Greater NY Goals
When you put two well-matched leaders in a room together, they find plenty of things to talk about. Management and leadership issues are much the same no matter where you sit: amassing and deploying resources; attracting and retaining talent; strategy implementation; and organizational structure. We ask Greater NY partners to set goals as a way of focusing on the issues that are the best use of partnership time and shared expertise.
Partnerships tell Greater NY staff the goals they’ve set and issues they plan to discuss. We log goals and ask about progress towards goals in the midterm and final surveys. We don’t hold partnerships to the goals they identify, and we are always interested when goals change. Over 12 years we have found that, with a few exceptions, partnerships generally stay the course and sustain conversation around the initial goals identified.
What do Partnerships Focus On
Management Goals
A little over half of partnerships focus on management goals. These include thinking through organizational structure, redefining roles on the management team, strategy implementation and the management elements of merger or collaboration.
These issues are ones where an iterative, threaded partnership conversation builds deep understanding of organizational dynamics. They are issues that are harder to discuss with Board members if leaders want to keep a strong separation between management and governance. And they are issues leaders often want to think through carefully before bringing them to senior staff.
Leadership Goals
About a third of partnerships focus on leadership goals: Board management, change management, external-facing leadership priorities and questions about leadership style. These conversations are often a deep exploration of relationship management and executive relationship management.
Partners say the ability to have these conversations with one partner outside the organization and with no stake in the outcome can yield clarity and lessons for both partners.
City Goals
A smaller number of partnerships focus on goals and issues that have broad implications for the nonprofit sector and New York City. These include issues around city contracting, Medicaid reimbursement and understanding each sector’s roles in solving complex issues. In this case, the Greater NY partnership is one of many conversations happening for a leader, but provides a unique trusted space to test and amplify ideas.
Partnership-Specific Goals
Across 100 partnerships Greater NY goals have fallen into the following categories: strategy implementation, Board management, leadership, talent, revenue and fundraising, marketing and communications, technology, real estate, network, and financial management. These goals importantly do not overlap with Board fiduciary and strategy setting responsibilities.
Goal Attainment
Greater NY partners tell us they spend about half of their time together discussing their goals, and half their time on the day-to-day challenges and opportunities of leadership. We ask about progress towards goals in a one-year survey and at the end of a partnership. Here’s what we hear:
Surpassing, Meeting, and Falling Short
Surpassing, meeting, and falling short of goals will mean different things to each partnership. But as we looked across categories of goal attainment there were a few notable trends: