On the Balcony – Leadership & Non-Profits – How non-profits can foster more civic change.
Join Heather McLeod Grant, co-author of the best-selling Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits for an “On The Balcony” call.
Grounded in several years of research, Forces for Good illuminates practices that “can be applied by any organization seeking to make a difference in the world.”
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Want to join a dynamic, collaborative team?
The Kansas Leadership Center is searching for a highly organized person with great people skills to serve as a full-time Program Associate.
As an emerging national voice in the field of civic leadership development, the Kansas Leadership Center offers top-notch faculty, a cutting edge curriculum and the only programs of their kind in the state of Kansas.
The Program Associate will help coordinate planning processes and educational sessions related to the Kansas Health Foundation Fellows program. This position also serves as a member of the Program Team and will help plan and support all activities within the team. This full-time position is located at the Kansas Leadership Center headquarters in downtown Wichita, 300 N. Main, Suite 100.
Qualifications:
Typical Duties and Responsibilities:
Applications are due by May 23, 2012
Interested applicants should send cover letter, resume and a list of three references to Jamie Crouse, jcrouse@kansasleadershipcenter.org.
It is the policy of The Kansas Leadership Center to provide equal employment opportunity without unlawful discrimination based upon race, color, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, disability, veteran status or any other lawfully protected reason.
Architectural plans have been finalized for the expansion of the Kansas Health Foundation complex, which will be formally named Kansas Leadership Center and Kansas Health Foundation Conference Center. It will be a new three-story building in what is now the Foundation parking lot on the corner of Douglas and Topeka.
The facility will serve as the new statewide headquarters for the Kansas Leadership Center, an organization launched by the Foundation in 2005. The Center fosters civic leadership with the goal to create stronger, healthier communities.
To strengthen the work of the Center, as well as the Foundation’s mission to improve the health of all Kansans, the building is designed specifically to bring together Kansans for multiple purposes. The new facilities, which will be approximately 36,000 square feet, will feature flexible meeting space for the purpose of hosting conferences, large group meetings, small gatherings, lectures and leadership trainings.
“We believe these designs allow for the most effective use of meeting space and will provide a unique gathering place to enhance civic leadership development in our state,” said Steve Coen, president and CEO of the Kansas Health Foundation. “Sharing this space with the Kansas Leadership Center will be of great benefit to both organizations and should allow both of us to more effectively serve the needs of Kansans.”
In addition to offices and smaller meeting rooms, major features of the building include a “town hall” type meeting space for 200 people and two classrooms with capacity for 50 people per room. Lobby areas in the building are designed to facilitate both small group gatherings, as well as providing open areas for additional meeting space or presentations.
A courtyard will be positioned between the offices of the Foundation and the Center, which will allow visitors to access the main entrances of either organization.
“Our goal was to create, in essence, a living room for the state, a place where Kansans can gather, challenge each other and learn together,” said Ed O’Malley, president and CEO of the Kansas Leadership Center. “We are thrilled with the design and can imagine Kansans convening there for generations to come.”
The Kansas Leadership Center expects to bring approximately 1,000 Kansans a year to its headquarters for leadership training programs and additional people for meeting and conferences, including alumni meetings. It has more than 1,500 alumni throughout Kansas.
Preliminary plans call for breaking ground on the building this summer, with estimated time of completion being one year. The cost to build the facility will be approximately $8.6 million.
This is a guest post by Phil Auxier, a KLC alum from Hutchinson, Kansas.
I was recently thinking about Intervening Skillfully into a situation and in that competency, I came across that line: “make conscious choices” and the thought occurred to me, what is a conscious choice? How does this kind of choice differ from others? Hopefully, my musings on this will help you think about intervening skillfully through making conscious choices.
The KLC Quick Guide asks some questions that help define it: “What is our typical approach to intervening on issues like this? What new intervention approaches might be necessary? What type of leadership interventions are needed from us right now?” Again, so many of our interventions are, to quote something I’ve often heard in church life, “the way we’ve always done them.” We’re not seeking to be effective, but rather to step in like we typically do. Making a conscious choice means pausing a second to consider if the particular situation you’re addressing requires the same old, same old or if there is a way that you might be able to intervene that would be more effective.
