Practical Leadership 3.0: Leading in Uncertainty

Beginning on September 27th, the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits is hosting “Practical Leadership 3.0: Leading in Uncertainty:”

“We are living in turbulent, chaotic, and complex times. Right now, every hour seems to bring a new challenge, and change feels more and more radical. Resources are short, and expectations are high. People who are under great stress can become defensive and erratic, or passive and helpless. Novel problems demand creative solutions, at the same time that our organizations and teams are stretching to the breaking point.

Whether or not you are a frontline supervisor or an executive director, you are likely feeling the pressures of this context. This is like no other time, and it requires adaptive leadership.

Lisa Negstad has trained hundreds of supervisors to respond to normal challenges of day-to-day change. Now, she is partnering with Glenda Eoyang of Human Systems Dynamics Institute, to help you cope with this VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) environment.

During this training, which is offered as a series of six monthly 90-minute sessions, Lisa and Glenda will provide you with frameworks and tools to improve your ability to supervise others in a constantly changing, uncertain context.

Through these six sessions, you will:

• Relieve stress for yourself and your staff when you feel more competent to manage in this context,
• Analyze what types of problems you’re facing and adapt your leadership accordingly,
• Prepare for a future you can’t predict or control,
• Build your own story about change and how your team will survive (and even thrive) through it, and
• Practice tools and models and join a community of people who share your challenges and opportunities.

Event Details

The registration fee includes all six sessions. When you register, reserve all six dates on your calendar from 1 – 2:30 p.m. Central each day: September 27, October 12, October 25, November 8, November 22, and December 6.

Session One: How to make decisions in a lot of uncertainty – Part 1

The world is changing, and you and your organization and team must change, too. Today’s disruptions pose social, personal, policy, financial, resource and technological challenges for you as a nonprofit leader. Learn how to see beyond the immediate chaos and find simple, powerful options for action.

Session Two: How to make decisions in a lot of uncertainty – Part 2

You know how to make ordinary decisions, but today is extraordinary. Learn to decide and take action when you have incomplete information, when you are not in control, and when the rules change every day. Learn the difference between the challenges of usual change and VUCA transformation.

Session Three: Finding your agility: continuous learning in a time of rapid change

In times of uncertainty, answers have a very short shelf-life. You have to rely on questions to guide you and your team through turbulent times. Your power as a leader, in the world of the future, will be measured by the quality of the questions you ask. Dive into inquiry and discover untapped resources at the edge of your known world.

Session Four: Responding in “real time:” knowing what to do when and when to wait

How do you set priorities when everything seems urgent? How do you make time to reflect and respond, when everything comes at you at once? You will learn to triage and cluster problems, dive deep when needed and step back to get a bigger perspective.

Session Five: Leveraging the energy in conflict

In times of change, challenge and surprise bring opportunity. It also brings conflict and frustration. We think of conflict as a kind of tension, and tension as a source for energy. See what it means to surface and use the energy in conflict, rather than ignoring it or finding some false peace.

Session Six: Open format – bring your own dilemmas to workshop together

Throughout the program, you will learn new concepts, skills, language, and practices to help you thrive as a leader in a complex environment. In this session, you will apply your learnings to your real life challenges and those of your colleagues. Bring your most complicated dilemmas and leave with practical steps to shift your team and organization toward greater health and productivity.”