This document is provided as a brief overview to increase your understanding of the structure and purpose of the ALF program sessions. The strength of the program is in its ability to change and meet the needs of each class and to accommodate specific interest explorations. As your class develops facilitators will work with the class to make adjustments and changes. Constant in the monthly sessions is a combination of exploring pertinent leadership concepts, dialogue, the application of new learning in the Class setting and discussion of leadership challenges in service to one’s organization and the community.
The program is designed to promote the ALF mission of uniting and strengthening diverse leaders to better serve the community. The program is designed in three phases.
Orientation is an introduction to the American Leadership Forum and the current class. During this session we review the different components of ALF, our history, mission and purpose. Orientation is our first opportunity to get to know each other in a meaningful way and to understand what the yearlong ALF experience will include.
The focus of learning for this session includes:
This session proposes that the first task of leaders is a deep understanding of their “Inner Journey”. In this session we will explore the concept of self as an agent of change. Leaders seldom take time to explore their own patterns of thought and how those patterns dictate how we see, experience and create the outer world. Gandhi once said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” This implies that a rigorous understanding of our being should precede our actions and our doing.
The focus of learning for this session includes:
Peter Block defines citizen as “one who is willing to be accountable for and committed to the well being of the whole.” In this session we will explore all of the ways in which shared participation and construction of the class experience will create your personal the groups collective ALF experience. This class will include a conversation about the Wilderness Experience in particular and will ask each member to be an active citizen developing a plan to realize personal and collective value from this experience.
The focus of learning for this session includes:
The Wilderness Experience is a six-day and five-night community building experience and is a pivotal and core component of the program. The Wilderness is both a group and individual experience. As an individual, you will have space and time to contemplate your practice of leadership. In a group you will have the opportunity to create community in very intentional ways. Challenges can be physical and psychological moving most Fellows outside a “comfort zone” where we become open to learning new ways of being and doing. The Wilderness Experience often becomes the anchor for building a class into a cohesive community.
The focus of learning for this experience includes:
Every community is challenged to renew itself in the light of complexity and diversity. Initially, we experience our differences in relationship to race, gender, religion, age and sexual orientation, yet our differences are often experienced in other ways. We will use the Wilderness Experience to reflect on our own community practice of how we experienced the many gifts and heard the many voices in Class XIV. We will explore the parallels between what is happening inside this ALF class and the challenges of modern day communities to incorporate diverse voices and the challenges leaders face in building from within these diverse voices.
The focus of learning for this session includes:
Communities are desperate for skilled leaders who know how to come together in a way that makes the entire room smarter than any one person. This requires pushing through polite conversation in order to get beyond status quo and arrive at a new understanding of issues that can allow for more comprehensive and creative solutions.
The focus of learning for this session includes:
In this session small groups of Fellows practice the art of convening with leaders to explore community issues. The intention of these forums will be to bring together diverse leaders in order to better understand the nature of an issue. The class will come together in the afternoon to debrief their experiences and learn from one another’s experiences.
The focus of learning for this session includes:
As leaders, you are already involved in many practices of service to your community. ALF’s mission is to SERVE the community by working collaboratively to make significant positive contributions. As an ALF class you begin to explore the issues, interests and values that will guide your collective exploration of service.
The focus of learning for this session includes:
These two days are a time to reflect on our progress as a class and our individual leadership journeys. At the Taking Stock retreat we will move toward a deeper investigation of each person’s challenges and opportunities with anticipation of where you would like to be in the future and how your ALF class might become part of your journey.
The focus of learning for this session includes:
How can the network of ALF advance your work in the community? How can your participation help others? How can the class leverage its collective capacity to serve? These will be the questions explored by the class as individuals highlight ways that they are already engaging the ALF network and ponder how ALF Fellows engage the work of community change. The class will explore its values and a sense of collective action that will carry it beyond commencement. The class will also take the lead in designing the March session.
The focus of learning for this session includes:
How am I participating as citizen and leader in this class? How are we moving ahead? What are we building together and how can we build it better? These will be the reflective questions as the class, now fully exploring its sense of purposeful action, continues to learn from reflection about how to expand upon new thinking and develop action.
The focus of learning for this session includes:
Commencement is a celebration of the class’ history together and a bold look forward exploring the possibilities present in active and continual involvement with ALF as a Senior Fellow. Fellows will present to one another their commitment to civic engagement and how they plan to build on their ALF experience. Later, spouses, partners and Senior Fellows join us in celebration of the class’ accomplishments.
The anticipated outcomes for this session may include:
Six months after your commencement the Class will meet to debrief the Leadership in Action initiative. The purpose of this ½ day session is to learn as much as we can about the collaborative leadership process, its challenges and advantages.