Are you passionate about the work you do, but driven to make changes?
Do you want to build your leadership skills and make a bigger impact?
Perhaps you’re currently delivering front-line peer-work supports, or coordinating a mental health program, or you’re starting a social enterprise or leading a small disability-sector business. Perhaps you volunteer on a committee or a board, to share your personal experience and your expertise. Or perhaps you’re involved in teaching or writing and challenging the status quo.
You may or may not think of yourself as a leader, but if you’re working to improve how we live and work and build communities together, then we think you’re a leader, and we want to help you to develop yourself, so you can increase your impact.
So, if you are looking to grow your capacity and help bring about a more responsible, just, and inclusive society, then we invite you to be part of a community of authentic and passionate leaders by joining THE LEADER’S WAY - www.theleadersway.com.au
THE LEADER’S WAY focuses on supporting and developing the capacity of leaders and aspiring leaders working or volunteering in human and social services.
Originally launched in 2017, THE LEADER’S WAY has helped front-line and program managers, founders, thought leaders, and advocates, to develop themselves as leaders, collaborators, and community-builders.
Now after five years of experience, and extensive feedback and re-visioning, we have completely re-designed THE LEADER’S WAY to better suit the needs of those working tirelessly to improve our world, transforming it from a (relatively) expensive and intensive program to something much more affordable, flexible, and ongoing.
We have done this because we want it to be accessible and affordable for everyone. We believe everyone deserves the chance to increase their self-awareness and capacity to lead.
This crowdfunding campaign is our test. We want to be sure we are on the right track and offering leaders and aspiring leaders the kind of learning environment and experience they will truly value.
In order to pass this test, we need to find 100 founding members to join us.
We would love you to be one of them.
WHERE I'M COMING FROM
Hi, I’m Nat and I’m the founder of Verge Collaborative and THE LEADER’S WAY Community.
The early part of my career was in outdoor education, facilitating hiking and canoeing expeditions, and supporting people to overcome their fears and stretch their comfort zone through abseiling, high-ropes courses, and rock-climbing challenges.
The second half of my career has been focused on supporting people to overcome a different set of challenges; namely, the personal and systemic challenges experienced as a result of our existing health, mental health, disability, and community service systems.
Over the last ten years, I have seen lots of people getting promoted but not supported to become better managers and leaders in their new roles. I have seen how the NDIS brought the disability and mental health sectors together in a way they hadn’t been before, and the challenges this has raised. I have seen too much burnout and frustration amongst our passionate workforce. And I have seen too few people with a lived experience of the challenges faced by those the sector serves moving into leadership roles.
Now I’m focused on building up leaders who are passionate about delivering high-quality social services, including designing and delivering training programs, mentoring founders of small NDIS businesses, and coaching emerging leaders.
Verge Collaborative was founded in 2015 to provide learning and development opportunities to people involved in delivering social services (mental health, disability, education, etc).
Our vision is a stronger social service system that offers healing, hope, empowerment, and inclusion to people experiencing mental distress, economic disadvantage, or social exclusion in any of its forms and where everyone can access the assistance they need when they need it, and in a way that best meets their unique needs.
We believe the people receiving those supports deserve awesome services!
And we believe that an empowered, empathic, and creative social sector workforce is essential to that vision.
We want to be part of developing and supporting the leaders, teams, and individuals who can create and deliver that awesomeness.
THE LEADER'S WAY is a program designed to do just that.
We’re so excited to be kicking off this new format for 2022 and hope you will join us!
WHAT'S INCLUDED IN THE LEADER’S WAY?
The program incorporates more than thirty online workshops each year, multiple small group forums run each month, and individual and group coaching opportunities. The aim is to support you to explore who you are as a leader, improve how you lead a team or influence other people, and broaden your perspectives of leadership, systems, and the sectors we work within.
THE LEADER’S WAY has been specifically designed for anyone working or volunteering in the social service sector, including existing and aspiring leaders who are:
- delivering front-line supports,
- managing a program, department, or organisation,
- founding a start-up,
- leading a small business,
- advocating for a better sector, or
- sharing your lived experience to bring about local or systemic change.
The new version of THE LEADER’S WAY is not so much a course, as a supportive learning community.
Your development as a leader is ongoing, so we have designed THE LEADER’S WAY to be available for you throughout your leadership journey. With several live online workshops offered each month, new workshop themes under development, and a community of emerging leaders to learn from and share your learning with, you can be a part of THE LEADER’S WAY for as long as you find it valuable.
