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CRE Leadership Offerings
Photo credit: Jeffrey Holmes Photography

This story documents the team-building work CRE engaged in at Sunnyside Community Services.

Read articles our staff has written on leadership. “Is it Conventional Wisdom or Myth? Why Not-Profit Leaders Outperform for-Profit Leaders” or "The Courage to Pause: Lessons Learned from CRE’s Leadership Caucus.

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"CRE is unequaled in terms of its understanding of managing human services nonprofits.  It is important for a consulting firm to "get" nonprofit management. CRE understands that intrinsically."

- David Mensah, ED, Hetrick Martin Institute

Our Services : Professional Development : The Leadership Center at CRE : Leadership Offerings

Leadership Offerings

The Leadership Center targets: Executive Directors, Board Chairs and Board Members, Management Teams, and Senior and Middle Managers. The more we engage everyone in the organization’s leadership team on leadership issues, the more impact our leadership development efforts will have on their organizations. Center offerings include:

High Performing Managers Initiative

CRE has found the most effective leaders and managers are self-aware, self-reflective and engaged in their own self-development. To help develop management skills, CRE created the High Performing Managers Initiative (HPMI) which consists of a series of highly interactive ‘issue-days’ in which participants explore several relevant management topics, and small group peer exchange groups in alternate months that deepen learning and provide support to ‘change initiatives’ named by participants. Additionally, it offers the opportunity for input about management practice via a certified 360º feedback instrument and follow-up coaching.

Nonprofit Management Simulation

Living Change is a day-long activity that realistically replicates the challenges of leading and managing in a “typical” nonprofit organization. It is an integral part of the Leadership Caucus, but is also a stand-along offering.

Leadership Consulting Services

CRE’s consulting assignments in the leadership arena help nonprofits to:

  • Strengthen Management Teams
  • Plan and implement an effective and smooth leadership transitions
  • Plan and implement strategies for succession planning and building a talent bench
  • Improve and reshape Board/ED/Staff relationships
  • Build and sustain team collaboration

Leadership Circles

Leaders who share a key professional or organizational frame, can participate in peer learning through a Circle that meets regularly, e.g., monthly over a 6-12 month period.  Leadership Circles work well for 7-12 participants.  CRE convenes, lightly facilitates and resources the Circle with materials, knowledgeable speakers, etc.  Peer exchange is promoted and Circles may self-organize, and as they do, CRE’s role evolves. 

Leadership Circle of Executive Directors on Staten Island

Due to the nonprofit sector’s economic significance to Staten Island, CRE put on a six month Leadership Forum to form and promote ongoing peer support and working relationships among the borough’s executive directors. The ten participants gained insights including that leadership skills can be acquired and practiced, that self-awareness is critical for leaders, and that it is important and helpful to set aside time to reflect on their leadership, preferably with a non-judgmental set of peers.

Coaching

CRE believes that high performing leaders and managers are essential to sustaining healthy and effective organizations.

Executive Coaching is a proven way of enhancing the skills of seasoned executives and developing the abilities of emerging leaders by providing a safe and focused venue for reflective learning. It can have a profoundly positive effect on the way in which people lead and manage organizations.

CRE's coaches work one-to-one with non-profit leaders and managers, focusing on individualized change initiatives. The work includes the use of a leadership or management assessment tool, most often a 360° feedback survey, goal-setting, workplace assignments and space for debrief and reflection. The engagement is designed ultimately to strengthen leadership and management effectiveness, and thereby, organizational performance.

Implementation Coaching supports nonprofit leaders and addresses specific performance or organizational issues by helping develop skills in those targeted areas. CRE coaches can provide implementation coaching in staff management and supervision, human resources issues, board-related issues, financial management, fund development strategy, and other areas.

CRE can coach all members of a management team, using either executive or implementation coaching. Each member of the team is assigned their own coach and works independently, and as necessary, the team gets to together to address shared issues. It is imperative that the executive director participate in this kind of coaching.

Workshops

CRE offers more than a dozen workshops on a wide range of Leadership topics including Empowering High Performance, Leading Change, Partnering with Your Board, and Building a Talent Bench. Contact us for more information.

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