How CEO Sean Callahan plans to shake up CRS culture

Instead of giving hard answers to recent budget questions, new Catholic Relief Services CEO Sean Callahan turned them back to his team — a new, cross-divisional group composed of representatives from finance, overseas operations, donor engagement, legislative affairs and fundraising. “Of course I want a balanced budget and to reduce budget deficit … but I want to know what they recommend first,” Callahan told Devex during a visit to CRS projects in Niger. CRS has already established cross-divisional teams for strategy, staff engagement, board and foundation engagement, and their 75th anniversary; more will be created in the future according to agency priorities. It’s an approach that Callahan, who assumed leadership of the faith-based nonprofit in January, will continue rolling out as part of a new strategy founded in steadfast building and strengthening of organizational culture. The nonprofit leader, who has been with CRS for 28 years, began by relocating his own desk from the usual president’s office to a more modest room next door immediately after taking on the role of CEO overseeing 5,400 staff in more than 100 countries around the world. The former president’s office is now a conference room for all staff — a symbol of good stewardship, Callahan said, and a literal interpretation of inviting staff into the “executive” space more regularly. The move didn’t surprise anyone at the home office. Over the course of his career, Callahan has always emphasized creating opportunities for CRS staff to thrive and work in a supportive environment, his colleagues say. “While the work is hard and can be very emotionally draining at times, Sean knows from his experience that our staff are mission driven, and he wants them to know that he deeply appreciates that,” said Annemarie Reilly, CRS executive vice president of strategy and organizational development, who has worked with Callahan for more than 20 years. “His first step in assuming his new position was to set that tone and communicate that message to our colleagues around the world.” Now, the CRS lead is working to reorganize and reshuffle employees to guard against the tendency for INGOs to think only by division, or “only out of headquarters,” he said, ensuring representatives from the field are integrated into commonly U.S.-dominated teams. Being mindful of those employees who are tied to certain locations due to family needs, Callahan will start by pulling a few professionals from field operations into headquarters in Baltimore so that “we are constantly reminded who is doing this work and why they are doing it,” he said. One of the people he has in mind, Callahan shared, might join HQ as one of several human resources directors: “About 5,000 of our employees are overseas, and someone at HR should be representing them,” Callahan said. He will also look to improve mentorship by reorganizing supervision when necessary. In some of his meetings with high-level staff, Callahan heard they were often overwhelmed and extremely busy. In separate performance appraisals, meanwhile, lower-level staff expressed the desire for more time with their supervisors. “It’s a great problem to have,” Callahan told Devex. “The trick is then to ‘create’ more time for engagement and interaction. If we do not have time for our colleagues, are we spending enough time with our implementing partners and the participants/clients of our programs?” Callahan is already working with leaders to reduce their direct reports by sharing staff oversight. One executive vice president has 12 direct reports, for example, which Callahan will reduce to eight to allow more time for specific engagement, as well as a greater “all-agency” focus, such as being part of a cross-divisional team. In another case, Callahan said he will be reducing an executive vice president’s report load in order to have more focus on retooling a critical function for the agency. “I am starting this process at the executive level to allow them to model and see the benefits, and then I will encourage them to support it in their teams,” Callahan said. “I expect this will allow for more cross-sector engagement, more staff engagement, greater transparency and a higher level of internal communication.” The formation of new teams and shuffling of employees are potentially unpopular moves for an organization accustomed to splitting operations according to traditional arms of finance, human resources, and overseas operations — but Callahan wants “more talking, more listening, more collaborating,” he told Devex. The idea, he said, is to initiate and promote change without threatening current operations or employees who are comfortable with the status quo. “Communication, communication, communication is the answer along with tangible examples, models of leadership, employee engagement, a drive for incredible success and a tolerance for learning from mistakes,” he added. Communication at CRS under Callahan takes many forms: “town halls” with in-person and online presence, effective internet comment boards, surveys, check-ins, written communication, external validation, examples set by leaders — like Callahan’s office — and what the CEO calls walk-arounds, or taking the time to personally check in and visit with colleagues. The ideal CRS culture, he said, is one in which all employees and partners view the agency as a facilitator of their success. “I always tell my colleagues that I want to be able to identify a CRS employee not by the ‘brand’ on their shirt, but by the way they interact with a participant or client in our programs, a partner or a colleague,” Callahan said. In Niger, when the CRS team landed later than expected in Niamey after visiting projects in the far eastern region of the country, Niger office manager Francisca Dorothe Maxim was waiting at the airport to greet them and dole out high fives. This is just one small example of a positive culture Callahan wants to imbue in every country office around the world. “The high five said ‘welcome back, I am glad everything went well, we are all in this together, and we celebrate our success together,’” Callahan said. Devex delivers cutting-edge insights and analysis to the leaders shaping and innovating the business of development. 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