Community Leadership Development (Core) Program

Home / Programs » Community Leadership D ...

Community Leadership Development (Core) ProgramBryan Larkin, Leadership Waterloo Region

Leadership Waterloo Region’s community leadership development program provides an opportunity for participants to explore their personal leadership styles, practice leadership skills in a group setting and learn more about the makeup of our community.

Targeted for the busy professional in mind, our Core Program brings together individuals from all sectors and geographical areas of our community for a part-time 10-month experiential leadership development program. Through a series of focused and connected workshops (10 weekdays & 3 weekend days) and project work, participants learn more about their own leadership styles and identify the skills areas they wish to hone. Through project work, participant teams have the opportunity to practice the skills taught by exploring group dynamics, conflict resolution strategies and project management, in a “learning laboratory” environment. The workshops and projects have an immediate impact on local charities and non-profits and participants then apply their newly developed leadership capabilities to their workplaces and their communities.

This program has a number of key objectives:
  • To expand the number of people who accept leadership roles in business, government and not-for-profit organizations to meet future challenges in our community
  • To increase participants’ understandings of the area’s history, issues and activities
  • To encourage dialogue between the region’s present leaders and our emerging leaders
  • To develop an outstanding network of people with a sense of community trusteeship and commitment to generate a synergy to sustain and build our community

Participants take many transferable leadership skills away from this experience. Skills taught in recent years include:

  • Project management
  • Social profit governance
  • Conflict management
  • Design thinking
  • Appreciative Inquiry & asset mapping
  • Inclusion/anti-oppression training
  • Systems theory application
  • Personal & community networking
  • Peer coaching
  • Emotional Intelligence (theory & application)
  • Mentoring in the workplace & community
  • Public speaking, presentations and communications
  • Understanding and leading change
  • Social media
  • Personal vision building
  • Community building & growth management
Go to top