The Urgency of a Reset

In 2020, organizations across every sector were forced to rewrite their playbooks overnight. Strategies that had taken years to refine were discarded in a matter of weeks as leaders scrambled to respond to the crisis. 

New policies, workflows, and ways of engaging communities were implemented—not because they were ideal but because they were necessary for survival.

Yet, here we are, years later, and many organizations are still operating under strategies shaped by crisis, not by intention. The result?

Frustration, stalled progress, and a growing recognition that something has to change.

The reality is simple:

Your organization has changed.

Your community’s needs have evolved.

Your team’s priorities and working dynamics are different.

So why are so many organizations still tethered to strategies designed for a world that no longer exists?

This is not about abandoning everything that worked. It’s about taking a step back, reassessing what’s still serving you, and building a strategy designed for where you are now—not where you were then.

It’s time to reset.

What Is an Organizational Reset?

An organizational reset isn’t a minor refresh. It’s not about updating a few policies or tweaking your messaging. It’s a deliberate, deep recalibration—a process of stepping back and asking:

• Are we still structured to achieve the impact we set out to create?
• Have we adapted to the real shifts in our community, our team, and our operating environment?
• Or are we holding onto systems, processes, and assumptions that no longer serve us?

Think of it like recalibrating after a major life transition. A career change, a move to a new city, the birth of a child—each requires you to rethink priorities, redefine what success looks like, and let go of things that no longer fit.

Organizations need the same recalibration. The pressures of the past few years forced leaders to react. Now, the challenge is to move from reaction to intention.

Without a reset, organizations risk stagnation. 

Strategies that once felt essential may now be outdated, misaligned, or even actively limiting impact. 

Teams may feel disconnected from the mission. 

Leaders may sense that things are not working as they should but struggle to pinpoint why.

A reset is the difference between sticking with old assumptions and making bold, necessary shifts.

Three Questions to Drive Your Organizational Reset

A true reset doesn’t start with an operations review or a funding plan. It starts with three foundational questions that cut to the heart of your organization’s strategy and impact.

1. Who are you serving—and who are you not serving that you could be?
2. How well is your team experiencing their work—and what needs to improve?
3. What change has addressing the first two questions led to?

These questions are deceptively simple. Yet, in practice, they reveal hidden barriers, unmet opportunities, and structural misalignments that might otherwise go unnoticed.

1. The Serve: Who Are You Serving—And Who Are You Not Serving?

Every mission-driven organization is built on a core commitment: to serve. But who you serve is not a fixed answer.

Over time, organizations develop deep expertise and familiarity with a certain group, a certain need, or a certain set of challenges. While this focus creates impact, it can also create missed opportunities.

• Are there communities being left out?
• Have the needs of your current audience shifted in ways you haven’t accounted for?
• Have new barriers emerged that are making it harder for people to engage with your services?

We worked with a nonprofit that had built its entire model around serving a specific population. Their programs were effective, their impact was clear, and their team was deeply connected to their work.

 Yet, when they took a step back and asked, “Who are we not serving?” they realized they were completely overlooking rural communities facing nearly identical challenges.

This wasn’t an intentional exclusion. It was a natural byproduct of focusing on what was familiar rather than reexamining what was possible.

Resetting your strategy starts with challenging assumptions about who needs you, what access really looks like, and where opportunities for deeper impact exist.

2. The Experience: How Well Is Your Team Experiencing Their Work?

It’s easy for leaders to focus on external impact—the people served, the programs delivered, the change created. 

But the strategy isn’t just about the mission. 

It’s also about culture.

If your team is struggling, if burnout is high, if people are disengaged or unclear about their role, then even the best strategy will fail. 

Because strategy isn’t executed by vision—it’s executed by people.

Leaders need to ask:

• Do people feel energized or drained by their work?
• Do they have the tools, clarity, and support to do their jobs well?
• Are they part of a culture that fosters collaboration, inclusion, and innovation—or one that relies on overwork and endurance?

We worked with an organization that had a passionate team but an exhausted one. The work was meaningful, but it came at a cost—unclear expectations, constant pivots, and no real investment in professional growth. The leadership team assumed that because employees were dedicated, they were fine. 

They weren’t.

By implementing regular feedback loops, career pathways, and structured check-ins, they transformed their culture. People felt heard, valued, and invested in—which, in turn, made their mission-driven work even stronger.

The organizations that succeed long-term are not just those with strong strategies—they are also those with strong teams.

3. The Change: What Change Has Addressing the First Two Questions Led To?

This final question is where reflection meets action.

If you’ve examined who you’re serving and how your team is experiencing their work, then there should be a clear, tangible shift:

• Have you expanded access to communities that were previously overlooked?
• Have you restructured how teams collaborate, communicate, or make decisions?
• Have you adapted your programs, services, or funding models to better align with current realities?

One organization we worked with took these questions seriously. They realized their programs were highly effective—but not accessible. Certain communities didn’t engage because the program model didn’t account for time, transportation, or digital barriers.

By rethinking how they delivered services, they not only reached more people but also created a more equitable, scalable, and resilient model.

The best organizations are not the ones that never change. They are the ones who recognize when change is necessary—and act on it.

Building a Culture of Continuous Reset

A reset isn’t a one-time event. It’s a discipline.

The most impactful organizations regularly question their assumptions. They create cultures where asking hard questions isn’t a sign of failure—it’s a sign of strength.

Organizations that do this well don’t just adapt to change—they anticipate it, design for it, and lead through it.

The question for leaders isn’t whether a reset is needed. It’s whether they are willing to do the deep, necessary work of realignment.

Because the organizations that will thrive in the next decade aren’t the ones that hold onto outdated strategies.

They are the ones bold enough to reset.