event: Philanthropic Leadership in a Reset World

These are unprecedented times with significant challenges now facing us individually and collectively. Rather than hunkering down and operating in business as usual, adaptation and leadership are needed. It’s easy to be in front of the crowd when you know where you are going. It’s very different when you assume it will never be the same again and the future is not only unknown, but unknowable.

– Marty Linsky, Co-founder of Cambridge Leadership Associates

Borrowing from the Zen Buddhist tradition, I believe this is a time for the “beginner’s mind”, one in which we can separate ourselves from years of practice and improvement, from “truths” we have worked hard to discover and come to accept. Experiences and beliefs are not discarded, just set aside temporarily to make room for new ideas.

– Ellen Remmer, President & CEO of The Philanthropic Initiative, Inc.

Workshop

Drawing on over 50 combined years of experience and practice at Harvard University and in philanthropic organizations around the world, Cambridge Leadership Associates and The Philanthropic Initiative are pleased to offer a joint workshop for foundation board members and staff as well as individuals deeply engaged in philanthropy.

This program focuses on the exercise of leadership, enabling participants to develop knowledge, strategies, and action steps for deepening impact on their organizations and communities as well as thriving, not just surviving, through these times of complexity and uncertainty.

Through a combination of discussions, small group work, case studies and guided reflection, as philanthropists, participants will learn the strategies and skills of Adaptive Leadership™ for greater impact and social change.

Who is the workshop for?

• Donors, foundation board members and staff seeking to build their personal and organizational leadership capacity
• Individuals who feel frustrated in the attempt to lead their organizations for and through change
• Individuals and teams wrestling with implementing change within their foundations
• Those who want to explore how to exercise leadership for change in their communities

Questions to prepare for the workshop:

• How has the context of your philanthropy changed? 
• What are your major leadership challenges – organizational and individual?

Preliminary Agenda

Day 1:

1. Introductions and orientation
2. Barriers and challenges to change – What is the context?  What has changed?  Are your current challenges temporary bumps in the road, or is it time to reinvestigate and reexamine your assumptions? How well are foundations equipped to respond and lead in the current environment?
3. Adaptive leadership framework – What is technical and what is adaptive change?
4. Diagnosing the system – What are your organizational leadership challenges in this new context?
5. Defining your organizational vision – Does your vision make sense in the current environment? What can you imagine going forward?
6. Mobilizing for change and impact – Leadership and Authority: what are the differences and how can you lead from where you are, both formally and informally?
7. Reflection and debrief
8. Evening reception

Day 2:

1. Check-in
2. Diagnosing self – What are your personal adaptive challenges?
3. Diagnosing self – Where do you exercise authority and where can you exercise leadership?
4. Smart risk taking and innovation – What experiments can you run to find the approaches that will work best?
5. Open space – A time to brainstorm issues and possible solutions
6. The Way Forward – How will you bring the work home – for yourself and your organization?

Registration

Dates: Wednesday/Thursday March 31-April 1, 2010

Location: TPI, 160 Federal Street, Boston MA

Tuition Rates:

Corporate

• $1,750 before March 9th, 2010
• $2,000 thereafter

Foundation and individual

• $1,250 by March 9th, 2010
• $1,500 thereafter

* Rates include breakfast and lunch on both days

* Additional $50 fee for evening event

* Group rates are available

Contact Amy Ellsworth with questions or to register.  

azellsworth@tpi.org

617.338.2590