challenge
An impact-focused financial services fund, renowned for bridging capital between socially responsible investors and underserved communities, approached us to assess and improve their internal operations. Despite their commitment to purpose-driven outcomes, the organization was grappling with operational growing pains that were beginning to affect employee engagement, client service quality, and readiness for future expansion.
The team operated in a high-energy, all-hands-on-deck environment. However, years of attrition and organic growth had resulted in undocumented workarounds, inconsistent role clarity, and a fragmented understanding of responsibilities. Institutional knowledge lived in people’s heads is also referred to as “tribal knowledge,” not in systems, making onboarding, scaling, and even day-to-day operations increasingly difficult.
Adding to the complexity, the organization relied on 18 different, unintegrated software applications to manage the fund lifecycle. There was no centralized system for client data, which led teams to cobble together information from disparate systems. They were never entirely sure what was current or complete. With over 10% attrition, the cracks were widening.
The leadership team sought our help to:
- Document current roles and responsibilities
- Capture tribal knowledge before it was lost
- Standardization of workflows across departments
- Evaluate and recommend technology that could serve as a single source of truth
- Prepare the organization for scale and upcoming headcount expansion
The Approach
We launched our engagement with a comprehensive discovery phase, using our grassroots methodology to uncover the current-state realities of both processes and technology. Our focus was not only on workflows but also on the lived experience of team members navigating systems that didn’t serve their needs.
During discovery, we:
- Conducted in-depth stakeholder interviews to capture undocumented processes
- Mapped key operational workflows to identify redundancies, inconsistencies, and gaps
- Uncovered manual workarounds and pain points tied to underperforming tools
- Analyzed the existing tech stack, revealing siloed systems and the absence of data integrity
Through process mapping and root-cause analysis, we demonstrated how the complexity of their operations was impeding productivity and creating a fragmented internal environment. We guided the organization toward a business process management (BPM) framework, tailored to align with their mission, improve collaboration, and enable structured growth.
We developed a plan to consolidate and rationalize their technology, ensuring they had a unified stack that allowed for data centralization, user adoption, and scalability. Each process was thoroughly documented, creating a blueprint the organization could use for onboarding, training, and future audits.
The Progress
By mid-engagement, the internal culture had begun to shift. Employees felt heard and empowered as they saw their input reflected in proposed improvements. As clarity replaced chaos, resistance gave way to ownership.
We identified and prioritized 17 core processes for automation and worked collaboratively to design new workflows. This helped transform previously manual tasks into streamlined, system-driven activities freeing staff to focus on higher-value work.
Simultaneously, we developed a data migration and cleansing strategy to help leadership make sense of 20 years of legacy data, paving the way for clean, reliable reporting going forward.
The Results
At the conclusion of our engagement, the organization was equipped with:
- A clearly documented operations playbook
- 17 core processes fully automated
- A roadmap for implementing a scalable and integrated technology stack
- A strategy to scrub and migrate 20 years of institutional data
- Training tools and role clarity for onboarding and team development
The measurable outcomes were significant:
- 46% increase in productivity
- 35% increase in authentic, actionable data
- 50% reduction in data processing time
Most importantly, the organization shifted from reactive workarounds to proactive operations—ready to scale without sacrificing culture or mission. With a unified view of data and streamlined processes in place, leadership now has the visibility to track key performance indicators, improve employee engagement, and make informed, strategic decisions with confidence.
