A Year Of Compassion

Last Thursday afternoon was bittersweet for me.

It was the final session of a ten month custom leadership program I designed and delivered for Compassion Canada’s managers and directors. I met monthly by Zoom with three cohorts of about a dozen committed leaders, exploring together the practical realities of what it means for each of them to be a Healthy Leader.

I loved it; and I’m going to miss them.

Highlights for me included a two day in person retreat, individual PACE (Perspective, Accountability, Challenge, and Encouragement) calls, and the honesty, humour, and mutual support that come when leaders gather regularly for an extended time.

I was regularly inspired, and challenged, by our sessions and one on one conversations.

Compassion’s People and Culture department will be doing their own participant survey and program evaluation, but the feedback throughout was helpful and encouraging. They let me know when a session didn’t connect as well as it should, and when something worked really well. We made changes to the program when it made sense to do so, and took time to process some of the joys and struggles that are bound to occur in a leadership year.

I am grateful to have been trusted to help Compassion develop these people.

One of the things I enjoy most about my work is that I am able to customize programs, building from more then 30 developed workshops, and develop new content as needed to suit the specific situations and priorities of each charity I work with. I’m not forcing them to fit into my box or system.

In the last year I’ve done a six week leadership incubator for Indwell, an 8 session program for Area Managers with Christian Horizons, and a series of staff retreats for Tearfund among others. The creativity and collaboration involved in making each program serve the real needs of the participants is a challenge I relish.

In the year ahead I expect to be developing and delivering more of these custom leadership programs. If your team could benefit from training that is specific, adaptable, and highly engaging, I’d love to talk about what it could look like to build something that brings out the best in your people.

Contact me to set up a free consultation.

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