News

All Leaders are Readers

This month, The Network will kick off two new Leadership Book Clubs. Each of the new groups is filled to capacity with nonprofit leaders working in Orange and San Diego Counties. Each group will be lead by a professional book facilitator as part of an effort to train participants in the art of using books and reading as a leadership tool for their own constituents. The San Diego Club will begin on September 12th and the Orange County Club will begin September 19th.

Research has shown that reading has always been an essential component of leadership development (HBR, Feb. 2016). However, even with the best of intentions, it is often difficult to get to or finish all of the books competing for our attention. With a goal of creating well-read nonprofit leaders while imparting facilitation skills and building trusted relationships among nonprofit leaders, the Leadership Book Club offers a unique opportunity to study and develop leadership in a communal setting.

After completing the originally scheduled 10 month program last June, the Network’s first Club decided to continue meeting together. They are gathering on September 19th in San Diego with author Brandon Black to discuss his new book EGO FREE LEADERSHIP.

Our vision for this program is to seed the nonprofit sector with multiple book groups using literature to study leadership, to build trusted relationships and to develop personal facilitation skills. Much like our Learning Groups, we hope each group will continue to meet once the official program has concluded. So far, we are one for one!!

As President Harry Truman said, ” Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.”

Applications are accepted for each new Leadership Book Club in April. The program begins in September and officially ends in June. More information can be found on our website under the Leadership Network tab.

Coaches Gather for Learning and Fellowship

This week, Fieldstone Coaches from both San Diego and Orange Counties gathered together for updates and training. Hosted at Casa Romantica in San Clemente, the Coaches spent the day supporting each other in their coaching activities by sharing resources and personal experiences with each other. In addition, Sue Schaffner, led a training module on how to lead a “personal strategy retreat” for a coachee. This module adds to the toolbox of each coach by giving him/her another instrument to help offer support and development to his/her coachee.

The Fieldstone Coaching Program pairs executive directors, one of whom has been trained as a consultative coach, in a twelve-month, confidential, one-on-one peer coaching relationship. Through a series of monthly meetings and ongoing conversations over the course of a year, coaches help to empower coachees to accomplish specific leadership goals and resolve organizational problems. Coaches meet with Fieldstone Foundation staff on a quarterly basis throughout the program for guidance and support.

Applications for the 2018 program will be available in September. The year-long program includes a 360 Degree Review from the Center for Creative Leadership and an hour-long debrief with a facilitator certified by the Center to give feedback. The cost of the program is $350. More information and the application can be found on our website under the Leadership Network Tab.

Leadership Book Club Applications Available Now

Last year, The Fieldstone Leadership Network launched the Leadership Book Club as a distinctive and creative way to study leadership. The first cohort of 12 nonprofit leaders is currently in Month 8 of the 10-month program and the cohort has decided to continue to read and study leadership together through literature once the program has “officially” concluded. Their choice to continue the program is a meaningful endorsement on the value of the experience and one that has lead Fieldstone to offer another session of this program. Applications are now available for the second Leadership Book Club, which will begin in September 2017 and run through June 2018. If you would like to hear what people are saying about the Book Club experience, please view this short video
Leadership Book Club

Crafted with assistance from leadership and literary experts, including the Department of Leadership Studies at the University of San Diego, Harvard, Center for Courage and Renewal, Warwick’s and various independent consultants, the book club works with a well-cultivated and meaningful book list. This list includes fiction, non-fiction and other books we are describing as “the third sector”. This category of books will include technical, business, philosophy and poetry that will round out the other literary choices. Each book has been selected for its ability to inspire and inform personal leadership development. The list is balanced with classics and new releases from a variety of authors to provide a diverse perspective and learning opportunity. It is designed to be a living document that will continue to evolve throughout the life of the program.

The Fieldstone Book Club is led by a professional book club facilitator. This will provide both the framework for the first three monthly discussions but also the training on how to facilitate and use book discussions as a teaching tool in your organization or with your leadership team. Our facilitator will work with each member as he/she prepares to facilitate one month’s discussion with a fellow member. This part of the program cultivates trusted relationships among the book club members, while also solidifying the facilitator training with hands-on experience.

Research has shown that reading has always been an essential component of leadership development (HBR, Feb. 2016). However, even with the best of intentions, it is often difficult to get to or finish all of the books competing for our attention. Book Clubs are proven to help one commit to and develop a healthy habit of reading. This habit leads to an increase in knowledge, as the more one reads, the more one learns. Book clubs also change reading from a solitary activity to a communal one. Reading communally encourages one to read more deeply as a way to prepare to share thoughts and impressions with others in the Club. Maybe most importantly, book clubs inspire one to read books which one may not have otherwise selected or finished. Often these are the most meaningful reading experiences as one’s perspective is challenged or expanded.

We are very excited to continue this program and invite you to join us as part of this unique leadership development opportunity. We have space for 12 leaders. We expect the group to fill up quickly, so if you are interested, we encourage you to apply as soon as possible. The application and more specific information is available on our website under the Leadership Network tab.

Robin Sinclair Joins The Fieldstone Family

Robin K. Sinclair has officially joined the Fieldstone Family as the new Leadership Network and Development Manager. In this capacity, Robin K will be responsible for managing the programs and activities of the Fieldstone Leadership Network in Orange County, California and to raise funds to support and sustain the programs of the Network. Robin is uniquely qualified for this work as she was a member of the Fieldstone Leadership Network as a graduate of our Executive Learning Group Program. Thus, she can speak from personal experience about the value of the individual programs and the Network as a whole.

For the past five years, Robin has served as the Executive Director/CEO of Casa Youth Shelter. Prior to her time at Casa, she was the Executive Director at Boys Hope Girls Hope. In both organizations, Robin was recognized for her passion and commitment to the clients and the integrity of her leadership.

Robin is married and is the mother of four grown sons. When she is not working, she enjoys spending time with her four grandchildren. As two of our three staff members are named Robin and share “S” as a last initial, we are affectionately using Robin’s middle initial and referring to her as “Robin K”.

You can reach Robin K at 949 8732736 and Rsinclair@fieldstonefoundation.org.

Please join us in welcoming Robin K to Fieldstone!

2017 Coachees Complete 360 Degree Assessments

Our 2017 cohort of Coachees from Orange and San Diego Counties has now completed its 360 Degree Assessments as part of our annual coaching program. Working with the Center for Creative Leadership, each of our Coachees completed the assessment tool personally and invited key people in a variety of roles in his/her life to complete the assessment as well. Upon completion, each Coachee spent time reviewing the results with a certified facilitator so he/she is able to understand what the data means and how to use the results to further develop his/her leadership style. The Center for Creative Leadership pioneered the use of these assessments and remains a leader in the field. We are happy to have been working with them to provide this portion of our coaching program since its inception in 1996.