The Loftis Partners Origin Story – Do You Know How We Began?

Our firm started in August 2020 after years of dreaming. I always thought being an external HR consultant would be amazing, AND I didn’t have enough confidence in myself to make the leap from working inside a business to running my own business. Additionally, I was opening a new business about six months into the COVID-19 pandemic. The world was completely upside down with a vaccine months away. Many people thought I was brave; I just thought it was a great idea worth exploring.

Loftis Partners is a human resources consulting firm located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Sally Loftis is the Managing Director, and we are 100% woman-owned. The term “partners” refers to Sally working in partnership with clients and her consultant network to bring people-positive approaches to business. We work with nonprofit organizations, small businesses, and government agencies to strengthen their people strategy and systems solutions to inequity. What does that look like?

First, Loftis Partners works at the strategy level. We see strategy as the overarching driver of results alongside the purpose of the organization. And none of this happens without people. Strategy is closely linked to organization design. Loftis Partners uses the Galbraith Star Model as our starting point for design, which includes strategy, structure, processes, rewards & people. We use research, experience, and compassion to make strategic connections and provide meaningful guidance. Strategy services include:

·       Organization assessments help you with understanding your current organizational position and how to plan for the future. This information is vital for those embarking on a strategic planning process and new executives.

·       Strategic planning creates a vision for an organization’s future. It is a planning process that involves all stakeholders in giving voice to future needs and possibilities. The process can take anywhere from 3-12 months, depending on the size of the organization.

·       Nonprofit board development is an ongoing process but managing it as an ongoing strategy can prepare you for the bumps in the road when board members leave. Loftis Partners can help with all elements of board recruitment and development, from reviewing your current board structure to building materials for recruitment to focusing on the board’s own DEI journey.

·       Navigating Change Retreat is designed to build connections, understand change at different levels, and co-create a plan to move the organization forward. This 8-hour retreat, which can be broken into two days, is a great way to organize as a team and chart a way forward in these changing times.

·       Organizational coaching as an option for groups who need short-term help and/or facilitate conversations around a certain topic, such as implementation support for a new strategic plan. These sessions are planned around your team’s schedule to maximize time and efficiency.

Second, Loftis Partners works at the strategy level with a people focus. We believe humans are powerful and dynamic, so we listen deeply and support people first. Human resources is a vast field of learning and opportunities. While we bring decades of human resources experience, we focus our work on systemic changes like pay equity and DEI strategies with a people-positive approach. Human resources services include:

·       Pay transparency assessments helps employers with implementing pay transparency – defined here as disclosing pay ranges to job candidates and current employees – as mandated by different states and countries. Our assessments are designed to support transparency at all levels of the organization.

·       Pay equity and salary studies help you identify the areas of needed compensation work within your organization through research-based assessments, analyses, studies, and project facilitation. We work with you to build customized and relevant salary profiles for every role in your organization.

·       Staffing strategy and assessments include a review of your current staffing structure and workflow processes in addition to your virtual collaborative workspaces. We will offer information on using short-term positions, long-term positions, and a distributed workplace model. We can also work with you on building a hybrid workplace model.

·       Employee handbooks are guidebooks for your organizational culture as well as legal documentation. We work with organizations to review and suggest updates that reflect state and national trends, inclusive language & practices, and workplace culture.

·       Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Conversations support organizations with the constant and non-linear work of individual change, team conversations, and organization design. We partner with trauma-resilient and social justice consultants to enrich our work. Often, the DEI organization journey involves strategic conversations, employee feedback sessions, project facilitation, and leadership journeys.

Finally, Loftis Partners works at the strategy level with a people focus and capacity-building lens. We honor the commitment to our clients by designing sustainable space that support the work after we leave. These services incorporate:

·       Speaking Engagements offer a funny and insightful approach for audiences, whether in-person, hybrid, or virtually. You can work with Sally to offer short and longer talks around the topics of pay equity, navigating change, human resources, and LGBTQ+ inclusion.

·       Training for organizations looking for a complementary professional development program. Currently, we offer a DEI Learning for White Women and An Introduction to LGBTQ+ Inclusion. Sign up for our newsletter to hear when our new supervisor Community of Practice launches in 2024.

·       Strategy Coaching is simply helping someone become a better version of themselves as defined by you. We use a coaching style that encourages and empowers our clients to internally build capacity for change.

Since 2020, we have worked with 50+ across 15 states and 3 continents. Our organization development background supports capacity building at the individual, team, organization, and community level. We see opportunities everywhere to bring humanity back into human resources with a people-positive approach. Our background in social justice allows us to see the difference between complicated work and complex systems. When our work is complete, Loftis Partners aims to leave a collective of people capable of moving this work forward without us. Click here to learn more about our approach, or as we call it, how we show up.

You can hear the entire origin story in this 30-minute video. Thanks to Ida Crawford and JMMB Media for offering us the space to share.