Reflection 2: Sunday, June 13th (Anna Marston – Council for Court Excellence)

Category: Leader/Follower Relatiosn

At the Council for Court Excellence (CCE), I have just finished up my second remote week as a Policy Intern and I have begun to notice the leader/follower dynamics. CCE is structured with six main staff members, headed by an Executive Director and a Deputy Director. Subsequently, the staff is broken up into the following roles: Communications Manager, Development Manager, Operations Associate, and Policy Counsel. Despite the small size of the team, the staff are highly qualified, educated, and held in high regard by the large Board of Directors and advocacy community in DC. Within CCE, the projects are divided into four committees: Youth Justice, Civil Justice, Justice Education, and Criminal Justice. The Policy Counsel, Sosseh, heads Youth Justice and Civil Justice; the Communications Manager, Casey, heads the Justice Education Committee; lastly, the Deputy Director heads the Criminal Justice Committee. The Executive Director, Misty, sits on all of these committees as well and keeps tabs on their ongoing work. Board members are a part of these committees. While working virtually on Microsoft Teams (and normally in-office), team members collaborate together on projects that intersect across roles; for example, working jointly on writing a big report, such as the recent “Jails & Justice: Our Transformation Starts Today” Phase II report. A key factor of CCE’s organizational structure is that the work is very closely intertwined with other organizations and government agencies–such as the D.C. Council, District Task Force on Jails and Justice, and the National Reentry Network for Returning Citizens. Unlike other organizations, CCE interacts with other DC residents and advocates on a day-to-day basis. Most remarkably, I have noticed an amazing level of trust between leaders and members of the organization. I think this is so because, as a small nonprofit organization, each staff member acts collaterally both as a follower and a leader. Furthermore, with such a robust Board of Directors and Leadership Team, the members of these groups work so closely with the staff members that the level of trust has been established. The Executive Director, Misty, runs the organization at the highest level, followed by the Deputy Director, Emily. I see such a strong level of trust and respect for both Misty and Emily–but I also see Misty and Emily holding the other staff members in high regard. Everyone contributes something unique to CCE, which makes the nonprofit work so well and establishes such a high trust level.