Our initial exposure to this work and the concepts of community trusteeship and stewardship took place at the National Community Leadership Association conference in Indianapolis in June of 1999, the same year Leadership Wyoming was organized.
The principal sponsor of the Indianapolis conference was the Robert Greenleaf Center. Robert Greenleaf was an author and lecturer on servant trusteeship. The concepts and themes articulated at the Conference provided depth and meaning for how Leadership Wyoming could be organized.
Should the program focus on information about the state, leadership skill training, and networking opportunities? Or should these leadership skills along with discussion about civic trusteeship be utilized in the creation of a program?
Trusteeship and The Inner Work of the Leader© at the outset became one of the four core components of the program, but at the time our understanding of these concepts was limited.
That changed quickly when the Wyoming team interviewed Joanna Murray and Sallie Suby-Long, then senior consultants with Trustee Leadership Development Inc. an organization founded and led by Katherine Tyler Scott, now Managing Partner of Ki ThoughtBridge, LLC. Ki ThoughtBridge is a company known for an integrated approach to leadership development, change management and conflict resolution and negotiation skills.
The rest is history... but it is a history that is having continuing impact on the State of Wyoming. Leadership Wyoming is now a key partner with Ki ThoughtBridge and is one of two programs in the country licensed to teach the company's Integrated Model of Leadership Development.
We believe the decision to include the process of Inner Work as a core component of the Leadership Wyoming curriculum and has had significant impact on enhancing the capacity for civic trusteeships across our state.
The following comments from alumni, with regard to the impact of Leadership Wyoming and the teachings on trusteeship and the Inner Work of the Leader reflect success.
“I would like to say that from a civic leader standpoint I feel that I have failed as I compare my involvement to others. I think I know myself, however, probably more so because of the Inner Work. I am choosey about how and where I spend my time and for the first time in my life I feel a sense of balance and peace that I really never felt before. . . I think I found myself and my voice. Inner Work in addition to the age that I am, both contribute to my feeling that I am okay and as “good as anyone else.” Life takes strange turns. I can say that I am in the happiest days of my life!”
Credit Union Vice President
“My passion is solving puzzles, especially the ones that everyone else thinks are too big. Before Leadership Wyoming I was in a position in our organization operating as a detail person. I learned that I really have a passion for moving the “big rocks” out of the way. This means that I need to keep moving through once the details become the focus. Once I figured this out, I became much happier. I may not move up the ladder, but I have certainly been able to learn about exciting issues that I would have missed by staying in one spot.”
Administrator for Community Based Programs
“Leadership Wyoming broadened my perspective of politics through classroom instruction, field experience, and sharing with my 2003 classmates. Without Leadership Wyoming and the direction created within my own mind, I believe I would not be in the position to which I have been elected.”
State Representative
“I was deeply struck by the segment on time and importance of people and things in my life. I remember that the most important life circle showed family and friends to receive the least amount of my time. I am attempting to make up for this disparity during the first several years of my retirement. I have turned down offers to return to work. I am sure that financially our later years would be easier with more money set aside, but I learned through Inner Work that relationships are more important than personal finances.”
Retired College President
“I decided to transition my life to a life of public service after writing my mission statement. I ran for State Auditor and quit a great job. Although I was not elected, I have not lost my desire to hold public office and continue to work toward fulfilling my mission statement. I didn't have a clue as to how powerful a mission statement could become when I wrote it five years ago.”
Certified Public Account
Impact of Community Trusteeship
Leadership Wyoming is now in its eighth year. The 275 graduates in the program often meet – both formally by way of Leadership Wyoming venues and informally in work and civic involvements. Of Wyoming's 90 legislators, 14 are Leadership Wyoming graduates.
One Representative told foundation benefactors that she hosts “hold in trust” conversations with her Leadership Wyoming associates in the legislature “not just on legislative matters, but on matters of life”.
Former Governor, and Ambassador to Ireland, Mike Sullivan, at Leadership Wyoming's fifth year celebration stated it this way “In the Gap, Hold in Trust©, and Discerning One's Mission is the special language of Leadership Wyoming participants. There is a common bond that is powerful and their commitment collectively and individually can, and will, lead to great things for our State.”
The commitment of graduates is evident in a wide range of civic activities. For example, there is the state director for a United States Senator who chose to become the volunteer president of the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra for two years instead of one, in order to lead the symphony through significant challenges.
Graduates have been willing to serve in programs directed by other leadership Wyoming alumni—including the areas of health care, public television, The Small Business Development Center, Boys and Girls Club, and the Wyoming Business Alliance to name just a few.
New Leadership Perspectives
Networking is a by product of any leadership development program – but Leadership Wyoming graduates have discovered that having a foundations of trust and civic trusteeship as the basis of their interaction provides much greater depth and opportunity to build networks of significance. While there are four core components of the program, trusteeship, in actuality, is the core.
It is evident in how graduates treat others, have chartered their careers, and have refocused their lives. Leaders by nature are often driven to do things for achievement. Leadership Wyoming graduates increasingly have brought a new dimension to their roles as civic trustees – namely, their sense of call and the alignment between themselves and actions. They've eliminated the clutter in their lives and achieved balance through recognition of the inner life and basic beliefs and values as the foundation of their leadership.
One graduate resigned from one of the state's most prestigious foundations, because as worthy as the work was it was not her calling. She now has now has become an amazing advocate in education advancement and certification for teachers.
So often we have seen Leadership Wyoming graduates, in their roles as civic trustees allowing their learning from Inner Work to perceive important decisions in a new light.
This type of reflection and discernment is a result of their Inner Work Process.
Conclusion
Wyoming is a state of independent thinkers but the bonds for a better state have increased based on shared experiences in Leadership Wyoming. These bonds have led to increased progress on what once were viewed as intractable issues, more progressive thinking and positive outlooks. Leadership Wyoming graduates accept their role as active civic trustees and their involvements today, more than ever, are linked with their core values, and their leadership strengths.
We can see it in the small acts of leadership, like the legislator who makes time to praise others; the business leader who shovels snow for a neighbor; the art museum director who provides hospitality for all. These actions demonstrate the important alignment between inner values and public responses which is the heart of civic trusteeship.
Bill Schilling is President of the Wyoming Business Alliance and Executive Director of Leadership Wyoming. He lives in Casper, Wyoming.