Services Offered
- Strategic Planning & Stakeholder Engagement
- Board Assessment, Training, & Development
- Succession Planning & Executive Transition Support
- Staff Development & Supervisory Training
- Coaching & Team Building
Please scroll down to learn more about each and how I might help your organization.
Strategic Planning & Stakeholder Engagement
My goal is to work with your organization’s leadership to design and implement a planning process that meets your goals, aligns with your budget, and engages the right people efficiently and meaningfully. A planning process can be simple or complex. A planning process is typically spearheaded by staff leadership and the board of directors, but the planning process can include input from staff, board members, volunteers, members, or the general community through surveys, meetings, and interviews. I can design surveys, facilitate meetings, develop draft agendas, take minutes, and keep the whole team on track.
Whether your goal is the development of a broad and high level set of strategic directions or an actionable work plan that serves as the basis for implementation and monitoring, I can work with you to develop a process and deliver a final document without undue burden on your organization. In addition, I can support you through implementation and monitoring assistance.
Board Assessment, Training, and Development
I think about board development holistically. It starts with defining your organization’s needs and making sure you have the knowledge, tools, people, and structure to support and engage an effective board of directors. It is important to identify how each board member can contribute to the success of the organization. Every organization must define for itself what success looks like and then build an accountability culture to accomplish its goals. My perspective is both pragmatic and rooted in the board’s legal and fiduciary responsibilities.
Succession Planning & Executive Transition Support
Succession planning is the process of identifying the critical positions within your organization and developing action plans for individuals to be able to assume those positions as smoothly as possible.
It is vital for the Board of Directors to proactively prepare for a planned- or unplanned- Executive Director transition and for the Executive Director to ensure that plans exist for other key positions. This includes developing standard operating procedures, cross-training, and documenting vital information in order to ensure continuity of operations. I can work with your organization to develop a formal succession plan for executive leadership and support your organization in assessing and building organizational capacity and infrastructure to prepare for a transition. I can also support your organization through an executive transition process by helping you define the position, determine compensation, post and screen resumes, and support the interview and selection process.
Staff Development & Supervisory Training
As organizations evolve, the roles and responsibilities of staff members tend to evolve with them. I can help you revise job descriptions and strengthen staff development and evaluation through a supervisory process that supports individual and collective training needs.
Nonprofit organizations tend to promote middle managers from within because of their prior job performance and expertise, but they do not necessarily have the supervisory or management experience they need to support their team, navigate challenging interpersonal dynamics, or balance competing workloads. I can work with your organization to develop a training program to develop and empower emerging leaders and supervisors.
Coaching and Team Building
Individual coaching can help board and staff members build their confidence, improve leadership skills, establish priorities, and navigate the complexities of their job. Team Building involves working with teams to improve communication, define responsibilities, and develop and monitor work plans. This can be a one time board or staff retreat or a series of sessions designed to strengthen the working relationship and implement a specific project.