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A study commissioned by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and authored by the Leadership Learning Community and Deborah Meehan examines how thousands of graduates of leadership programs are harnessing alumni wisdom and actions to advance racial equity and racial healing.
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) has a more than 90-year legacy of investing in leadership development programs across many issue areas and in more than 40 countries. WKKF has also invested in organizing graduates of its signature leadership development programs, appreciating the value of relationships among alumni that endure over time as a source of learning and collaborative action.
WKKF took a deep dive into learning from their alumni, and from other funders who invest in leadership programs and their graduates, to inform the creation of the WKKF Global Fellows Network (GFN), which empowers fellows to connect, collaborate and take action together to positively transform systems and improve outcomes for children. As a proud graduate of the Kellogg National Fellowship Program in 1991, it was a sincere honor for me to partner with the Leadership Learning Community to conduct participatory research that contributed to the extensive field study commissioned by the foundation and subsequently helped to form what is now the GFN.
For the study, we interviewed 23 philanthropic leaders, reviewed articles and books, and engaged with 85 funders, network consultants and leadership program alumni. The research findings, shared in a publication titled, “Leadership Alumni Networks: Catalyzing Learning and Action for Equitable Systems Change,” unearthed remarkable examples of leadership alumni getting things done through networks.
Here’s What We Learned
It may seem like networks are new or mysterious, but most of us have been part of informal networks without using that language. You may be part of a church where members arrange transportation for fellow members, a neighborhood child care exchange organized by parents, or an immigrant community that helps newcomers find housing.
What is new is that we are learning more about how networks work, the values and principles they represent, and how they encourage collective action and a culture of experiential learning by doing. We’ve learned that shared leadership and new ways of organizing are putting decision-making power in the hands of people closest to the work.
It’s been more than four years since the global outbreak of COVID-19, yet its effects are still very present: the memories of lost loved ones, children missing out on years of school, lost jobs, the disproportional toll on communities of color, and ongoing struggles of underfunded health systems. Looking back, in the midst of the upheaval and shutdown, there were unsung heroes – regular people who connected with neighbors and friends to get things done. For example, people organized mutual aid groups in many neighborhoods across the country to check on neighbors, help each other out financially, and ensure seniors had enough food.
People also connected through leadership programs to share resources and think together about how to meet the moment. In Hawaii, people in leadership networks worked to provide hotspots for community members to attend school and telehealth appointments and developed an emergency water distribution plan in case of shortages. In rural areas of Western New York, leaders worked with libraries and health providers to ensure libraries were available for telehealth care. These are only a few of many examples that are part of a larger story — the power of networks.
Over the past decade, as people used social media to talk and connect with other like-minded folks on a much larger scale, there has been an uptick in how people are using network strategies in elections, social movements like Black Lives Matter, and in climate change and food systems work — and they are getting results.
It’s not surprising that the participants of leadership programs leaned into the close bonds they had formed with other leaders to connect, tap into their skills and act during the pandemic and beyond it. Leadership programs have trained tens of thousands of people, with the corporate sector alone spending more than $160 billion on leadership development in a year. Imagine what we could accomplish by more intentionally supporting leadership alumni with the “know how” and resources to take their informal networking to the next level.
Who Can Benefit from this Resource?
This publication is a must-have resource for individuals responsible for overseeing leadership programs. It’s designed to help funders who are thinking about how to get the greatest possible societal impact from leadership development. It’s for leadership programs that want to help their participants practice network principles and behaviors. It’s for leadership program graduates who want to be smarter about experimenting and initiating action; and it’s for everyone who wants to work with others to solve community problems.
Watch a webinar that highlights the research findings and opportunities below:
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