Hi, I'm Professor Yvonne Harrison, on behalf of co-instructor in this course, Professor Vic Murray, and Instructional Designer Alina Roddick. I want to welcome you to the Capstone course, the fourth and final course in the specialization on developing leadership, and improving governance in nonprofit organizations. The Capstone is designed to help you apply the knowledge and skills developed in the specialization courses to a real-world leadership and governance situation, a board of a not-for-profit organization is experiencing. As a service learning experience, you will act as an agent for positive change by working with a board of a not-for-profit organization that you serve on, work for, or are familiar with in your community through the Capstone Project. By the end of the course, you will have worked with the board, helped it assess its performance, and produced a report on the state of board effectiveness along with recommendations for managing board change to help the board reach a higher level of leadership and governance effectiveness. In this video, I'll begin with the leadership competencies developed and emphasized in the specialization courses that you apply in your Capstone Project. Next, I'll present the key questions that we explored with some students and a board that participated in an earlier version of the Capstone course. In this part of the video, you will find summaries of the key points participants made in response to these questions along with some video footage that we hope will be helpful a participant experiences and suggestions to help you get the most value out of your Capstone Project. I will conclude the video with the review of next steps for what you need to do to start and complete your Capstone Project. The leadership competencies emphasized in the specialization courses that you apply in the Capstone will help you to; one, articulate and apply a public service perspective in your Capstone Project work. Two, communicate and interact productively with nonprofit leaders on the board and in the organization that you're doing the Capstone work in. Three, through the performance assessment activity that you'll be doing with the board, you will help and identify, analyze, synthesize, and think critically about governance and leadership effectiveness challenges. Four, you will also lead and help the board manage these challenges through the governance process. Five, you will participate in, contribute to and be an agent for positive change throughout the Capstone Project. To give you some idea of what the experience of carrying out a Capstone Project is like, we asked a sample of students and a representative of one of the boards of a nonprofit organization that participated in a previous version of this course to answer a few questions about their experience with it. Here are the questions that we asked; one, how did you feel about participating in the Capstone Project? Two, what was it like to participate in a board performance assessment? Three, what were some of the main benefits of the Capstone Project? Four, can you offer some tips for success, or some pitfalls to avoid when undertaking the Capstone Project? Question one. How did you feel about participating in the Capstone Project? From the board's perspective, we asked Reginald Foster, President and CEO of United Way New York State, how he and members of his board felt about participating in the Capstone Project. While some members of his board were skeptical, Reginald Foster describes how valuable the process was. Our board had had an assessment process three years earlier, so they were familiar with it. Some folks were not convinced it was something we needed to do, but I believed and many of the board members believed that it was worthwhile, that we would find out things that we hadn't realized before about the strengths and weaknesses of our board. The value of having an expert process that had been looked at by people with real expertise in designing questionnaires, and making sure that it covered all the comprehensive areas of the board. That was the gain for us because we tried to just design a questionnaire on ourselves, we weren't sure that we touching all the important pieces, we weren't sure that the questions we ask would be valid. We needed help interpreting results, the responses. So all of these things were things that we gain by using this process that had been developed before hand. I think that there were some people that were skeptical, but the majority thought it would be valuable and they went along with it. We have some students who participated in the onsite version of the capstone course about how they felt working with a board of a not-for-profit organization. Zakhar Berkovich and Karen Kirstein, students at the University at Albany, said they were excited about the opportunity to work with the board. I was excited to work with the United Way of New York State. It's a very reputable and respectable organization, so I was very interested to work with its board and I don't think I felt nervous at all, just excited. I was really excited about the opportunity to work with the board. I've had some experience prior to this class to be on the board, and I thought that having theoretical knowledge and then use it in practice would be really useful. I'm actually really excited about having this opportunity. Samantha Clarke and Janet Andrade both said it was fascinating to work with the board that they don't normally work with. As a student, I was excited about the opportunity to have a little more experience with a board in the community. I can't say that I was nervous. As a professional in community, I worked with boards in the past, I looked at it as an opportunity. I was excited to find out that I would get to work with boards in my professional career, so I thought it would be fascinating to see a different one way outside of one that I currently work for. Beroro