Growth and Equity: A Nonprofit CEO's Journey

Better People Podcast

Join host Holly DePalma as she enlightens us with the extraordinary journey of Franklyn Baker, CEO and President of the United Way of Central Maryland. Franklyn unveils the secrets behind doubling the organization's outreach, fostering a culture of equity and growth, and the thrilling prospects of taking their practices nationwide. Tap in to learn how a passion for community turns into transformative success!

Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Better People Podcast:

• Doubled United Way’s impact.
• Infusing best practices to enhance impact.
• Prioritizing culture over strategy.
• Nurturing equity and fostering growth.
• Garnering top awards through success.

Resources:

• United Way of Central Maryland
• MidAtlantic Employers’ Association (MEA)

Connect with Franklyn Baker:

• LinkedIn

Connect with our hosts:

• Holly DePalma - LinkedIn

Quotables:

• 01:44 - So, when I walked in the door November of 2016, I really thought this organization has lots of potential, really incredible people, a nice set of disciplines in place, very much passionate about the work in the community. But the thing that I readily noticed, because I came from a background of shepherding and managing various programs, interventions, initiatives, and other organizations, I thought we could probably use a shot in the arm of increasing our level of impact and touching more lives.
• 08:14 - So one out of four, one out of five individuals that walk into a nonprofit around the country will walk out the front door in a year or so of being there. So what's so powerful, because our culture, and as you've many of your listeners have heard, Peter Drucker says, has said many, many times over, and as many, many people like me who repeat it often culture, it always will eat strategy for breakfast. And so for us, there's a reason why for the last three to four years, we've hovered between eight and 12% on our staff. Oh, that's incredible. On staff turnover as compared to the industry of 20, 25%.
• 10:38 - Prior to my onboarding and I got this information from others who had been there prior to me coming online, prior CEOs were not necessarily doing skip-level meetings. What I mean by skip level meetings for your listeners is in addition to my direct reports, I have, you know, eight direct reports or actually nine direct reports. In addition to meeting with them every two weeks. one-on-one, I also meet with their direct reports. So all of the vice presidents and some select associate vice presidents, I'm meeting with them once per quarter. And when you have the slogan trust and verify, the verification point is very important as it relates to me as a president, CEO meeting with my direct reports. Direct reports. Because I'm having a conversation with someone in development and my senior vice president, chief development officer tells me X, Y, and Z, and I'm talking to that person's vice president. Right? And we're, I'm asking the exact same question to both two answers. Sometimes never. The twain shall meet. Right. And other times there's an exact match. So when the, you have those moments where never the twain shall meet, you have an, an opportunity for inquiry and a very, very humble, curious perspective, not in a sort of blaming or accusatory, it's none of that. It's more of just trying to seek first to understand then to be understood, you know, Steven Covey’s principle. So I think that's extremely important.
• 24:05 - I tell them all the time that every single one of them in their own right could leave United Way of Central Maryland and become a executive director, presidency of another nonprofit. Right? So they are so valuable in our decision-making. So I'm one of those leaders where I'm not totalitarian, totalitarian in my process. I'm very much a consensus leader. I'll make the final call, executive call when need be, when there's a stalemate or we can't move forward. But they understand that their voice matters. And I consider very sincerely what they're saying.
• 32:22 - We were a good organization when I started. We had gone from good to great. Right now it's gone from great to excellent. How do we go to that very next tier, right? Top, top, top tier. And I knew then we needed to have someone in the role of chief of staff that can help not only the executive management team with our strategic work and some of the day-to-day blocking and tackling, but most importantly get more mileage out of that middle-level sort of that we call it an organizational management team.