BREAKOUT #3
LOCATION: DENTON CREEK
You don’t need a Project Management Office (PMO). You just need a project management mindset. This session gives nonprofit leaders a simple, practical framework to move from good intentions to real execution.
About This Session
Description
As nonprofit leaders we aren’t struggling because we lack vision. We struggle because there’s often no system (or planning time, who’s with me?!) between the vision and the work. Goals get set in January and revisited in December. Somewhere in between, we blink and the year is gone.
PMO Lite is a stripped-down, smaller CBO approach to planning that doesn’t require a certification, a software platform, or a dedicated project management role. It’s built for resource-depleted environments where the default mode is reactive, and team burnout is the cost.
This isn’t about failure to execute. It’s about building the habit of pausing before the next fire starts. A mindset shift from fighting fires to preventing them. And a first step toward the kind of learning culture where real strategy can take root.
What we'll cover:
This session is for decision-makers (executive directors, program directors, and emerging leaders) who are ready to get more traction out of the plans they already have. No prior project management training assumed.
We will cover:
- Stop/Think/Plan/Do: a four-step habit for approaching any project or initiative that keeps you from jumping to execution before you’ve caught the problems hiding in your assumptions.
- The Can of Worms: how to surface the hidden dependencies and unstated assumptions that quietly sink most plans & how to deal with them before they derail you mid-year.
- Annual meeting mapping: how to design your fiscal year calendar around your actual priorities instead of inheriting last year’s schedule by default.
- One Theme Per Year: why organizations that choose focus outperform organizations that choose ambition, and a simple method for building that focus into your planning process.
The session moves fast and stays practical. Participants will work through a real planning scenario in the room and leave with the Stop/Think/Plan/Do worksheet and a one-page annual planning map they can use immediately.
Topics & Focus
Primary Topic Area
Session will also cover:
Assigned by TCALL
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Find definitions of topic areas, audiences, levels, and PD categories by clicking on any icon, or see them all on this page.
A note from the presenter:
Bring your current strategic plan or annual goals (if you have them! Don’t worry if you don’t). We’ll stress-test them in real time.
Handouts & Materials
No handouts or materials available at this time.
“Name of Session” – session presentation slides (PDF)
Name of Document – lesson sample (PDF)
Name of Document (PDF)
Name of Document – infographic (JPG)
Presenter
Melanie Fisk, MSW, MBA
Principal & Founder
Adaptive Ascent Group
Melanie Fisk (MSW, MBA) is an executive strategist and systems builder. Over the past 20+ years, Melanie has led change across nonprofit and public-sector settings, including serving as CEO of Literacy Advance of Houston, where she guided a turnaround and merger that doubled service capacity and expanded wraparound supports. She’s also held senior leadership roles at large, regional community organizations and directed national-scale technical assistance efforts connected to federal initiatives. Her superpower is building environments where great teams can do their best work and where strategy doesn’t live in a file, but is a living, organic part of a truly ground-up, adaptive culture.
In 2025, Melanie launched Adaptive Ascent Group, small boutique consulting firm to help small-to-mid sized organizations turn big goals into day-to-day momentum. She has gathered a team of systems builders and “implementation translators” who love the messy middle where strategy meets real people, AND real-world constraints. Together they aim to be your favorite thought partner. You know, the one who is grounded, will tell you the truth (even when it’s hard), who is just the right amount of wonky, and who loves to help you get stuff done!
When she’s not leading design workshops or geeking out with a new read, Melanie’s usually in the kitchen cooking something elaborate, hanging out with her two rescue pups, or connecting with a friend, preferably while being outside. She’s especially curious about the seismic shifts facing civil society and how we can reimagine systems for collective resilience. Based in Alexandria, VA, Melanie brings both humor and humanity to her work, and she’s always up for a good question and a deeper conversation.
Breakout26 – FISK
Page checked or updated: 6/10/2026
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