Leadership Learning Circle: Financial Leadership
Leaders whose jobs in the best of times can be challenging, are especially stretched in these tough times. There is growing demand by rising leaders for opportunities to develop stronger ties with other leaders at similar points in their career, in order to establish a network of peers to confide in, depend on, support, and grow with.
The North STAR Center offers several Leadership Learning Circles to support the diverse needs of leaders through cohort learning offered throughout the year.
What are Leadership Learning Circles?
Each program provides facilitated discussions, peer coaching, mentoring, support, resources, and relationships. The program supports the development of new skills rising leaders need to grow as financial leaders, as well as supports their commitment to learning and growth professionally.
Leadership Learning Circles are composed of 5-6 leaders committed to supporting one another. Discussions in the circles are confidential, supportive, and focused on learning and action. A trained and experienced facilitator helps participants use the circle to identify goals and resolve individual challenges. Participants meet once a week for 5 weeks to:
• share insights and reflections on session materials
• support and challenge each other
• further develop specific skills with a focus on growing as a leader
Who should attend?
The Financial Leadership Learning Circle at the North STAR Center is intended for nonprofit leaders who do not come from a finance or accounting background and will be, or have recently, assumed responsibility for budgeting, understanding financial statements, and/or have profit and loss responsibilities. The cohort will include 5-6 individuals, who have been identified by executive leaders as candidates for this professional development opportunity or who have self-selected to continue their professional development.
When is the next program?
The program includes five sessions over five weeks. The sessions will be weekly for an hour and a half in length (1:00 pm -2:30 pm EST) on Zoom Meeting. In addition to the 7.5 total hours of time together in the Learning Circle, cohort members will have pre and post homework that should take approximately 1-2 hours to complete each week.
Session 1 – Introductions & Defining Financial Leadership
Session 2 – Understanding Good Financial Data
Session 3 – Assessing Financial Health
Session 4 – Financial Planning
Session 5 – Communicating Progress & Wrap-up
Please note, attendance at all sessions is required, given the small size of the group and the weekly discussions that will be a foundational piece of the Learning Circle.
How are each session structured?
Each session will follow a general outline, although there will be flexibility and the sessions will adjust based on the flow of the discussions. As a group, we will walk through the following each week:
- Opening reflection by cohort members
- Introduction to the current session’s topic
- Questions and comments about the current week’s content and pre-work
- Discussion/exercise about how to apply the current session’s topic
- Identify 1-2 takeaways from the current week’s session that can be put into practice immediately
- Brief introduction of next week’s session topic and pre-reading materials
- Final reflections by cohort members
What is the content based on?
Four fundamental financial leadership practices will ground our learning and development. The financial leadership content will be based on Financial Leadership for Nonprofit Executives: Guiding Your Organization to Long-Term Success by Jeanne Bell and Elizabeth Schaffer. Readings, videos, and exercises will be drawn from various sources curated by the facilitator.