Rod Santiago became the Central Executive Officer of Archway Community Services in 2010, after more than 20 years of experience in senior leadership roles within the nonprofit sector. Focused on fostering community well-being and social justice through positive action and leadership, he chose the Driving Nonprofit Performance and Innovation—Virtual program to improve, strengthen, and expand his company’s mission and his leadership approach.
I came to the program expecting to gain new insights and tools around performance-based management, but was incredibly surprised to find that the program went far beyond that. I was able to not only rethink my organization's methods for performance-based management, but also reimagine a community-wide approach to collective impact strategies.
We live in a society where there are vast problems. To address those challenges, we need solutions that are equally comprehensive. Driving Nonprofit Performance and Innovation—Virtual allowed me to dive deeper into what I'll call a "question zero" leadership approach. Whatever happens to come at us, we start from the ultimate question: What are we trying to achieve? We must make sure that our answer to "question zero" aligns with our mission and vision.
It's transformational. As leaders, we have the incredible opportunity and responsibility of being the architects of the conditions that drive innovation. The program examines the tangible tools, support systems, and theories of change that are needed for leaders to create strategies that deliver results in performance-based management.
I wasn't certain how much of the face-to-face learning experience could be delivered effectively in a virtual setting. But there were so many creative teaching approaches that sparked exciting conversations and allowed us to go deeper and ask valuable questions.
Exchanging ideas in small groups was also a rich experience. I got to be a part of an incredible cohort of people from all over the world, including fellow participants from places like Saudi Arabia and Ukraine. Before the morning sessions, we met to discuss specific case studies. In the process, we built a meaningful rapport with one another.
Absolutely. This wasn't theoretical learning. We were able to apply concepts immediately—even during the program. There was a strong emphasis on tri-sectoral approaches to public, private, and nonprofit challenges. The application of a collective impact approach to addressing big issues is the most exciting thing that I walked away with.
As a community, we went through catastrophic river flooding in November 2021, and are still reeling from it. But in part through the learnings of the program, we are better equipped, along with our many community partners, to lead and participate in collective change that improves our flood resilience. Archway provides 90+ programs to the most vulnerable, whether that's temporary foreign workers, seniors living in shacks, or indigenous populations. Our partners (municipalities, provincial entities, community service providers, faith groups, volunteer bodies, Indigenous nations, foundations) each hold a key to creating one, concerted approach to addressing a current challenge and to ensuring the most effective response as we prepare for future emergency responses to catastrophic events. So the emphasis on having collective approaches rather than a fragmented one was crucial.