Realigning QueerTech's Team to Scale National Impact

TL;DR

Through a facilitated 2.5 day retreat, we helped QueerTech, a non-profit dedicated to supporting LGBTQ+ individuals in Canada’s tech industry, reset, align, and create a framework for empathetic accountability, with active buy in from the entire team.

A non-profit with the mission to empower LGBTQ+ individuals across Canada’s tech industry; QueerTech was at a critical juncture:

• As their mission expanded, the team faced challenges in connecting their daily work to the organization’s broader vision.
• With responsibilities unclear and tasks piling up, they needed thoughtful realignment to sustain their impact at scale.

Over two and a half focused days, we guided them through a process of reflection and refinement, helping QT reconnect with their core purpose, clarify roles, and streamline their efforts.

By the retreat’s end, the team emerged with renewed clarity, unity, and a clear path forward, ready to continue driving meaningful change for queer people in tech across the nation.

Client’s Challenge

QueerTech was facing several interconnected challenges that were magnified by the scale and significance of their work:

• Disconnected Goals: With so much going on, the team struggled to prioritize their daily activities based on connection to the larger mission of supporting queer people in tech, raising the costs of project execution.
• Overwhelmed Team: The sheer volume of tasks, compounded by the broad impact they sought to achieve and the frictions of collaborating, created stress and made it difficult to prioritize effectively. This threatened their ability to maintain effectiveness.
• Unclear Responsibilities: With a mission as expansive as theirs, the ambiguity in task ownership led to delays and uncertainty about who was accountable for various initiatives, leaving many surprise tasks to roll back up to leadership.
• System Overwhelm: The team also faced challenges in choosing and using the right tools, which added to the complexity of managing a nationwide initiative and hindered their ability to work efficiently.

Our Approach

To address these challenges, we organized a two-and-a-half-day retreat with a clear, structured approach:

1. Big-Picture Review: We began by revisiting QueerTech’s core mission and long-term vision, breaking these down into specific, actionable goals for the current year. This helped the team reconnect with their purpose and understand how their daily work contributed to the larger mission.
2. Connecting Tasks to Goals: We systematically linked each task to these overarching goals, ensuring that every action taken was purposeful and aligned with the organization’s broader objectives.
3. Clarifying Responsibilities: We implemented a system where every task was explicitly assigned to a team member. This eliminated any ambiguity and ensured accountability, with each person clearly understanding their role and responsibilities.
4. Empowering Leadership: Throughout the retreat, we encouraged team members to take turns leading activities. This not only fostered a sense of ownership but also built confidence and strengthened their leadership skills.
5. Streamlining Work: We worked with the team to identify non-essential tasks that could be set aside, enabling them to focus on the most impactful work and avoid burnout. This was crucial for maintaining their capacity to drive change across Canada.

Positive Outcomes

• Aligned Objectives: By the end of the retreat, the team had a clear understanding of how their individual contributions connected to QueerTech’s national mission, helping them regain focus and direction.
• Reduced Workload: We identified and removed non-essential tasks, allowing the team to concentrate on what truly mattered, significantly reducing stress and enabling them to better serve the LGBTQ+ tech community.
• Defined Ownership: Every team member left the retreat with a clear sense of responsibility, supported by a system that ensured all tasks were assigned and tracked, crucial for maintaining their impact across Canada.
• Stronger Team Unity: The team emerged from the retreat more connected and cohesive, with a renewed commitment to their roles and a shared vision for driving change in the tech landscape for queer individuals across the country.

Reflection

The success of this retreat was rooted in a few key factors:

• Purposeful Alignment: By reconnecting the team with QueerTech’s core mission, we ensured that every task and action was purposeful, which is critical for organizations with broad, impactful missions.
• Clear Communication: Clarifying responsibilities and linking tasks to goals created a transparent and accountable work environment, which is vital for efficiency and morale, especially in large-scale initiatives.
• Strategic Focus: The deliberate reduction of non-essential tasks helped the team avoid burnout and concentrate on high-impact activities, which is crucial for sustaining long-term success in a mission-driven organization.
• Empowered Leadership: By fostering leadership skills within the team, we not only addressed immediate challenges but also equipped QueerTech with the tools to navigate future obstacles with confidence.

Client Testimonial

“The retreat was exactly what we needed. We came in overwhelmed and uncertain about how our work connected to our goals. By the end, we had a clear plan, knew who was responsible for what, and felt much more connected as a team. It’s made a huge difference in how we work together and how we approach our mission.”

– Andy Saldaña, COO & Co-Founder , QueerTech