Leading Innovation in Nonprofits

• Managers, senior executives, and board members of nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations who wish to improve their leadership capabilities
• Especially valuable for those who are initiating and driving innovation strategies in their organizations

• Explore the theory of innovation in organizations and make direct applications to the culture and strategies of your nonprofit organization
• Learn new concepts around the idea of prototyping — designing small experiments that test new ideas for your organization
• Identify key leadership traits necessary for leading in a highly innovative and high-risk environment; look at personal leadership traits as they relate to a culture of innovation

Innovation as Learning

• Recognize innovation as a learning and knowledge creation process
• Understand problem finding, problem selecting, solution finding, and solution selection phases of innovation
• Discover the role of knowledge brokering in innovation in your nonprofit organization

Build to Learn Pt. 1

• Understand Building to Learn as a core practice in design thinking
• Recognize personal and group barriers to Building to Learn and acquire new tactics to overcome challenges
• Identify different approaches to Building

Build to Learn Pt. 2

• Learn how to Build to Learn about a new product
• Learn how to Build to Learn about a new process/system

Bringing it Back to Work

• Compare and apply Building to Learn to existing organizational practices
• Prepare to integrate new practices until they become existing routines

Achieving Strategic Innovation

• Explore how to balance the near-term and long-term, core vs. exploratory, imperatives for long-term success
• Learn frameworks to align strategy & innovation
• Explore how to successfully tackle big, long-term mission objectives

Beautiful Constraints – A New Path for Nonprofit Innovation

• Examine how we've become path dependent—stuck with routines that blind us from seeing the opportunity in our constraints
• Ask Propelling Questions to break free of our old ways and put the most pressing and valuable constraints at the heart of our process
• Adopt a Can-If mentality to answer these questions—focused on 'how,' not 'if' this can be possible
• Rediscover resourcefulness, and the ability to create abundance in the face of scarcity
• Activate the high-octane mix of emotions necessary to fuel the tenacity required for success

Liz Gerber - Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering; Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence, McCormick School of Engineering

Jim Kales - President & CEO, Aspire Chicago

Robert Wolcott - Adjunct Professor of Executive Education; Co-Founder and Executive Director, Kellogg Innovation Network

Location

Nonprofit Management Programs are held at Northwestern University's Chicago Campus.

Wieboldt Hall
340 East Superior Street
Chicago, IL 60611
Directions

Chicago Campus Parking Map - Please Note: the Huron Superior Parking A lot and the Erie Ontario Parking C & D lots are available to the public and should be used when attending programs at Wieboldt Hall.

Application Deadline

The deadline for registration is 10:00 am one business day prior to the program start date.

Scholarship Assistance

Up to 50% scholarships are available for all of our nonprofit executive education programs for those working in nonprofit organizations. All applications are initially submitted at the full list price. Each is reviewed by our registrar and any scholarships granted will be reflected in the amount applied to your invoice or charged to your credit card.

Hospitality during the Program

We strive to provide healthy meal choices for our participants for breakfast, lunch and breaks. We typically provide a range of choices, including some vegetarian-friendly and gluten-avoidant selections. We cannot meet all dietary preferences, but we will do our best to accommodate health restrictions, religious restrictions and food allergies.

Accommodations

Participants are responsible for booking their hotel accommodations during their stay in Chicago.

Download Nearby Hotels List

Cancellation Policy:

Participants must notify the Program Manager five business days in advance of the program start date if they are unable to attend. Otherwise, participants will be charged 20% of the stated program fees.

When canceling a program registration, participants may choose to rollover their payment to a future program or receive a refund. Participants are allowed three rollovers, after the third rollover, participants forfeit the money paid to the Center for Nonprofit Management.

*Refund or rollover must be requested at the time of the program cancellation. Once a program payment has been rolled over, a monetary refund is no longer an option. The participant must continue with the rollover process.