Efecoro, founder and CEO of the National Organization of Graduate Education and a University at Albany student, said he appreciated the opportunity to work with his own board to see what changes needed to be made. I work with the National Organization for Global Education. I am the founder of the organization. As the director of the organization, I work with my board, and the assessment give me the opportunity to actually assess the effectiveness of my organization and the effectiveness of the board itself that I will need to see what changes are needed to be made or what we have as an organization, we need qualities as a leadership, as a governance board, and it was pretty good. Emma Horvath and Katherine Toomey, students at the University at Albany, said they were both nervous and excited about the opportunity to apply learning outside of the classroom. For specifically, I was really nervous, just because I don't really have a lot of experience yet and I don't really have a lot of interaction with non-profits besides the ones that I had previously done internships with. I didn't really know what to expect from working on a non-profit organization at such an intimate level. I was excited about the prospect. I felt like it would be very useful for development in the fields and it would be rather than just learning from them, but I'd be able to apply my learning outside of the classroom. But I was a little anxious about who I [inaudible] cared with and if they would be accepting a student. I think that we got a wonderful case study so I think I'm very lucky. When I asked MaryBeth Carswell, another student in the non-profit governance course at the University at Albany, how she felt about working with a board, she said she was comfortable reaching out to ask the questions that needed to be asked. I was not nervous working with the board. In some of my other classes, we had to work with other non-profit organizations. I was really comfortable being able to reach out and ask the questions that I think needed to be asked in order to complete the assignment. As many of the students in our board mentioned, there are a variety of feelings associated with working in a real-world Capstone Project. As Reggie mentioned, some board members may be skeptical at first about the process of assessing their performance through the Capstone Project. They may have different opinions about the value of performance assessment and preferences for certain tools and practices. However, as Reginald Foster mentioned, many will see the value in having access to the expertise, procedure, and the products that the Capstone Project affords the board and the organization. Therefore, when you approach a board about participating in the Capstone, it is important to present the unique advantages of it to answer any questions and clear up any doubts about the process. With regard to how you might feel as a student in the Capstone, if you're new to the nonprofit sector or have never worked with the board of directors, naturally, you may feel a little nervous and anxious about working with a board for the first time. Even if you lack experience however, the opportunity to apply what you've learned to help a board improve its leadership and governance effectiveness will not only be exciting but will be seen as a valuable learning opportunity that stems from getting outside of the classroom into the real world. Don't forget, our research has shown that the vast majority of boards that participate in this course see numerous benefits of it. Some of these benefits include increase clarity about the board's role and responsibilities in the governance process and changes in governance behavior and practices. The second question we ask Capstone Project participants was, what was it like to participate in a board performance assessment? From the board perspective, we asked Reginald Foster of the United Way, New York State about how he and members of his board felt about having a student study the board. Reginald Foster described how nice it was to be part of the course, to have access to expertise and the fresh eyes of an outsider's perspective. In terms of working with the students, I think that the biggest thing was that they were in the class with colleagues, with the professor that were examining these issues in detail. They had both an academic framework but also came out and do practical work with our board. Maybe they could draw things from the literature, and the fact that the tool was designed so that it was comprehensive, all of those things I think really helped. They have outside eyes where all the people on our board, except with a couple of new people that have been together for years and the staff, we're used to interacting, and they brought fresh eyes to their situation. Here is what some of the students said about assessing a board's performance. Zakhar Berkovich and Karen Kirstein described how awesome the experience was of observing how leaders serve the board and organization. While our leadership was a very high quality. We had the experience of working with an extremely professional Board Chair, and also an extremely professional and experienced CEO. Just to experience how veterans in the field serve the board and the organization is just extremely enriching, coming to watch experts in the action of doing their service. Yeah, I totally agree. I think senior management of the board meeting by the Board Chair show that everybody was heard, it was certainly a skill that I think I possessed when I served on the board. Just being mindful of how well she crafted her trait was really awesome; we actually calls her an awesome CEO and Chair. Being able to work with Reg, who has extreme amount of experience in nonprofit management and governance, and also his experience is really fascinating because he was in nonprofit and for profit agencies, and he actually put all that together into this role he plays