Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) employees met recently in Washington, D.C. for the organization’s annual in-person staff meeting. The focus was about building on last year’s strategic planning through the McKinsey 7-S framework.
Dr. Harry L. Williams, president & CEO of TMCF, provided opening remarks after the meeting opened with a performance by the Morgan State University marching band, known as The Magnificent Marching Machine.
“That’s the way to go to work, right,” Dr. Williams said. “If you’re not hype and ready to go to work, something’s wrong with you. You need to go to the hospital right now.”
Students like those are the reason we do what we do, Dr. Williams said.
“The work that we do at the Thurgood Marshall College Fund is what you just saw,” Dr. Williams said. “We have to do everything in our power to protect that.”
In addition to the McKinsey 7-S framework, topics included navigating change; aligning strategy, structure and success; emphasizing the goal for annual revenue; and the importance of collaboration.
“It’s our responsibility, team, to make sure we have the structure in place, the systems in place, the processes in place, that’s going to be sustainable long after we’re gone,” Dr. Williams said.
The leadership team led discussion about organizational change in each area. Staff members in each area had the opportunity to meet in breakout sessions and discuss areas of change and how they relate to key performance indicators (KPI). After the breakout sessions, representatives from each vertical reported one area of change tied to KPIs.
Dr. Williams and TMCF Founder Dr. N. Joyce Payne participated in a fireside chat about organizational change, moderated by Jason Hundley, executive vice president of finance and operations.
Keith Look, vice president of education solutions at Territorium, spoke about the software to employees and how it ties into the future of TMCF. Look spoke about digital credentialing through Territorium, giving students at TMCF member schools the opportunity to build a comprehensive learner record that verifies and highlights professional and academic achievements.
“The direction of TMCF is we’re going to fight for our schools, we’re going to fight for our students, we’re getting up doing the work no one else is doing,” Dr. Williams said in closing. “I’m proud of the fact we have an organization that is unapologetic in what we do.”
Dr. Payne offered final remarks.
“All of you are just so extraordinarily talented. I’m confident we’ll meet our annual revenue goal and that we will continue to redefine the American dream so we can all taste the beauty and the promise of democracy,” she said.
