Educating Leaders, Strengthening Community
The Leadership Program
Leadership Saskatoon can transform your understanding of leadership and help you make a difference in our community – with your organization, in your neighbourhood or for the city as a whole. Since 2000, Leadership Saskatoon has provided participants from all sectors of the community with the opportunity to explore their own values and understand community leadership. Our program develops collaborative leaders who are able to engage others in working together to build an inclusive community. It is one of over twenty community leadership programs across Canada and part of a broader international network.
The ten-month program involves eleven days from September to June. These consist of interactive seminars, workshops and panels as well as action learning. The syllabus reflects a balanced, realistic inquiry and dialogue based approach. Unique to Leadership Saskatoon is the mentorship component - integral to the leadership development process.
In a mutually supportive context, participants are challenged to think critically, to be self-directing, and to initiate strategies that ground their learning in the realities facing community leaders. Participants develop an understanding of how to frame issues and choices in terms of values foundational to sustaining communities. They are afforded opportunities for individual and group learning. Facilitators, coaches and mentors provide support, encouragement, and interaction in community networks.
What does the Program Involve?
Our ten-month community leadership development program involves an opening retreat in September and one day a month through to June. The retreat and learning days (known as Challenge Days) offer opportunities for individual and group learning using training modules and active learning experiences, a team learning project, and mentorship. Facilitators, coaches and mentors provide support, encouragement and interaction in community networks. Our aim is to foster a mutually supportive learning environment where participants are challenged to think critically, to direct their own learning, to engage with differing perspectives and to ground their learning in the realities that face leaders in our community today. Participants learn how to frame issues and choices in terms of the values that support and sustain communities.
What Makes this Program Unique?
Leadership development programs are many and varied. Here is what we think makes us unique:
- Dynamic and diverse participant groups
- Layered and progressive learning over a ten-month period
- A team of highly skilled professionals who volunteer their time
- Blend of traditional and innovative approaches to learning and development
- Develop essential and transferable leadership skills at the individual, organizational and community level
- Opportunity to experience Saskatoon in a new way
- Access to Saskatoon’s leaders and the Leadership Saskatoon network
What What will I Learn?
Our program is designed to reflect and bring to life the Leadership Saskatoon values: citizen engagement, collaboration, inclusion/diversity and life-long learning. These give rise to some of the program content and also guide us in how we structure and approach learning opportunities.
In addition to values-based content, we provide leading-edge learning and tools on topics that are essential for developing community leaders. These include:
- systems thinking
- emotional intelligence
- understanding conflict
- community development
- deep listening and deep inquiry
- teams and facilitative leadership
Experiential approaches such as open space technology are used to engage participants and to demonstrate effective collaborative leadership. Above all, we encourage participants to reflect (often), to ask questions, and to stretch and deepen their thinking.
Who should apply?
Application Information
The Team
Learning Teams
Participant teams are formed around passions/interests in community issues, offering the opportunity to explore and share understanding of community leadership by looking at real issues, and providing a team experience that will enhance self-awareness and growth. Click here to visit our Learning Teams page.
Facilitators & Coaches
A team of professionals who are committed to leadership development will support and guide participants with group processes that facilitate their leadership journey. Click here to visit our Facilitators page.
Mentors
Participants are matched with individuals who have a history of strong community leadership to serve as a coach and mentor around community leadership. Click here to visit our Mentors page.