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Leading
Edge Mentoring (LEM) is a consulting firm dedicated to managing
and monitoring accountability in leadership, governance and
management. Leading Edge Mentoring is operated by Susan S.
Stratton, CAE, ARM, MEd. Stratton has been affiliated with
the insurance industry
since 1977 and the non-profit association industry since 1986.
Stratton
is a Certified Association Executive (CAE) and an Associate
in Risk Management (ARM). She earned a Master's Degree in Education
and graduated from the Policy Governance Academy in the study
of the governance model designed be John Carver.
Leading
Edge Mentoring is a recognized consulting firm in leadership
and governance process. LEM's primary clientele are Boards
who wish to create accountability in their process or who desire
to create rationality in their governance.
The services available to clientele generally consist
of short term contact with some follow up assessment or regrouping
after the primary presentation.
Stratton's
work with non-profit organizations includes strategic planning
facilitation, staff
and board development retreats and workshops, and Board coaching
in the practice of Policy Governance®. She facilitates the
CAE On-Line Exam Prep program for association executives.
Leading Edge Mentoring has four areas of focus:
- Policy
Governance® education,
implementation and Board coaching.
- Educational
curriculum design for professional development offered by
non-profit institutions, including distance learning options.
- Facilitation
of crucial conversations to the future of organizations,
including visioning, strategic planning and conflict resolution.
- Facilitation
of workshops in areas of leadership and boardsmanship.
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Leading
Edge Mentoring takes a stand for accountable, values-added
organizational leadership:
• Policy Governance clients successfully implement and sustain
owner-accountable governance.
• Strategic planning clients are aligned and follow a realistic
& innovative path of organizational development.
• Educational curriculum clients offer a meaningful, relevant
learning process that takes their members to an elevated level
of leadership competence.
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The
Leading Edge Mentoring mission is to provide tools and process
to enhance leadership. The values and principles upon which LEM
services are provided are based on win/win relationships where
all involved are invested in the vision of success, meaningful
change, and the cause of personal growth and organizational leadership.
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Leading
Edge Mentoring is a sought after resource, hired to shepherd an
effective change process in individuals and organizations through
motivating, mentoring, and monitoring people and their accountability
to the process. Leading Edge Mentoring is also a resource, connecting
people to services they need that can be more competently addressed
by other colleagues. |
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The
values and principles upon which LEM services are provided
are based on win/win relationships with clients where
both parties are invested in the vision of success, meaningful
change, and the cause of personal and organizational
leadership. We will hold true to the values of win/win
in terms of work to be done and payment to be received.
Projects will only be undertaken if fair compensation
can be received for the effort expended. Long term contracts
will require partial payment up front. In return, LEM
personnel and its sub-contractors will prepare for each
project thoroughly, bringing fresh ideas to the process
and innovative ways of facilitating the process. |
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Stratton
believes there is great synergy in collaboration.
As such, LEM is involved in three significant collaborative
efforts:
CAE Exam
Preparation Program is a collaborative effort between
the Michigan Society of Association Executives and
Leading Edge Mentoring. This collaboration includes
the on-line delivery of a 10 week curriculum, a CAE
immersion course, and the most recent collaborative
effort of writing the CAE Self-Study Guide for the
Allied Societies of the American Society of Association
Executives.
Managing
Education Resource Group (MERG) is a partnership between
Stratton and John Shaheen, the Executive VP of the
American Institute of Paralegal Studies. MERG offers
computer-mediated, faculty-facilitated education to
a variety of marketing partners in the US, with particular
emphasis in the property/casualty insurance agency
industry and the association management profession.
Related addresses: john.shaheen@aips.com,
www.mergonline.com,
www.aips.com.
In
her capacity as President of the MERG Insurance
Division, Stratton forges new marketing partnerships
with organizations interested in offering on-line
coursework to their membership. She is personally
responsible for the development of the New Employee
Series of courses for new insurance agency personnel.
The portfolio of courses currently includes: New
Employee Orientation, Delivering Quality Service
to the Customer and the Employer, Personal Lines
Coverage Basics, Commercial Lines Coverage Basics,
and Beyond the Basics, a series of short courses
in commercial lines insurance.
Partners in Policy Governance is a collaborative effort
with Eric Craymer of Growth Management Consulting.
Our Global End is: a supported community of Policy
Governance® users. To that end, we jointly offer
seminars for the public, user groups for Policy Governance
practitioners, board retreats and orientations focused
on Policy Governance sustainability and model-compliant
practices.
