Development does not take place in a vacuum; it is intertwined inextricably with every aspect of the comprehensive institutional integrity. The whole always is greater than the sum of the parts: leveraged synergy advances specific sub-objectives. We will explore how to create and sustain horizontal and vertical collaboration for integrated organizational leadership. With guest panelists Kofi Boateng, COO of Africa America Institute, Bill Bohnett, Board member of Synergos Institute and Kona Goulet, Devlopment Director of EnlightenNext we explore this topic in the NYU graduate course I created and teach annually. Watch two- to three-minute video clips of each and if you have interest in seeing more of the discussion contact us.

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  • Willa Geertsema August 2, 2009, 4:00 pm

    Watching the video clip with Kona about EnlightenNext brought it all back to me… I worked closely with her during this miraculous fundraising drive and can safely say that they were the most exciting weeks in my working life. Under Nadine’s guidance we went from thinking we couldn’t raise money, didn’t have time and didn’t have enough of an audience, to each of us pulling out all the stops not only to ask for money but to establish lasting relationships that will benefit EnlightenNext and its membership for years to come. I have since left EnlightenNext but have never experienced such radical alignment, from zero to sixty, along the whole organisation, which then spread out horizontally to the wider membership. That was for a large part Nadine’s input of care, common sense and sometimes ‘tough love’, which took away barriers and liberated enormous energy among us human beings for our shared evolutionary purpose. That’s something I’ll carry with me for the rest of my professional life, hopefully to be passed on to others!

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  • Kona Goulet August 27, 2009, 11:23 am

    Prof. Hack’s strong case for the need for integrated organizational leadership is an important one at any time, but it is especially poignant during these challenging economic times. In light of the current economy, many non-profits are having to put forth two times the effort (or much more) to raise what was raised in previous years. This need to increase the effort level requires increased organizational integration and an ever-more unified organization-wide response. In recent months at EnlightenNext, I’ve been working in a tighter way than ever with committed Board members and Senior Management. For example, the Chair of our Development Committee recently forewent a retreat abroad to spend three weeks working full-time with our Development staff and senior Management, helping create the strategies and systems that will enable us to launch a major donor appeal this Fall. In addition, our Assistant Director of Development has been working very closely with our Human Resources Director on a reallocation of staff time such that Development activities are being recognized an organizational priority. This reallocation of staff time has effectively doubled Development human resources by integrating Development functions into all our programs and departments. This is powerfully mobilizing and unifying all our staff in a strong sense of shared mission and direction. So while this is a challenging time of rapid change, it is also an opportunity to accelerate organizational advancement and evolution. It is more apparent than ever the only way to success is via sustained horizontal and vertical collaboration. The whole is indeed always greater than the sum of the parts.

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