Nonprofit Collaborative 2009 CEO Roundtable Workshop

October 5, 2009

Agenda & Ground Rules

2 breaks: morning and afternoon

45 minutes for Lunch

Cell phones/Blackberries off or on vibrate (please!)

FACTORS THAT DRIVE OR AFFECT

ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE

Organizational Lifecycle Phase

External Environment Factors

Political Economic

Social Technological

Change Perpetual vs. Episodic

EPISODIC• Driven by an event

• Clearly defined parameters

• Time limited

• Example: Executive management transition

PERPETUAL• Not driven by a particular

event, but acknowledges continual change in the external environment

• Lack of particular cause or driver of change

• No clear time frame

Session Overview

Why this workshop?

Develop understanding of tools to navigate organizational change and development

Discuss different aspects of capacity building

Case study to try on learnings

Board capacity building

Change Management Processes

• Strategic Planning• Organizational Development• Scenario Planning• Appreciative Inquiry

Strategic Planning

• Research & stakeholder interviews• Position paper• Board check-in• Planning meetings with task force• Planning meetings with staff• Final plan presented to board

Organizational Development

• Contracting (different from other processes because exact parameters are not clear at the outset)

• Data gathering• Group action planning (OD task force)• Interventions• Continual reflection

Scenario Planning• Orient:

– clarify the issue – understand the organization – surface assumptions about key challenges

• Explore:– Research on external forces affecting the challenge

• Synthesize:– Creation of scenarios based on external research findings– Write narratives of scenarios

• Act:– Design actions based on the scenarios

• Monitor:– Track shifts in the environment and adjust strategy accordingly

Appreciative Inquiry

• Discover: positive framed questions about past experience.

• Dream: the group uses the answers to the discovery questions to frame ideas for the future (“provocative propositions”).

• Design: create or rethink existing or future processes based on the provocative propositions.

• Delivery: create measures of success, and mechanisms for recognition.

Common Themes

Gather information to inform future direction

Incorporate feedback from stakeholders

Equal emphasis on process as on final document

What tools are effective?

Which tools have you used?

Which tools do you find effective?

Which are less effective?

Capacity Building in the Context of Perpetual Change

• Assuming the external environment is constantly shifting, how does that affect these capacity building tools, which assume a certain degree of stasis in the environment?

• Do we need an entirely new kind of tool or do we simply need to adapt these tools to this environment?

• In what ways do these tools need to change to equip us to manage better in a perpetually shifting context?

• How might we think differently about managing our organizations?

Diagnostic Tools

• Lifecycle Phase (Susan Kenney Stevens)– Typical characteristics of each – suggested interventions

• McKinsey Capacity Assessment– Used to identify areas of capacity that need

improvement• Good to Great Diagnostic Tool (Jim Collins)

Program Planning: Theory of Change

Program Planning: Logic Models

What tools are effective?

Which tools have you used?

Which tools do you find effective?

Which are less effective?

Building the Capacity of Your Board

Building the Capacity of Your Board• What role should the board play in these capacity building efforts?

• How do you define “board development?”

• How would you describe your board? – strategic (policy setting, direction setting) – a fund raising board– Diverse– Hands on with managing initiatives

• What kind of board development have you done, if any?

• What do you think is the appropriate way to incorporate ongoing board development?

• When do you need someone from the outside vs. an internal process?

Building the Capacity of Your Board

“Mature” organization board:• Board sets direction, is policy oriented and leaves management

to the Executive Director. Board plays a leadership role and has the competence to keep nonprofit focused and vital. Board is organized for maximum effectiveness and has a structure for continuity of leadership and culture.

“Declining” (pre-turnaround) organization board:• Lack of organizational “spark” or one too many crises, causes

ennui and diminished attendance. Board may operate with a strategic plan, but it is focused on “what we want to do” rather than community need

• What are the core capacity areas of an effective nonprofit CEO?

• What skills do CEO’s need to have or develop to be effective leaders?

• In a perpetually changing market, what does it take to be an effective leader?

• Does perpetual change suggest a different way of using your board?

The Nonprofit Leadership Model

ReflectionWhat did you feel was most useful to you in

our work today?

What would you like to build on in our next conference session?

Thank You!