Reframing a National Education Nonprofit

Reframing a National
Education Nonprofit

Reframing a National Education Nonprofit

The New Teacher Project was at a turning point. What began as a website overhaul unearthed the root cause of the symptoms expressed by clients, staff, board, and partners.

Radish Lab

Role:

Design Strategy Lead

Date:

2020-2021

Problem

Problem
Problem
TNTP, a 25 year-old national education nonprofit was struggling to reach & connect with a diverse range of stakeholders necessary to achieve their vision.


TNTP was at a point of introspection—as a national education nonprofit it had worked on the frontlines of education across the nation since the mid-1990s yet recently, its fee-for-service consulting arm had grown exponentially.

While the growth of the organization held the potential to accelerate the mission and increase impact, staff at all levels lacked clarity in the direction of the organization and how all of the pieces fit together in service of a core purpose.

In my role as Lead Strategist, I strategized and facilitated a robust organization-wide research process to understand perception, gaps, and to ideate opportunities for the organization to move forward with confidence.

Going Broad & Deep

Going Broad & Deep
Going Broad & Deep
In my role as Lead Strategist, I strategized and facilitated a robust organization-wide research process to understand perception, gaps, and to ideate opportunities for the organization to move forward with confidence.

Understanding the service spread & exchanges between the three core service areas unearthed tension between the origin of

A Leveled Journey Framework gave structure to the work, allowing partners to see themselves more clearly within the larger construct.

Exploring the Tension Through Archetypes

Exploring the Tension Through Archetypes
Exploring the Tension Through Archetypes
Research uncovered internal tensions—was TNTP headed toward a safe middle ground? Or was it positioning itself for broad systems-change

Two archetypes emerged from our Discovery process—these archetypes became an anchor for further insights to emerge.

Personas within the Archetypes gave a sharper picture of the service offering and value proposition of the service spread.

Placing audiences within this matrix set the stage for robust conversation and debate. Where was TNTP headed organizationally and for whom? (It's a strategic design portfolio, of course there's a 2x2 grid 😂.)

Reframing the
Organization

Reframing the
Organization
Reframing the
Organization
“This process has exposed fundamental challenges with our organizational structure and showed how “design” can be applied broadly as a problem-solving method.”

Outcome

Outcome
Outcome
"With our reframing we’ll be set up with a strong foundation to maintain focus & relevance as the education landscape continues to shift and evolve."
“This process has exposed fundamental challenges with our organizational structure and showed how “design” can be applied broadly as a problem-solving method.”
Process
A variety of different processes and frameworks ranging from design thinking and the double diamond to product strategy and prioritization and stakeholder management tactics were put to use across this project.

DEFINE

  • Bi-weekly, deep discovery sessions with subject matter experts across frontline and corporate employees

  • Customer interviews & internal servicing team listening sessions

  • Deep read of relevant Federal Regulation relevant to the experience

  • Deep reads of internal Chase Support and Process articles

  • Gathering of all physical artifacts that support the journey from UI to physical letters and emails

DEFINE

  • Key strategic opportunities areas across the service experience

  • Customer mindsets and mental models

  • Documented customer pain points with business rationale (cost savings)

DESIGN

  • Current-state service maps, stakeholder ecosystems, engagement models, concepts and rationale

DELIVER

  • Key Insights, Executive reports, concepts, collaboration forums, groomed opportunity backlog for Product prioritization

DYLAN DEMANSKI | BROOKLYN NY

DYLAN DEMANSKI | BROOKLYN NY

DYLAN DEMANSKI | BROOKLYN NY

DYLAN DEMANSKI | BROOKLYN NY