right now. I think that having this learning from the person who's really fascinating and also enriching into my personal knowledge and to his class as well. Absolutely. Samantha Clarke and Janet Andrade describe some of the assumptions and lessons learned from the board performance assessment. As a student in this experience, it gives you the opportunity to see that they're obviously challenges. They have their challenges out of the camera. They need assistance and guidance and opportunities for feedback, same as anyone else. Not only did they have a strong [inaudible] and realize is that because they're seen as leaders in a community and leader of organizations, we assume that they have all the tools and knowledge to perform their job effectively. But sometimes they wind up in these positions about much about [inaudible] best practices. Gaining the formal education skills take those out to orgs and help them do their job. It's something that's important. Emma Horvath and Katherine Toomey described the internal culture and comfort necessary to transform leadership and governance through performance assessment. One thing that I learned is that it really does take either a culture or a leader to say that we are going to assess our performance. When somebody has that initiative and also brings the board along with them, it really is transformative, but it does take that spark and it won't come from outsider sources being able to say, "Oh, you should change this, so this is not working." It has to come from within. That's another way I feel like we're very lucky because our board had that spark and had that passion to constantly improve. So it's very easy to provide our recommendations because we knew there were going to take them, and the board culture was supportive of constant growth and constant improvement. I think also we need to work with the board that's been doing board assessments for so many years. They have more knowledge about what to expect and they had some prenotions on what their assessment will look like. So that helps us when we're doing interviews and doing observations that they give them saying, "Oh, it would be common if you expected this" and "Oh, don't be surprised if you see things related to". We have trouble with this because as a board we know this and we see this on past assessments. They had really already internalized some of these survey results and were able to provide accurate understandings of it in a more narrative response, which I thought was really helpful. Marybeth Carswell describes what she learned about the issues that challenge boards and what she had to do to surface them. What I learned most from working with a real board is that the issues are never black and white. There are a lot of layers to each issue and a lot of background, and you really have to dig deep in order to really uncover what the true conflict or issue is at hand. You really need to have a board that's willing to look and uncover those issues with you as well as it's really important that the executive director's also on a similar page. In summary, through the Capstone Project, you will have the opportunity to work with a board in a systematic and comprehensive way. From the board's perspective, having access to the course, including the literature and resources and an outsider's perspective to provide fresh eyes for the board and organization is seen as very valuable. From the perspective of students being able to observe leaders of the organization and board working together to advance the mission through the governance function can be an incredible learning experience. Through this learning experience, you will not only have the opportunity to observe leadership, you have the opportunity to help shape it through the unique tools and knowledge gathered through the specialization courses. As one student said, it won't be easy as the issues are complex. You'll have to dig deep and work with the board to surface and discuss those issues in a professional way. As other students mentioned, boards with experience with performance assessment not only expect issues to service, but anticipate which issues they are. On the other hand, working with the board to assess its performance for the first time can provide the spark that can go a long way toward helping the board develop an internal culture that is open to performance assessment and change on an ongoing basis. The third question we asked participants was what were some of the main benefits of the Capstone Project? To provide the board's perspective, we asked participants the following question. What did you think were some of the main benefits of the Capstone Project for you and your board? Reginald Foster describes some of the value added for the board in terms of having an opportunity to assess its performance, define issues, and search for solutions. I think it's both, and I think that the student education part is a concern for the school, and I believe it is, and we wanted to help that. But really it was mostly because we thought this is something important for our board to do, that we get real value from it. There. The fact that the questionnaire was online and the students could bring that and they could spend their time analyzing the results and look at what was out and there with the field for responses, things that you could do to get solutions and define the issues we should focus on. Those are all things that the student is looking at and narrative class with other folks thinking about these issues, being aware of other resources that are out there, we only added much more than we could have done as a board. We asked some of the students what they thought some of the main benefits were of the Capstone Project. Using multiple methods helps Zakhar Berkovich and Karen Kirstein understand the difference between theory and practice and how to help the board bridge the gap. Definitely, it was enriching to my