JLP Continues to Develop Community Leaders with a Year-Full of Virtual and Hybrid Training Programs

Thanks in part to a generous grant from the JLP Foundation, JLP will be offering its members more than 20 hours of training this year that are designed to develop our members’ potential in the League, at work, at home, and in our community.  The Training Team will do this by targeting each program to one of League’s four distinct training tracks:  (1) Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, (2) Fundraising, (3) Community Leadership, or (4) Self-Development.  

The Training Team started early with the two New Leader Training programs in July and August.  Those programs were presented by the Member Training Committee.  For members who attended, we hope they would agree that they went beyond the basic training required for members to hold a leadership position in the JLP. They expanded to provide training to develop the members’ potential as true leaders outside of the League. In fact, in one post-event evaluation, a member said that the program should not be called “New Leader Training” because it taught her important lessons all members needed to learn.  Such as how to overcome uncertainty as a leader,  effectively work with committee members, and navigate diverse personalities.  These are skills that will help to develop our members’ potential in all aspects of their lives. Moreover, they included training segments designed for our time. Such as Diversity Equity & Inclusion Training, Zoom Training, Hybrid Meeting Technology Training, and Marketing and social media training.  Each of these programs will be edited and will be added to the new JLP video library, which is now tied to a restricted YouTube Channel so all members can benefit from these and future trainings. That was a lot of training before the League even had its first General Membership Meeting for the year.

The Member Training Committee is currently preparing for its October 2 Signature Event:  JLP Elevate.  This training will focus on building our members’ skills and knowledge to pivot careers or grow in their current positions and share insights and advice from Hilary A. Schneider, CEO of Shutterfly, a $2 billion company. JLP Elevate’s goal is to elevate our members’ opportunities outside the League.

The Signature Event will be followed by seven In-Home training programs in November. In-Homes are designed to be a less formal avenue to provide a variety of training opportunities in each of our 4 training tracks. While In-Homes traditionally were one-hour trainings offered in a member’s home, this year, they will be presented either virtually or as hybrid events.  

After a short break, the Member Training Committee plans to start off the New Year by collaborating again with the DE&I Committee for some meaningful diversity, equity, and inclusion training.  And they aren’t even done for the year—they still have the rest of the spring programming to plan.

While the Member Training Committee will be presenting the largest number of training programs, JLP members will receive valuable training from the Public Affairs Committee (PAC) and Community Leadership Outreach Committee (CLO). 

PAC is a non-partisan committee with three main goals.  First, to educate members about bills and positions related to our focus area as well as local, state, and national elections involving issues related to that focus area.  Second, to support voter registration.  Third, to encourage members to engage in public policy.

PAC will open with the Women Running for Office event on Saturday, September 18, 2021, where members will hear from a panel of three women involved in politics concerning the realities of running for a political office and how members can support their favorite candidates. Then, ramping up to November elections, PAC is planning a Voter Registration Event, Clean Election Event, and an Instagram Takeover and contest to encourage higher turnout for the upcoming Off-Year Election.  They will then turn to designing training for the spring.

CLO’s mission is to increase our members’ leadership opportunities with other non-profit organizations in the Valley. We have members on a number of community boards, including the Lodestar Center Leadership Council, the Desert Botanical Gardens’ Monarch Council, Waste Not, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and more. 

This fall, CLO will be using to two vehicles to train members about board service in the community.  First, it will be presenting a series of Fireside Chats that will provide members with the opportunity to have intimate conversations with community leaders concerning community leadership issues.  The first Fireside Chat took place on September 14 and featured Jacky Alling, Sr. Fellow for Philanthropy ASU Lodestar Center, share more with our League members about team development in nonprofits and general leadership skills.

Second, CLO will also be offering members a formal mentorship training program.  This is a structured training program that pairs members with board experience with members wishing to serve on a board.  Currently, JLP members are active on dozens of community boards, and we plan to leverage their knowledge and connections to provide a boost for other women looking to make a difference in the community.

Another avenue for training our members is hands-on by serving on committees, the Management Team and the Board of Directors. Our Board and Management Team recently attended a leadership workshop featuring corporate culture coach, Lindsay Bailey, where they took a deep dive into their leadership styles and how to work with others. 

JLP members also receive training at our General Membership Meetings (GMMs) which include keynote speakers on a variety of topics. At our September GMM, we learned about servant leadership from Steve Reese, Chief Information Officer for the Phoenix Suns.

With so many opportunities to develop your leadership potential, learn something new, and hear from engaging speakers, our goal is to provide training to at least 400 members this year.

If you have an idea for a future training program or would like to volunteer to speak to our members, please reach out to Kathryn Honecker Stephens, Vice President of Training, at jlp.trainingvp@jlp.org.