Nonprofit CEOs Sharpen Strategies at HBS
Social Enterprise Newsletter, Winter 2000
Concerned with teen pregnancy and drug abuse rates--among other problems--Girls Inc. of Greater Atlanta wants to help more girls than ever become strong, smart, and bold. "Talk about a strategic challenge," emphasizes president and CEO Janet Street.
Jane Street
Street is tackling that challenge head-on after attending HBS's Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management (SPNM) executive program in July. More than 140 senior nonprofit executives from organizations including the United Way of America and Savannah Conservation Nigeria attended the six-day course to hone leadership skills and sharpen stra-tegic outlooks.
"Girls Inc. is in a major expansion mode," Street says. "SPNM prompted me to ask, 'Is our expansion goal tied to our mission? Is it relevant? Should we be doing it? And if so, why?' I now have a more analytical approach to our growth."
Girls Inc. encourages girls to take risks and master physical, intellectual, and emotional challenges
Such strategic thinking grew from vibrant case discussions, she says. Through case analysis, faculty and participants explored how other nonprofit leaders met actual management challenges. When it came time to delve into cases on Habitat for Humanity and the Girl Scouts, SPNM participants from those organizations added an insider's perspective. In addition, a number of executives featured in other cases came to class to tell their stories.
"One of the ways we're planning to grow is through partnerships," Street says. "To hear how STRIVE (an employment training program for inner-city residents) expanded nationally from the people who are actually living and breathing it every day was phenomenal." Participants also heard "live" case discussions from Timberland and City Year leaders about their strategic alliance, and from executives of Boston's Museum of Fine Arts and Fleet Financial Group about their marketing partnership on behalf of the recent Monet exhibit in Boston.
For John Zanardelli, executive director and CEO of the United Methodist Services for the Aging in Pittsburgh, who attended SPNM in 1998, the program directed him to think about focus. "As a nonprofit, you*re spread so thin because you're trying to be everything to everybody," he says. After returning to work from SPNM, Zanardelli retooled. "We decided our mission was to be a comprehensive care center for older adults, not a country club community or an alms house," he says. "We got everyone focused on the same page."
He also developed a new grasp of evaluation and measurement. "I'm less apt to rely on financial statements as a proxy to happy customers," he says. "Instead, we might just join our clients for dinner to find out what's important to them."
To infuse his organization further with the HBS "strategic management mindset," Zanardelli sent his associate director and CFO Sally Gange to SPNM in 1999. And in 1998 the group*s board chair, Jim Golding, attended the School's Governing for Nonprofit Excellence, a two-and-a-half day program for nonprofit board leaders.
Another participant gaining fresh ideas about mission and strategy from SPNM was Daniel E. Stern, executive director of the Jefferson Rehabilitation Center in upstate New York. Stern's organization, like many nonprofits, is facing significant reduction in funding. "We either have to come up with a shift in mission and decide how to generate new revenues or figure out a way to get better at what we do with less funding," he says. Discussing situations in which others faced such tough issues, like the Historical Society of Pennsylvania case study, proved valuable. "They had to make some hard choices about what their mission was going to be and how they were going to accomplish it," he says. "That struck home."
Daniel E. Stem (fourth from left), executive director of the Jeffereson Rehabilitation Center, presenting a customer service award.
Stern also came away from SPNM with an unexpected benefit—a network of other nonprofit leaders from across the country and beyond. The network sprung from his study group, where six participants met daily to prepare for class. "Our group ranged from an executive in Minnesota leading a major HMO to someone running an entrepreneurial after-school program in Boston, yet we all faced common issues," he says. Group members now e-mail frequently. "We continue to bounce ideas off one another," he says. "It's a great resource."
Such learning fulfills the program's intent, says HBS professor and SPNM cochair Stephen A. Greyser. "We want people to gain a deep understanding of strategy, including how to evaluate and measure performance, manage key partnerships, bridge mission and markets, and lead change," he says. "I just tell people not to try doing it all on their first Monday back."
The participants aren't the only ones learning during SPNM. "Some of the best managed organizations in the country are nonprofits," says HBS professor and SPNM cochair James Heskett. "HBS faculty learn a great deal about management and leadership from the participants." In fact, the genesis of several faculty-written cases about nonprofits can be traced to the experiences of program participants. "We*re only beginning to reap the benefits of the program," Heskett says.