Ready for the future
The Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta learned that investing in their people meant more time and more energy for more kids to reach their potential.
The Boys & Girls Clubs is a national organization in the US made up of local chapters that provide after-school programs for kids. The Metro Atlanta chapter has a particular mission: to build thousands of young leaders across the area who one day could give back to their own communities, while empowering themselves in daily life.
Over the years, several challenges emerged at the BGCMA (Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta). COVID happened. There was staff turnover. Many team members had heavy workloads, and there was a perceived lack of clarity around the organization’s direction. Staff morale was low. Kids’ morale was low.
“We often had these sprinkled-in trainings that felt good for the moment, and then a week or so would go by and we forgot exactly what we learned,” said Roshunnia Dennis, Senior Director of Training and Development. “So to have something that would stick, something that had resources with it, was key for me.”
Strength in numbers
BGCMA realized that the root of their struggles lay in keeping their teams connected and communicating. Which meant investing in their people to bring a common language and better ways of working.
They started the Ability to Execute (A2E) for Nonprofits program in October 2021 with over 200 employees who worked across 26 different clubs. They learned essential skills like running more effective meetings and structured communication. The number of employees involved was key—change management research shows that people will change behaviors if there’s strong momentum with a whole team changing how everyone works.
Everyone enrolled in the digital program, which included virtual workshops spread out over a few months to accommodate busy schedules, along with self-paced learning modules. To get learnings and behaviors to stick, there were regular email nudges, in-person topic deep dives led by A2E Champions and visual reminders like a digital progress dashboard at supervisor meetings. And all new joiners and new managers were immediately enrolled into A2E for Nonprofits as part of onboarding.
All together, all the time
After completing the A2E for Nonprofits program, employees started working more closely together—and with a shared understanding of where the organization was going and how to get there.
“Now we have agendas. Now we actually carve in time to figure out what needs to be on the agenda. Now the meetings are meaningful, not just chatter,” says Tyanna Jackson, Talent Acquisition and Development Specialist.
“Our communication as an organization has improved tenfold,” says Bretteney Beverly, Director of Creative and Youth Development. “We all get to speak the same language—I got my kids talking about big rocks and little rocks [how to prioritize].”
“It’s not just training,” says N’keschia Brundidge-Clark, Executive Director about A2E for Nonprofits. “It connected all the way through, back to what we do every single day. If you’re training and developing your people, then there will be a greater impact on the kids.”
The success of A2E for Nonprofits at the BGCMA meant that around 10,000 kids in Metro Atlanta could be better served by the 1,700 people working with them. But it also sparked an expansion of the program to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Georgia—the entire state. While each club operated a little differently, with A2E for Nonprofits they now all have the same mindset and tools to continue their work—and impact thousands more young lives.