Making a conscious choice requires great management of self, a thorough diagnosis of the situation and a consideration as to how our actions can best be maneuvered to energize others. So, this works together, with all the competencies, to have the most robust and powerful impact on others. That is a conscious choice that makes a difference. Therefore, today, let’s intervene skillfully through making conscious choices and see if we don’t just achieve better outcomes in our leadership opportunities.
Community leadership program (CLP) facilitators from across Kansas will attend the three day (April 18-20) Kansas Community Leadership Initiative (KCLI) Facilitator Workshop. The event will allow facilitators to receive feedback from peers to sharpen their front of the room facilitation skills and to be introduced to multiple KLC facilitation activities. A Civic Leadership Coaching track is also offered for participants interested in learning how to use coaching skills with their CLP participants.
The Kansas Leadership Center (KLC) is excited to announce the launch three programs. One brand new and the other two highly evolved.
ExecCoach Kansas – Leadership that starts where you are
ExecCoach Kansas is a one-on-one highly customized leadership development experience. You will have the opportunity to work with a civic leadership coach who will push you to be conscious, purposeful and intentional as you exercise leadership. This program is open to all Kansans, but might especially benefit those who are:
Click here for more information about ExecCoach Kansas
Questions? Contact Keshia Ezerendu at kezerendu@kansasleadershipcenter.org or call 316-712-4961.
Your Leadership Edge – Innovative leadership to help you make progress
Your Leadership Edge is KLC’s signature short-format program designed to push you to the edge of your comfort and competence. Through provocative sessions, the intense Harvard Peer Consultation process and the KLC 360 Leadership Assessment, this program will help you make progress on the issues you care about most in civic life.
Your Leadership Edge is open to all Kansans but each location is capped at 45 participants. 2012, dates:
The participation fee is $100, this includes meals and materials. Scholarships are available upon request.
Click here for more information about Your Leadership Edge.
Questions? Email Thomas Stanley at tstanley@kansasleadershipcenter.org or call 316-712-4958.
Leadership & Faith: Multi-Faith Teams
The Leadership & Faith: Multi-Faith Teams is a unique opportunity designed for Kansas faith congregations. The program was first offered to United Methodist Church teams but is now open to all faiths. It includes a total of seven days of leadership development, a leadership team coach, and the KLC 360 Leadership Assessment. Your congregation will be better prepared to make progress on difficult issues in the community.
Upcoming event dates:
· August 5-8, 2012 and February 24-26, 2013 in Wichita
There is no fee for this program.
Click here for more information about Leadership & Faith Multi-Faith Teams
Questions? Contact Allie Denning at adenning@kansasleadershipcenter.org or call 316-712-4957.
Nearly two years ago, I embarked on a mission to turn our community’s attention to gang violence. I’d moved on from a journalism career but thought the best way to intervene was through the credibility I’d earned from years as a solitary but loud occupant of our community’s conscience.
I had modest success but looking back, I didn’t make the progress I could have, and I have no one to blame but myself.
This happens with most of us engaged in civic leadership. We’re so busy evaluating others that we overlook how our zeal, certitude and myopia may be sabotaging our efforts. The Kansas Leadership Center calls this “understanding your part of the mess.”
Challenging others’ beliefs may have its place, but unless we’re willing to upset our own, narrative about our noble motives and purpose, we may never make progress on issues we care about most.
And I cared about gangs.
I’d covered the carnage they’d caused in communities – sleeping infants and toddlers killed in crossfire – for years as a reporter. My family also experienced the wrenching loss of my cousin’s innocent son. I ached to do something. Anything.
So I did what I do best. I started talking to people and writing. For three weekends, The Eagle ran my guest columns. The Chief of Police and the Mayor wrote columns following mine. I felt I’d helped turn community attention to gangs, if slightly.
