Please introduce yourselves here! Name, org, location!

Jason Shaad, Charter School Growth Fund, NC

Davina Martin, Year Up, Chicago

Hi Karen, from Girls, Inc!

Vanessa Johnson, Director of girls inc of YWCA Nashville & Middle TN!

Hi I'm Kate Cochran, Upaya Social Ventures, Seattle and Bangalore

Karen, Girls Inc. of Central Alabama

Laurie Sanders, MedSend Charlotte NC

Lisa Machesky, Oakland Literacy Council, Metro Detroit

kelly Shannon, University of Illinois at chicago

Christa Gannon, FLY, Bay Area of California

Catherine Lee, Kamehameha Schools, Honolulu

Hi Lisa!

Nancy Davis (she/her) Portland Oregon

Linlin Liang, United Way Suncoast, Tampa fl

Shyheim Snead, Obama Foundation, Washington, DC

Mike Curtin, DC Central Kitchen, Washington, DC

Gail Augle, Communities In Schools of Chicago

Wendy Lewis, The Parkinson Council, Philadelphia

Crystal Hill, Urban Institute, DC

Rebecca Coker, FMA, Oakland, CA

Erin Brooks, Accelerate Institute, Chicago

Sanda Balaban, YVote/Next Generation Politics, NY

Nicole DelPrete, Person Centered Care Services, Staten Island NY!

Oklahoma City

Cathy Leslie, EWB-USA, Denver

Tracy Nicholson, PhD Virginia

Shanice Wilson, PCCS, Staten Island NY

Liz Chipman Concord, NH

Claude Imbault - San Francisco Parks Alliance

Hillary Burkett, Youth Villages (Corporate, Memphis, TN)

Randi East Berlin Library Pennsylvania

Eric Arnold, Hale, Boston

Laurie Johnson, Nonprofit Management Center of the Permian Basin, Midland, TX

Shreya Malena-Sannon from PASE in New York City

Joshua Gilstein, Indiana University, Bloomington

Audrey Thomas, Deborah's Place, Chicago

Nikki Macdonald, PhD from Victoria, Canada

Dr. Leisa Herrera, New Jersey

Marilyn Neece, South Asian Helpline and Referral Agency, Artesia, CA

Hi Christa!!

Brady Misustin, Refugee Services Office, Salt Lake City

Robin from Pennsylvania

Rachel Fagg (Rah-shay) from Philadelphia, PA

Audrey Jacobs from Atlanta, GA

Julie Clark, Business Volunteers Unlimited, Cleveland, Ohio

Naama Ashkenazi The Rothschild Foundation Israel

Anne Peyton, Yellow Brick Road, Vermont

Trish Oakes, Willow Creek CA

Kalinda Bogue Boulder, CO

Sasha Cooper, New York

Deneen from NYC/NJ

Karen Marlatt, Valley Oak Children's Services, Chico CA

Stefanie Cacciotti, PCCS, Staten Island NY

Bill Abrams, Trickle Up, New York

Michelle Bemis, TGR Foundation - A Tiger Woods Charity, California

Tiffany Garcia, BCHA, Lauderdale Lakes FL

Karen Singer Evanston IL

Helen Blanch, Wildwood, FL

Cristina Yanez, Girls Inc of Orange County, Costa Mesa, CA

Mary Alice Walsh, Ridley Park Library, PA

Lori Kolb, Educators for Excellence, NY

Emily Zacharczyk, Haverford Township Free Library, Havertown, Pa (suburb of Philadelphia)

Jim Fong, NAAAAP Boston - Boston MA

Susan Weinrich New York Council of NOnprofits

Pam Estes, Boys & Girls Clubs of Laguna Beach, CA

Hi Nyia Morrison, Children's Librarian for the Free Library of Philadelphia

Bonnie Wentworth Oakland CA

Carolyn Boyd, Chattanooga, TN

Dan, Westford, MA

Liz Heath, Sound Nonprofits, Tacoma, WA

Zach Lam, City College of San Francisco, San Francisco CA

Nanette Wade, Development Centers. Detroit, MI

Terra Delaware

Heather Elliott, Addiction Services of Thames Valley, London, Ontario, Canada

Patricia Evans from Vancouver BC Canada

Nancy Owens, Housing Vermont

Tiffany Kehoe S:US long island, NY

Rob Revitte, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore

Carol, Lynnwood, WA

Ruth Browne, SD President Ronald McDonald House New York

Anita Teague, Community Development Center, Shelbyville, TN

Shauna Klein, UJA Federation of Greater Toronto

Katie from Upper Moreland Free Public Library

Colleen Flynn, Aspen Leadership Group, Boston, MA (formerly City Year)

Amy Coughenour from Cadasta Foundation in Washington DC

LLeweLLyn Cooper Leadership for Educational Equity

Alice DonnaSelva, Intentional Endowments Network, Concord, NH

Nurul, Net Impact Chicago

Alabama

Heather Carmichael, My Friend’s Place, Hollywood CA

Kim, Community Action Center, Pullman, WA

Joe Doctor, National Board for Professional Teaching Standards

Kelvin Turner, Operation Smile - Virginia Beach, VA

Global Nomads Group, NYC (but I’m in Driggs, ID!)

