Bridge Innovate Provides Scholarships for Nonprofit Leaders to Build Leadership Skills in Partnership with United Way of Greater Chattanooga
Bridge Innovate Provides Scholarships for Nonprofit Leaders to Build Leadership Skills in Partnership with United Way of Greater Chattanooga
Industry: Nonprofit Organization
Location: Chattanooga, TN
Tactic: The Exemplary Leaders Program: A Foundational Leadership Program
Results:
Gained supportive community and relationships with local nonprofit leaders
Increased understanding of The Leadership Challenge® concepts by 80%
Left with applicable action steps and goals to grow as a nonprofit leader
The Challenge
Held back by tight budgets and time constraints, nonprofit leaders often struggle to prioritize their own professional development. But leadership development is critical, playing a pivotal role in growing a healthy organization. In fact, according to Deloitte, organizations that feature a high level of leadership development are 7x more likely to have leaders who can inspire people to follow them. And they’re 11x more likely to have leaders who build competitive teams.
By empowering your leaders to inspire and guide their teams, you’re more likely to improve communication, decision-making, and problem-solving across the board. And yet, many organizations drop the ball on leadership training and development, pushing away top talent and failing to hit key goals.
>> Learn more about Bridge Innovate and UWGC’s partnership here
Recognizing this need in nonprofits within the region, United Way of Greater Chattanooga and Bridge Innovate sought to address it. After finding success using content from The Leadership Challenge® with a Fortune 500 company, Bridge wanted to make the program available and accessible for local nonprofits as part of their Innovation for Good® programming.
So, Bridge Innovate asked the United Way and their Nonprofit Support and Innovation Department if they’d be willing to sponsor the program. Bridge Innovate would provide the training tuition-free, UWGC would share the news through their community for enrollment, and participants would simply pay for their materials.
“The Leadership Challenge has been an amazing opportunity for mid-level managers and high potentials in the nonprofit community,” shares Hannah Lancaster, Director of Nonprofit Support and Innovation at UWGC. “It is extremely important to us at United Way of Greater Chattanooga to bolster this next generation of nonprofit leadership and provide the tools, skills, and knowledge to empower leaders in their service to our communities. The Leadership Challenge provides a helpful framework and 360-degree view of what it means to be a more human leader.”
With Bridge Innovate’s donation, doors opened, empowering nonprofit leaders to be able to invest in their future.
The Solution
Bridge Innovate’s The Exemplary Leaders Program uses tools established by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner in The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations and approaches leadership as a measurable and masterable set of behaviors. In their programming, Kouzes and Posner detail five common practices they saw in the highest-performing leaders:
Model the Way: Clarify your values and set an example by aligning actions with values.
Inspire a Shared Vision: Envision the future by imagining exciting and ennobling possibilities. Enlist others in a common vision and shared aspirations.
Challenge the Process: Search for innovative opportunities to improve and experiment to generate small wins and learnings.
Enable Others to Act: Foster collaboration through trust and strengthen others through self-determination and developing competence.
Encourage the Heart: Recognize contributions by showing appreciation. Celebrate the values and victories by creating a spirit of community.
Using this framework, Bridge Innovate’s “The Exemplary Leaders Program” divided the session with UWGC and nonprofit leaders into modules, focusing on each of The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership. The training would be conducted virtually using Bridge Innovate’s Digital Studio powered by Sprintbase™.
>> Download: Check out a sample LPI 360 assessment report
THE PROCESS
Before the training, the participants of the program completed pre-program work, including a 360-degree feedback assessment called the Leadership Practices Inventory® (LPI). They also spent time documenting personal reflections on their own leadership challenges and skills so they came to the session prepared to grow.
On the day of the session, the diverse group of nonprofit leaders, alongside the team at UWGC, broke into five teams of approximately 8-9 participants in each team. Within each module, participants learned about the respective leadership practice and applied the practice through activities, discussion, and personal reflection.
Then, in the final session, participants used the learned tools and practices to shape their own professional and leadership development goals for future growth.
The Result
The program had a powerful impact, fostering community and a network among local nonprofit leaders. Two of the groups even continue to meet post-session, investing further in relationships with one another and continuing discussion and support over coffee.
In the end, leaders felt encouraged in their personal leadership growth. As one participant shared in a post-session survey, “Thank you so much for offering this workshop and the tools that went with it! As a very new ED trying to navigate her leadership role in a rapidly growing org, this has helped me immensely to nail down what is important to me and the culture I'm trying to build. I found it especially helpful to clarify my values and to apply the 5 steps to our current organization's challenge. I will have many takeaways to share with my team and hope to do more leadership training with Bridge!”
Others praised the session for its virtual collaboration, writing, “Thank you so much for offering this training. It was invaluable to me and my team. I really enjoyed the use of Sprintbase as an interactive way to connect during the sessions. There were a lot of breakouts which also kept the time moving quickly. This was a really well-executed training.”
The Exemplary Leaders Program Learning Results
Overall Satisfaction Score: 9.1 / 10
Average Post-Program Understanding: 8.8 / 10
*self-reported score by participants on 3.5.24
And they all expressed growth in their understanding. Measured through a pre and post-session survey, participants showed an average of 80% growth in understanding of the five practices. Ultimately, through The Exemplary Leaders Program provided by Bridge, the nonprofit leaders experienced a valuable time investing in their professional growth, leaving with strategies and applicable action steps to develop their leadership skills.
About United Way of Greater Chattanooga:
United Way mobilizes communities around the world to close gaps and open opportunities. The broader United Way organization has a global impact, spanning 37 countries and 1,100 communities. They seek to connect donors, volunteers, and community leaders to tackle the root causes of the world’s most complex challenges while making a positive impact in the lives of millions of people.
For over 100 years, United Way of Greater Chattanooga (UWGC) has served the Tennessee Valley, investing in the community through various programs, including:
A 211 Helpline
Volunteerism
Community Investments
Nonprofit Support
Local Fundraising
Community Programming
Empower your leadership team to develop their skills and be their best through Bridge Innovate’s leadership offerings. Create a custom workshop for your team today. Contact us to learn more.