Celebrated Changemaker
How Kimi Kean Raised Her Team’s Capacity and $1 Million
Access to high-quality education for all
Kimi Kean is the CEO and co-founder of Families in Action, a family power-building organization based in Oakland, California.
“We build parent leadership, particularly among under served families, so they can be active and influential in public education policies and practices,” Kimi says.
As CEO of Families in Action, this is Kimi’s first time leading a non-profit. Her background is in large school systems, in roles ranging from founding teacher to principal to network superintendent.
“This is a new experience for me, and I love it,” Kimi says.
"I just wanted to be at a place in my career where I derived a lot of satisfaction from my work, so I wanted a coach because I didn't want to let myself slip back into old patterns.”
Kimi Kean, CEO and Co-Founder, Families in Action
100% of team members have deep knowledge of their strengths, which enables them to operate more effectively
$1 million in new funding raised
Cultivating 4 new funders
Big changes, isolation, and decision-making fatigue
Although Kimi was passionate about her work at Families in Action from the start, she felt like a fish out of water when she first took the helm as CEO. She describes launching Families in Action as a leap of faith. Although she knew it was risky, she was compelled by the mission and the need.
“I knew that a lot of what I’d learned previously would be applicable, but I also wondered how I’d need to be different to help this new venture succeed,” she says.
Adding to the pressure was the fact that Kimi found her leadership role to be a lonely position fraught with decision-making fatigue.
“I would get paralyzed,” she says. “It was hard to figure out the right amount of ambitious goals to take on, and how much hands-on work I should be doing versus building the team’s capacity.”
Kimi began to get stuck on these issues and pushed them aside to focus on other priorities—but she knew she needed a solution.
“If you can’t get through this stuff, it’s hard to be your most effective self,” she says. “I wanted to be at a place in my career where I derived a lot of satisfaction from my work, but I didn't want to slip back into old patterns of overwork.”
Investing in her own leadership
By her second year at Families in Action, Kimi recognized the team's outstanding contributions. However, she aspired to evolve into a visionary leader. She established a clear objective: enhance her team's capabilities, empowering them to manage tasks autonomously. This would allow her to allocate more time to strategic planning and fundraising efforts.
“I didn’t want to muddle through alone anymore,” she says. “I have no qualms about investing in my own leadership because I know it’s going to help the work and the mission.”
Kimi was seeking support to help her achieve more in an intentional way. She was soon introduced to Rayne Martin, CEO and founder of It’s The Impact, through the CEO of an organization she was the board chair for.
“We hired a new CEO and when we were looking for coaching for him, he did a thorough vetting process. He chose Rayne out of 10 coaches because he felt like she’d push him the most,” Kimi says. “He started telling me about the work and I wanted to work with Rayne, too.”
Understanding strengths and gaining strategic guidance
Kimi invested in one-to-one coaching with Rayne for a year. She then decided to join The Changemaker, a group leadership support program, for another year.
“Rayne’s knowledge and the peer accountability really appealed to me,” she says. “The synergy when you’re learning together and watching people become better leaders is powerful.”
Through both experiences, one aspect of Rayne’s coaching Kimi has found particularly valuable is the work to transform leaders’ outcomes by helping them know and harness their strengths (AKA their Zone of Brilliance).
“Rayne calls you on challenges or things you’re avoiding, but her approach also focuses on the fact that as humans, we’re so negatively inclined. Part of the solution is grounding ourselves in our assets as leaders,” Kimi says. “The strengths assessment has been a great ongoing tool and mindset shift for that.”
Additionally, the coaching process helped Kimi identify areas of her leadership where she was excelling and areas that needed enhancement to meet her objectives. Rayne subsequently assisted Kimi in setting precise goals that not only leveraged her strengths but also bolstered her team's capacity, guiding her organization to achieve their targets.
“Sometimes I’ll be hard on myself and go down a rabbit hole, but when Rayne gets to know you, she’s just like, ‘No, let’s move on.’ That’s really helpful. You can’t do that by yourself,” Kimi says.
Building team capacity and maximizing strengths
100% of team members have deep knowledge of their strengths, enabling them to be more effective
$1 million in new funding raised
A legacy of building strong leadership capacity:
Since working with Rayne, Kimi has achieved her primary goal of building her team’s leadership capacity. This is critical for Families in Action as a small organization with big ambition, where success depends on everyone’s ability to perform at their best levels.
“Before working with Rayne, I would get frustrated when things wouldn’t get done,” Kimi says. “Rayne validated how I felt but also helped me get unstuck and move toward the outcome I wanted to see.”
As a result, Families in Action has transformed from an organization where Kimi was behind the scenes with her hands in multiple pots to an organization where team members are leading organizing campaigns.
“Through Rayne’s support, I was able to figure out what that could look like and how much it needed to be a priority if I was going to be sane in this role,” Kimi says. “Growing leadership is the legacy I want to leave behind.”
A ripple effect of impact:
Families in Action also recently wrapped up its first team retreat, where every employee discovered which strengths different individuals bring to the table and how they can learn from one another.
“It was an aha moment that never would have happened without my own experience with Rayne. It illuminated how I can build on my leadership, and it’s fun to see that cascade effect happen,” Kimi says.
In addition, the exercise reinforced to the team that they are capable and have real strengths to build on that is worth celebrating.
“It’s perfect timing because now each organizer is leading a campaign, which is a huge shift in expectations and responsibilities. You want to know your strengths as you take big risks like that,” Kimi says. “It feels exciting to think about how we’re changing the culture around how people see their own leadership and capabilities.”
Bold fundraising goals:
Working with Rayne also helped Kimi take a bolder approach to fundraising — an area that was relatively new to her. During a conversation the two were having about Kimi’s fundraising goals, Rayne suggested Kimi double her fundraising goal from $1 million to $2 million the next year.
“I was thinking much more incrementally, and she helped me dream bigger,” Kimi says. “Too often, we put unnecessary limits on ourselves. A coach is there to help you unleash the best of your leadership and see where you can grow. That made me a lot more assertive.”
Kimi made it halfway to her goal that year and would not have gotten that far without having a more aggressive goal. She’s confident that she can hit an even higher number this year.
Nurturing leaders, expanding programming, and diversifying funding
Families in Action is now in its fourth year, and Kimi is excited to see her team take on greater responsibility and respond to challenges and opportunities.
“In any healthy organization, you always want to have leadership pipelines. We’ve hired more people, and we’re actively cultivating and nurturing leadership,” she says.
Families in Action is also expanding its programming and the number of schools it serves. In addition, the organization has also diversified its funding in several ways, which is beneficial for its long-term sustainability. For example, schools now pay to be a part of the Families in Action coalition. Other schools pay for services such as family leadership development training.
“This means people value what we’re doing, and they want more of it,” Kimi says.
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