What’s up with Emerging Leaders?!
May 01, 2009
Where we’ve been:
Over the past two years, while completing our report to the community (slated, at long last, for release in June); we have helped connect dozens of emerging leaders to mentors in the community; connected even more to volunteer board opportunities; and hosted a number of seminars, professional development events and networking opportunities for our membership of nearly 1000 individuals. In November, EL was the very proud recipient of a Pillar Community Innovation Award . The awards celebrate the ways in which innovation, leadership and collaboration have made our community better and Emerging Leaders was honoured for “maximizing and leveraging community resources....for the betterment of our community”. In short, we’re still pursuing our mission to involve and engage our demographic!
Where we are now:
We have been fortunate over the past three years to have growing support from our demographic and from the larger community, and with this momentum came high expectations, a growing workload, volunteer burnout and questions about our future direction and sustainability. So this fall, we undertook a project to answer those questions. In short, we believed that it was the appropriate time in the EL evolution to undertake an objective review of our current and potential directions, partners and models. To do so, we enlisted the help of a terrific HBA team from the Ivey School of Business and a team of experts from our demographic—a diverse mix of leaders from business, non-profit and cultural sectors, some of whom have been heavily involved in EL as participants, others who have been healthy skeptics and some who are new to London and to the concept itself—to engage in a comprehensive review of the need for, and future viability of, Emerging Leaders. The review was undertaken at an arm’s length from the original steering committee in order to ensure an objective and unbiased perspective. While we wanted to ensure our positive momentum was not lost, we also knew we had to ask some fundamental questions, including—What does the demographic and the community want from EL? Does it continue to have value and in what form? Does EL fit within one of London’s existing organizations? Can a sustainable volunteer-driven model be devised? What are some potential models for a more sustainable organization and how might this affect other local organizations?
Where we’re going:
We are pleased to report that this process is in its final stages and an announcement on the results—which we see as a new and very positive and progressive direction for our shared initiative—will take place within a few weeks. We can tell you that the process, which included surveys, focus groups and in-depth personal interviews with community leaders and EL partners, along with a study of our local economy and demographics, and a best practices review of comparable initiatives across North America, has concluded that EL continues to be relevant and important to our demographic and the London community. We are very excited to share the findings and engage the entire demographic in a new, sustainable model for YOUR Emerging Leaders initiative.
We owe enormous thanks to those who have lent their time and considerable expertise, and have driven this important process on an ambitious timeline:
Advisory Committee
- Michael Barr (Chair), Critical Outcome Technologies Inc.
- Michelle Baldwin, Pillar NonProfit Network
- Jeff Bennett, ScotiaMcLeod
- Adam Caplan, Web.isod.es and The University of Western Ontario
- Jamie Crich, Auburn Homes
- Jeff Harris, Kay Chiropratic and Young Professionals Group (YPG)
- Chicoung La, Robarts Research Institute
- Kapil Lakhotia, London Economic Development Group
- Stephanie Lenz, Deloitte and Touche
- Joel McLean, Infotech Research Group
- Kristina Shaw, Miller Thompson LLP
- Jennifer Wain, The Lashbrook Group
- John White, The Grand Theatre
- Kyla Woodcock, KEW Consulting
- Jeff Sage(ex officio - EL Steering Committee) , Fanshawe College
- Lindsay Sage (ex officio - EL Steering Committee), London Public Library
- Jodi Simpson (ex officio - EL Steering Committee), TechAlliance
Ivey Consulting Group
- Stacey Hsu
- Jacqui Huszczo
- Geoff Nielson
- Catherine Thorne
In addition to these individuals, over 100 local organizations, partners and volunteers have supported Emerging Leaders over the past three years in a collective effort to help engage our community’s 22-44 year old demographic. A full list of these fabulous supporters can be found here.
As a member of EL, here is what you can look forward to over the next two months:
- A full report on the findings and next steps of the sustainability review;
- OnBoard3 and MentorNet2 - opportunities for you to join a local board or committee and/or find a mentor- coming soon;
- The “Emerging London” Think Tank Report Release Party and other special networking events;
- New ways for you to connect and collaborate; and,
- A strengthened collective VOICE and a new chapter for the INVOLVEMENT and INVESTMENT of our demographic in the London community, and of it in us!
As always, if you have questions, comments or suggestions, we’d love to hear them via info@emergingleaders.ca.
Warm regards and sincere thanks for your ongoing support,
Lindsay Sage
Jeff Sage
On behalf of the Emerging Leaders Steering Committee
