Together, we create spaces that welcome
“DEEP LISTENING”
We believe leaders are able to be with and honor their own and others’ lived experience. We encourage individuals to speak from the “I”, voice and hear stories that shape their most cherished values, and listen generously, emphatically, and supportively. When we are listening sincerely and with intention, we are present with what’s happening in the moment and are able to truly hear voices of others. Voicing and hearing others’ journeys helps us to work inclusively and compassionately towards a shared future.
BELONGING
We offer a space where individual and group experiences can be recognized and validated. Our hope is to create a learning space and structure that’s inclusive – one that recognizes and accommodates difference, welcomes shared experiences, and connects us through a common appreciation of learning, growing, and building community.
COURAGEOUS CONVERSATIONS
We invite conversations that are honest, urgent, and are anchored in personal growth, learning, and towards a new and shared understanding. Our model of leadership is guided by the promise of contributing and creating community together through relevant, authentic, and open conversations that are able to engage personal experiences, beliefs, and perspectives of individuals, sustain learning and inquiry into multiple perspectives, and deepen our understanding of issues that matter at a personal, group, and at a societal level.
THE VALUE OF STORY
Stories are unique and personal, both repositories of knowledge and gift to others. We believe stories are a powerful medium for perspective-taking and perspective-giving, key elements to community building. Telling and receiving stories allows us to be curious and reflective about who we are, what matters to us, and why.
NON-LINEAR PROCESS
Building awareness of self and of community, at the same time, is palpable and ambiguous. Each element, learning moment, alertness, and connection takes its own time and path. Learning can be coherent and direct, but at times, it’s asymmetrical and indirect. Our leadership learning process is experiential, reflective, and adaptive and invites the learner the space and time to explore and sit with questions that hopefully, will lead to answers, in due time.
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
We seek, together, to know what can be known, to discover what is hidden, and to have patience with what is yet to be revealed.
Our Approach
CLP is a community of practice that relies on the power and participation of each person, their dreams for their community, and what they aspire to build with others.
There are no lectures or projects in CLP. Our learning model is experiential. It builds upon the individual and collective wisdom in the room, while introducing community leadership skills and opportunities for practice.
Why do we approach CLP as a “community of practice”?
Participants come to CLP to examine fundamental values that shape them as individuals and leaders, but they quickly see that effective leadership is also relational.
A community of practice is an engagement in collective learning that shares resources, experiences, and stories. It focuses on the people and social structures that enable us to learn from each other. Regular dialogue with a cohort of community leaders extends the learning and growth beyond the limits of a program, into sustained, lifelong practice.