Collaborative Action Manager

Reports to: Chief Strategy and Impact Officer

FLSA: Exempt

Date: May 2022

ABOUT SEEDING SUCCESS

Starting from the time a child is born until they enter the workforce, there are many factors and systems that contribute to whether they are successful in life. Understanding these systems and how they interact is essential in creating a lasting impact and fundamentally changes how we work together to address the needs of children and families in Shelby County.

Seeding Success focuses our efforts in the cradle (promise) to career (opportunity) pipeline by encouraging collaboration among diverse stakeholders and building their capacity to make data-informed decisions. Seeding Success uses Results Count® and a continuous improvement framework to identify effective practices that improve outcomes for Shelby County families and drive students’ success both in and out of school. As a leader of systems-level change in Shelby County, the Seeding Success partnership convenes and invests in four key areas of focus:

  • Creating a system of support or children from prenatal to age 8

  • Unifying a student-centric K-12 learning environment

  • Reducing the rate of Opportunity Youth

  • Improving postsecondary enrollment and completion

To bolster better outcomes for students and families, Seeding Success manages systems change through four phases:

  • Design formal strategies and systems with institutions and community organizations that address current challenges and confront disparities within existing structures.

  • Build capacity, capability, and coordination of systems through trust and engagement around a common agenda.

  • Manage accountability and quality standards to address the root causes of underperformance and inequity.

  • Sustain improved outcomes to scale by diversifying funding sources, advocating for long term policy change, and aligning with adjacent sector work.

Students and families experience increased social and economic mobility because they are equipped with all the resources and support they need to reach their full potential, cradle to career.

JOB DESCRIPTION

Seeding Success seeks a Manager to help promote, support, and facilitate a culture of collaborative action within the Seeding Success partnership and the broader community, to support every child from cradle to career by prioritizing data- informed decision making throughout the cross-sector partnership, with a specific focus on educational outcomes.

RESPONSIBILITIES

  • Support Strategy & Impact Team to connect strategies across the cradle to career education pipeline

  • Promote and facilitate the integration of results-based accountability across the partnership and community facing initiatives

  • Coordinate with continuous improvement manager to plan for the launch, recruitment, on-going engagement, and continuous improvement cycles of system leaders, organizational leaders, and community work groups

  • Support facilitation of meetings through the provision of timely and meaningful information, results-based practices, and data for evidence based decision making and continuous improvement

  • Develop and cultivate relationships with community stakeholders, including school district, higher education, community partner, and front-line staff to support the implementation of collaborative actions to improve outcomes

  • Support Cradle to Career education system leaders to prioritize joint improvement agendas, including facilitating meetings, preparing materials, following up on action steps, and providing technical assistance when needed to move the agenda forward

  • Coordinate with the Seeding Success Continuous Improvement manager to ensure data tracking and progress monitoring for improvement efforts

  • Coach, facilitate, and provide technical assistance to networks of community partners to set targets, achieve objectives, and complete deliverables, utilizing a continuous improvement process and tools

  • Support efforts to identify collaborative actions that can lead to collective impact in Shelby County

  • Maintain communication and work collaboratively with the national StriveTogether community to learn and share best practices

  • Assist with other duties as needed

Competencies

  • Excellent communication and presentation skills, both written and oral, with the ability to represent the organization externally across a wide range of stakeholders and constituencies

  • Superb follow-through; propensity to approach tasks and goals with an ownership mentality

  • Ability to connect with cross-sector and diverse relationships

  • Demonstrated success in working as a member of a team and developing effective working relationships with staff, diverse partners, and systems leaders

  • Demonstrated commitment to the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion

  • Knowledge and demonstrated success in facilitating large networks of multidisciplinary or multi-sector teams

  • Knowledge of education and community partners and resources

  • Excellent project management and organizational skills; ability to manage details and work independently

  • Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, including Word, Power Point, and Excel is required

  • Experience with project management software

  • Knowledge of the StriveTogether framework and Theory of Action a plus

Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree and at least 5 years of leadership experience in human centered design and relevant work experience in facilitation of strategic planning the education and/or the social sector.

FLSA: Exempt

Salary Range: $65K- 85K

Reports to: Chief Strategy and Impact Officer

To apply, please send a cover letter and resume to careers@seeding-success.org with the subject line Collaborative Action Manager - Your Name by June 30th.