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C05 Session: Designing Training for Consultants in the Nonprofit Arena

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Designing Training for Consultants in the Nonprofit Arena

Saturday, July 16 2:15pm - 3:45pm

Track: Succeeding in Capacity Building

Presenters

Nancy Fuhrman, Charlotte Fiechter, Jackie Gilbert and John Rosenheim, Executive Service Corps of Chicago

Description

Executive Service Corps of Chicago (ESC) is the largest nonprofit provider of consulting to nonprofit organizations in the Chicago area. More than 250 volunteer consultants from a wide array of business and professional careers staff almost 200 consulting projects each year in areas ranging from board development to fundraising to human resource issues and more. We believe strongly that a comprehensive training program for the volunteer consultants is fundamental to consistent successful outcomes for clients. The workshop session will cover the evolution of ESC’s comprehensive volunteer consultant training program and through group interaction drawing upon the wisdom of the participants inform the design of a new element to enable former executives and professionals to build their capacity to meet the consulting needs of ESC’s clients consistently and effectively.

Executive Service Corps Training Model
The ESC consultants come primarily from executive positions in for-profit corporations or from careers in medicine, law, finance and other fields. To be effective, they need training in consulting skills, in the nonprofit universe, and in selected specific fields in which they consult.

ESC has long prided itself on its training and on its continuing education program for all active consultants. From the early years (more than 25 years ago), ESC began with orienting consultants to ESC, to our clients’ worlds, and to consulting skills. We now offer two mandatory courses that are required before any consultant can be assigned to a client project, two strongly recommended courses, and five optional practice-specific courses (which are required for participation in those specific practice areas). In addition, we have ongoing practice groups in our most-requested practice areas, to provide continuing knowledge growth and skill development.

We regularly address the content and methodology of ESC training courses, with reorganization and updating as appropriate, and develop expanded offerings based on changing client needs. For example, within the past two years, the board development training has been completely revised, a new training program has been developed in executive coaching, and other programs have been refreshed.

The faculty (all ESC volunteer trainers) has recently been convened to take a holistic look at the programs and renew and coordinate them as needed. In the course of examining potential further improvements, the faculty decided to explore the possibility of creating one comprehensive survey course that would be required of all volunteer consultants and would serve as the base for all other ESC training – mandatory and optional.

The Alliance/NCNA conference workshop session will primarily explore the design and development of this new course to orient nonprofit consultants and engage participants in questions such as:

What is the best kind of initial training for consultants for nonprofits?
What is the necessary content of such training?
What are the broad, general knowledge requirements for consultants to serve nonprofits regardless of the specific issues they will be working on?
How does one design such a course?
What does one look for in assigning leaders for such training programs?
How does one keep such learning “up to date?”

About the Presenters

Nancy Fuhrman, Executive Service Corps of Chicago

Nancy Fuhrman joined Executive Service Corps of Chicago in 1986 and is currently the Vice President of Consulting. In that capacity she oversees the management and quality outcomes of the more than 200 annual client consultations and coaching engagements and their volunteer consultant/coach teams. Prior to her current position, in earlier years in her tenure with Executive Service Corps Nancy has managed the functions of client marketing, professional development, volunteer services, administration and human resources. Before joining ESC, Nancy’s career was in human resource management and education. Nancy has B. Ed. from National Lewis University.

Charlotte Fiechter, Executive Service Corps of Chicago

Charlotte Fiechter’s outstanding career in higher education and the non-profit sector includes service as a faculty member at Wittenburg University, as Vice Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania, and as Staff Associate for Higher Education Resource Services where she designed training programs for university faculty and administrators. She has strong experience in program design, development and implementation. At Executive Service Corps of Chicago (ESC), Dr. Fiechter’s major work has been in the critical areas of board development, strategic planning, and fundraising. She is coordinator of ESC’s board development practice group, is a trainer in the board development program, a member of the ESC faculty, and also serves on the executive committee of the ESC board of directors. In addition, she is the coordinator of ESC’s new Nonprofit Leadership Roundtables. Dr. Fiechter has broad experience with academic institutions and nonprofit organizations in the United States and abroad. She was a member of the board of the National Association for Women in Education and president of its endowment fund. Dr. Fiechter’s credentials include a B.A. from Wellesley College, a Fulbright year in Germany, the M.A. from the University of Chicago, and the Ph.D. from Harvard University.

Jackie Gilbert, Executive Service Corps of Chicago

Gilbert For 11 years before she retired and joined Executive Service Corps of Chicago (ESC), Jacqueline Gilbert was Director of the Rosenwald School on Chicago’s north side—a school for which she had developed the concept and then took on the responsibility of running. Under her direction, and working with her Board of Directors, Jacqueline saw the school grow from an idea to the construction of its own building. Prior to taking on that project, she taught in both public and private schools. Always active in her community, Jacqueline played leadership roles with a number of important local nonprofits. Jacqueline was also president of a synagogue board during a time of substantial financial stress, and she worked successfully with board members to create a healthier climate for the synagogue. She currently is a member of the board of ESC, is Dean of the ESC Faculty overseeing the regeneration of a number of the ESC training courses and the development of new ones, and she is also an active Project Manager working with both clients and consultants.

John Rosenheim, Executive Service Corps of Chicago

John founded Universal Training Systems Company in 1968 and shepherded its growth into one of the industry’s major providers of custom training programs. Alongside his career, John was always involved as a volunteer with nonprofits, serving as a trustee on the Boards of Michael Reese Hospital, National-Louis University and Chicago City Ballet along with other community related volunteer activities. Since joining Executive Service Corps of Chicago (ESC) as a volunteer management consultant in 1991, John has gained broad experience in strategic planning, new product development and the creation of related training programs. As an ESC Project Manager he is often called on to lead projects in planning, board development and revenue generation. John is a member of the ESC Board of Directors and is an active trainer as well, conducting workshops in Chicago and for ESC in other cities around the country. John has a BS with honors from Northwestern University, and an MBA from the University of Chicago.