Throw some community leadership training into the mix

I was recently invited to take part in the annual Sherwood Trust leadership training program:

“This is a skill-based program focused on developing the community leadership capacity of individuals.  The training consists of a structured, 60-hour curriculum that emphasizes an interactive and facilitative style, which draws on the knowledge and skills of the participants as well as the curriculum.”

Curriculum concepts include:

• Social capital and community capacity.
• Personality types and leadership styles.
• Community development models.
• Catalytic leadership model.
• Asset mapping.
• Conflict resolution skills and models for group decision-making.
• Communication strategies.
• Fundraising and volunteer recruitment.

Each year the class selects a community project that they then take from the planning/design process through to completion. I look forward to the hands-on community organizing and hopefully implementing what I learn into some digital projects like the community wiki and our redesign. It’s an opportunity to step away from the laptop and online social networks.

I’m planning on blogging about the experience and hopefully documenting the experience with video starting at the end of January.

Here’s a video clip introducing the program: