INVESTING IN LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
CDFI LEADERSHIP LEARNING NETWORK
NFCDCU CONFERENCE
JUNE 7, 2013
0
The Annie E. Casey Foundation
•
Mission is to build better futures for vulnerable children
and families
•
Invest in and foster public policies, human-service reforms
and community supports, including:
– Services to secure and sustain lifelong family connections
– Public human service systems that strengthen families
– Social and economic security for families in poor communities
– Use of data as a tool for change
– Family-supporting communities
1
Social Investments Unit
•
Additional philanthropic tool to complement grantmaking
– Double bottom line – financial and social return
– Financing gap
•
$125 million endowment allocation
– Place based and thematic investments
•
Flexible terms but invest through financial intermediaries
•
Leverage/co-investment requirement
– Influence other investors and share risk
•
Systems to track financial and social return
2
Social Investments Support
•
Impact
– Ratings systems and standardized performance metrics
•
Field Building
– Tools and resources to increase foundation social investing
•
Staff Training
– Evaluate financial health of key grantees
– Identify social investment opportunities
•
Capacity Building
– CDFI collaboration and partnership development
– CDFI Leadership Learning Network
3
Results Based Leadership Approach
•
Leadership matters
– Investments in programs and system reform initiatives are not
enough
•
Portfolio of leadership development programs & tools
– Support leaders from public, private and community
organizations
– Built upon Children and Family Fellowship (launched 1993)
•
Results Based Leadership
– Results-driven leaders are vital to achieving measurable and
lasting improvements in child and family well-being
– Provide leaders with skills to execute strategies and adapt to
change
4
Five Results Based Leadership Competencies
Competency
Achieve results
and be data driven
Close racial
disparity gaps
Act as instrument
of change
Master adaptive
leadership skills
Collaborate with
others
Description & Examples
•
Use results-based accountability (RBA) to approach change &
decision-making.
• Define a result & performance measures
• Use data to make decisions & assess progress
•
Recognize that issues of race, class & culture impact outcomes.
• Have conversations about race, class & culture
• Disaggregate data to identify disparities
• Develop strategies to close gaps
•
Individuals are capable of serving as catalysts for positive change.
• Understand organizational & system dynamics
• Lead from the middle
•
Understand that complex community change requires leaders to
impact stakeholders’ attitudes, values, beliefs & habits.
• Build trust
• Manage change & conflict
•
The capacity to build effective partnerships enables leaders to align
their actions & to administer resources.
• Engage partners & stakeholders
• Facilitate effective meetings that lead to aligned action
5
Results Based Leadership Program for CDFI’s
•
Social Investments & Leadership Development partnership
•
Consulted CDFI Executive Directors
•
Identified key organizational and field leadership needs
– Succession planning & sustainability – build the capacity of
middle managers
− Build skills to adapt to and lead a changing field
o Messaging & branding
o Managing relationships
o Measuring impact
− Create a network to leverage peer connections
6
CDFI Leadership Learning Network (LLN) Overview
Program Results
• Accelerate results achievement within Casey’s Community
Development Financial Institution (CDFI) portfolio:
– Provide low-income & disadvantaged people & communities
access to quality financial products & services
– Alleviate poverty & increase wealth of low-wealth
people/communities
• Deepen & strengthen the bench of next generation leaders
within Casey’s CDFI portfolio & for the CDFI field
7
CDFI Leadership Learning Network (LLN) Overview
Program Structure & Content
•
•
•
•
Methods
Discussions
Focus on 5 Results Based
Leadership competencies in
community development finance
context
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Participants commit to taking
action between sessions
•
Personal reflection
6 two-day seminars over 13
months
12 participants from 9 CDFI’s,
including 1 CDCU
Readings
Instruction
Case studies
Site visits
Peer learning & consultation
Practice/application
exercises
8
CDFI LLN – Seminar 1
You as a Leader
•
Begin forming a cohesive & trusting network
•
Build capacity to reflect on themselves, their roles & the
systems in which they operate
•
Develop a greater awareness of their own leadership within
the person-role-system framework
•
Explore the power of conversations about race, class &
culture for the purpose of identifying actions for reducing
disparities
•
Receive 360 degree feedback & create Individual Learning
Plans
9
CDFI LLN – Seminar 2
Making a Measurable Difference
•
Use Results Based Accountability (RBA) framework to define a
population result, analyze trends, develop strategies to turn a curve
& identify performance measures
– How much did we do?
– How well did we do it?
– What difference did we make/who’s better off?
•
Practice holding accountability conversations for commitments &
results
•
Use Myers Briggs Type Indicator to understand preferences & work
more effectively with others
•
Identify an organizational challenge to address
10
CDFI LLN – Seminar 3
Moving the Work Forward:
Stepping Up to the Adaptive Leadership Challenge
•
Consider how roles and authority impact the work
•
Understand the relationship between change and loss
– Power, relationships, competence, resources
•
Learn effective communication and messaging techniques
•
Practice developing a message to enroll stakeholders towards a
result
11
CDFI LLN – Seminars 4 - 6
Seminar Theme
Content
Seeing Systems: Leading
Effectively at Every Level of
the System
• Explore the impact of system dynamics &
experience these dynamics in a simulation
• Conduct a site visit & learn from leaders at
all levels of the system
Execution: Moving to Action
• Work to mesh strategy with reality & align
people with goals
• Explore strategies for building trust &
managing conflict
Looking Forward
• Determine how to continue leadership
development practice
• Focus on moving forward to achieve the
outcomes desired for organizations &
improved results for target communities
12
Impact – Participant Feedback
•
Tools like RBA have been helpful in linking performance
to what difference the work ultimately makes
•
Communication, messaging and facilitation techniques
have improved presentations and collaborative work
•
Have applied Myers Briggs Type Indicator with teams to
understand preferences and work more effectively
•
Program has been fun, challenging and very helpful to
have a peer support network
13
Results Based Leadership Resources
•
Trying Hard is Not Good Enough, Mark Friedman
•
Theory of Aligned Contributions, Jolie Bain Pilsbury:
http://www.rbl-apps.com/TOAC.php
•
Leadership on the Line, Ronald Heifetz & Marty Linsky
•
Leadership Made Simple, Ed Oakley & Doug Krug
•
RBL Tools: http://www.rbl-apps.com/
14