Generational Leadership Shift
Summary
Sparked by a generational leadership transition, this New Mexico-based family foundation hired us to develop its first strategic plan. The plan needed to give board members comfort in delegating more day-to-day responsibility to staff and aid in smoother decision-making.
“Our strategic plan makes sense of our work and connects the dots between our vision and mission and all the activities we do in the community. It helped us have meaningful and productive board-staff conversations and provided the framework we needed to make the hard decisions. CSR Communications’ process was flexible in meeting the diverse needs of board members and staff, while getting us to a great result in a reasonable timeframe.”
— Ann Maddox UtterbackBoard Chair 2017-2022, JF Maddox Foundation
Board Governance and Staff Autonomy
Situation
JF Maddox Foundation was in the early stages of a generational leadership shift when they approached CSR Communications to design and facilitate its tri-annual board retreat. A key element of the generational shift was to increase staff autonomy and decision-making authority, moving the board into a true governance role. At the retreat, we exposed the different assumptions and beliefs between staff and board, between second and third generations of the family, and among current board members. We also determined that the current vision and mission were so broad that anything could be a “yes.” Without a framework or guidelines to create clarity and alignment, increased staff autonomy felt too risky.
Strategic Planning
Solutions
The Foundation needed a strategic plan. One that board members, second- and fourth-generation family members not currently on the board, and staff would embrace. We facilitated the Foundation’s first strategic planning process with a committee of board members and staff.
We highlighted the challenge many organizations face because of the “missing middle” – the clear goals and strategies that bridge the gap between vision/mission and activities, initiatives, and projects. When we fill the “missing middle,” we eliminate confusion, frustration and inertia.
Over six months, we facilitated conversations on risk tolerance, refined the Foundation’s vision, mission and values, and crafted a three-year strategic plan. We used our proprietary Artifacts Excavation Process™ to identify, prioritize and replace artifacts aligned with old ways of thinking and working. “Artifacts” are all those little things we leave behind when we move forward with change that signal who and what we value, what matters and how things really get done in an organization.
Empowered Staff
Success
The common understanding created by the planning process strengthened relationships and cleared the path for smoother decision-making. The strategic plan served as a North Star during the Foundation’s first CEO transition in 27 years and a board chair transition, enabled swift action to meet pandemic-triggered community needs, and sparked deeper, more meaningful conversations with grant partners. Staff feel empowered to lead and more confident in their interactions with the board.
