Q1 Communities of Practice Report- FINAL

1 Camacho-Lewis/Mitropoulos-Rundus
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE (CoP)
QUARTER ONE REPORT
________________________________________________
STRATEGY & ENGAGEMENT/REGIONAL OPERATIONS TEAM
PREPARED BY:
CHERYL CAMACHO-LEWIS, SENIOR MANAGING DIRECTOR, COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE
ANASTASIA MITROPOULOS-RUNDUS, ASSOCIATE, COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE

Q1 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE REPORT/Q2 FORECAST
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE CHARGE:
Communities of Practice will support Executive Directors to actualize their regional goals/national
breakthrough goals as they work through critically important adaptive challenges of practice in
collaboration with other Executive Directors. They will learn from and with each other and intensify
their impact through ongoing, regular engagement with each other. In addition to accelerating learning
and impact, Executive Directors will intensify their authentic connection to each other, making the work
more joyful, empowering, and collaborative.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE GOALS (FY16)
1. Executive Directors who engage in Communities of Practice view them as a high leverage
professional development opportunity where learning is meaningful and accelerates their
impact as leaders. (connected to TFA Breakthrough Goal #2)
2. Executive Directors who engage in Communities of Practice learn about each other and each
other’s context more fully, develop trust and connection with their colleagues and expand a
sense of community among Executive Directors. (connected to TFA Breakthrough Goal #1;
Regional Operations Charge #3, #4)
3. Stories of CoP value will be explicitly named by Executive Director participants (specifically
around learning, impact, culture/trust/community) and used to regularly refine and adjust
course. (connected to Regional Operations Charge, #2, #5)
4. Differentiated approaches to CoP design & execution will be utilized in two pilot phases (Fall
2015 & Spring 2016); a variety of data will be captured (engagement, membership, value,
impact, culture/trust/community) and analyzed to determine the path forward for the FY17
year. (connected to Regional Operations Charge #2, #5)

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE: Q1 SUMMARY
Q1 GOALS/STRATEGIES:
LEARN/BRAND/BUILD
LEARN
(context, ED stories/realities, strengths to leverage, challenges of practice, tensions in this new initiative)
Talk to EDs and teammates (as many 1:1 as
possible)
ACCOMPLISHED
Learn how EDs orient to Reg Ops and how Reg
Ops orients to EDs (past, present, desired
future)
ACCOMPLISHED
Establish a tone of partnership/support,
credibility (highlight professional experiences)
ACCOMPLISHED
Begin to develop social
relationship/connection with EDs &
teammates/colleagues where possible (along
all lines of identity: gender, race, sexuality,
parent status, etc.)
- Facebook
-Email connection
-Phone/Text connection
ACCOMPLISHED
Learn how EDs orient to each other
ACCOMPLISHED
Begin to make sense of cultural context
(specific and broader) to better understand
current reality vs. aspirational reality & vision
ACCOMPLISHED
BRAND
(establish CoP value in this context at this time, form an initial impression of
competence/credibility/curiosity)
Learn and highlight existing CoP/community
research (ground in initial vision/share w/
team)
ACCOMPLISHED
Establish credibility responsive to cultural
context to ensure that voice/perspective as a
POC is heard/considered/influential
ACCOMPLISHED
Firmly align vision for CoP with vision for
broader S&E team
ACCOMPLISHED
Live out concrete professional behaviors that
are aligned with team cultural aspirations in as
many interactions as possible
ACCOMPLISHED
Share self- demonstrate and live out my core
guiding principles: authenticity, challenge,
love
ACCOMPLISHED
Begin to develop relationship with various
people internal/external to the org to support
the work and plant seeds for future
collaboration
ACCOMPLISHED

