A Confession About Leadership Materials
I am going to start with a confession. One that I’m not sure I’ve told to my co-workers before. I’ve always hated leadership development materials. The books, the Ted Talks, the inspirational quotes, all of it. Somehow it has always landed poorly with me and felt shallow, superficial, and hard to see the soul and the love behind the jargon. I also never liked brussel sprouts. But then someone cooked them so perfectly, so deliciously, so full of love and soul that I saw where the value could come alive. Leadership curricula finally started “hitting different”, as our teens here at Crossnore say, when I started to see it housed in the context of deep connection, of mindful reflection, of leadership as a manner of love in action, and of a commitment to community building.
Leadership at Crossnore
The opportunities for leadership at Crossnore begin early and often for our staff. While we have an org chart like any other, our work is unique in the opportunities for any role to see a need and to meet it in creative, nurturing, and impassioned ways. And isn’t that the essence of leadership? It is out of this fact that the Leadership Academy was born.
The Leadership Academy Experience
Each year, staff across all programs and campuses have the opportunity to apply to participate in an 8 month leadership development program. Intentionally created to go beyond the plastic sensibilities of traditional corporate jargon, Leadership Academy creates connection and community for participants and empowers deep reflection into the ways that each individual can be a leader where they are as well as where they are going.
Strength-Based Development
A long-standing mantra at Crossnore, borrowed and embodied from our friends at the Sanctuary Institute, is that the question we should ask is not “what is wrong?” but “what is strong?” In this light, leaders from across the organization explore themes during the 8-month program that provide insights and reflections on their strengths and how they can nurture and grow their strengths, understanding psychology and human behavior in communities and organizations, strategic thinking in systemic and individual growth, cultural humility and identity in diverse organizations and communities, effective communication with groups, and health and well-being in leadership.
Leadership as a Foundation for Healing
Vulnerable children and families often come to Crossnore with emergent needs, and every child and family deserves the absolute best care available. Healthy systems, ones that aim to be equipped for this work and to do it with the love, empathy, compassion, and energy needed, require a leader in every chair across our organization. At Crossnore, our commitment is to provide the best services, and one key element to success in this commitment is to equip our staff at every level and in every department and location. Leadership Academy has become a valuable tool for giving staff across our organization the tools and nurture to make our organization a place of hope and healing, that leads with love and creates transformative change through deep connection to our service recipients, our neighborhoods, our communities, and our world.