learning experience because it's one thing to read theory at work and it's another thing to work with a group of people. Boards are comprised of individuals with all kinds of personalities, and it was interesting to see how the dynamics of those personalities played out in our conversations, and it just, made me understand how theory is lived more real to me. I found it really helpful to go study a theory, see it in practice and then analyzing the survey results, because having the three methods coming together actually allowed the opportunity to say, "Okay, I know what the theory should be, I see what the practice is, and I'm seeing whether they actually meet or whether they diverge. So I think having that opportunity was really helpful to finalize the concept in my head and also use it to generate some of the discussion with Karen and then putting them on paper as our recommendation. Samantha Clarke and Janet Andrade described how concepts were reinforced when knowledge was applied in the field and when practice was brought back into the classroom. I would say yes, because it took the material that we learned in the classroom, and a lot of set up activity to acquire it, and the board setting, and we were also able to take the experiences that we had observing and engaging boards and for those experiences back in the classroom they get real-time feedback. I think any time that you can take what you're learning in the classroom and apply it in a practical application in life, it just reinforces those key concepts that you are learning. From Beroro's perspective, the benefits were more personal. It helped him see the changes that he needed to make and how to help the board become more effective as the CEO. Yes, I think this experience was actually worthwhile because over the years we've been practicing leadership as governance, instead of governance as leadership. The board is supposed to provide leadership to the organization and not management providing governance to the organization. That has helped me to see these are some of the changes that needed to be made for this organization to move forward and for the board to be more effective. For Emma Horvath and Katherine Toomey, some of the benefits were directly related to working with their board, but other benefits were indirect from hearing about the work that students in the course were doing with their boards. I think that it was very useful because we have been able to see any example board. Seeing that, I now see what would be a great way for similar organizations to operate. I think having that experience is helpful in applying the principles knowing what strategic governance looks like, what generative governance looks like, and how they all play out in the field. I think it really contributed to make my learning more assimilated into my mind rather than just being surface study for a test and you really get that on the ground experience. Going out as [inaudible] said, I think it was really great because we're able to take the knowledge that we've learned in the course and through the readings and apply it directly to our board and then compare it to the other boards that the rest of the groups were working with. Really just have that first-hand experience and bringing everything to life looks great. MaryBeth Carswell describes the benefits of working with the board that was facing a number of challenges that many boards have of not for profit organizations deal with. It was definitely worthwhile. My project was actually a little bit different. My board of directors came with me with specific governance challenges that they had. So it was an interesting take to apply what I was learning in class and apply it to already very specific issues laid out to me that were more general in scope that a lot of non-profits deal with. In summary, our participants described multiple benefits of working with a real board through the Capstone Project. Some of those benefits will come from the board performance assessment process, including the ability to surface issues in the board and to apply knowledge that you gain through the specialization to address those issues. Other benefits will come from having an outsider's perspective and learning the insider's perspective and using that knowledge to share and further develop the board. Finally, there are benefits from sharing your experience in the forums with other students to gain a wider perspective on the leadership and governance of non-profit organizations. When you do share your experiences, be careful to protect the identity of the individuals and boards involved. The final Capstone Project question relates to tips for success and pitfalls to avoid when undertaking the Capstone Project. Here is what some of the participants said. I think that the students that work with us, Karen, they devoted their time, they were there, people met them. I think that probably was important to be at the meeting. I think that is supposed to be part of the process, anyway. I would say it would be a major pitfall to not be present to see at least some of the board interaction. I think they missed that. That would be a problem. I think you need to see that to get a feel. I think looking at the documents, a lot of organizations, their mission and so on. People don't think about it every day but it actually tells a lot about the organization or if they don't have some things, their documentation clear. I think that by taking a mixed approach that was good. Well, I would recommend it if you can to find a collaborator who also is taking the course and then work together on the project because I think that just made my experience better. Things to avoid I think perhaps wanting to get involved with the organization, wanting to understand the organization and just dive in and get off dirty and murky in it. We had to tone down that desire, to step back and be objective. There's a little bit of tension