BUILD
(vision, quarterly plan, guiding coalition)
Communicate vision alignment between CoP
and vision for broader S&E team (group)
ACCOMPLISHED
Understand and ensure vision alignment
between CoP & broader ELD team (individual
& group) & S/E
IN PROGRESS
Communicate vision for CoP to a variety of
audiences: Paul, EVPs, S&E, ELD, EDs in a
manner that is authentic, clear, and
compelling
ACCOMPLISHED
Leverage my strengths/learning preferences to
develop a big goal-aligned set of quarterly
plans that fully embrace our team’s cultural
aspirations
ACCOMPLISHED
Establish authentic credibility with guiding
coalition members; learn more about their
dreams & aspirations
Begin to develop relationship with various
people internal/external to the org to support
the work and plant seeds for future
collaboration
ACCOMPLISHED
Execute on a high-level, strategically
responsive 1st
in person meeting with guiding
coalition members; all leave aligned on big
picture dreams & aspirations
1.) Engage every ED to learn and collect data about their story, context, and needs (June-July)
STATUS UPDATE:
I have engaged in at least an introductory 30 minute call with thirty-six Executive Directors. Guiding
questions included:
● Can you share your story of how you came to be an ED? What was your path/motivation?
● Can you share more context about the most pressing challenges you are facing in your
region (student/community level, staff level, leadership level- if they are distinct from each
other) that you don’t have a clear solution/easy answer/path forward?
● How would you characterize ED culture (how do EDs orient to each other)? What are your
wishes/dreams for how EDs could orient to each other that are not currently true (from
your perspective)?
● Who among your ED colleagues do you reach out to for support/advice/guidance? Whose
leadership do you deeply respect?
● What would compel you to engage in a Community of Practice? What would prevent you
from engaging?
From these conversations, the most “top of mind” challenges of practice that were named were as
follows:
● 37%= staff leadership
● 21%= development
● 13%= external affairs
● 13%= miscell/other
● 11%= program
● 5%= regional board development

Given that 37% of the most “top of mind” challenges of practice were focused on staff leadership,
two pilot offerings focusing in on staff leadership, and one on development (21%) were put forward
to the Executive Director community. Of the fourteen Executive Directors who raised their hand:
● 43% rated as their first choice "How do I create an environment where practices that
foster diversity, equity, and inclusiveness grow and thrive?" (Staff Leadership)
● 57% rated as their first choice "How do I ensure that my region's infrastructure
maximizes the performance of all people and resources?" (Staff Leadership)
● 0% rated as their first choice “How do I navigate challenging landscape and/or personal
identity intersections in my development work?" (Development)
2.) Engage important partners/teammates (Reg Ops, L&D across different TFA teams, CoP
practitioners (internal/external to the org), in the work to learn relevant stories, context, needs, to
inform and refine vision (June-July)
STATUS UPDATE:
Engaged with a variety of people to learn relevant stories, context, needs and potential collaborations:
● Reg Ops
Kwame Griffith (CoP vision, home team collaboration, vision/strategy work), Josh Anderson (CoP
vision/CoP pilots), Katie Dunn (in lieu of Michelle Culver’s maternity leave) (CoP vision/home
team collaboration), Tegan Carr (in lieu of Omari Todd) (CoP vision/home team collaboration),
Noemi Wierwille (CoP vision), Katiusca Moreno (CoP vision/collaboration), Amanda Mills
Cutright (CoP vision), Emily Gelb (CoP vision/collaboration), Jill Barkin (CoP vision/collaboration),
Victor Wakefield (CoP vision), Adrienne Berry (various), Alysha Daytner (branding)
● L&D across diff. TFA teams
Lucecita Castillo (ED profile, L&D partners), Natalie Gray (CoP status/approach), Jennifer Mayer-
Sandoval (L&D), Jenny Okoro (L&D), Dianne Hackett (L&D)
● CoP practitioners
Diana Lee (Bay area) (CoP execution), Sammi Phillips (Bay area) (CoP grounding), Etienne &
Beverly Wenger-Traynor (Researchers) (CoP grounding), Phil Inksip (AB Sugar- Communities of
Practice lead) (CoP network mapping), Andrew Kearn (New Zealand Skilled Trade Developer)
(CoP execution)
● Potential partners/collaborators
Jenni Oki (D&I CoP- TFA), Audrey Harris (D&I CoP- TFA), Esther Drake (VBL & D&I CoP- TFA), Pat
O’Donnell (Development & CoP- TFA), Janelle Scharon (Online Engagement/expert- TFA), Ellen
Winn (Systems Leadership/networking- TFA), Sean Precious (Systems CoP/senior leader in
human capital and principal manager for Denver Public Schools), Ann Best (Systems CoP/Raise
Your Hand Texas- policy/advocacy education organization), Dr. Eddie Fergus (D&I CoP/culturally
responsive practice expert- New York University)
3.) Develop clear and compelling vision for CoPs infusing stories/context/needs learned during ED
engagement (June-July)

