Who Needs To Be At Your Table?

Leadership and management are distinctly different roles within an organization. The challenges faced by organizations today including declining enrollment, workforce turnover, disengaged stakeholders, and financial strain require both leadership and management. However, real change takes more than leadership and management–it takes aligned, trusted coalitions. 

Leadership will focus on setting and inspiring a new vision for the organization. This means developing a sense of urgency by crafting a guiding narrative that addresses the challenges of the organization. By explaining to members of the team the need for change and how the team will work together; the leader empowers others to do their part to make the vision a reality.

Leadership in Action:

One of the keys to success when leading an organization through change is the development of an aligned, trusted coalition. During work with school district teams, we begin by asking the team to make a list of key stakeholders. Leadership teams generally begin with those close to their circle and then branch out to others in the community. With prompting, we guide leaders to consider stakeholders that they may not know but who may be impacted or have impact on the project. In addition, we ask leaders to consider those stakeholders who have formal and informal power in the community. Because teams often list formal power holders first, the informal power holders come forth during this part of the conversation. 

These include board members, parents, educators, end-users, business leaders, elected officials, and other leaders in the community. We meet with the coalition to provide an understanding of and the why behind the vision. Through a series of facilitated conversations, the coalition is able to understand the need, provide feedback, and express hopes and wishes  for the future. 

Using a model from Design Thinking, e|solve works with the coalition to create stakeholder profiles. These profiles are a guidepost for the organization to use as it progresses through change.