The "steam" had almost run out for the 178 year old Massachusetts Horticultural Society. All of the education programs where halted, except one, and the membership was at record low levels. The cornerstone event for the Society - the New England Spring Flower Show - had lost attendance every year for a decade. Its historic headquarters were sold, precious rare books damaged in a flood, and the finances where hanging on by a thread. Everyone associated with MassHort seemed discouraged and disgruntled.

When the Society hired me as a new Executive Director, I contacted Jay and asked him to help facilitate a process to begin envisioning a new future for this tired old organization. Jay's Grounded Visioning session brought together over 70 people interested in MassHort's future. Beginning by working in small groups to identify special and personal memories associated with the Society, the tone of the day laid a positive outlook as the foundation for the remainder of the day's discussions. Jay's approach was highly respectful of the many strongly held beliefs in the room, allowing everyone to feel respected and listened to. But no one person dominated the discussion and everyone had the opportunity to contribute to the final list of priorities. The many participants emerged from the day energized and more hopeful. The final product was a very concrete set of priorities for the organization. This was interpreted into a year-long strategy for improvement, widely supported by the organization's key stakeholders. 

The brief summary of the plan was an important guide for the work undertaken by me and my staff and board. Significant progress was made toward those goals. Relaunching the education programs, strengthening the organization's finances and building brand awareness, improving the Society's headquarters' buildings and grounds, as well as defining an appropriate role for the organization in the Big Dig's new Greenway project were all priorities that were identified and accomplished.

The last few years of enormous effort have resulted in a much stronger institution and Jay’s assistance has been extremely valuable and appreciated in turning around such a troubled place. The recent Flower Show was a great success programmatically and financially and MassHort now has more financial resources than in many, many years. The education programs are thriving and Elm Bank is approaching public garden levels of maintenance and plantings. The new gift shop was a huge financial success at the Flower Show and at Elm Bank, far exceeding financial projections. The Greenway project is secure with a new agreement in place to collaborate. Membership has grown from 4100 when I was hired to close to 7000! Long-time donors and members of the philanthropic community, some of whom attended the Grounded Visioning session, began to increase their financial support and to get reinvolved with the organization.

I plan on working with Jay again should the opportunity present itself.

Thomas Herrera-Mishler, Former Executive Director, MassHort June 2007