Tyler Radford, Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team checking in from New York

Patricia Woods, MedSend, SC

Punky Pletan-Cross, Hale Kipa, Hawaii

Paige Ponder, CEO, One Million Degrees, Chicago IL

CCT Boston

Hello from Houston! Mary Claire Walther with Dini Spheris

randy MedSend chicago

A reminder - we'll share the slides and recording within the next day!

Justine Craig-Meyer, St. Louis MO

Lee Hart, Better Future Forward, Chicago

Ranelle Randles, Social Venture Partners, Boulder CO

From Catherine Fynes, Benefactor Group, Columbus, OH

yes!

hello all - Kevin Thor, Operation Smile, based in the Philippines/currently in South Dakota

Moving workers home without planning for culture and group dynamics

Chose wrong venue to apply for PPP so ended up missing 1st round funding.

Decision about who worked from home during crisis and who had to be on site.

Oversharing some info with my team that caused stress and pressure

we had to make decisions about intakes and it felt all wrong.

Figuring out how to handle PTO and comp time

we didn’t hold a board meeting or poll the board before applying for the PPP, which they ultimately decided not to accept even though we were approved

waiting too long to make decisions

Made the decision not to furlough anyone and use all PPP funds for staff which may limit ability to change staffing going forward

Defaulting to command and control leadership

Deciding who was "essential" and had to come to our office occassionally (E.g., pick up mail & donor checks)

Deciding what expenses are still essential vs. which to hold off on during a deliberate spending slowdown

All this focus on HR shortfalls speaks to lack of risk management and having contingency plans in place, e.g. for disaster recovery

Not staffing a clear team for programmatic changes / responses

Pausing work that should have continued through the crisis

Very funny!

I like it--the cartoon

Brittany, I feel that one!

levity is always appreciated

That comic worked. Very funny

the cartoon is so true...lol! When I am awake, I am stressed!

Good giggle

I like the use of humor here

it normalizes this

Lyn Hakeem, Louisiana

Levity works for me!

Hi Colleen you are breaking up and Meera appears to be talking but I cannot hear her.

no break up on my end

Hi Nyia - sounds seems to be working fine for me

Time management decisions have been less effective

no sound problem here

Hi Nyia, thanks. i'm not speaking right now - do you want to try joining the audio through your phone?

I can hear Meera now.

Having everyone work virtually has escalated our number of meetings. We didn't set in place good ways to manage the burden of increased meetings and emails.

Michele B--same for us!

Yes Michele B!!!

Michelle B - same here

Applying quickly for PPP and getting it

Pivoting business model to cover 19 relevance.

Switched course on PPP and got it on 2nd run.

Quick pivot to delivering program virtually to continue to support our participants.

We decided to give out emergency aid to those that needed it

Moving forward virtually with larger participation in program than before.

very quick pivoting of services and focus

A decision about how to pursue new business development, taken after lots of collaborative discussion and reflection - not rushing.

Paying all PT staff even though they are not working

Quickly choosing remote technology and training volunteers

Globally our teams have really been amazing in making an orderly transition to remote working.

Prioritized our team support and funding

Incredible success in moving to distance learning

using telehealth

My team has been very flexible with working from home

Living our "for teachers, by teachers" value in making changes to core program

Moving all summer sessions to virtual classroom format

We are seeing unprecedented cooperation between different agencies, governments etc.

A very quick decision to make a fundraiser virtual in early March

Reaching out to partners to check in with them, make sure we’re in touch, mutually supporting

Providing small stipend to staff to acknowledge additional operational costs they now have to bear.

Switched to virtual programs & services.

Created a strategic interim team with key leaders of the board.

