EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

PRESENTED BY
PEPPERDINE MSOD
CONSULTING GROUP
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Pepperdine MSOD Consulting Group: Tiffany Bersos, Vangie Bogaty, Lynne Forbes-Zeller, Sally Loftis,
Matt Meader, and Forrest Walker

Presenting Problem & Working Agreement - Monday, April 29

You identified your presenting problem as a potential lack of consistency with the organizational culture
across chapters and issues with scaling the organization through the chapter model. You provided us with
context around work to standardize procedures with chapter leaders and the shifts happening in the last
18 months. We heard that task has risen to the top over strategy at times. By the end of our meeting, we
decided on these things: review the chapter structure, analysis of data, and recommendations.

Discovery Meetings & Data Collection - Tuesday, April 30

The team reviewed documents provided by AFF, and we explored alternative structures to chapter
systems. Additionally, we conducted 10 interviews by phone and in-person. These interviews included 6
chapter leaders and 4 staff members, all identified by you. We used different questions for the staff
members based on their roles; however, we used a standardized list of questions with the chapter leaders.

Feedback Meeting - Wednesday, May 1

The Pepperdine MSOD consulting group identified some key themes in the data:
1. A need to balance autonomy and structure or bureaucracy
2. Engaged, passionate people at every level
3. Appreciative inquiry approach
4. Desire for staff and chapter leaders to grow and connect

The group also identified some opportunity areas. HQ lacks the capacity to expand chapters at the
organization’s desired standard. The reoccurring turnover of chapter leaders restricts HQ with
administrative tasks versus strategy and implementation. The chapter leaders desire additional support
to achieve their highest potential as leaders. This support could be sourced by alumni serving on local
boards, more experienced chapter leaders sharing stories with newer chapter leaders, or even more ideas
coming from HQ. The staff have a desire and perceived pressure to grow. The chapter leaders want to
continue the momentum created at the Leaders’ Retreat.

After our analysis, we think the chapter structure works. While the current stagnation in new chapters
may be perceived negatively, it is a natural outcome of the explosive growth in the last few years. This
time of slower growth may enable HQ to pause and build infrastructure and standardization before the
next growth phase begins. Plus, AFF has an incredible network of untapped alumni that can help HQ.

❖ Establish a mentor network

⮚ Extends lifecycle from prospective member to alumni volunteer to passionate donor
⮚ Creates opportunities for “star” chapter leaders to share best practices (Ex. host a
webinar where a chapter leader discusses a successful event with other chapter leaders)
⮚ Utilize alumni and/or experienced chapter leaders to mentor new leaders, which
provides decentralized onboarding support and reduces the HQ administrative burden
⮚ Offers skill development opportunities for chapter leaders at all levels (Ex. chapter
leader only webinars with alumni on discussion topics like criminal justice reform)
⮚ Mentoring network could also help with chapter leader succession planning
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❖ Implement a Chapter Leader (CL) toolkit

➢ Creates seamless, single source login to CL materials
➢ Location for training (host training materials, videos, podcasts, articles, etc.)
➢ Increases engagement between HQ and CLs as both could add content
➢ Provides HQ oversight and management of materials to control brand standards and
versioning of documents
➢ Provides a forum for chapter leaders to collaborate & share best practices
➢ Library of branded, standard- templates and process/procedures to jumpstart new
leader
➢ Linked to the broader digital platform with public facing content for
recruitment/messaging
Additional concepts/resources
❖ A potential strategic meeting tool is Liberating Structures, which could be used with staff and/or
chapter leaders. For a bigger group, 1-2-4-All is a really easy way to engage everyone. These
activities introduce tiny shifts in the way people meet, plan, decide and relate to one another –
http://www.liberatingstructures.com.
❖ Identify the successful attributes of Chapter Leaders. Locate and cultivate similar candidates for
new chapters. Is a virtual group an option here?
❖ Consider building regional boards to meet the growing needs of new chapters and region-
specific needs.
❖ Leverage social media platforms such as YouTube and LinkedIn to recruit and promote AFF
vision/values.