How can passion be combined with an effective operating structure?
The foundation grew through the passion of its people. Yet enthusiasm alone was not enough to sustain clarity and effectiveness. Aligning roles with people’s natural values became the turning point and enabled a 350% increase in scale.
Challenge
High engagement, but operational chaos and unclear ownership.
Intervention
Humanet assessment, alignment of roles with values, and a new approach to motivation and collaboration.
Outcome
+350% growth in scale and a coherent, consciously designed organisational structure.
Context
The foundation was established to support children and young people and was built on tremendous passion and commitment. Its strength came from its people — volunteers who contributed their time and energy to help young people develop.
The difficulty was that volunteers are not full-time employees. Roles and responsibilities were unclear, and everything relied on goodwill. The result was enthusiasm combined with chaos.
““Who is responsible for this?”, “Why did we do the same thing twice?”, “Why has this task not been completed when everyone said it was important?” — these questions kept returning.”
The board knew that further growth required a more structured way of operating.
Challenge
There was no shortage of commitment — if anything, there was too much of it. The challenge was to direct that energy towards the right priorities.
““Everyone meant well, but we lacked clarity. Volunteers took on tasks that did not come naturally to them and quickly lost motivation. That created frustration.””
What we did
We conducted an assessment of values and perceptual styles based on the Humanet model. The results showed that each volunteer had areas for which they felt naturally responsible.
Instead of chaos, a map of strengths emerged:
- Marta — consistency and values: “When something is inconsistent with our principles, I react immediately.”
- Arek — expansion and external relationships: “I feel energised when I can meet people and talk about our mission.”
- Ewa — volunteer development and support: “The most important thing is for people in the foundation to grow. When they grow, the foundation grows too.”
- Tomek — communication and storytelling: “I love writing and explaining things. When I can talk about what we do, I am in my element.”
The assessment enabled the team to design the structure not around who happened to have time, but around who had the natural predisposition and sense of responsibility for a given area.
Turning point
Based on the assessment results, together with the board we:
- aligned roles with people’s natural predispositions,
- reduced friction and frustration,
- created a strengths-based collaboration system,
- introduced a motivation system based not on money, but on recognition and a sense of influence.
“At last, I can do what I am genuinely good at.”
Results
Scale of activity
+250% in the first year and +350% after two years.
Motivation
Volunteers became more engaged and more satisfied with their roles.
Effectiveness
Tasks were completed faster and without duplicated work.
Najważniejszy wskaźnik
+350% growth in scale
“Most of the patterns identified in the report did in fact emerge later. It opened my eyes to how different motivations can create a shared strength.” — foundation president
Lessons for boards and leaders
- Growth begins with understanding people — they are the source of scalability.
- A reward system does not have to be financial; it can be based on recognition and influence.
- People engage most deeply when their work is consistent with their values.
- Even in a volunteer organisation, it is possible to create a structure that combines heart with effectiveness.
Następny krok
Bring structure to your team without extinguishing its passion
Start by understanding values and natural predispositions, so that each person can contribute from the right role.
* Names and details have been changed to preserve anonymity.