Yep! Pivoting on service delivery; engaging systems partners early

Comunication by senior leadership has improved so much during this crisis

transparency around scenarios

we paused on-site programming before we had to and therefore did not scramble getting technology necessary to wfh into our staff hands.

persistence in getting PPP; pivoting volunteer services to online and supporting older members to use technology

we are still paying everyone their full pay

we made the decision on March 13 to send everyone to work from home until May 1st...already extended it, but glad we set it for a month and a half at the beginning instead of revisiting every 2 weeks

Daily emails from our Managing Principal, refocus on connecting and supporting clients

we all worked together well to keep delivering services.

offering opportunities for strategic exchange that helped people think beyond what we risk losing - abundance, not just scarcity

Monthly staff meetings are helpful.

focusing on deciding things based on actual need of position

consistent compelling communications

all staff have been kept with full pay

Holding community conversations in place of webinars for our membership, getting access to PPP, decided to step back from daily activities, regroup on short term and long term strategy

Switched to agile planning approach

formed a board committee to review and adjusted, applied quickly for CARE loan (and received), allowed staff to work from home, set up weekly staff/board Happy Hour (30 minutes) to just kick back and visit.

Clear and consistent prioritization of safety, wellbeing and continued employment of staff

Love that abundance lens Doris!

pivoting to meet immediate needs of people we serve and also planning for long term remote learning

Transparent communication with staff.

updates to the board. weekly staff meeting

Keeping the mission front and centre is always a good way to maintain focus

collaboration on how to serve our students virtually/mobil

Bi-weekly updates to the Executive Committee.

Thanks for sharing, Etta! Would love to hear examples of how your values informed decision-making, either here or via email (colleen.brosman@bridgespan.org)

Decision to financially support our scholars quickly was important and essential to those women

early in this crisis, we were running our meetings over time a lot. Someone raised the negative impacts that had on people who were coordinating childcare schedules (and privileging folks without children) and so we recommitted to being on time and restructured our meetings to do more problem solving and less updating to use our FaceTime to the most value.

Used pulse surveys to collect real-time data and make adjustments along the way

Assume good intent; own yourself--some of additional team values we have

Guiding principle: Include diverse voices across staff levels and those we serve

can you unpack one of these a bit more. ...i'm not quite following the either/or choices

One guiding principle could be considering the programmatic impact sort and long term - will what you do now strengthen the organization in the longer term, e.g. will you capture the learning to inform future decisions

Sharing guiding principles and core values with our members/constituents really increased their connection and buy in with our mission. It was great for deepening relationships-especially before we ramp up our fundraising efforts.

I found these very useful and have adapted them to our scenario planning and am using them with staff and board

Include and value diverse voices, don't just include for photo or to check a box

under financial sustainability we also included managing risk in our decisions

Another we use is "mine for conflict"

Important to not conflate "how we deliver" with the desired result - keep the end in mind

Across all these principles, I find it important to be intentional with your approach

always important to frame decisions with principles and values for all stakeholders

feminist principles - including 'nothing about us without us'

Also, these guiding principles also have different priorities depending on the decision: We run child care centers, so the protection of our mission piece has been really difficult for us as we look to reopening. We will not reopen if we cannot provide the quality and nature of care that families chose us for, even if it means we are reducing earned revenue.

A very important note from an attendee - lots of folks are disproportionately impacted by crises; BIPOC communities, trans individuals, low-income communities, and others

thank you Eli!

I am finding that some people are very hesitant to make decisions right now. I find it challenging when I see decisions that need to be made, but no one is making them!

point on making assumptions etc explicit is important - often, what is NOT said is as/more important as what is not said/ made explicit

Yes! I think urgency is our enemy here. We need to be agile, but rushing doesn’t get us the quality decisions we need.

On the other side of being hesitant to making decisions, I also notice there are also very rapid decision-making take place in order to be responsive as fast as possible. I find it better to be proactive rather than reactive.

Find very helpful beginning conversations with what we are not and what we are deciding. Considering how that might look for the Board I sit on for an independent school

sorry of course I meant 'more important than what is said/ made explicit' :-)

something needs to be included I think about the extraordinary level of uncertainty in which decisions are made...this is why decisions and operating assumptions needs to be monitored and adjustments made quickly as possible; that may help w/ the hesitancy to make decisions. Done better than perfect.

I like this

can you walk through an entire example of how to apply this framework to one hypothetical decision please?

It's coming up next!

great, thanks!

Good point about one final decision maker

so this framework should be applied once the decision-making process is made clear and the scope of the decision..

There are some frameworks for group decision-making (used judiciously) - e.g., majority or plurality vote, gradients of agreement, etc

also important to set expectations that everyone needs to stand by and support the decision made

Great point, Shawn - we're going to talk about that in "decision follow-through"

Wouldn't HR recommend and COO approve?

