Local Foundation Invests in Training and Leaders Emerge!
Foellinger Center for Adaptive Leadership graduates first cohort
Fourteen leaders from four area nonprofit organizations will graduate from Foellinger Foundation’s Emerging Leaders Program on Thursday, March 23, 2017. The graduation celebration will begin at 12:00 noon at the Botanical Gardens.
These 14 leaders spent the last year increasing and strengthening their adaptive leadership skills with a focus on commitment to purpose, emotional intelligence, integrity and entrepreneurship.
Linda Mumma, chief financial officer of Lutheran Social Services of Indiana, is among the graduates. “This training has equipped me with better tools to address challenging leadership situations in a more capable and effective manner,” Mumma said.
Brightpoint CEO Steve Hoffman encouraged three of his colleagues to participate in the program. ”Foellinger Foundation has made a significant investment in developing and strengthening nonprofit leaders in this community,” Hoffman said.“ Foellinger Foundation realizes that strong leaders create strong impact.”
The Emerging Leaders program was born out of a two-year, Foellinger-funded collaboration among the CEOs of Brightpoint, Early Childhood Alliance, the YWCA Northeast Indiana and Lutheran Social Services of Indiana. These non-profit executives worked to address the need for strategic leader development. The training program launched in 2016 as part of The Foellinger Center for Adaptive Leadership (FoCAL). Participants develop skills that are essential for adaptive leaders in today’s dynamic nonprofit landscape. Key leaders from the four organizations composed the program’s first cohort.
Monthly training and coaching sessions were facilitated by Colin Maiorano, CEO of StrategyWorx. Maiorano has been training, consulting and coaching for 20 years with methods that maximize leadership potential by creating self-awareness and addressing blind spots that can sabotage a leader’s success.
“Through this training, I learned more about myself and tools I can use to be a more adaptive leader,” said Shannon Gage, chief program director for Early Childhood Alliance.
Mary Jo Hardiman, chief operating officer of the YWCA Northeast Indiana, said, “I learned new ways to tackle problems facing a non-profit and how to build a team to lead: from negotiation techniques, entrepreneurial leadership, to assessment and cultivation of change within an organization’s culture. This experience has allowed me to look at challenges through a different lens. I am thankful for this experience, it was hard work and forced us to look more closely at ourselves, our organization, and the community’s non-profit sector.”