STATUS UPDATE:
Vision is 95% complete and infuses stories/context/needs learned during ED engagement. The only
action item for the vision to be 100% finalized is re-alignment to the Strategy & Engagement Vision (7 vs.
5 “bets”). This will be 100% complete by 10/12/15.
4.) Develop loose logistics for guiding coalition meeting in late August (last week of July)
STATUS UPDATE:
After much deliberation and discussion with ELD teammates and Paul/others, the guiding coalition was
put on hold to support the broader team’s strategy to engage one group of Executive Directors for the
broader ELD work streams. The ELD team agreed that I should proceed with a one-off group that may
eventually meld into a broader advisory group but because this action item was in tension with the
broader approach/strategy, I decided to proceed without it- I feel that I have enough context to move
forward, though as soon as the broader group can be pulled together to support ELD efforts, the better.
5.) Invite/Solicit membership into the CoP Guiding Coalition Get clear on first CoP
offerings/collaborations (August- 1st
two weeks)
STATUS UPDATE:
The first CoP offerings needed to be responsive to the data/learning from talking to Executive Directors,
the org-wide strategic direction/breakthroughs and specific enough to resonate but broad enough to
keep the community diverse/fuel learning from different perspectives/angles/etc.. Using the language
of the ED profile for two of the challenges (systems & D&I) increased the potential for alignment/shared
learning/elevation of the work of both work streams. All fourteen Executive Directors selected as their
first choice pilot A or pilot B.
Three Pilots Offered (Fall 2015):
-Pilot A "How do I create an environment where practices that foster diversity, equity, and
inclusiveness grow and thrive?" (D&I Community of Practice)
-Pilot B "How do I ensure that my region's infrastructure maximizes the performance of all people and
resources?" (Systems Community of Practice)
-Pilot C "How do I navigate challenging landscape and/or personal identity intersections in my
development work?" (Development Community of Practice)
6.) Guiding coalition begins to develop community Design pilot CoPs (beginning) and engage EDs for
feedback/value (3rd/4th weeks of August)
STATUS UPDATE:
The design arcs (D&I design arc) (Systems design arc) for each community have been created. Executive
Directors will use these arcs to determine the learning agenda for each community. Learning
styles/preferences data has been collected for each community member and will inform community
meeting design.

D&I COMMUNITY MEMBER LEARNING PREFERENCES

SYSTEMS COMMUNITY MEMBER LEARNING PREFERENCES

7.) Guiding coalition develops relevant Value-Creation stories of the future (aligned to ED
context/need) as a form of really dreaming into what communities of practice could be/mean for the
ED community (9/4)
STATUS UPDATE:
Preliminary Value Creation stories of the future were solicited by Executive Directors in the introductory
survey that also gauged learning preferences/styles.
D&I Community of Practice:
“If you had to name the specific impact that you are hoping to see in your region as a result of your
participation in the D & I Community of Practice, what would it be?”
“Ultimately, I want our corps members to be focused both on developing students who are academically
successful, but who themselves are critical conscious of the systems that surround them, so that are aware and
equipped of how to dismantle these systems as our communities' future leaders. This requires a high level of DEI
competency amongst our corps members as well as our staff.”
“The team feels empowered and clear on how to drive toward our regional vision while aligning their actions and
reactions to our core values and regional operating values.”
“People of color on our team (as well as members of other non-dominant groups) feel part of an inclusive
environment, and we have consistent alignment and investment in a shared regional vision across diverse
constituencies.”
“I want our region to build a staff culture where everyone feels like their identities are valued, that they can be
themselves always, that their contribution is vital, and where everyone can productively challenge each other
across lines of difference.”
“What are you hoping grows / deepens / becomes richer within yourself as a result of your
participation in the D & I Community of Practice?”
“Confidence in leading out of my identity as a person of color.”
“Working to transition my leadership style from a more entrepreneurial, me-as-decision-maker-style, to a more
inclusive and deliberate style while keeping my leadership voice and enabling us to act nimbly.”
“My confidence in my own leadership needs to improve. My trust in my team (which sometimes causes me to
take things on rather than delegating) needs to improve. I love my team members, but I do prefer to keep myself
at a distance because of my own culture and personality. I know that impacts the team because they aren't used to
that, so I want to understand a better balance.”
“I'll take you up on the opportunity to keep this one optional - but mainly because I'm way behind on other work,
I'd totally be willing to share. I'm pretty much an open book.”

