California native plants are the stars of the Theodore Payne Foundation (TPF), a nonprofit organization set on 22 acres of canyon land in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. Focused on education and inspiration, the Foundation is a wonderland of display gardens and wildland hiking trails. A full-service nursery showcases native plants, seeds, and nature-themed books and merchandise. An art gallery, indoor and outdoor educational facilities, and extensive plant production areas complete the setting.
TPF presents a wide range of public classes, garden tours, and outreach and advocacy initiatives, all aimed at showcasing the role of native plants in making Southern California communities more beautiful, sustainable, and environmentally friendly. Since the pandemic, the organization has grown considerably, nearly doubling its pre-pandemic revenues.
As the Foundation prepared to onboard new senior staff members, its leaders turned to Jericho Road Pasadena for expert executive coaching to ensure a smooth and successful process. JRP reached out to Gina Calderon, MBA, a Senior Principal Consultant with Reward Strategy Group in the Los Angeles office, to collaborate with the TPR executive team. RSG has delivered human resources consulting services to clients across all business sectors and industries for over 30 years, with Gina playing key roles on many of its projects.
The JRP staff began by collaborating with Gina on a Scope of Work for the project. They defined three objectives:
- Provide expert guidance and recommendations on specific hiring issues
- Conduct a comprehensive analysis of TPF’s Human Resources needs and create a plan to address any gaps or areas of improvement
- Develop and enhance executive skills and strategies to navigate organizational structure challenges and growth dynamics.
Using these guidelines, Gina and TPF Executive Director Evan Meyer began exploring strategies for handling human resources development. Chief among them was a redesign of the Senior Management team, a move that called for changes in processes, role definitions, and how the new team worked together.
“Working with Gina helped me make informed decisions about hiring new senior staff members,” Evan says. “We reviewed job descriptions, made key promotions and changed the organizational chart in ways that will have long-lasting positive impacts on the organization.”
Evan appreciated the wealth of experience Gina brought to the conversation. “She wasn’t afraid to check my assumptions and hold me accountable for areas where she thought I had blind spots,” he said. “I valued her intelligence and honesty.”
Gina enjoyed using her seasoned skills to help Evan with some especially challenging human resources issues. “We developed a good rapport and were able to address these issues in
real time,” she says. “It was rewarding to collaborate in reaching a positive conclusion for the organization and its employees.”
Thanks to volunteer Linda Taubenreuther for writing JRP social media posts!