Public Education & Business Coalition (PEBC)
Executive Coaching and Business Transformation
Challenge
Founded in 1983, the Public Education & Business Coalition (PEBC) strives to create schools and systems worthy of America’s children. The nonprofit works in Colorado and across the nation to “prepare outstanding new teachers, help practicing teachers become more exceptional and shape policies that foster vibrant growth and lasting student success.”
At the heart of PEBC’s work is the belief that every child deserves a great educator. By 2018, however, many states and districts were moving toward fast-track or unaccredited teacher training programs with no demonstrated outcomes or impacts.
The shift threatened to undermine support for PEBC’s more rigorous and proven teacher preparation and development programs. At the same time, PEBC was preparing for a leadership change, following the departure of a CEO who had served the organization for 20 years.Project
The PEBC Board tapped Sue Sava to help address these challenges. Serving first as executive director of Stanley Teacher Prep, Sue joined PEBC as director of policy and then as vice president. In her new role as president and CEO, she determined that the organization needed to evolve its business model to diversify its funding streams and shift its strategic, organizational and operational culture to enable greater collaboration, innovation and efficiency.
With the support of her Board of Directors, Sue retained Susan Heinzeroth as an executive coach and strategic partner. During monthly meetings and interim work, they collaborated to meet five Board-identified goals:
- Bolster the financial sustainability of the organization
- Successfully transition and assume the executive role
- Clarify decision-making processes and criteria
- Ensure continuous improvement within the organization and its programs
- Enhance the organizational culture
Integral to achieving those goals was Sue’s ability to prepare, engage and support PEBC’s team through change. Susan Heinzeroth introduced William Bridges’ transition model, which helped Sue anticipate staff emotions, questions and behaviors as they moved from PEBC’s former way of operating to a new culture and approach they created together.
“It helped me to understand there were normative stages of teams going through transition, and those should be expected and not controlled,” Sue said. “My work with Susan helped me to anticipate, honor and accept the different reactions people had as we moved through a transition.”Results
With support from Susan Heinzeroth, Sue engaged her team and board members in developing a strategic plan and evolved PEBC’s business model to build online training platforms, hire part-time residency coaches in rural areas and create more diversified, sustainable funding sources. She also streamlined PEBC’s organizational structure to better define job titles, responsibilities and lines of authority.
Underlying these changes is a noticeable shift in PEBC’s culture. “Our staff has more ownership and is empowered to move forward,” Sue said. “A big piece of that is establishing infrastructure, processes and expectations that give people clarity, ownership and accountability. It’s what Susan refers to as moving from a personally- to a professionally-based organization.
“Together, we’ve built a collaborative and joyful culture that has enabled us to be more proactive, innovative and responsive to our partners.”Story Categories: Change Management, Strategic Planning, and Team Building. Story Tags: Business Process Redesign, Change Management, Change Management Process, Executive Coaching, Strategic Planning, and Team Building.
