Studying Transformative Leadership as an Online Group

Why did we start the online study group?

In August 2018, I was contacted by an old friend and colleague who was intensely concerned by what she was seeing happening in society around her. She was distraught by the number of pressing issues piling up around the world. She trusted in the goodness of humanity and her neighbors and friends around her, but wanted to find a way to create a community for sustainable action – one that would work well together, with respect, shared purpose, and in a systematic way to collaborate and pursue projects for the common good.

This friend, however, felt she didn’t know how to start to build her own capacity and to help build that community (with neighbors and friends) that together could bring positive change to the society she so desired.  She reached out to me to see if the work Anello and Hernandez had done with Transformative Leadership might help her both to understand what was happening in the world and at the same time provide inspiration for things to do in her context.

We consulted and decided to set up an online Transformative Leadership course to which we would invite friends of ours that had a similar desire to impact a positive change in society.

How hard was it to create an online study group on Transformative Leadership?

We drafted a Facebook post invitation to our “Virtual Book Club” that was to last nine weeks. We also followed up our facebook invitation with telephone calls directly to friends and neighbors in our circles whom we knew were also concerned about the state of the world and could be interested in becoming part of a community for sustainable action.  

Our Transformative Leadership “Virtual Book Club” course had 2 components: 

1. Weekly reading (of a chapter of the Transformative Leadership book), with the help of a reading guide that included reflection questions and suggestions of practical activities (and some activities from the companion workbook). 
2. A weekly videoconference to discuss the contents and their relevance to the participants.

The group formed with half a dozen participants, all based in the US, from different states and cities. Some participants knew each other prior to starting the class while others were new to the group.  

How was the program organized?

The schedule was organized by week as follows:

1. Preface + Introduction
2. Chapter 1: The crisis of our times
3. Chapter 2: Mental models of human nature and society
4. Chapter 3: Dominant models of leadership
5. Chapter 4: A conceptual framework of transformative leadership
6. Chapter 5: Capabilities for personal transformation
7. Chapter 6: Capabilities for the transformation of interpersonal relationships
8. Chapter 7: Capabilities for social transformation
9. Chapter 8: Integrating the capabilities + Epilogue

Arranging the study by chapters made it easier for everyone to focus on what to study at any given time, while also limiting the demands the study would make on everyone’s schedules. (All participants were adults with professional and personal lives). 

The participants engaged in lively video conferences each week reflecting on the contents of the book and building connections with the other learners on meaningful topics about how to work collectively for positive change in our communities.    

As a facilitator, I can say that every weekly meeting was interesting and brought both valuable theoretical discussions and eye-opening connections with the reality in which we are living (mostly in terms of the need to apply and share Transformative Leadership’s propositions in communities and work environments).

What did the participants think of it?

Here are comments from Jessica Kerr, who participated actively in the study group:

What was new to you as a learner of Transformative Leadership in the study group?

As I reflect on the learning in our group, I remember feeling in awe at the magnitude of ways in which Transformative Leadership’s conceptual framework could be applied. There is endless potential for the model to better personal development as well as community and institutional growth and progress. It is truly ‘transformative’. As a participant of the group, I was especially attracted to the society-building power that the Transformative Leadership model released in a collective. It was the first time I participated in a group of individuals who were practicing the elements and capabilities and then reflecting on them as a group. I could see the transformative effects on others as well as myself. It was an experience of beauty and hope.

What were the other participants’ reactions?

I remember all the participants were greatly affected by the current state of the world. People on our planet are suffering, environmental impacts are devastating so many, and we see elements of prejudice perpetuating forces of disintegration at all levels of society. Everyone wanted to learn how to better be sources of hope through action. I feel one of the most significant areas of learning was seeing how everyone was practicing the framework in different areas of their lives and then reflecting with the group. Our reflection questions were systematic and encouraged insightful and thought-provoking responses. Overall, it was empowering to learn from each other and feel that we are engaged in a collective initiative to effect positive change personally, in our families, neighborhoods, work, and communities.

Here is an example of a mindmap that was used in the course, which gives a 10,000 feet view of the contents of Transformative Leadership:

You can access (and download) a higher resolution version here.

What tools did we use in the course?

Setting up the course required limited technological resources: Access to email, and to Skype/Google Hangouts for the videoconferences.  Of course, each participant had to buy the book (either in digital or print format) and that was basically it. This goes to show that the greatest requirement to set up a study group up is actually finding a group of people who share a concern for the situation of the world we live in, commitment to going through a chapter a week, and reflecting on what can be learned from it.  In that sense, anyone who has read the Transformative Leadership book and reflected on the questions and exercises contained in the complementary workbook could do the same.

An online study group sounds nice, but what about a more formal course?

If you are interested in participating in a more formal online course on Transformative Leadership, you’ll be glad to know that our team is now working on the creation of such a course on the Wilmette Institute platform. So, if you want to have the opportunity to both study Transformative Leadership and discuss it with people who share that interest (and one of its original authors!), remember to check the Wilmette Institute site. This course will launch on February 13, 2020.