Q: Annie, you were out of the office the last week for a few days, what were you up to?

A: Thank you for noticing. I was invited to speak at a leadership conference in California, over the leadership program I have been co-writing.

Over the last year I have been working with Pam Kramer, the President of ITP (Integral Transformative Practice) International, writing a guide and developing a leadership program. I have been facilitating a leadership program at Meadowlark Hills that utilizes the guide. We are calling the program Fresh Start. Approximately 40 leaders in the organization participate in the program. Our goal with the program is to create a framework to foster and support the skills needed for our leaders to live out the values of Meadowlark Hills. There are five Fresh Start groups and we meet weekly for one hour. In the program, so far, we have spent time studying the following attributes and skills: Awareness, Balance, Intention, Courage, Engagement, and we are now discussing healthy practices as leaders.

This is the program I was invited to speak about at our National Culture Change conference last year and again this August in Seattle. I am thrilled to be a apart of this cutting edge work. I am happy to share a copy of the work we have completed in the guide so far if anyone is interested.

As always, thank you for your questions and please keep them coming!