Strategic Café
Navigating Critical Junctures
Guest Panelists:
Michael Cohen, Executive Director of NAMI NH
John Tobin, Executive Director of NH Legal Assistance
Facilitator:
Lawrence Yerdon, President of Strawbery Banke Museum
   
Every organization faces junctures - some more critical than others. A juncture signals change, and the way a leadership team identifies oncoming junctures and seizes opportunities during these times is critical to the organization’s future.

Significant junctures occur when funding abruptly ends, leaders retire, or an opportunity to scale-up or merge is in the offing. Leaders also need to be aware of the critical junctures occurring at the community and state levels and what they might mean to their organizations. An organization’s ability to effectively leverage juncture points to create positive change is often determined by its clear sense of self, not because it is chasing a trend or a new market.

Margaret Wheatley writes in Leadership and the New Science:

"When an organization knows who it is, what its strengths are and what it is trying to accomplish it can respond intelligently to changes in its environment." 

In this session, last year’s winners of the 2008 Corporate Fund Award for Excellence in Nonprofit Management, Michael Cohen of NAMI NH and Attorney John Tobin of NH Legal Assistance will share how their organizations identified and navigated junctures such as changes in client needs, opportunities for new ventures, and leverage points for re-organization and growth.

Larry Yerdon of Strawbery Banke Museum will also share stories of juncture points for the museum as well as facilitate discussion with the audience about ways they have leveraged or handled important junctures.