there to figure out how to balance my desire to really know this organization, but the necessity to be objective. We had to step back and be objective as we did this process. That was one of the learning steps we had to take. I would say take your time and actually read the readings and learn the expectations and learn the literature. Understanding those concepts would be very important before you actually go and apply it into the boardroom. I think it's also important to be mindful of delivering the message from the listener's point of view because I think telling the board what they're doing wrong could be perfect to the board. They'll never actually understand what you're trying to tell them. So delivery method is important. I will strongly encourage anybody who's taking this course to certainly work with the board and take the skills learned in the classroom and apply them in total role. I think it's certainly a positive attribute of having in this course. Diplomacy is a necessary feature in all work, with all the boards going forward, so we need that skill too. How do you present information in a way that can be received and then can lead into some change. Delivery of the message is important. I think that the advice that I would give is to definitely take advantage of the opportunity. It's a great learning experience. It's hands-on, it's all-around, real-life experience with more than you would have in a classroom that is more static. So I would definitely take advantage of it. In terms of tips. Take advantage of every opportunity that you have in terms of meeting with the board. The interviews, go as often as you can, gather all the information, and ask questions. Don't be afraid to take advantage of the dynamic learning opportunity. If you're seeking out your own board, find a board that is for a course that you may have a passion or interest in. Find a board that is open to this project, for your interviews, to gather information. Find somebody that's willing to be an equal partner on the other side to share this experience with you, and I think you'll have more of an impact. I think working with the board is a great experience. I'm working with a new board now, talking about it. It's a great experience. I have a few classmates that have worked with board and the boards are very excited to work with the students. The students also, are very excited to work with the board because in the process of working with the board, they are also developing their own management skills, they are developing their own leadership skills. So it's a great experience for the students, it's a great experience for the boards that they are working with. it's also an opportunity for them to network and to see what is actually going on in the non-profit world. I think the first that I would recommend would be to be very clear about what your role is, what you are doing, your timeline, and really stop and chat with the board. Because even if they've completed the performance survey before, they've not necessarily worked with a student. So it's important for you to give them a clear expectation, so that you can live up to that. Without that, it might be difficult down the road to know who's going to provide what and when, and so just being really up front at the front end and knowing that they might have some questions about what you're doing, what you're going to do with the information, and know that you are really working for them. You also really need to be cognizant about external factors. Say you're working with a board that's in another country. Being aware of their time zones, their barriers that they may have when setting up things such as meetings or observations, and just really making sure you have a good understanding between the two of you when it comes to those roles and responsibility. My advice for other people is to be aware of your boards all the time, and although you have your own timetable, to also be aware that they have their own time tables, and that they are not necessarily going to be able to meet with you and be able to talk to you whenever you're available. That you need to make yourself available for them and that you need to start early when contacting boards, and start early when contacting the executive directors or any other experts that you're looking to reach out to. So that you have enough time to incorporate all of their information and all of their guidance into your paper. The experiences shared by our students and the board provide some useful guidance for starting and completing your Capstone Project. First, find a board of a not-for-profit organization that you work in, serve on or are passionate about. Talk to them about the course, your role, and the work that you will do and produce through the Capstone Project. Once you find a board to work with, it's important to establish a point of contact. Someone who will help you facilitate your work, collect key governance documents, and coordinate meetings and interviews with leaders of the board. Be involved, but not too involved. Don't forget to ask clarifying questions to validate the information you have gathered in your assessment of the board. Don't forget to be upbeat and have fun. This might be the first time your board has assessed its performance and your positive attitude can go a long way in helping the board change. In this video, we've reviewed the Capstone course and the leadership competencies emphasized in your Capstone Project work. We've shared experiences from the perspective of students and the board, and provided suggestions for starting and completing your Capstone Project. Once you have found a board to work with, an important next step is to register them to take the checkup at www.boardcheckup.com. If you can't find a board to work with, please contact us for options on completing the Capstone course and specialization. For more information, please refer to the course content.