Systems Community of Practice:
“If you had to name the specific impact that you are hoping to see in your region as a result of your
participation in the Systems Community of Practice, what would it be?”
“I would like to have clarity around how to ensure all the members of my team feel they are being successful,
growing in their roles professionally and understand what success looks like in this organization.”
“Staff and corps have more clarity about how to reach breakthrough results.”
“The creation and maintenance of an efficacious, energized, and challenging culture in which people recognize the
value they and others contribute and using their knowledge and skills to create the necessary conditions for corps
members to excel as measured by an increase in CALI and internal culture scores and the creation of systems and
structures that enable the work.”
“Our region is making decisions to improve our work grounded more deeply in the values of our community. Right
now, it "feels" and appears to me that the majority of my work is not really "in" our communities and I am hoping
to think more broadly and specifically about 1) why and 2) come up with ways to change this (given this is a
regional value).”
“I hope to hear and learn about the successes and challenges of other regions as it relates to strategic direction
and alumni wins.”
“Greater connections with our partners in and out of the Education Sphere. Greater clarity on our direction but
more importantly our strategy on how we move in that said direction. Help us align our vision and actions to the
breakthrough goals and push us to communicate these to our stakeholders.”
“Collective action and strategic alignment.”
“What are you hoping grows / deepens / becomes richer within yourself as a result of your
participation in the Systems Community of Practice?”
“I want to be a better coach to my team and build a team where everyone feels so supported, nourish and filled
that leaving is not really an option because they love the work and enjoy each other so much.”
“Understanding of developing systems on our team that best support staff, corps and alum.”
“Expanded capacity to generate exponential leadership with and across teams and greater partnerships with other
EDs; an expanded network of trusted colleagues.”
“I would like to continue to grow my own leadership and lead in ways that feel authentic and our grounded in the
aspirations of my communities.”
“I want to get real feedback from my peers on how I am doing as an ED. I hope to deepen relationships as well.”
“I selfishly want to one day lead these type of sessions / communities in our region for community members and
families. There seems to be so much power and thought put into the approach. I strive to give voice to our

community and we have struggled as to how we make that happen. This may be a start for me and for this
community I serve.”
“My ability to fully leverage my past 18 years as an educator. My willingness to more than adequately back up my
hope and dreams for kids with the appropriate fundraising acumen and success. My love for working with my
fellow EDs.”
8.) Publicize CoP logistics, challenges of practice and solicit membership (9/11)- Go out in ED Blast
STATUS UPDATE:
Executive Director Communities of Practice pilot information went out in the ED Blast on 9/11/15 asking
for EDs to sign up by 9/18/15. Follow up emails were sent to Executive Directors who had demonstrated
particular interest/strong learning orientation. Emails went out to EVPs and chiefs of staff that kept
them up to date on how many/which EDs had signed up to join a pilot CoP. Emails went out to the
Executive Directors who signed up early to engage other EDs to sign up. Kwame’s home team engaged
in an engagement strategy <LINK EMAIL FROM JORDAN> that focused on the communication coming
from EDs who had already signed up and resulted in two other Executive Directors in the home team
who were on the fence to more deeply consider (one who ultimately signed up & one who ultimately
did not).
9.) Send update to Paul & debrief during quarterly stepback (by 9/11)
STATUS UPDATE:
Quarterly report is complete and being sent by 10/6/15; emailed Lauren to ask her to hold 30 minutes
for Paul to review in advance of our Q1 step back on 10/8/15.
10.) Q1 quarterly step back with Paul (by mid-September)
STATUS UPDATE:
The Q1 quarterly step back is scheduled for 10/8/15 from 1:30-4pm (central)

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE: Q2 FORECAST
Q2 GOALS/STRATEGIES: LAUNCH/LEARN
LAUNCH
(two CoP pilots, CoP leadership pair in both)
Use learnings from Q1 to determine pilot
challenges of practice that EDs can opt into
Design pilot CoPs that are responsive to what
EDs need (peer learning, specific challenges of
practice)
CRITICAL WIN NEEDED
Determine hypotheses around pilot
approaches
Communicate pilot offerings to ED
community; leverage peer network to
encourage participation
CRITICAL WIN NEEDED
Determine data collection/methods Determine what kind of collective leadership
model to use with EDs in the pilot CoPs
CRITICAL WIN NEEDED
LEARN
(value, connection, learning)
What kinds of value (immediate, potential,
applied, realized) are Executive Directors
obtaining as a result of their participation in
CoP pilots?
Which factors mitigate and propel forward,
Executive Director engagement (initial and
ongoing)?
CRITICAL WIN NEEDED
Which factors impede and propel forward, the
building of authentic community in a
mostly/all virtual CoP?
CRITICAL WIN NEEDED
Which factors impede and propel forward,
accelerated applied learning/impact?
(Disaggregated by ED context)
CRITICAL WIN NEEDED
How can expert knowledge be leveraged
without dampening Executive Director
knowledge creation/innovation?
1.) First pilots are communicated to ED community; a call for ED leadership is included for each
community (last week of September) Members sign up/join (2nd/3rd weeks of September- place
holds on calendars- every 2 week cadence)
STATUS UPDATE:
The fall 2015 pilot offerings were communicated to the ED community through the ED Blast on 9/11/15.
A preliminary snapshot of the pilot group was sent out to chiefs of staff, who could flag for EVPs, if they
were interested in learning more, on 9/18/15. A few interesting data points on our pilot participants:

