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What types of clients do you serve? |
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Virtually all our clients are government or non-profit boards, their CEOs and senior staff. We enjoy and accept engagements with related entities, but in all instances our work focuses on governance, top-level strategic leadership, and accountable organizational performance.
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Does The Aspen Group have a specialty that distinguishes it from other similar organizations? |
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A substantial portion of our work is with public school boards. We specialize in serving clients who choose to adopt our own model, Coherent Governance®. Coherent Governance is more fully described in the
Governance Training and Services section of this site.
We also offer custom governance work for boards that want to achieve excellent governance and organizational performance by developing new governance processes without affecting their existing traditional policies.
At this point, about 90-percent or more of our work is centered on Coherent Governance, which we consider to be the single best method available to help boards effectively lead the organizations for which they are responsible.
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What are the major differences between Coherent Governance® and Policy Governance®? |
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Both models are aimed at the same thing: helping boards govern better. Both models are built around four types of policies: one creating the board's own governing culture, one defining the CEO's level of authority and accountability, one defining the board's expectations about the organization's operations, and one expressing the board's expected outcomes for owners or clients.
The primary differences between the two models are in the Executive Limitations/Operational Expectations area. Coherent Governance includes policies dealing with many operational areas of concern not accommodated by Policy Governance®, and the language of the OE policies includes both directives ("do this") and prohibitions ("don't do this"). This latter feature eliminates the "double negative" concern with Executive Limitations that some users feel creates awkward language issues.
Our experience has proved to us that organizations such as school boards and other public boards face issues and challenges that make them different from other types of boards in some important ways. They face fierce community scrutiny, legislative mandates, comparatively frequent leadership turnover, complex student needs, uncertain funding, and inadequate training. They deal with instructional issues, discipline issues, and staffing issues that are more complex than those faced by most non-public boards.
We believe that these public boards must have written policies that other boards may not need in order to express their values and concerns about the organizational actions and decisions they would find unacceptable. Coherent Governance assures that all important operational concerns are addressed, leaving no critical gaps. The board safely can delegate operational decision-making to its CEO with assurance that it will not need to dwell on day-to-day operations. It can govern, not manage the manager!
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Q: |
Where have you worked?
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Our work has taken us to most of the 50 states, and to Korea, Singapore, Borneo, Morocco, Mexico and Canada. Our client list is found elsewhere in this site.
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How far in advance are you normally booked?
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As with any consulting group, this can vary. Some of our clients plan a full year in advance, and get calendar commitments early to avoid conflicts. Others are less far-sighted. Normally, if a client knows eight to 12 weeks in advance when work is desired, we will be able to accommodate their preferences.
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Why do you specialize in working with school boards? |
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Most of our professional careers have been spent in service to or for school boards. We know the special challenge they face to achieve good governance: they usually are political; they are populated by lay people often with little or no board experience or education expertise; the organizations they serve are surprisingly
complex; they account for a community's greatest expenditure of tax dollars; and they have power over the welfare and success of our children. We believe the performance of these supremely important boards must be self-disciplined and properly focused on students and their achievement. We consider that to be a challenge worth meeting!
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Have you worked with any very large (or very small) organizations? |
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We have served clients with annual budgets ranging from $200,000 to more than $3 billion, from employing fewer than 10 employees to more than 45,000. We have discovered and validated over and over: regardless of the size or complexity of the organization, or even its type, a board is a board. All have unique challenges. All have unique characteristics. But when the issues that face boards are reduced to their lowest common denominator, there are many more commonalities among boards than there are differences.
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Who actually does Aspen's work? |
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Virtually all of our work is performed by our two Senior Partners, Linda J. Dawson and Dr. Randy Quinn. Linda is based in Chicago, and Randy works out of Aspen's Castle Rock, Colorado office. We prefer to manage our work flow through adequate scheduling, rather than by adding associates.
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Do the two of you always work together? |
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We believe our work as a team increases the quality of service our clients receive. We have found that our very different styles enhance our delivery and ability to connect with different personalities. While one of us facilitates the deliberations or does the training, the other usually records the product of that discussion, allowing us to leave a finished document of the work as the session ends. We don't like delays in your work flow and implementation.
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What is the cost of your services? |
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Aspen charges fixed fees for all its services, which in some cases vary based on the size, type and complexity of the organization: large organizations are more complex and often require deeper levels of intervention and support than smaller ones. For all work performed on a daily-fee basis, our current charge is $4,500, plus expenses. However, most of our work is priced by project, rather than by day. Project work is priced individually based on the foregoing considerations, and usually results in greater economy for the client.
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What are your business hours? |
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Our business hours are:
Monday to Friday 8:00 am-5:00 pm Mountain Time.
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Where are you located? |
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Aspen Group offices are located in Denver's southern suburbs. Our address is:
The Aspen Group International, LLC
P.O. Box 1777
Castle Rock, Colorado
80104 USA
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How do I contact you? |
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Simply call us at:
303-882-9888 (Randy)
or
303-478-0125 (Linda),
or fax us at
208-247-6084.
Our e-mail address is
aspen@aspengroup.org
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Hot Links to Affiliated Web Sites
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http://www.fcps.edu
www.fargo.k12.nd.us
www.hcsd.k12.sc.us
http://www.mnps.org
www.schoolhousecom.com
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Aspen
Public Schools,
CO
Austin Independent School District,
TX
Beaufort County School District,
SC
Calgary Public Schools,
Alberta,
Canada
Clark County School District,
NV
Columbus Public Schools,
WI
Durango School District,
CO
Fairfax Public Schools,
VA
Fargo School District,
ND
Horry County School District,
SC
Issaquah School District,
WA
School District of LaCrosse,
WI
Lake Washington School District,
WA
Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools,
TN
Schoolhouse Communications, Lesley Dahlkemper |
The Aspen Group International, LLC.
A Leadership Development Company
P.O. Box 1777 Castle Rock, CO 80104
303.882.9888 or 303.478.0125 Fax: 208.247.6084
email: aspen@aspengroup.org
Linda J. Dawson, Senior Partner | Dr. Randy Quinn, Senior Partner |
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