Pro Bono Consultant Profile
RoJean DeChantal
San Francisco Bay Area
| Background: | RoJean has worked in numerous consumer product and hospitality organizations as an SVP of Human Resources, leading Human Resource teams in contributing to both strategic and operational goals. She currently serves as a senior consultant with Torchiana, Mastrov and Sapiro, the Bay area’s premier career transition firm. | |
| Taproot Role: | Account Director | |
| Pro Bono Client: | Reading Partners | |
| Project: | Human Resources Capacity Build | |
The Project:
“Reading Partners is dedicated to transforming struggling children into
confident readers who are excited about learning. They recruit and train
community volunteers to tutor children one on one, helping them develop the
reading skills they need to reach their full potential. Reading Partners
anticipated significant growth and turned to The Taproot Foundation for help in
assessing and understand their HR function.”
The Team:
“Our team came together quickly to understand the client’s needs. Each member
of the team approached the project with skill, professionalism and enthusiasm.
Collaborating as a virtual team worked wellÑteam members were committed and
accountable for deliverables. We also really go the chance to bond during our
in-person meetings with the client and continue to stay in touch with each
other.”
The Work:
“As our team came together, we all agreed that we chose the Taproot Foundation
as an opportunity to do pro bono work because it allowed us to contribute our
professional expertise and actively involve ourselves in building much needed
HR knowledge and capabilities in client organizations.”
Challenges:
“Our biggest challenge was the fact that we were all new to the Taproot
Foundation, both the pro bono consultant team and the client team. We
acknowledged this upfront in a joint team meeting and agreed we would follow
the Taproot Foundation’s blueprint as closely as possible to ensure desired
outcomes were achieved.”
Cross Sector:
“People are people regardless of whether they work in a nonprofit or a
for-profit organization. The needs for effective HR programs, systems, and
processes are generally the same. The challenge is that many nonprofits have
neither the expertise nor the resources to build a strategic framework to help
people succeed. At the same time, the business community stands to learn a lot
from the way nonprofits use mission passion to motivate their employees.”
The Impact:
“While the client had some basic HR in place, we discovered there was less
structure and focus in this area than anyone thought. This discovery created
the opportunity to fully engage the client in identifying solutions and
rethinking the effectiveness of their current system. It also was a significant
education process for the client in understanding the nuances of the HR
function and the importance of understanding both the intended and unintended
consequences of implementing new procedures and systems. As a result of our
analysis, Reading Partners was able to secure a $25,000 grant to help build
their HR capacity.”
Personal Growth:
“This project was what I would call ‘Heaven for an HR professional.’ I loved
seeing the impact of HR on a small, growth oriented nonprofit. “
Outside Taproot:
“I work as a senior career consultant with candidates in job search and travel
around the world. I just returned from a 3-week trip to Morocco.”
