October 6, 2013 | Read Time: 2 minutes
The number of chief strategy officers in the nonprofit world is growing. But the position can look very different from one organization to another.
Chief strategy officers are almost always part of the executive team, but how they fit into an organizational chart varies.
Some officers focus full-time on strategy and aren’t part of the department structure; others split their time between strategy and managing multiple departments, most often handling administrative functions such as evaluations, technology, and human resources.
Njambi Good, chief strategy officer at Save the Bay, an environmental group in Oakland, Calif., estimates that she spends 60 percent of her time on management and 40 percent on long-term planning and evaluation. A big reason for the dual responsibilities is money. At a medium-size nonprofit—Save the Bay’s annual budget is $4-million—it’s just not possible to support a senior position that doesn’t include management responsibilities, says Ms. Good.
While management duties can make it difficult to carve out time to focus on the big picture, they can also be an advantage, keeping the officer grounded in the work of the organization, says Elizabeth Carey, chief strategy and administrative-services officer at Starr Commonwealth, a social-services organization in Albion, Mich.
“If you get too far away from day-to-day operations, your strategic direction might not make any sense,” she says.
‘Delicate Balance’
Chief strategy officers who don’t oversee departments face a different challenge. They have to rally employees from across the organization to support new ideas without the authority of a management position.
It’s important for executives to show their support for chief strategy officers. But that’s not enough, says Dianne Morales who leads Phipps Community Development Corporation, in New York.
“It’s a delicate balance between having the weight of the CEO’s office behind it, but also that person in the role being a master relationship builder,” she says.
“They have to be able to get people to do what they want them to do without those people feeling threatened or insecure.”
