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Making learning and sharing an integrated part of all we do

Initial Strategy and Implementation Plan


September 2014
CADEMY NGO
Background
GRS and M2M are joining forces to found NGO Academy: a staff development and
training initiative that shares resources and ideas across the organizations to help
the employees at each organization better achieve their mission.
Grassroot Soccer and Mothers2Mothers share similar goals:
Achieving their mission: Stopping the spread of HIV
Through excellent program execution and consistent development and
fundraising
GRS and M2M have similar challenges:
Staff are the primary resource at each organization
Staff development is a strategic imperative, but a few aspects of both
organizations make it difficult:
Dispersed staff at sites across South Africa and other countries
Staff from varied backgrounds with different levels of access to education
Limited resources (budget, headcount, technology)
Business Objectives of NGO Academy
Grassroot Soccer:
Create a culture of learning at the organization where individuals engage in
their own development
Achieve cohesive forward planning at site level, by site staff
Use, further develop and share untapped skills of employees
All staff engage in self-directed development and learning
Retain employees, decrease absenteeism, and increase number of
promotions, which quickens progress toward organizations mission
Mothers 2 Mothers:
Same?
Philosophy of NGO Academy
Organizations Goals
Senior leadership team goals, including staff development goals
Manager team goals
Staff
individual
goals
Staff
individual
goals
Staff
individual
goals
Manager team goals
Staff
individual
goals
Staff
individual
goals
Staff
individual
goals
Goals for growth must fit into the organizations broader goals.
Each employee must be able to see how their individual goals for their role and
their personal growth will help the organization achieve its goals.
Philosophy of NGO Academy
Learning happens by the 70-20-10 rule: 70% on the job through projects that grow the
individual, 20% through coaching, and 10% through formal training
Formal training happens in targeted, single-concept learning segments that can be
delivered in a combination of in-person and mobile, low-tech, easy to digest ways
Formal training gets reinforced in practice
Managers are a key resource as coaches, goal-setters, and the primary deliverers of
feedback; therefore, managers are the most immediate focus for training in 2014
We reinforce the importance of learning with 3 primary levers:
Employee goal-setting, with one required goal around personal development
Reports on progress toward goals through regular manager meetings throughout
the year (at least one time per month)
Annual performance review meetings
We measure the success of NGO Academy activities using a 4-tiered approach:
Reaction: surveys of employees regarding their feelings on the effectiveness of
activity
Learning: quizzes to verify learning happened
Behavior change: qualitative measures of whether people deployed skills learned
in activity
Results: quantitative or qualitative measures of whether the organization sees
desired benefit of behavior change


Goals and Topic Areas, Pilot (Sep-Dec 2014)
Goals: (1) begin culture shift by (2) engaging managers, (3) building a virtual
team of supporters across both organizations and (4) launching at least 1
visible initiative, scaffolded by supportive v-team.
Target Audience: Managers (GRS: Community Program Coordinators; M2M:
District Managers)
Topic Areas:
Coaching Skills
ex. what coaching is and is not; how to deliver feedback; the DRIVE
framework
Communication Skills
Relationship-Building Skills
ex. importance of relational leadership
Management Skills
ex. using goals to increase intrinsic motivation
Problem-Solving Skills
ex. brainstorming three solutions to a problem and identifying the
most feasible

Goals and Topic Areas, Launch (January 2015)
Goals: (1) Deeply embed culture shift by (2) engaging the entire
organization(s) in learning activities, (3) launching 2 more visible initiatives, (4)
collecting feedback on the Academy, and (5) adjusting topic areas and tactics
based on feedback
Target: Managers, Individual contributors and leadership at each organization
Topic Areas:
Leadership
Innovation
Goal-setting
Working across teams/organizations
Facilitation
Networking
Presentation
Task focus
Technical: MS Office, Salesforce, time management, other tools

