This can harm the long-term effectiveness of the organization in a number of ways. It can skew an organization s purpose in such a way that one particular form of housing becomes identified with the organization by default, rather than as the result of a conscious, mission-driven process. It can also impose opportunity costs on an organization, by tying up time and resources that would have been better spent on other initiatives. And it can strain organizational capacity by imposing administrative and technical obligations for which an organization may not have had time to prepare itself. In effective organizations, strategic plans guide project selection.
Effective organizations know when and how to say yes and no.
They rigorously weigh opportunities against their mission, against long-term plans and priorities for the neighborhood, and against other current and pending work of the organization. They concentrate their energies on identifying and pursuing projects that, within the bounds of their mission and capacity, will have the greatest impact on the neighborhood. Evaluation of projects and organization is ongoing . Effective CDO s assess their projects against more than narrow technical criteria. They weigh the accomplishments of each project against the organization s overall mission and the neighborhood s needs.