Event Date: 02.02.2021
Time: 10-11:30am
Part of Mass Cultural Council’s Recover, Rebuild, Renew Series
Board members today are being pressed to make more difficult decisions than they’re used to. In times of stress – including the current unforeseen and unpredictable environment – it is more critical than ever that the board and executive leadership work collaboratively and transparently. This set of two workshops will provide tools, exercises and examples of healthy approaches to uncertainty and stress. Participants will come away with practical and impactful outcomes from Session 1, regardless of their participation in Session 2. Session 2 will build on Session 1 with more in-depth exploration, exercises and case studies.
In this session, we will focus on: The criticality of mission and focus; The board’s role in supporting the chief executive as she/he/they steers the new course; The information a board should expect, and needs, to make good decisions at this time – e.g. financials, participation figures, reliable funding sources, staff morale, CDC updates, trends in like organizations, Federal assistance packages, advocacy alerts. The meaning of the current “numbers” e.g. revised budget, balance sheet, assets & liabilities, cash flow, cash margins, quarterly budgets; Stepping up board participation: board meetings, task forces, scenario planning, strategic planning and evaluation; Enhanced communications: standardized messaging for the public/stakeholders, public spokesperson roles; Emergency succession basics.
Outcomes: At the end of this session, participants will be able to understand the critical role of mission in decision-making, create actionable tools and ideas for use by board leadership and executive leadership to motivate and guide board members individually, and boards as a whole, understand crucial information a board member should expect to receive, to understand, and to act on, learn principles of organizational communications strategy and understand the unique dynamics created by stress within an nonprofit organization’s leadership and basic methods for using it to advantage. Homework before Part 2: Participants undertake at least one of these (planning tools provided by faculty): Scenario planning worksheet; Guided conversation with board chair/executive committee and chief executive; Developing your emergency succession plan.
Firm: Claire West Consulting, Tucson, AZ
Content Expert: Claire West and Mollie Quinlan-Hayes
Claire West has operated as an independent consultant for many years, and founded Claire West Consulting in 2014, where she partners with top consultants in the field to provide a range of services. West believes in the strengths of her clients, and works beside them to accomplish their mission. Claire West Consulting specializes in non-profit/CBO consulting in the areas of Strategic Planning; Board Development; Organizational Assessment; Fund Development; Project Management; Group Facilitation; Advocacy. Clients include arts and culture, human services, health, education, faith, environment, historic preservation, equity. Certified in IAP2 Planning For Effective Public Participation; Lifecycles Capacity Consultant trained in Lifecycle Models by the Nonprofit Lifecycles Institute; Certified in Institute of Cultural Affairs “TOP” facilitation methodologies; Consultant, Arizona Together For Impact. Claire serves on five boards, and several advisory committees. Professional positions held have included senior positions with Ballet Arizona, Children’s Museum of Phoenix, Arizona Commission on the Arts, and Rockland Center for the Arts.
Mollie Quinlan-Hayes served as the Deputy Director and Accessibility Coordinator for South Arts, one of the six U.S. Regional Arts Organizations, from 2006 through 2020. Prior to that, she worked with the Arizona Commission on the Arts over 14 years, including as community development/touring coordinator, local arts agency director, public information officer, as Deputy Director for seven years, and as Interim Executive Director. At both agencies, Mollie led strategic planning, execution and evaluation; served on the senior management team addressing fiscal, human resources and programmatic decisions; hired and supervised program staff; and was liaison with Board/Commission members. At South Arts, she was the staff support for the Governance, Strategic Planning, and Programs Committees, and was lead staff for Board Task Forces addressing the challenges/opportunities of readiness/disaster planning following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (resulting in the creation of ArtsReady); the redesign of the annual Performing Arts Exchange regional booking/professional development conference; and the redesign of the Folklorists in the South Retreat (FITS). She oversaw all programs, including PD@PAE/Professional Development at the Performing Arts Exchange. PD@PAE was one of the conference’s three primary components (along with the Marketplace, and networking), and consisted of year-long planning of a schedule of professional learning experiences at three levels: Fundamentals, Skills, and Issues and Ideas. She worked with the nine member state arts agencies to ensure delivery of policies, initiatives and programs which provided relevant value to them and to the artists, arts organizations and people in the region.
Auto-generated captions will be provided. If you have additional questions or to request additional accommodations to ensure your participation, please contact Michael Ibrahim.
Note: This is a two-part series. Register for Part 2.
