Fostering Leadership Excellence within the Nonprofit Sector
The Context
The Wheel is Ireland’s national association of charities, community groups and social enterprises. Since 1999, it has provided both representation in the form of leadership and advocacy, and support in the form of advice, training and other resources to people working or volunteering in the charity and community sector.
The Wheel Leadership Academy
One of the six strategic objectives of The Wheel is to foster excellent leadership within the sector. Establishing the non-profit sector ‘Leadership Academy’ forms a major part of this ambition.
The Leadership Academy is a space where any leader, or potential leader, can find out which skills and competencies are required of them, where they can map their leadership learning journey and come together to learn from, support and inspire each other.
The Challenge
Independent research carried out on behalf of The Wheel indicated a significant and critical deficiency in existing leadership training and development within the non-profit sector. It identified that strong leadership is the key to building a strong and sustainable sector. While a wide variety of learning and development resources are available, the sector lacked a coordinated space and resource that makes learning relevant and accessible to al levels.
Prism were briefed with defining, developing and delivering a fit for purpose solution that offers leaders in the sector the opportunity to:
Build competency and skillsets in line with world class leadership standards related to the voluntary and not-for-profit sector
Enhance their network across the sector thereby encouraging collaboration and overall sector position strengthening
Provide multiple channels to fully blend the leadership learning (e.g. workshops, knowledge forums, mentoring, coaching, masterclasses, etc).
Organisations within the sector vary widely in size, focus, scope, governance and structure so there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to leadership development. The solution needed to appeal to and cater for all types of leaders and organisations.
The Approach
Prism worked closely with our client partners at The Wheel and a consultative group of key stakeholders within the sector, to co-create the Leadership Academy.
The Leadership Academy is an online technology platform with a single-entry point for a range of relevant resources and learning paths available to non-profit sector leaders. Through the technology platform, learners are empowered to take ownership of their personal and organisational leadership development.
Phase 1
Design and development of content and resources consisting of; recommended leadership schools, competency frameworks, assessments and a learning library. Prism worked alongside The Wheel’s web development team on the product design, branding and flow of the online platform to ensure a strong user experience throughout the platform.
Phase 2
Development of a communications plan for the launch and the first six months of going live, and an evaluation plan for the ongoing monitoring of the effectiveness of the Leadership Academy was established. A 4-year roadmap plan was also developed to ensure future success. This included; content, partnerships, accreditation and other key aspects. The Prism and The Wheel team together presented the Leadership Academy at the official launch at the Wheel Summit in Croke Park in June 2022 and delivered a series of pilot workshops through the first few months.
Sustainability
A critical part of the sustainability and development of the Leadership Academy was the recruitment of a dedicated Leadership Academy manager. Prism supported with the onboarding of this role in order to prepare them with taking over the development of the Academy and commence the rollout of monthly leadership events, ongoing refreshed content and targeted programmes.
The role has evolved to establishing key partnerships and collaborations with leading service providers, subject matter experts and sector leaders. This has leveraged both new and existing learning, networking and collaboration opportunities under the cohesive and inclusive banner of the Leadership Academy.
“We were impressed with Prism from our very first meeting with them. Their vision for The Leadership Academy and their ability to communicate complex concepts with clarity and impact was very persuasive. As we worked with the team over the course of the following year to develop the building blocks of The Leadership Academy we were equally impressed with their commitment and flexibility, it felt like a true partnership. We were pleased to launch The Leadership Academy in June 2022, with solid foundations in place that have enabled us to build out the Academy in the year since.”
