Core Strategy | Leadership From the Inside Out
GSUSA's Senior Director Talks About the CBS
By Shonda Prince

There’s no such thing as a typical day for Julie Murphy, Senior Director of Strategy for Girl Scouts of the USA. The former lawyer turned Girl Scout executive is responsible for overseeing and championing the overall execution of the Core Business Strategy (CBS). Julie is helping the Girl Scout organization undergo a huge transformation in practically all areas, while keeping the focus on top strategic priorities in the areas of funding, program, brand, volunteerism, organizational structure, governance, and culture.

As GSUSA’s Senior Director of Strategy, what is your role in the organization?
I’m responsible for the successful coordination of the implementation of the Core Business Strategy across the national organization and the Girl Scout Movement. I am also managing the “strategic learning” rollout to councils in the next few years. I think of my job as worrying about and seeing the big picture—it’s really like holding all the parts together that make the whole.

What do you like most about your job?
I like the fact that all that we are doing right now is about change and growth of the organization—it’s energizing and exciting. I don’t like predictability and structure; I like things to be mixed up a lot. This is the perfect job for me.

What is the most challenging part of your job?
I think that my challenge is the organization’s challenge: identifying the priorities that will make the biggest difference in regard to the Core Business Strategy. There are so many ways to accomplish our strategic goals, but we have to be discerning about what work is essential. This is certainly a challenge for an organization that is almost 100 years old. I think the notion for some is that whatever we are doing is important because it sort of justifies us sitting at our desks, doing what we’re doing, and in some cases we may have to ask the tough question, “Does this make sense anymore?”  

What is the role of the national CEO in the planning of policies, strategies, etc., for the organization?
Our organization was lucky to have Kathy Cloninger initiate the strategic learning process back in 2004. Kathy inspires and motivates the Movement as well as the leaders within. Just six months after coming on board as the CEO, she chose Willie Pietersen, a professor at Columbia Business School, to help inform the strategy-making process. We soon formed a team of 26 people—National Operational Volunteers, council members, and GSUSA staff—to conduct the first step in the strategy development process. We asked tough questions and got tough answers. The biggest “aha” moment came when we realized that we could not tweak any one area of Girl Scouts—we would have to be transformational in our approach. Kathy has been deeply committed to transforming the Girl Scout Movement to ensure that we will be around for the next 100 years.

What role do council CEOs play?
Council CEOs helped in the creation of the Core Business Strategy and played a critical role in planning how to achieve the strategic priorities in the year following. They have a unique perspective on Girl Scouting, one that we don’t have at GSUSA.   

In the implementation of the Core Business Strategy, CEOs are leading the change at the council level. They are leading realignment and the rollout of the Girl Scout Leadership Experience, creating a culture of philanthropy and new board structures, and overhauling their volunteer systems.

With the rollout of strategic learning to councils, the responsibility of the council CEO will be to create and implement a local market strategy in alignment with the strategy for the Girl Scout Movement.  

What is the role of the National Board?
In the initial work on the Core Business Strategy, the National Board played a significant role. There were board members who sat on the strategy team that created the strategic priorities, as well as “gap teams” that created the initial implementation plan. The Board as a whole approved the strategic priorities and new mission statement, and also passed various resolutions to support the direction of the strategy, such as new age levels and a revised uniform policy.

Overall, the National Board exercises strategic leadership by framing and shaping the Movement’s strategy and assessing progress toward priorities. In addition to providing oversight, the National Board plays a critical role in the strategy creation process by generating strategic ideas and partnering with the CEO to frame challenges and opportunities in new ways.

The CEO of GSUSA, SVP of Governance and Corporate Administration, and Director of Strategy, along with the National Board, are the “process owners” with respect to the strategic learning process.

What is the role of GSUSA staff?
Since our goal is to transform the Girl Scout Movement, it is important that all staff members are a part of that process. I think everyone at headquarters really needs to see how their job supports the Core Business Strategy; this is quickly becoming a reality. One very encouraging phenomenon is that new employees come into their positions knowing about the strategy and wanting to know more. I often get a call during a new employee’s first week asking for an overview, and I’m told that many people are coming to work at GSUSA because of the Core Business Strategy. To me, this means that people want to be a part of our transformation.

What is the role of volunteers?
Volunteers are the lifeblood of our Movement; without them, we would not be able to serve girls in the ways that we do. Volunteers work directly with girls and help deliver the program, culture, and values of Girl Scouting.

During the situation analysis portion of the strategic learning process in 2004, it was discovered that the volunteer model that most Girl Scout councils have been using was created in the early 1950s. At that time in our history, women had a drastically different relationship to the workplace than women do today. The strategy team decided that it was essential to redesign the volunteer model so that adults could join easily, learn continuously, serve in flexible ways, achieve specified outcomes with girls, and feel appreciated. It is critical that our volunteer systems meet the needs of women in the twenty-first century.

Considering we are trying to transform the Girl Scout Movement, it is essential that volunteers are engaged and excited about the change, on board for the ride, and  actively participating in the transformation.

How important is the brand to the future success of Girl Scouts?
The brand communicates to the world about our culture, what we stand for, what we value, and who we are. If girls and their parents cannot see themselves in our brand, the girls will not join. Having a healthy, relevant, and appealing brand is critical to our success.

The brand is part of everything we do. Everyone—our board members, vendors, and anyone connected to Girl Scouts—is a brand agent. They can carry the word about Girl Scouting and help educate people about who we are, what we stand for, and what we have to offer girls.

How does program fit into the CBS equation?
Program is at the core of all that we do. One of the questions we tackled in the strategic learning process was what we do differently or better than other youth organizations. The answer ended up being all about our program. This focus brought us to the realization that the essence of what we do is leadership development. We have to make sure that all of our programs, no matter where they are, support and further the leadership development of girls. If the program is boring, girls won’t come back. If the materials are old-fashioned, girls are not going to join. And, if I’m a Hispanic girl whose mother and father just came from another country, there’s got to be something in it that’s appealing to me that my parents can support. So it’s all about how can we make our program relevant to girls’ lives.

What is the role of fund development?
Raising money to support innovation and program delivery to girls is essential to our future success. Our focus on building a culture of philanthropy at headquarters and in councils will go a long way to enhance all that we do.

How important is governance?
Governance is about how we make decisions for the Movement and for councils. In the Core Business Strategy, we decided that our governance system needs to be efficient, effective, able to achieve decisiveness and speed of action, and make good use of our of resources. The work toward achieving this is focusing on what is the best board structure, what kind of board members we are attracting, and what is the role of each board member.

What have been some of the challenges associated with the CBS?
I think there are unique challenges in membership organizations. In Girl Scouts, we have so many constituents. One challenge in the past few years has been about how best to communicate to and engage all of the different people committed to Girl Scouts. Every member feels passionately about the organization and what we provide to girls. One of our goals has been to help make members feel connected and committed to the transformation that is underway.

A second challenge has been about creating effective implementation of the Core Business Strategy. It is difficult to achieve true alignment of all that we do with the strategic priorities and with each other. In 2008, we embarked on a “strategy execution process” at headquarters that has helped to align organizational goals with individual and departmental goals.

What will success look like?
When I tell people that I work for Girl Scouts, I often hear a comment or joke about cookies. I think that when we have been successful in establishing ourselves as the premier leadership experience for girls, the response I will start hearing from people is, “Wow, leadership development for girls! Your mission is fabulous!” That’s when I’ll know that the vision of the Core Business Strategy has been realized. Until then, we’ll continue to push forward.