Clients' Corner
An E-Newsletter for the Clients and Friends of Executive Consulting
IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO MAKE A NEW YEAR'S
RESOLUTION. . .Give Yourself the Gift of An
Executive Mentor from Executive Consulting!
New Year’s resolutions are pacts we make with
ourselves, invariably to make improvements to
our lives: lose weight, quit smoking, exercise more.
For 2007, perhaps you should consider a very special
resolution – one that can help you improve your
performance at work, provide higher service to your
nonprofit agency, reduce your stress, perhaps even
increase your income. That resolution is to work
with your own personal coach through Executive
Consulting's customized Executive Mentoring
program.
Our Executive Mentoring Program provides a
unique combination of evaluation and feedback,
one-on-one counseling, objective-based performance
measurements and tools (including a leadership
manual) designed to get you on the right track and
then keep you there. Here’s what some of our
clients have reported as a result of participating in
this program:
- “Mentoring helped me become more
effective to my agency, while reestablishing better
balance in both my personal and work life.”
- “Mentoring was invaluable in dealing with
the politics of the board, staff and volunteer
leadership.”
- “Mentoring helped me deal with the stress
of the job and lessen the isolation caused by lack of
confidantes who understand and can help
me with issues facing my agency.”
All mentors from Executive Consulting are highly and
uniquely qualified to help you. Each has held the
jobs of the professionals we’re mentoring. We've
been in your shoes. We understand what you’re up
against, and we know how to help you. Each has
also been trained to provide you with a consistent
and quality program that gets results.
Who should participate? Executive Mentoring is
especially helpful to:
- Executives new to their positions
- Senior managers charged to significantly
improve performance
- Leaders feeling overwhelmed by their
responsibilities and demands
- Executives with successful track records
who want to stay on top of their game
Executive Consulting has earned an excellent
reputation for helping the leadership of Southern
California’s nonprofit agencies. Nearly 100 agencies
have worked with us to meet their interim leadership
needs (Executive Directors, CFOs, COOs, and
Directors of Development), conduct board and staff
retreats/facilitations, provide consultation services,
or to create customized training. Representatives
from an additional 300 organizations have taken our
classes and workshops in nonprofit management. In
fact, we are the Southern California company that
teaches others how to mentor nonprofit
professionals. We are dedicated to serving the
nonprofit industry and would consider it a privilege to
be of service to you in 2007.
Resolve today to make 2007 your best year ever –
call us at 562-951-9514 to discuss how Executive
Consulting can help, or visit us at
www.interimexecutive.org.
Congratulations to Orange County Head Start
Executive Consulting's 2006 Client of the Year
During our annual meeting and holiday reception on
December 7, Executive Consulting was honored to
announce its 2006 Client of the Year: Orange County
Head Start.
One of the largest not-for-profits in Orange County,
Orange County Head Start is a comprehensive child
development program designed to meet the
educational, emotional, social, health, and nutritional
needs of children and families. The program
encompasses much more than what is generally
thought of as a preschool program. The overall goal
of Head Start is to bring about a greater degree
of "social competence" to children and their families.
Social competence refers to the everyday
effectiveness in dealing with both present
environment and later responsibilities in school and
life. Children and families leave Head Start more
confident in their own abilities and ready to succeed.
Executive Consulting worked with Orange County
Head Start in several ways during 2006, including
placing an interim executive director (Carole Zavala)
as well as leading the organization's board retreat.
Executive Consulting is also thrilled to have the
organization as part of our Board Chair's Academy, a
program that board chair Tom Ellebie helped to
conceptualize. (Tom also served as a panelist at the
Continuity Conference co-sponsored by Executive
Consulting and the Southern California Center for
Nonprofit Management on December 11, 2006.)
And, Orange County Head Start was instrumental in
enabling Executive Consulting to lead California Head
Start's board retreat.
Congratulations to Orange County Head Start,
Executive Consulting's 2006 Client of the Year!
From Our Family to Yours
Meet Janet Schulman, Executive Consulting's 2006 Consultant of the Year
Executive Consulting was also pleased to honor Janet
Schulman as our 2006 Consultant of the Year during
its annual meeting and holiday reception on
December 7.
Among the first affiliates to join Executive Consulting,
Janet has an impressive background in nonprofit
management. She was the founding executive
director of Big Sisters of Los Angeles and a former
executive director of Special Olympics of Southern
California, among other positions.
During 2006, Janet served as a mentor to Paula
Wilson at the Valley Community Clinic, and is also
continuing to serve as interim executive director at
Bienvenidos Children's Center in Altadena. In fact,
Paula Wilson credits Janet with helping her develop
the focus needed for a promotion to CEO of Valley
Community Clinic.
Prior to her career in the nonprofit sector, Janet
worked as a social worker for the County of Los
Angeles. She earned a BA and MSW from Boston
University and a Masters of Public Administration from
UCLA.
Please join us in congratulating Janet on this very
well-deserved honor!
Continuity Conference a Resounding Success
Nearly 100 Nonprofit Professionals Participate in December 11 Seminar
On Monday, December 11, Executive Consulting's
President and CEO, Jeff Wilcox, served as keynote
speaker at "Creating a Continuity of Leadership," a
conference offered by the Southern California Center
for Nonprofit Management. Nearly 100 individuals
attended the conference, including executive
directors, board chairs, other board members, and
staff.
During the session, Wilcox and a distinguished panel
of non-profit leaders stressed that leadership and
management roles be clearly defined for any
successful leadership transition to take place.
Participants also learned what steps are involved in
creating a seamless leadership transition.
What People are Saying About Executive Consulting
A Testimonial from the MIND Institute
"As a one-person development office, I find it can be
difficult to find enough time to step back and take a
look at how things are going, how they can be
improved, what’s missing, what works, etc. In spite
of my 20 years as a professional fundraiser, including
many years as a consultant and strategic planner, I
find it can be difficult to be objective. More
importantly, it’s difficult to STOP long enough to take
a look . . . especially when you’ve built the program
and have been doing the same things for three
years."
"The Interim Director of Development supplied by
Executive Consulting came in, asked the key
questions, and made recommendations that were
creative and constructive. She helped by evaluating
processes that were already in place – made a few
modifications to make it simpler, more 'donor friendly'
or more administratively efficient – and Voila! My life
was made easier. I am re-energized about fundraising
with well-planned strategies in place. These new and
improved programs will undoubtedly result in
hundreds of thousands more dollars for the Institute."
Mickey Shaw, Vice President of Development,
MIND Institute
Tools of the Trade
www.constantcontact.com
For the past year, Executive Consulting has been
utilizing www.constantcontact, a Web site which
provides its subscribers with the tools needed to
create e-newsletters, announcements, bulletins, etc.
In fact, each issue of the Clients' Corner has been
created with this very user-friendly tool.
In addition to providing a variety of templates, ability
to import photos and graphics, etc.,
www.constantcontact also allows its subscribers to
manage multiple e-mail lists within their customer
accounts.
While we've been a fan of www.constantcontact for
some time now, our enthusiasm recently grew when
we discovered that the company also offers a
discount to non-profit organizations! A non-profit
organization can receive a 20% discount off the
organization's standard pricing (which is already very
reasonable) when prepaying for 6 months--and 30%
when prepaying for a full year!
To receive the non-profit discount, organizations
need simply submit their federal IRS determination
letter (501 c3 or 6) to the company. For additional
information, please visit
www.constantcontact.com.