Two Key Activities in 2014
Discussion Forum
Give employees a space to ask and answer questions of their peers and their
leadership; collect bottom-up learning objectives
Academy Lectures
Primary avenue for formal training; short video or in-person presentations
delivered by Academy Professors (leadership, managers or staff who have
volunteered their time and expertise)
2014 topics should be directed at managers:
why developing staff is important
what is coaching (versus directive managing)
process for setting goals and providing regular feedback
See details at
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_FWs3cSbZvRQTJvOHBQd2JqZ3M/edit?usp=sha
ring
Full Program of Activities in 2015
Discussion Forum [begun in 2014]
NGO Academy Lectures [begun in 2014]
Speaker Series [January 2015]
Quarterly speaker event, organized by HR teams
Mentorship Program [January 2015]
Every new employee/newly promoted employee is assigned a mentor by their manager when
they join (or start their new position).
Board Advisors Program [February 2015]
Recruit board members who volunteer an hour of their time every quarter to meet with a
small group from their organization
Managers and staff are selected (application process) to participate; consider a merit-based
reward
Book Clubs [March 2015]
organizational support for staff book clubs: for every book discussion hosted, the organization
will provide free lunch? free coffee? and a space to have the conversation.
Virtual teams [March 2015]
advisory teams formed across teams within an organization, or across organizations, to
address specific projects or problems
See details at
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_FWs3cSbZvRQTJvOHBQd2JqZ3M/edit?usp=sharing
Communication Plan, 2014-2015
1. Launch:
A. Announce pilot launch via email: October 2014
Introduce goals, activities and timeline NGO Academy to all staff at both organizations
Book Speaker Series event before email goes out, send as a meeting invite to all staff.
email sent from HR leadership or senior leadership
B. Speaker series kickoff event: January 2015
Use the first of the speaker series events to kick off NGO Academy, with goal of introducing two
organizations to each other and setting the tone for a new focus on learning
consider having senior leadership of both organizations speak jointly, panel format
2. Ongoing campaign:
1. Emails from HR team or Academy Professors with new content and topics from Academy Lectures
perhaps a regular email newsletter
2. Events: 2 primary regular events:
1. Monthly touchpoint (conference call) with managers to reinforce importance of coaching,
regular feedback, and give managers a chance to share best practices with each other
2. Quarterly speaker series in Cape Town
3. Social Media: Consider using organizations Facebook and Twitter feeds to promote gives outsiders
and funders some view into the orgs new priorities for staff
4. Advertising: Consider promoting the site or home of content via banner ads on each organizations
website, or via links on intranet sites
5. In-Office Promo: Build a small package of print material posters and SWAG mugs/waterbottles?
for each office with reminder of link to site.



Timeline Summary
Discussion
Forum
Academy
Lectures
Speaker
Series
Board
Advisors
Book Club
Virtual
Teams
Mentor
Program
Sep-Oct:
Seed
Nov-Dec:
Establish
Jan 2015-ongoing: Maintain
Oct: Seed
Dec-Jan:
Establish
Jan 2015-ongoing: Maintain
Oct-Mar: Seed Apr-Jun: Establish June-ongoing: Maintain
2014 2015
Site Go Live:
Sep 22
First
Lectures
Live, Email
Announce:
Oct 15
Launch
Speaker
Series:
Jan 2015
Prof Class 2,
Mentor
Program
Announced
Dec 15
Dec-Mar: Seed
NGO
Academy
planning:
Determine
focus areas
for 2015
Feb 2015
Apr-Jun: Establish June-ongoing: Maintain
Dec-Mar: Seed Apr-Jun: Establish June-ongoing: Maintain
Feb:
Seed
Mar:Es
tablish
April-ongoing: Maintain
Mar: Seed
Aug-Dec:
Establish
Dec:
Maintai
n
Leadership
meeting on
v-teams
Mar 2015
Key Dates
Measurement

Whats the Ask?
of Senior Leadership:
of Managers:
of all Employees:

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