A Time You Used a Combination of Skills to Solve a Problem
Tell us about a time you needed a combination of skills to solve a problem.
MBB had more people passionate about education than education projects in need of staffing. While the projects themselves created impact through a consulting lens, there were many needs left unfulfilled – both for our employees and the client organizations. Frustrated, I approached the Partner leading MBB’s “Education Pillar” with an idea: What if we expanded this interest group to be an extracurricular where MBB employees could volunteer in education roles, partnering beyond just consulting?
The MBB Partner loved the idea, but was concerned with the obstacles. Our partners weren’t used to working with us beyond discreet projects. We would need a vision for these new relationships, data-driven targets to get MBB buy-in, and an actionable plan to engage MBB employees in new ways – all while communicating and managing the expectations of our education partners.
Measurable community impact was our overall goal, so I suggested a strategy that deepened our relationships with a few key partners. By focusing on two of MBB’s biggest pro-bono partners and at least one new partner where our volunteering could add value, we proposed hosting bi-monthly hands-on volunteer events throughout the year. I outlined varying levels of engagement to allow employees the flexibility to engage however it worked best for them – more than doubling the number of people involved. We tracked impact throughout the year, collecting qualitative feedback from our partners, and monitoring quantitative metrics such as number of events held, number of students impacted by event, and number of MBB volunteers engaged – all which have increased each year since the foundation.
I used a combination of skills to communicate and plan our partnerships with these organizations. Our partners had requests that were outside our means, both in terms of time and resources, so I balanced our desire to serve our partners with the full-time client work MBB expected us to prioritize. Through discussion and iteration, my team and I determined a mutually beneficial event cadence, and shifted our focus to motivating MBB employees to keep their pro bono commitments even when work got busy. I adjusted my leadership style along the way, delegating some planning responsibilities to my team members to deliver the greatest impact and keep my team nimble, continuously adapting to ensure the needs of both MBB employees and partners were being met.
The accomplishment I am most proud of is the legacy we created at MBB: the Education Pillar is now the model social impact pillar in the Boston office, and is helping to shape the strategy of MBB’s other pillars. Our relationships with partners have delivered an impact far beyond our expectations, both on the children served by our NGO partners and on community-minded employees across the MBB organization.