Join us for the 2024 Leadership Labs!

Leadership Labs are a set of workshops designed to support the activation of the newly commenced Senior Fellows of classes 59, 60, and 61 AND the broader ALF network.

Traditionally, the labs have been held as two of the final class sessions within the Fellows program. This year, the Leadership Labs are open to all Senior Fellows to foster collaboration and connection throughout the ALF network in order to make progress on the leadership challenges we are all facing.

The labs are an opportunity to turn up the heat on an issue of deep importance to you, galvanize those who you need to include in your issue, and practice creating collective action. This is a space to build on, or revisit, the learnings and skills gained throughout the Fellows program year, and to practice those skills in community with other ALF Senior Fellows and Facilitators. The labs will be held on two separate days, Friday March 22, and Friday, April 12, from 9:00am – 4:00pm at 1801 Main Street.

Senior Fellows will select one track from four different options based on how they want to focus their efforts for their leadership challenge. Check out the details of the four tracks below. You will be asked to identify which track resonates most with you on the following registration page.

*Please note*

• Senior Fellows who register for Leadership Labs are committing to attend both part 1 on March 22 and part 2 on April 12
• There are limited spots available
• Deadline to register is March 11

Track 1 – Feeding the Inner Flame

In this track, the focus will be on the non-negotiable work of self-awareness, personal growth, psychological insight, and values clarification.

The fire that transforms the world begins with the flame within leaders. Because leading is relational and is usually measured, for better and worse, by material achievement, we can lose ourselves in our roles, relationships, and deliverables. The term burnout was coined by a psychologist to describe his own experience as a visionary community servant-leader. And in a very similar way, the term self-care was coined by a visionary community servant-leader who had to choose between a literal death in blind service to her community and a strategic pause to ensure that she could continue to serve her values.

This track is for Senior Fellows who are:

• Looking to build their capacity to lead sustainably and meaningfully
• Experiencing burnout (emotionally exhausted, cynical, and/or losing our sense of accomplishment)
• Navigating major professional transitions or life changes
• Needing time and space to consult their personal compass (or to build one)

You can expect to gain:

• A personal plan for building and tending to the inner flame of leadership
• A set of core terms (including burnout, self-care, communities of care, adaptive resilience, and others) to guide both inner and external leadership
• A toolbox of initial skills
• An assessment of current needs and strengths

Please come prepared with:

• A clear articulation of your values
• A reflection or inventory on your current personal state.

Track 2 – Lighting the Fire

In this track, the focus will be on determining your next move.You’re ready to light the fire and engage in bridging and dialogue over a specific issue or challenge. You are prepared to stay steady in the mess, but your next steps are not clear enough to take action. You need support in strong planning and creating a path forward.

This track is for Senior Fellows who:

• Have an idea for or an interest in a specific issue that impacts their community or organization, but may not know where to start, who to contact, or even if their idea is a good one
• Are inspired or feel a calling to take action on an important issue
• Want to explore ways in which to “reality check” their own ideas, broaden their lens to include multiple voices and perspectives, and get feedback from their colleagues on what possible next steps could be

You can expect to gain:

• A clearer sense of what really matters to them about their particular issue
• A sense of where their growth edge on the issue lies
• A pathway of concrete actions steps to guide the next leg of their journey of engagement, including a powerful question

Please come prepared with:

• The ability to speak about specific issues or challenges that are capturing your heart or attention, but that you haven’t yet taken much, or any, action on.

Track 3 – Building the Fire

This track is for those who are currently making moves to address a specific issue.You are already engaged in addressing a specific social, civic, or organizational issue. You are currently in the process of tackling root causes and trying different interventions. This track is an interactive dialogue and a powerful opportunity to receive valuable feedback, tools, and support to continue making progress on your issue with new experiments and moral courage.

This track is for Senior Fellows who:

• Are currently taking action on a specific issue
• Have diagnosed the root cause of their chosen social/civic/organizational issue
• Are clarifying actionable experiments (or prototypes) to test innovative solutions to their issue

You can expect to gain:

• A powerful question that will center the work of leading and mobilizing others to action.
• Support in designing a new intervention to implement for your specific social/civic/organizational issue or concern.
• Insights and feedback from that implemented intervention

Please come prepared with:

• Identification of the problem or issue you are trying to solve and what steps you have taken thus far

Track 4 – Bonfire

Bonfire Track is for those who are ready to go bigger and bolder on an existing organization/project/issue they have been working on already.

This track will provide clarity and tools for participants to level up their leadership capacity for greater impact. It will require risk-taking, courage, and strong relationships. During Leadership Labs, participants will be challenged to expand and push boundaries to create sustainable systemic change.

This track is for Senior Fellows who:

• Are clear in their vision and looking to move their organization/business endeavor/project/issue to the next level
• Have already invested a considerable amount of time and resources toward an issue/project they care about and have a clear plan or intention to create greater impact
• Have proven influence in the areas they want to lead but need to weigh real risk factors and manage losses in order to change systems.

What you can expect to gain:

• The practice of designing bold experiments to overcome barriers and intervene in systems you want to change.
• A better understanding on accountability, and building a Community of Practice that will provide support and resources so you can be resilient in your work.
• Clairty on the risks/losses/gains of leading systems change. You’ll learn tools to manage the risks/losses combined with the tools to influence the gains at a rate you and stakeholders can handle.

Please come prepared with:

• A clear articulation about the problem you’re trying to solve
• Reflections on what you’ve created/attempted thus far and where you could use the most help