But no matter how well we think we understand a situation, it’s difficult to make progress unless we’re willing to investigate whether we’re actually part of the mess.
So asked myself if I’d inadvertently demonized gang members and those who moved away in fright? Did I rail when I could have rallied? Could I have been more conciliatory and less accusatory? Worse, did I value representing a point a view more than I valued progress?
I pled guilty to some questions. The jury’s still out on others. But I had to ask the questions. We all do if we want to be more effective.
This isn’t easy.
The very idea runs counter to our nature. We tend to rationalize our questionable behavior, rarely pointing the finger at ourselves.
Challenging deeply held ideas and perceptions about ourselves takes us in the opposite direction. Most of us don’t have to drill down very far before self-discovery’s bit hits a sensitive layer of insecurity. Criticizing others comes naturally, but unflinching self evaluation stings.
Our effectiveness is hitched to our willingness to trade our carefully crafted narrative of nobility that holds us back, for an unflattering, uncomfortable one that moves us forward. For me, that means regulating my passion and certitude which energizes some but alienates others.
Anyone can exercise leadership in any situation.
But our external expeditions into causes also should include an internal evaluation of our motives, defaults and purpose.
Join Duke Divinity School’s senior strategist and professor of theology L. Gregory Jones, KLC President and CEO Ed O’Malley and fellow KLC Alumni for an On The Balcony call to discuss the intersection of leadership and faith. Dr. Jones’ vast experience as a United Methodist pastor, Senior Strategist for Leadership Education and Dean of the Duke Divinity School will catalyze the conversation.
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Most Wichitans can say, “This isn’t our mess.”
We weren’t lingering in the street at 2 a.m. Sunday morning when, according to The Eagle, bullets began piercing the night air in Old Town last weekend leaving one person dead and four other people wounded. We weren’t hanging out in an area where a 2003 parking lot shooting killed a 25-year-old man; where another parking lot shooting in 2006 wounded six people; and where a 2008 stabbing critically injured two men and a woman in their 20s.
We may not have contributed directly, but this is our mess.
People definitely should take responsibility for their own actions, but don’t we all share this space and the civic leadership responsibility to act in its best interests? Will bullets target only “them?” Will year-end homicide tallies have “us” and “them” categories?
What about the officers who chased a suspect into the parking garage and exchanged gunfire with him? They’re with us, right?
And the innocent people trying to move their cars out of the same parking garage, they’re with us, too, right?
Aren’t the business owners with us, too? They didn’t ask anyone to bring ammunition or attitudes to Old Town that night.
It’s difficult for those of us not directly involved in a mess such as this one to accept or adopt any responsibility in cleaning it up, but there are clearly shared bridges of concern. When people elsewhere learn about this, they may label us an undesirable place.
So this is our mess. Whether we had a role in what happened or not, we have a stake in eliminating these incidents.
So what would acting on our part of this mess look like?
Maybe volunteering for a youth organization. Asking friends and neighbors if they share our concerns and forming a community organization. Asking police to host a public meeting at a substation where we could learn more about the problem and about what’s already being done.
There’s a multitude of things we could begin doing if we used our imaginations. But we also must remember that complex challenges defy simple solutions.
The officers who chased an armed suspect into a dark parking garage deserve medals, but hiring more officers won’t make violent people non-violent.
Night clubs could establish or re-instate dress codes, but that wouldn’t cause violent people to stop lingering, fighting, carrying guns and firing them into crowds after the clubs close.
A lot of us may want to visit this wonderful and award-winning entertainment district, but perhaps won’t because of such incidents.
So, if we choose to share in the benefits of our city – the sights and sounds and flavor – we must share in the ugly, disturbing messes, too.
Until we do, we won’t be as engaged or as safe as we should or could be.
Mark E. McCormick is director of communications at the Kansas Leadership Center. Email him with comments or questions at: mmccormick@kansasleadershipcenter.org
March 15, 2012
Believing that civic leadership creates stronger, healthier and more prosperous communities, the Kansas Leadership Center (KLC) selected two regional efforts in Kansas for its new Academy for Team Leadership initiative.
