The Managing Director of Strategy, Talent, and Operations (MDSTO) is charged with maximizing effective analysis, design and execution toward the TFA-GNO regional vision and 2020 strategic plan. The MDSTO manages key internal operations of the region, serves as a chief consultant to the Executive Director, and acts as project manager on crosscutting strategic initiatives. The MDSTO must be able to evaluate and problem solve swiftly and successfully at multiple levels of the organization ranging from on-the-ground-observations to senior management and decision-making. This role requires both creative, visionary leadership and strong attention to detail. The MDSTO reports directly to the Executive Director and also serves as a critical member and coordinator of the Regional Leadership Team. He/She will also directly supervise and support our Manager of OED Support and Manager of Office Culture & Operations.
Maximizing Strategic Focus To Ensure Maximum Progress
The MDSTO builds, strengthens, and adapts regional structures, systems, and processes to ensure individual and collective progress is made toward every major regional priority and goal.
Sample work streams include, but are not limited to:
- Regional planning strategy—manages long-range vision and strategic planning process and annual budget planning
- The creation of resource plans, operation plans, budgets and sensitivity analysis which guide our path to goal and strategic direction
- Monitoring progress—regularly assesses progress toward goals and key milestones, identifying opportunities to adjust strategy to increase operating and financial performance
- Financial management—oversees the region’s $4.1 M operating budget, ensuring accurate month-to-month forecasting and financial reporting
Assembling And Supporting An Effective Team & Environment
The MDSTO partners with our functional team leaders to ensure the right people are on the team in positions where they can leverage their unique strengths to maximize impact toward advancing regional progress.
Sample work streams include, but are not limited to:
- Talent strategy—oversees talent planning, talent recruitment/retention, performance evaluation and management
- Regional Leadership Team—convenes and coordinates the Regional Leadership Group to engage on the most consequential problems/opportunities facing the region including the strategic direction and our path to the deepest impact in Greater New Orleans
- Capacity Building—provides ongoing strategic counsel to the Regional Executive Director based on analyses of performance trends and capacity needs throughout the region
Creating A Culture Of Success And Sustained Impact
The MDSTO regularly evaluates team performance and resource allocation to identify opportunities to strengthen team culture, collective performance, and achievement of target outcomes.
Sample work streams include, but are not limited to:
- Team culture—conducts formal and informal assessment audits of team culture to identify strengths and weaknesses. She/he will also be responsible for troubleshooting and owning the changes needed to happen to strengthen culture
- Project management—runs point on all cross-cutting projects, manages resource allocation and capacity assessment to ensure successful completion of critical outcomes
- Staff learning and development—convenes and coordinates regular all-staff meetings and small group gatherings to celebrate successes, address gaps in execution, and maximizing learning across functional teams
- Risk Management—uses all performance indicators and culture indicators to identify areas of greatest potential concern for regional sustainability and success; surfaces concern and proposes solutions to Executive Director and Regional Leadership Team
Additional Regional Team Responsibilities
- Support, attend, and/or participate in regional team activities, including corps member selection and matriculation, corps member professional development, staff meetings, functional team meetings and retreats, conferences, and regional pre-service for corps members (one week in June).
- Periodic out of state travel required
Prior Experience
- 5+ years of work experience demonstrating progressively increasing responsibility, with demonstrated success in all or most of the relevant functional areas (e.g. strategy, project management, etc.)
- Prior management experience required
- Previous large scale strategic planning experience required
- Large cross-functional management experience preferred
- Previous project management experience preferred
Skills
- Independent self-starter—enjoys starting projects and can successfully self-manage to see the project through to completion
- Constant learner—actively seeks, embraces, and incorporates regular feedback from manager, peers, and direct reports
- Generative and strategic thinker—can analyze past, current, and hypothetical future circumstances in order to generate creative solutions to capitalize on strengths and mitigate weaknesses
- Thrives in complex environments—is enthused about taking on complex projects where the exact answer is unclear or the problem isn’t easily solvable, yet still maintains a problem-solving orientation in the pursuit of creative solutions
- Exceptional writer and communicator—differentiates communication methods and styles to appeal and engage diverse constituents
- Strong attention to detail—adept at managing multiple moving parts, minimizing errors, and learning quickly from past mistakes.
- Exceeds expectations—exemplifies strong self-awareness and constantly aspires for excellence in all responsibilities of the role
Work Demands
- Some weekend and evening work expected.