Strategic Impact

Educational Leadership & Its Involvement in Strategy Management

Wed, 23 May 2012 14:37:00 -0400

The following is a guest blog by Hanna Lindstrom Administrative management in opposition to leadership management has been the buzz of the corporate world for the last decade. As American schools struggle to produce student outcomes on par with in... [More]

Making Strategy Execution Personal for Staff

Mon, 21 May 2012 23:06:00 -0400

At Ascendant, when we work with the executives and managers of mission-driven organizations to help them develop and implement their Balanced Scorecards (BSC), we are often asked the question: "How do we get staff engaged?" While sometimes this q... [More]

Top Concerns of City & County Managers

Thu, 10 May 2012 11:24:00 -0400

The economy is swinging up and down and municipal governments are feeling the pressure. Cities and counties have had to "cut the fat" for at least the last three years. As a participant at the recent Florida Benchmarking Consortium conference in... [More]

Working with a Mission-Driven Organization during a Leadership Change

Fri, 04 May 2012 17:10:00 -0400

Helping a mission-driven organization develop its Balanced Scorecard and implement its strategy is always a long, arduous journey with its share of unique challenges. When you start with a division or region of a large organization that is trying to... [More]

The Creativity Conundrum In Educational Leadership

Wed, 02 May 2012 17:23:00 -0400

This is a guest blog from Roslyn Tam. The original can be found at www.educationalleadership.com. Many of the men and women who shaped the world over the course of history, from Mozart to Albert Einstein to Steve Jobs, have done so by thinking we... [More]

Voice of the Customer- Improving Your Community Outreach

Tue, 01 May 2012 08:33:00 -0400

The phrases "Citizen Outreach" and "Voice of the Customer" have been popular topics over the past few weeks. The trend started at an Alliance for Innovation Conference in Kansas City. [More]

Joining Forces Community Challenge Winners!

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 13:13:00 -0400

In a previous post, I briefly discussed my work with the Joining Forces Community Challenge, and the great privilege it was to contribute to an effort in support of our nation's veterans and military families. As a quick recap, the Joining Forces Co... [More]

Working At Ascendant

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 08:32:00 -0400

We got a little pushback on our job description that we posted last week (see it here). People thought that we were either being too honest (potentially chasing off applications), too blunt (scaring people off in the process), or somehow not being s... [More]

We Need a Great Marketing Manager

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 08:49:00 -0400

Ascendant Strategy Management Group is looking for a marketing manager in the Washington, DC area to support our rapidly growing social enterprise. As a marketing manager with Ascendant, you'll help us expand our presence by overseeing a wide portfol... [More]

Measuring Uptime – Balanced Scorecard

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 13:34:00 -0400

At Ascendant, of course we use a Balanced Scorecard, and we have from day 1. We also hold quarterly strategy review meetings and we update our strategy map and measures each year in an annual review. Our strategy has not changed dramatically each y... [More]

Taking Small Steps Toward a More Strategic Budgeting Process

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 10:28:00 -0400

Recently, as we were helping a client design and implement their balanced scorecard, they asked us for helping in aligning their budget to their strategy. The thinking was that if they were going to take the time and effort to implement a strategy m... [More]

Can Measures Strengthen a Strategic Alliance?

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 21:41:00 -0400

Have you ever be dependent upon the success of a strategic partnership to achieve your own organizations mission? How did it work? Did leadership trust one another or did they blame each other for not carrying their weight? Were there shared objec... [More]

On Management, Ethics, and Performance

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 10:07:00 -0400

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution had a major story last Sunday on the apparent prevalence of cheating in major urban school districts across the country. This investigative article was spurned by work the AJC did in Atlanta -- under the premise if t... [More]

Pictures from the Mission Driven Management Summit 2012

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 10:04:00 -0400

The 2012 Mission Driven Management Summit was a great success. A quick recap and pictures are included here. [More]

New York State Education Officials Treating Symptom, Not Problem, By Creating Investigative Unit

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 09:48:00 -0400

In light of the two conferences--Managing for Performance and the Mission-Driven Management Summit-- Ascendant held last week and the discussions around performance management in our education systems as well as the nonprofit and government sectors, ... [More]