Organization and Integrating Development
	In development work, integration is a difficult and ongoing challenge. Perhaps on one level, the challenge is conceptual. We have a human tendency to put things in categories, to label things, to differentiate. For example, staff specialists may feel that in order to establish a level of professionalism, they need to differentiate themselves: "I'm a child advocate;" "I focus on community health;" "I help people feed themselves;" "I minister to people's spiritual needs;" etc. The problem with this is first that God has created us as whole human beings. We are not just a body or a soul, but whole persons, so the most effective way to demonstrate God's love and help people reconnect with God is with a holistic approach. A second aspect of this is that everything is related to everything else. I heard an example of this when I was in Zambia recently: a farmer was doing better by having his children help on the farm but was not sending them to school. So doing good in one sector will invariably have impacts on all other sectors, but not necessarily in desirable ways.  So one level on which to approach integration is mindset. Teach staff to think holistically. Build in constant, cross-functional communication. Cross-train staff. Get staff working together as a team, helping them understand that they are not in competition with each other, but interdependent on each other. And do this at both the area and national levels.  Organization (both staffing and structure) is a key tool to bring about greater integration. At the national or regional level, you have to manage a true matrix organization. You have area/geographic leaders who need to make sure all the programs get delivered, and that they are deployed with quality but also in a coordinated and "linked" way. But you also have sector specialists, like one specialist for gender and child programs or another for HIV/AIDS. And their needs (for support, for legitimate authority, networking with other people, for recognition, for professional development, etc) are different than what area managers need (infrastructure and tools, resources, coaching, leadership / management development, etc).  Here, in short, are what I believe some of the more important principles are for managing a matrix organization:  involve people in shaping the direction and strategy of the whole organization (as mentioned above);   keep communicating the vision through every level of the organization;    expect and coach sector/functional leaders and area leaders to be skilled communicators;    promote accountability for results by having specific ways of measuring outcomes, and involve cross-functional teams in reviewing the measures periodically to make sure you are measuring the right things; and  have managers and leaders take great care to clarify roles and responsibilities with employees. (An individual can serve two masters - but for different things. And the managers need to communicate with each other about what is expected of each person. Another way of saying this last point is that a good matrix has no dotted lines - they are all solid lines of accountability.)