Walking with a Future Ready Leadership Coach
UP Partnership's CEO discusses the benefits of coaching sessions to support organizations with Future Ready action commitments
There is a large, framed photograph in my family’s home that I absolutely love. It was taken years ago by a friend of mine while walking through a forest. The picture shows sunlight arriving at the forest’s edge, breaking through a thick collection of trees.
When looking at the photo, you can see yourself as the walker, as someone who pressed on even when light was hard to find, knowing it would appear again if only you kept advancing.
Similarly, leadership, almost by definition, requires walking into the unknown. To discover new possibilities, all leaders must enter the forest. They must leave behind the safety of the meadow, stepping beyond comfort zones to emerge on new ground.
However, it is key to not get stuck in the darkness.
This is why UP Partnership has trained several leaders in our organization as leadership coaches and started to provide coaching supports to our partners. It is also why we are offering coaching to institutions that have signed onto the Future Ready Bexar County plan, partners who are working together to make sure all young people are ready for the future. This offering is for executives, senior leaders and/or leadership teams.
UP Partnership is offering three free sessions per organization to support your organization with your Future Ready action commitments. Your designated leader or team could begin either this Fall or in the Spring. Sessions will focus on: individual leadership growth, strengthening team relationships, working together across departments, strategic planning, operational planning and/or organizational development. If this offering would be helpful, fill out this form to express your interest. Importantly, we will continue to offer coaching for youth development professionals through Excel Academy, which helps them to strengthen their program quality.
By creating space for intentional reflection, coaching helps leaders to navigate the unknown conditions around them as well as the many unknowns within themselves. It can help you to spot pitfalls, recognize patterns, understand biases, and integrate relevant feedback. Without this awareness, these are all forces that can keep you walking in circles for years.
At its core, coaching gives leaders someone to walk besides them to stay on course, especially when the woods grow increasingly dense. A great coach is a partner that helps leaders to step towards the forest’s edge; provoking new awareness until the light starts to shine through.
— Ryan Lugalia-Hollon, Ph.D.
CEO of UP Partnership