Leadership for a New Era Engagement Webinar

Leadership for a New Era (LNE) Engagement Webinar By: Leadership Learning Community January 2010

Intro
Goals for the Webinar:
Share progress
Discuss emerging ideas and questions around Leadership and Race and Leadership and Networks
Give you a chance to connect with other LNE members
Support your use of the website to facilitate your participation
Logistics
Agenda & Live Chat Window
http://www.leadershipforanewera.org/page/LNE+Engagement+Webinar+Agenda
Twitter hashtag: #llcircle

LNE Overview

Overview
Collaborative research initiative launched by the Leadership Learning Community in 2009
Leadership Learning Community
National nonprofit organization transforming the way leadership development work is conceived, conducted and evaluated
Focus on leveraging leadership as a means to promote social justice
Identify, evaluate and apply cutting-edge ideas and promising practices in the field
National network of hundreds of funders, consultants and programs

Leadership for a New Era
What:
To produce a body of research, resources and recommendations about how to be more inclusive, networked and collective in our leadership work
Why:
The primary current leadership model places a strong focus on the individual’s role and responsibility in the change process and does not:
Leverage network-centric approaches
Support racial justice outcomes with a systemic analysis of structural racism
Promote leadership as a democratic and relational process that supports collective action
The leadership landscape is changing
Projected generational transfer of leadership
Development of new social technologies

Leadership for a New Era
Who :
Those who are committed to leadership development work: programs, funders, researchers, program participants
How:
Produce publications and online resource directories
Leadership and Race
Leadership and Networks
Collective Leadership
Leadership across Difference

Unique Opportunity
Contribute to, and be part of, a growing network of practitioners, researchers and funders who are committed to promoting and supporting more inclusive, networked and collective leadership
Establish relationships with peers in the fields of leadership development, network development, and community development
Access the latest thinking and practices in these fields
Share and get exposure for your materials and research

Engaging with LNE

What has been achieved?

Awareness and Participation
Outreach
Secured commitments from 20 well recognized potential partners to participate as writers
Increased participation on the website through social media, email and blogger outreach
Engagement
Hosted a series of webinars and face-to-face convenings to increase participation
Content
Produced synthesis for Leadership and Race
Produced synthesis outline for Leadership and Networks
Over 85 participants registered on the website Steady increase on site traffic Over 90 meeting participants (face-to-face and webinars)

LNE Website

Leadership & Networks

Publication Overview
Framing questions:
Why are network approaches to leadership vital for the social sector? What are the consequences of perpetuating the dominant leadership model?
What network forms are being experimented with in the social sector and across sectors? What are common leadership challenges in catalyzing and unleashing networks?
What is network leadership in the connected age?
What leadership development supports are needed to catalyze and unleash the power of networks?
How can evaluation support learning about network leadership and transform the potential for collective action?

Influences of the Dominant Culture on Leadership Work in the Social Sector
Many leadership programs are based on the dominant culture’s beliefs that hierarchical organizations with strong executive leadership are best prepared to address the social, economic and environmental challenges we face. This assumption fails to understand that:
Organizational fragmentation in the social sector is inefficient and costly when compared to “networked nonprofits”
Top down leadership structures limit information sharing and the development of innovative solutions when compared with distributed leadership within and across organizations
A focus on organizational success often displaces a focus on mission achievement

How to Catalyze and Unleash Network-Centric Leadership in the Social Sector
Build relationships of trust that support the flow of ideas, information, resources and accountability across divides
Use technologies and methodologies that support small groups to self-organize around what they care about
Let go of control
Invest resources where energy and momentum is building across a network
Build only forms that are flexible, informal, have provisional leadership, and are always open to new people

Questions
What network forms of leadership do you see being experimented with in the social sector? By whom?
How are social technologies transforming leadership?
What leadership development strategies unleash the power of networks?

Leadership & Race

Publication Overview
Framing questions:
Does current leadership thinking and practice contribute to structural racism?
What leadership strategies are vital to supporting racial justice?
How can leadership programs help to mitigate the impact of centuries of structural disadvantage along lines of race?
What evaluation approaches can facilitate our learning about leadership work that supports racial justice?

Influences of the Dominant Culture on Leadership Work
Many leadership programs are based on the dominant culture’s beliefs about the role of individuals in change and fail to understand:
Structural disadvantage along lines of race, and therefore assume a level field where results are based on ability and skill
The relational and collective nature of leadership in which meaning-making around social identities and lived experience builds collective action
To dismantle structural racism it is necessary for leadership programs to address how structural advantage/disadvantage is perpetuated and to build connections and identify systems-level strategies
be supported

Leadership Work can Help to Address Structural Racism
Leadership programs can mitigate historical disadvantage by providing access to new skills (e.g. policy), expanded networks, visibility, information, leadership opportunities and financial resources
Leadership programs that incorporate an analysis of structural racism can provide opportunities for groups to:
Make meaning of their experiences
Engage in healing and inner work in a safe environment
Build relationships and networks within and among groups
Collectively develop, test and adapt systems change strategies

Questions
What role do you think leadership programs should or can play in trying to tackle issues of structural racism?
What ideas do you have about how leadership programs can make a difference in racial justice?
What have you seen in leadership work that you believe is having an impact on racial justice?

Next Steps

Stay Involved!
Update your profile
Continue to share resources
Continue to engage in dialogue
Suggest ideas for future exploration
Promote LNE !

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Leadership for a New Era Engagement Webinar

by Leadership Learning Community

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