This can certainly apply to any decision-making process - including those involving the board

is there an "approval" role in this? HR for legal? general counsel?

@Patricia - certainly could be for different orgs

I see it now!

sorry

Do you ensure that this process is transparent? Everyone knows who is providing input, recommending, deciding...

This is a great tool. Some of my department heads have struggled to provide input and this is helpful to explain to them why it is important. Also to clarify what kinds of decisions they can be the decider for and which ones need to go to board or to me as the ED

This process seems similar to MOCHA

we used RAPID in a pre-planning global strategy process and it helped the board to understand its role as 'decision maker' and create the space for staff from across the organisation (and their partners) to provide input and recommend.

MOCHA is another decision-framework: http://www.managementcenter.org/resources/assigning-responsibilities/

pre-COVID process - apologies for all the "typos", it is getting late in Nairobi :-)

Any decision-making process would have to change based the process. It seems you are suggesting a decision process but in community-based NPOs client services there is a high level of discretion in providing services to clients. I would suspect that clients needs drive decisions during the pandemic.

Awesome tool! Very clear and transparent to all stakeholder

so you have a good decision flow chart tool with trigger points?

That's exactly right... RAPID = for a decision / point in time, MOCHA = more of a project management tool

We have done a lot of “naming” about tension that comes up when people raise issues or concerns that are being perceived by some as annoying or delaying a decision. This helps us just say aloud what is happening and why it is value. e.g. “I know this was difficult because we feel like it is important for us to decide this right now. So-and-so’s questions are really important for us to answer before we move forward so we can understand the long-term impacts of this choice. I really want to thank everyone for taking the extra time to think this through so we can understand our choice fully and make sure it aligns with our principles.”

how do you balance "decision focused meetings" with maintaining social connection and communication needed during these times on a more personal level

Great content! Practical tools! Thankyou. Responding to the Pandemic is reminding us of organizational practices that made great sense before the Pandemic and will make the same great sense in an uncertain future.

Also checking in with people at the end of the meeting and in one-on-ones about how it went if the vibe seemed weird.

Decisions need to be grounded in the organization's mission

RE: social connection—we have a few opening rituals for our regular meetings (sharing good news, watching a cute animal video, etc.) that allow us to do the relational thing, but make sure it only takes a certain amount of time and not the whole meeting.

protect space. yes. good.

ahhh, yes, thanks for clarifying.

Examine decision "attractors," "outliers" and what was expected to be said but not.

It is important to allow adequate time in meetings/ forums for laying the groundwork in an org used to quickie decisions. Yes, rituals can help

A great workshop. Thank you.

like that…good decision now better than perfect one later

Thanks. I will use this to make better decisions.

point 16 is so important to build/ maintain trust

I will think more about proactive communication and not re-opening

Love this. Any thoughts on how to best socialize a less than popular decision once it is closed?

i will review this deck with my leadership team, it's a great refresher and helpful during these times. thanks so much. aloha!

Point 15

Decision setup - naming the decision and clarifying roles in advance. important to enable focus in a complicated time!

Will definitely use the tool for clarifying roles, so valuable!

Making the decision best for the organization overall rather than individual units!

appropriate roles, communicating to those impacted and support post decision. thank you for a great workshop[

I think proactive communicating processes and outcomes of decisions being made and tracking those outcomes

Thanks for the workshop - helpful!

Thank you, this has been very useful.

We'll share recording and slides within the next day!

Planning for execution is something that needs more attention

Planning for Execution and doing Follow-Up. If I don't like the situation, I have trouble with these two.

the set up piece was very helpful

This gives me a really god idea about how to run our next board meeting...talking about WHY we did what we did, instead of WHAT we have done

I will review our current guiding principles to see how they may need to be adjusted in these times

thank you very much, both to the 'presenters' and to everyone sharing their reflections and experiences on the chatbox

Defining roles has been very helpful

Thank you.

Thank yoU!

Thank you!

This was great! Thank you!

They give good guidance for balancing decision making across a small team with a car group of seniors and younger program folks who are looking for guidance but also want to have input

Yes, Mike! Love that idea.

Thank you so much!

Thank you!

thank you. stay safe.

have a beautiful day everyone

Thank you

THANK YOU

Thank you!

Great presentation. Thank you.

THANK YOU!!!

Thank you.

Thank you to presenters and participants!

Thank you!

Incredibly helpful insights, thank you!

thank you

thank you!

Thanks very much

Thank you!

thank you all!

Look forward to applying so much to my team meetings going forward. Thank you.

Thanks again.

Cheers!