Strategic Recalibration for the Pathways to Prosperity Initiative: Transforming an Intermediary to Transform Cross-Sectoral Ecosystems

Abstract

I undertook my doctoral residency for Harvard’s Ed.L.D. program with Pathways Prosperity (PtoP), a five-year-old joint initiative with the Harvard Graduate School of Education that is housed within Jobs for the Future (JFF), a 35-year-old national nonprofit in the education-to-careers space. PtoP operates as an intermediary organization and technical assistance provider whose core business is helping states, regions, and other actors conceive, create, and scale education-to-career pathways. Conceptually speaking, education-to-career pathways are vertically articulated courses of study that seamlessly connect a young person’s experience from secondary to postsecondary to career. My main project was to lead a strategic planning effort to help PtoP identify and pursue opportunities to enhance and sustain its impact. In the account that follows, I begin by outlining my initial approach to this leadership challenge, including the content and process research (including adaptive leadership, teaming, and improvement science) that informed the theory of action underlying my leadership strategy. I then analyze both successes and failures, highlighting single- and double-loop learnings to enhance my leadership and inform PtoP’s strategic planning efforts. I consider what it might take for PtoP to generate short-term wins and sustain longer-term gains based on those efforts. I conclude by reflecting on the structural need for and critical functions of intermediary organizations within cross-sectoral ecosystems.