We collaborate with exceptional facilitators and trainers, and our workshop program is constantly evolving. Here’s a taste of what we’ll be offering in the coming months:
- INSPIRATIONAL LEADERSHIP with Kath Thorburn (inside out & associates australia)
- INFLUENCING WITHOUT AUTHORITY with Irina Burgess (Irina Burgess & Associates)
- BUILDING HIGHLY EFFECTIVE TEAMS with Nat Ellis (Verge Collaborative)
- INCREASE YOUR CONFIDENCE with Nat Ellis (Verge Collaborative)
- COACHING SKILLS with Jill Rowe (Interrelate)
- SELF-LEADERSHIP with Nat Ellis (Verge Collaborative)
- POSITIVE EMOTIONAL WORKPLACE CULTURES with Nat Ellis (Verge Collaborative)
All for the cost of a barista coffee each week!
Find out more about THE LEADER'S WAY at www.theleadersway.com.au
FEEDBACK FROM PARTICIPATING LEADERS
“Confidence. For me, this has been the most important impact of participating in THE LEADER’S WAY. I believe the program is good for everyone and anyone, regardless of whether you’re currently leading in a formal way or not. To anyone considering joining us, I would say “just do it!”. You won’t regret it.”
Josh Manzione - Mental Health Specialist, NSW
“Participation in THE LEADER'S WAY has helped me to gain confidence, focus & direction. Identifying my strengths & learning about different leadership styles to help clarify my future goals.”
Monica Hastings – Mental Health Peer Worker & Lived Experience Change Agent, TAS
“The most significant change for me has been realising that I can’t ‘control’ everything, and coming to terms with that. Be prepared to think outside the box, as your idea of a 'leader' may be different to what others view a leader.”
Nadine Bakka – Allied Health Professional & Small Business Owner, NSW
“I’ve really enjoyed the self-reflection, sharing my experience and learning from others. I am now more aware of my skills and strengths as a leader, and more confident in myself.”
Jenny Smith – Youth Mentor & Lived Experience Advocate, NSW
“THE LEADER’S WAY has made a massive difference to me and given me the confidence to be a leader when I am at work. While I am studying full-time I have taken a step back from the program, but I know it will be something I will be leaning into again when the time is right.”
Christina Barton – Disability Sector Leader & (currently) Psychology student, NSW
“I became more confident in myself as a leader as I got to understand that I have the power to shape my leadership identity the way I want, and that, as a leader, I am constantly learning and don't have to know everything.”
Mereline Murimwa-Rarami – Aged Care Service Manager, NSW
“After years of struggling with the term leadership, I'm no longer looking for the magic bullet about what leadership is. This program gave me the ability to define leadership and to value others' perspectives - and now I'm on the right track.”
Henrique Van-Dunem - Lived Experience Workforce Leadership Development, VIC
“Be honest with yourself about whether you are the best you want to be. Sometimes we think we can do better, but we don't know what that 'better' means. THE LEADER’S WAY helps challenge you to understand what better might look like for you, and the great thing is that we are not all funneled into one type of definition of what we have to be. Rather, we can explore and discover that for ourselves, based on what's important to ourselves, our role, our circumstances. And once we know, we can work on it.”
Paul Regis – Small NDIS Business Owner, NSW
“THE LEADER’S WAY recognises that the way people lead is unique and personal, that developing leadership is not about becoming someone we are not, but how we identify and inhabit who we truly are as leaders. As a facilitator it is both rewarding and exciting to be part of such a thoughtfully curated program that encourages exploration, critique, and learning from and with each other.”
Kath Thorburn – Co-founder & co-director of inside out & associates australia; and co-facilitator for THE LEADER’S WAY
BE PART OF THIS MOVEMENT
"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more,
do more and become more, you are a leader."
John Quincy Adams
You might doubt that you’re a leader, or not resonate with that word. That’s okay. It’s not about labels, it’s about doing the work to improve our social services and supporting anyone doing that work, whatever you might call yourself.
Your early support will help us get this re-imagined community off the ground, and be a valuable investment in building your capacity to lead, collaborate with others and affect change.
This is an opportunity for you to become the leader you wish you were, which you know you can be, which your community or organisation needs you to be, and ultimately, being the change you want to see.
It's about being supported and encouraged by other leaders who experience similar challenges, who are like-minded and value-aligned.
It’s about learning, growing, and giving back.
It’s about building confidence, increasing knowledge, developing new skills, and putting it all into practice.
It's about not doing it all by yourself, not feeling alone, and tapping into the inspiration of other leaders.
Join us this year on THE LEADER’S WAY so we can walk this path together.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT PLEDGING
Firstly, you can select a reward and pledge anytime during the campaign - but you will not be charged until the end of the campaign (18 March 2022), and you will only be charged if we reach our target amount. You will be issued with an invoice if you pledge/pay in this way. We encourage you to pledge early.
Secondly, if your organisation would prefer to purchase subscriptions and/or coaching packages in bulk, please contact Nat Ellis ([email protected]). Verge can process your invoice directly and StartSomeGood will then add your purchases to the campaign figures so we still hit our target. Win-win.
