Group Cohorts

Who participates in a Cohort?

People have reported positive impact as a whole when leaders from across sectors participate, building cross functional coordination and collaboration across departments.

We would suggest that two to three leaders from a specific area go through the cohort together. This is especially helpful as leaders begin to implement new practices within their area and have two or more people who have a common understanding and application of the practices.

It is also very powerful for the leadership team within a specific department or organization to go through the cohort process together enabling them to talk through and work on the specific challenges and opportunities that they are facing in real time.

Paying it Forward Building Internal Capacity to “Be the Change”

Rather than using a large team of consultants, the goal is to support leaders to “be the change” and pass their learning onto others who in turn continue to play the change forward as they engage their areas.

This evidence-based process is structured to create a movement, bringing about a tipping point in adoption of tools and practices resulting in viral change in an organization as leaders begin to develop more leaders and share in a growing community of practice.

Initially, leaders participate in a cohort – learning practices they can use in their day-to-day work.

Throughout the cohort, leaders apply the practices in their own area of responsibility with their direct staff and key partners and bring back lessons learned, what worked, what can be done differently, etc. to share with other participants, actively spreading the practices throughout the organization and helping each other adapt and learn how practices best apply within their specific organizational context.

After the cohort, leaders transition beyond cohort into a community of practice comprised of their cohort colleagues where learning continues and reinforcement of personal and applied transformation occurs with ongoing support from their peers.

Following the initial cohort, participants are asked if they would be willing to volunteer to pass their learning on to others and become co-facilitators in the next cohort building the capacity for self-sustaining transformational change.

Leaders within the organization who have been through a cohort and become Leader/Teachers in the next were consistently rated at a 4 out of 5 in effectiveness as facilitators/coaches by the following cohort group.