Visioneering Wichita’s Health Alliance and Project 17 from southeast Kansas have each been chosen to participate in KLC’s first ever Academy for Team Leadership. Both efforts are focused on improving the health and well being of local residents, and each will receive $1 million in civic leadership training.
The Visioneering Health Alliance is part of Visioneering Wichita, the comprehensive, long-range planning initiative for south-central Kansas. The Health Alliance works to ensure community citizens can be as healthy as possible for as long as possible. In 2010, the Visioneering Health Alliance convened partners from more than 60 agencies to select health priorities and set an action plan that would require newly engaged leadership and new ways of working together. This investment from KLC will facilitate moving that plan into action.
“The work of the Health Alliance reflects a true commitment to working together, across disciplines and geographic boundaries, in ways that contribute to the overall well-being of our region,” said Suzie Ahlstrand, who leads the Visioneering initiative at the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce. “We couldn’t be more proud that ‘one of our own’ has successfully competed for – and won – this significant challenge. We look forward to helping take the work that’s already been done to the next level.”
“This is an unbelievable opportunity,” said Ahlstrand. “We are celebrating the announcement and looking forward to working with the Kansas Leadership Center. Our goal is to ensure their intentional investment in civic engagement and leadership training allows us to make significant progress toward the priorities we’ve identified for improving the health of communities in south-central Kansas. We are proud to take on this ambitious task.”
Members of the Health Alliance Leadership Team include the director of the medical society, health foundation partners, the director for Project Access, leaders from the community mental health center, staff from the local public health department, the United Way, hospital leaders, non-profit leaders related to health, leadership from the YMCA, and more.
Project 17 is a broad-based effort to improve economic and health conditions among the seventeen counties of Southeast Kansas that collectively represent the poorest and least-healthy region of the state. Started by the four state senators representing the region, Project 17 has become a regional movement that is building capacity to create a thriving economy and healthier communities.
A primary goal of Project 17 is establishing a community of collaborative regional leaders who can collectively mobilize resources to invest in efforts that transcend narrowly-focused competitions pitting neighbor against neighbor. The participating counties are Allen, Anderson, Bourbon, Chautauqua, Cherokee, Coffey, Crawford, Elk, Franklin, Greenwood, Labette, Linn, Miami, Montgomery, Neosho, Wilson, and Woodson.
“We are excited and humbled by our selection,” said Senator Jeff King, who along with Senators Pat Apple, Bob Marshall and Dwayne Umbarger spearheaded the creation of Project 17. “KLC’s investment in the people of Southeast Kansas dramatically increases the likelihood that we can meaningfully improve the lives of a quarter-million people across our region. Project 17 is an enormous effort that faces challenging odds, but it got a tremendous boost with today’s announcement.”
The Academy for Team Leadership is designed to help turn the tide on a tough public issue. KLC will provide immersion-style, leadership training for up to four years, for up to 400 people connected to each issue.
These two efforts were chosen from 21 applicants for the Academy for Team Leadership. Approximately 100 Kansas organizations expressed interest in the program which will provide leadership training valued at up to $1 million for each of the efforts.
“Our original goal was to choose only one,” said KLC President and CEO Ed O’Malley. “We were looking for a partnership with a creative, committed organization ready to roll up its sleeves and go to work on a problem. Turns out we found two that we just couldn’t refuse. Both these efforts are underway, fascinating and have great potential. We are excited to join them.”
The Academy for Team Leadership represents a different way to make progress on a daunting public issue. “We are excited to move this forward, learn as we go and support Kansans working to create stronger communities,” O’Malley said.
KLC will begin meeting soon with Project 17 and Visioneering Wichita’s Health Alliance to plan the initial trainings.
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The Kansas Leadership Center opened in 2007 with a multi-year, renewable grant from The Kansas Health Foundation, and is charged with fostering civic leadership for stronger, healthier and more prosperous communities. To learn more, visit: kansasleadershipcenter.org.
For media inquiries contact Mark McCormick at 316-712-4950.