Website:
Partners in Policy Governance
Website:
Growth Management Consulting
Policy
Governance is a service mark of John Carver. |
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LEM's
primary objectives are:
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to work with people in leadership roles.
- to
work through a process of development that
will improve the alignment in an organization
and make a difference in the future of the
organization.
- to
build personal and professional capacity-building
which ultimately leads to self-actualization.
- to
encourage accountability for growth through
the process.
- to
facilitate a reflective thought and dialogue
process, facilitating people to attain self-actualization.
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| Consulting Specialty: Policy
Governance® |
Policy
Governance® is the only comprehensive,
coherent model of governance known in
the world. Designed by John Carver, this
hands-on operating system for Boards is
applicable to the corporate, public sector,
and not-for-profit communities. Focused
on owner-accountability, the model empowers
Boards to bring a values-added role to
the organization.
Policy
Governance® is more than a structure.
It is an integrated model of structure,
philosophy and process. The governing
style of a Policy Governance board is
best described in the following broad
policy, entitled Governing Style:
"The
board will govern with an emphasis on
(a) outward vision rather than an internal
preoccupation, (b) encouragement of
diversity in viewpoints, (c) strategic
leadership more than administrative
detail, (d) clear distinction of board
and chief executive roles, (e) collective
rather than individual decisions, (f)
future rather than past or present,
and (g) proactivity rather than reactivity.
On
any issue, the Board must insure that
all divergent views are considered in
making decisions, yet must resolve into
a single organizational position.
Accordingly:
The
board will cultivate a sense of group
responsibility. The board, not the
staff, will be responsible for excellence
in governing. The board will be the
initiator of policy, not merely a
reactor to staff initiatives. The
board may use the expertise of individual
members to enhance the ability of
the board as a body, rather than to
substitute the individual judgments
for the board's values."
Structural
Features:
- The
Board is accountable to the owners;
customer accountability is the job
of management. The Board, however,
establishes and monitors the direction
of the organization, however, through
Ends policy which determines
"what good for which customer segments
at what comparable value".
- The
Board acts as the moral trustees
of the entire ownership, rather than
constituency representation.
- The
Board has only one employee, the
CEO.
- Policy
is developed from broadest conceptual
concern to smaller policies. The
Board stops making policy when it
can accept ANY reasonable interpretation
of its words.
- Policy
is developed in four categories:
Ends, Executive Limitations, Board-CEO
Linkage, and Governance Process/Ownership
Linkage.
The
philosophical bases for the model:
- Clear
and defined accountability
- The
Board and CEO demonstrating servant-leadership
- Empowerment
of the Board and CEO to do what they
do best
- Clarity
of group values where the Board seeks
the range of diverse opinion within
the ownership community, but resolves
into a single organizational voice.
The
Process of Policy Governance:
- Policy
drives EVERYTHING
- When
an issue comes before the Board,
the entity first establishes:
- Is
this a shared issue? If so, then:
- Whose
issue is this?
- What
have we already said in policy
relating to this issue?
- Do
we need to say more about the
issue?
- The
Board monitors compliance with
all policies established, including
a self-assessment of its own
practices that may undermine
operational accountability.
Stratton
is a 1999 graduate of the Policy Governance®
Academy. Stratton partners with consultant
Eric Craymer of Growth
Management Consulting, Inc. of East
Lansing, Michigan, doing business
as Partners in Policy Governance®
(PPG). This partnership was formed create
a coordinated support system for Policy
Governance practitioners. Stratton
holds a fondness for Board work and connection
while Craymer has a particular affinity
for the operational implementation of
Policy Governance. When Stratton and Craymer
combine their talents, a synergy occurs
in the client’s implementation of
Policy Governance. All efforts are
aligned and each entity has access to
their own consultant. Visit the Partners
in Policy Governance website at www.policygovpartners.com.
Policy
Governance is a service mark of John
Carver .
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| Examples
of LEM Retreats/Workshops |
- Introduction
to Policy Governance®
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- Policy
Governance® Board Orientation
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- Developing
Your Strategic Plan-A Facilitated Process
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- Linking
with the Community of Owners
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- The
Practice of Good Governance
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- Policy
Governance Ends and Annual Agenda Development
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- Enhancing
Meeting Effectiveness
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- Enhancing
Communication Skills
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- Enhancing
Committee/Board Effectiveness
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- Train
the Trainer Workshops
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- Behavioral
Style Complimentarity
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- Skill
Development Workshops, such as:
- Handling
Conflict in the Board's Process
- Thinking
Together through Dialogue
- Framing
Issues for Effective Decision Making
- Policy
Development Skills
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