Total # of Participants: 14
Regional Context:
Comfort Level/Sharing Failure
Comfort Level/Sharing Failure/Uncertainty/Challenge w/Other EDs

A welcome email with next steps was sent to EDs on 9/23/15. The welcome provided a brief overview
to the pilot approach, our roles, and next steps (which included them taking a more detailed survey that
gauged their learning styles/preferences, asked them to get very specific with their challenge of practice
and solicited their input on which community roles they’d like to own.
2.) ED Leadership is shared/collective elected for each CoP (from members who sign up for the
community) (last week of September)
STATUS UPDATE:
Given the final number of EDs in each community (5 in the D&I CoP & 7 in the Systems CoP) and the
absence of a guiding coalition, a workaround needed to be created to ensure that community leadership
was truly shared/collectively owned.
A survey was provided to CoP pilot members that gauged their learning styles/preferences, asked them
to get very specific with their challenge of practice, and solicited their input on which community role(s)
they’d like to sign up for. The community roles require in-between meeting work to push the
community forward. A breakdown of the roles selected is below:
Co-Designer: (~30-60 minutes prep every two weeks between calls)
Agenda Activist: driving the learning forward (~30 minute call every two weeks between calls)
Critical Friend: reflecting on the process (~30 minute call every two weeks between calls)
Community Keeper: weaving the social fabric (~30 minutes every two weeks between calls)
Value Detective: making value-creation visible (~30 minutes every two weeks between calls)
External Messenger: communicating with external stakeholders (~30 minutes every two weeks)
Organizational Broker: connecting with organizational stakeholders (~30 minutes every two weeks)
Social Reporter: creating a shared memory (~30 minutes every two weeks between calls)

3.) Introductory email from Ana to ED assistants to orient them to CoPs; holds placed on ED calendars
STATUS UPDATE:
This was completed the week of 9/30/15. See example here.
4.) Planning/Building meetings with CoP EDs occur for pilots & design work for each community (to
differing levels of detail) (last week of September- warm up call; 1st
/2nd week of October)
STATUS UPDATE:
This will take place the week of 10/12/15 and/or 10/19/15 with Paula, who raised her hand to co-design.
5.) Pilot CoPs are launched: (3rd/last week of October)
STATUS UPDATE:
D&I Community of Practice
Pilot A "How do I create an environment where practices that foster diversity, equity, and inclusiveness
grow and thrive?"
This CoP will launch on 10/22/15 (Thursday) and will meet every two weeks. Each community meeting
will be 60 minutes long. The D&I design arc has been created; community members will determine our
learning agenda using this arc at the first community meeting. The arc was designed using the specific
challenges that EDs named (Ana/Cheryl then “bucketed” the challenges into the following):
At the first meeting, community members will determine the learning agenda using the arc to inform
their collaborative decision-making. It is unlikely that the community of practice will get to every

question, the community members can determine collaboratively which questions feel most relevant to
the learning/impact that they are seeking.
Systems Community of Practice
Pilot B "How do I ensure that my region's infrastructure maximizes the performance of all people and
resources?"
This CoP will launch on 10/23/15 (Friday) and will meet every two weeks. Each community meeting will
be 60 minutes long. The Systems design arc has been created; community members will determine our
learning agenda using this arc at the first community meeting. The arc was designed using the specific
challenges that EDs named (Ana/Cheryl then “bucketed” the challenges into the following):
At the first meeting, community members will determine the learning agenda using the arc to inform
their collaborative decision-making. It is unlikely that the community of practice will get to every
question, the community members can determine collaboratively which questions feel most relevant to
the learning/impact that they are seeking.
6.) Data will be collected from EDs to gauge perception of the following: (after every CoP; tracked
over time- every two week cadence- 10-12 week pilot)
● HIGH VALUE FOR TIME INVESTED (survey/interviews)
● ORIENTATION/CONNECTION TO ED PEERS (interviews)
STATUS UPDATE:
We have put together a data collection plan to ensure that the data that we are gathering is aligned to
our hypotheses, questions, and will support us in learning, refining, and evolving Executive Director
Communities of Practice.

Q1 Communities of Practice Report- FINAL

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