Growing Edge Leaders
an invitation to elevate your executive leadership
Leading From Within (LFW) operates an executive peer group program for high-impact community leaders in our region. Growing Edge Leaders (GEL), as its name suggests, is for seasoned leaders who are committed to staying on their “growing edge” – the places where you find yourself being called to grow and stretch the margins of your capacities.
For more than 15 years, LFW has been bringing together dedicated social sector leaders into powerful learning groups, via leadership development programming. GEL is LFW’s most advanced and intensive offering for high-impact, mid-career leaders.
What is a GEL group?
A GEL group is a group of +/- 12 leaders from different organizations who meet for one full day each month to learn together and to support each other to solve problems, evaluate opportunities, and grow their leadership capabilities. LFW designed this confidential peer group program to give experienced leaders the best possible resources to keep them learning, growing their community impact, and thriving as humans. GEL groups are guided by professional facilitators who are also experienced community leaders.
Core Features of GEL
- Expert Workshops – High-quality presenters with real-world expertise engage GEL groups each month on topics chosen to support today’s leaders in their complex roles. These presenters challenge the thinking of GEL members and invite them to consider new ways of navigating their complex roles.
- Peer Advisory Process – Each month, several group members present a significant challenge or opportunity to their peers, using a highly structured peer advisory process. In a GEL group, no topic is off-limits. If a member is willing to talk candidly about a decision they face, fellow members will listen, ask probing questions, and help them evaluate their options.
- Executive Coaching – Each GEL member gets thoughtfully matched with an executive coach. The member and their coach have a monthly, one-on-one session designed to support the member in growing their leadership capabilities and overcoming obstacles. This coaching is supported by a 360-degree feedback assessment which helps a member identify their growing edges and become more aware of their blind spots.
Why Participate in GEL?
- Each of us needs continued development and inspiration to achieve our potential, and GEL provides those things month after month.
- A confidential peer group can serve as a powerful sounding board for our biggest ideas and challenges, and it can help us move more quickly into constructive action.
- We learn and overcome obstacles faster as we benefit from the experience of others.
- We feel less alone with the challenges we face, helping us sustain our passion and commitment for our critical work.
- Executive coaching and 360-degree feedback tools are proven methods for high-performance leaders to develop self-awareness and cultivate their individual and organizational performance.
How might your life and work be different, if, as an executive leader, there was a place for you to go – a place where you could be among other leaders with demanding roles and a drive to advance their impact? And, if you knew that every month, these leaders would gather with you to focus on challenges and opportunities, to sharpen your growing edges, together? Imagine a GEL group that listens and inquires deeply, shares perspectives, learns collaboratively, and builds a trusting circle. This group becomes a place where everyone grows their flexibility, adaptability and impact as mission-driven leaders.
Today’s leaders must be skilled in leading in ways that they were never prepared for – e.g., networks, equity, systems change, our changing workforce, cross-sector partnerships, radical policy shifts. GEL gets leaders out of the office and into an ongoing, high-octane learning community. It’s a high-leverage investment in their effectiveness and impact as a changemaker, and in their job satisfaction. For leaders wanting to stay on their growing edge, consider Growing Edge Leaders.
