organisational capacity

Strategic partnership and capacity building with a leading educational non-profit organisation

‘Our success is their success. They understand our business and are committed to our cause. They are helping us to make a real difference.’

What did we do?

The U.S. Education Delivery Institute (EDI) is an innovative, non-profit organization that helps to implement change in public education. EDI's mission is to develop the capacity of system leaders in K-12 education and higher education to define and deliver on their academic vision and increase the number of students who graduate from High School ‘college and career-ready’, then enter and succeed in college. The EDI emphasizes action that closes the gaps that separate low-income students and under-represented minorities from other. Isos Partnership’s partners are associates of the EDI and over the last year have played an important role in helping the Institute clarify its strategy, establish its tools and approaches and build the skills and confidence of its staff.

We have done this through intensive capacity building workshops with staff; teaching key principles of delivery and facilitating role play and group work to build and practice skills. We have helped to plan and deliver high quality EDI events and have worked with EDI staff on visits to individual States.  We have used these opportunities to model the approach to delivery and the use of key tools, and to coach the EDI staff and build their skills and confidence. We have also advised Sir Michael Barber on Deliverology 101: A Field Guide, which defines the 15 elements of successful delivery. We have also helped devise and run innovative IT-based virtual seminars to provide a cost-effective way of sustaining a network of shared learning across large distances.

What difference did we make?

The EDI is establishing its brand as a high quality, high impact organisation. They feel they have benefited greatly from the Isos support, coaching and feedback. EDI staff have become increasingly confident in using key tools and approaches and have built the key delivery skills of analysis, facilitation, problem solving and negotiation. The most recent workshop with HE systems was expertly led and facilitated by EDI staff. It was highly successful with very positive feedback from participants.

What did the client say about our work?

Feedback from the client has confirmed the impact: ‘You have been an invaluable resource for all of us at EDI – your expertise, teaching, and coaching have put us our strong upward trajectory; it was great to watch you guys role model the skills we need; we really like the way you have built the capacity for us to do the job ourselves and moved back to a supporting role.’