Common Barriers to Effective Organizations

• The mission and goals of the organization are not explicit or are unrealistic.
• Membership is not broad enough to include real participation by community members or consumers.
  
• Poor or inconsistent attendance.
  
• Decision-making and/or workload is unevenly shared among members.
  
• High interest in the organization and networking among members, but lack of time to accept real responsibility for activities.
  
• Lack of training in leadership or planning skills for members.
  
• Lack of funding to accomplish goals.
  
• Staff is overburdened by competing job responsibilities and often lack training in community and/or organizational development.
  
• Members do not “own” the organization and responsibilities for maintenance are deferred to the staff.
• Staff do not “trust the process” and take over member responsibilities when conflicts arise or interest wanes.