MMA offers leadership development focused on change, equity

In partnership with Learning Lab International, the MMA is offering a “cross-sectional” professional learning opportunity for municipal teams called Leading Now.

Cross-sectional teams intentionally bring together an array of key roles (elected and appointed) from all corners of the government to undergo intensive leadership development as a group, with a particular focus on leading through change and leading for equity.

Leading Now, based on the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s successful Leading With Perseverance coaching series, is the MMA’s first cross-sectional professional learning opportunity.

The MMA is now recruiting municipal teams to participate. The goal is to have teams of five to 10 members (ideally eight to 10) from between 10 and 12 cities or towns. All of the teams will meet as one larger group for six half-day sessions.

In DESE’s model, teams consisting of superintendents, assistant superintendents, school principals, teachers, and various specialists and supporting staff members rigorously investigate and improve their communication practices, collaborative dynamics, and active forms of stakeholder engagement. They specifically learn to survive and thrive in productive conflict, and welcome meaningful contact and problem-solving with members of the community they have previously struggled to understand.

For municipal leaders, the focus of Leading Now can include the following:
• Avoiding unnecessary siloing of functions or perspectives, and cultivating more honest and organic communication, collaboration, and accountability between roles
• Strengthening goodwill between municipalities and their constituents; improving how constituent feedback is heard and municipal messaging happens; and building a more positive culture of constituent engagement and service
• Recruiting and retaining leaders and staff members from underrepresented backgrounds, and building a culture of belonging that is both sincere and rigorous, for the sake of team diversity and inclusion as well as community relations

The structure of the program is tailored to the needs and availability of participants.

Six half-day (three-hour) sessions will be spread out across the year, scheduled with regard for busier municipal seasons, and centrally located in Massachusetts. (Participating municipalities are encouraged to host.)

Onboarding conversations will be held with each municipal team to find out what challenges they are facing and what they hope to work through together in the program.

The MMA will cover half of the cost of the entire program, so each municipal team will be charged a participation fee of between $2,500 and $3,000 — for leadership development valued at many times as much.

The first three sessions are tentatively scheduled for Friday, Sept. 25; Friday, Oct. 16; and Friday, Nov. 13. Dates, however, are subject to change after consultation with participating teams.

The application form is intentionally very brief. Applications are due by 5 p.m. on Friday, July 31.

For questions, contact MMA Chief Equity Officer Jillian Harvey at [email protected].

• Leading Now flyer (PDF)