The Importance of The DCM Nonprofit Executive Leadership Certificate Program

The DCM Nonprofit Executive Leadership Certificate Program is intended for current CEO/Executive Directors, executive leadership team members and those emerging leaders who hope to become an executive leader in the future. This program includes seven courses taught by nationally recognized nonprofit leadership executives, coaches, authors, and search consultants virtually over a three-month period.

Each of the seven courses have two components: a one-hour recorded session that you can take at your own convenience from your office, home or mobile app, and a live interactive 90 minute session scheduled by each presenter enabling ample time to address each of the discussed topics and answer any and all questions you may have. Each participant receives a Certificate of Completion.

2023 Session Dates & Descriptions:

Session 1

While the directive “Think before you speak/act” is most often associated with a child or teen, it surprisingly has its importance for leaders too. Leaders, particularly senior leaders, have significant business and life experiences that they utilize to inform their actions. While this is usually considered advantageous, it can be a problem. Today’s fast changing environment may require new thinking, but the leader’s mindsets were developed from past experiences. Plus, those mindsets can influence a leader’s actions in an automatic-thinking way without the leader’s awareness. This session will explore mindsets that support effective leadership in today’s complex business environment vs mindsets that hinder a leader’s effectiveness.

Learning Objectives

• To learn about our mindsets
• To identify the mindsets that distinguish the best leaders
• To identify mindsets that hinder leadership effectiveness
• To create a self-awareness plan aimed at recognizing our mindsets and developing new ones

Session 2

In today’s global marketplace, the idea of diversity is more than a buzz work. It is now a valued commodity—so valued that when Fortune magazine names the top 100 companies, it includes a designation for minority workers every year. To be successful in the non-profit sector, leaders will need to become experts at managing a dynamic shift in workplace norms and an evolving and diverse workforce. Retention of high performing staff in the great resignation era will rely on the strength of your organizational culture and leadership. This course will explore leadership from a wide lens, understanding how this role is evolving and identifying what transformational leadership entails.

Learning Objectives

• Learn how to incorporate the values of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging into your workforce culture
• Create an organization-wide plan to learn how to develop transformational leaders within your organization
• Learn how to create a culture of continuous learning and development

Session 3

Nonprofit leaders and board members face countless challenges, and strategic planning can sometimes seem like a daunting undertaking. There is hope, and a path to a far more energizing and effective plan. This interactive course takes the fear out of strategic planning and shares with you the value of a systematic, proven approach to strategic planning.

Join us as we discuss the value of developing a culture of planning while understanding the components of an effective, inclusive planning process. We will also explore ways to manage the critical inflection point of translating vision into reality by seamlessly moving from planning to implementation.

Learning Objectives:

• Value of developing a culture of planning to propel mission
• Components of an effective, inclusive planning process
• Managing the critical inflection point of transitioning from planning to implementation

Session 4

The tides are shifting when it comes to raising support for nonprofit organizations. Donors and supporters have more options than ever when it comes to how they choose to make an impact. In response, nonprofit leaders must adjust how they build and foster the essential relationships that sustain their mission. Explore how to leverage a supporter’s values and social vision to break through the “You Give, We Get” barrier and inspire your staff and board members to be high impact friendraising Ambassadors.

Learning Objectives:

• Discuss the Ambassador’s role in establishing long-term, mission-sustaining relationships
• Examine the donor lifecycle and how to work as a team to build and foster those long-term relationships
• Learn how, with a donor-centric approach, an ask for support becomes an offer to join forces in support of a
  shared mission

Session 5

Today’s nonprofit CEO is constantly balancing various internal and external issues. The ability to manage these issues successfully determines the effectiveness of the executive’s leadership. This presentation will examine five critical issues:
leveraging mission to create the greatest social impact, providing services that are responsive to client’s needs and assuring quality care, recruiting and retaining talent and developing a supportive work environment, engaging community leaders to provide an inclusive governing structure, and strategically utilizing resources to maintain fiscal sustainability.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn how each of these critical issues impacts leadership effectiveness
• Examine how these issues pertain to participants and their organizations
• Discuss and share strategies to utilize these touchstones to support effective leadership

Session 6

Culture is key to unlocking an organization’s greatest potential. It influences what employees do or don’t do, as well as the meaning employees take away from their work. It is the primary responsibility of senior leaders to “cast” the culture of any organization. Unfortunately, many spend little to no time identifying and leveraging the functional aspects of their organization’s culture so its power can enhance their brand, recruit and retain top talent, improve business results, and fulfill their organization’s purpose. Our session together will explore critical questions and dimensions which will help guide you toward Building a Healthy Culture and Organization.

Learning Objectives:

• Clarify the meaning of Culture
• What is the meaning of Culture within your organization
• What is the brand promise of your organization
• What does it mean to work in your organization
• How to ensure your organizational culture is determined by design
• Learn the 10 critical dimensions of a Thriving Culture

Session 7

Most companies face unexpected shifts that upend their plans and threaten the business’s survival. In the face of accelerating changes, disrupting technologies, industries, and communities, successful organizations pivot, when necessary, focus on their core values, and zero in on the needs of their customers and staff. Mistakes and missteps are inevitable, but successful companies learn quickly from these mistakes and even turn them into sources of strength and power. This course will help you create the culture required to turn failures into learning opportunities and improve competitiveness, organizational health, and the bottom line.

Learning Objectives:

• Create a company vision that becomes your foundation for future success
• Learn four tools to create a corporate culture that will serve as a model in your industry
• Learn five strategies that engage and empower staff, building a learning organization that embraces failures
  and turns mistakes into growth opportunities
• Learn four tools that improve efficiency and overall quality of products or service