Prospera Partners cultivates resiliency through our BIG (Bold Impact for Good) programming which includes our Emerging Social Sector Leaders program that we’ve facilitated for six years for over 100 nonprofit professionals in New Mexico. Central to this program is supporting nonprofit leaders of many forms in navigating challenging conversations, finding courage to speak their truths (especially in hard moments), recognizing positionality and how to use privilege to effect change, and incorporating new ways of being that are more equitable into their daily work.
Emerging Leaders was developed with a focus on transformational leadership, systems change, and an emphasis on an understanding of our own individual roles (the I), how we relate and work together (the We), and how we do the work (the It). This program also differentiates itself by expanding on the definition of leadership. Our Chief Transformation Officer, Eileen Everett, puts it best in her article What About The Rest Of Us? Looking Beyond Preconceived Notions Of Leadership:
“I’ve seen over and over again the critical need to invest in leadership development at all levels. If we’re not offering opportunities for those at any point in their career to grow and evolve as leaders, then aren’t we just reinforcing hierarchies and systems of oppression that give people job titles with the word leadership in them but without the skills to work with and cultivate leadership in others?”
Jesse Cirolia (she/her), former Emerging Social Sector Leader and current Director of Community Health and Engagement at Anchorum St. Vincent
This month, we sat down with one of these leaders, Jesse Cirolia (she/her), Director of Community Health and Engagement at Anchorum St. Vincent. Jesse participated in our 2021 Emerging Leaders 1.0 cohort and went on to join our most recent Dismantling Systemic Racism in the Nonprofit Sector Series earlier in 2022. Jesse’s commitment to this work is clear in the way she approaches these difficult conversations. She brings her full self into the work, leaving room for the growth, learning, and ongoing transformation encouraged by the curriculum.
In looking at how these programs have shifted Jesse’s approach to her work we found some key themes around the value of relationship building, asking questions, and internalizing the learnings. Something as simple as asking “why?” or “why are we doing it this way?” as a tool to identify opportunities for shifts is now a natural interrogation and something that folds into her daily work.
When reflecting on moments where Jesse recognized the impact of the work, she shared a specific incident that occurred in a professional capacity. A stressful situation with her co-worker turned into stepping back and examining the relationship instead of trying to identify faults or assign blame, which made space for moving forward in trust. She claimed, “This happened because of the Emerging Leaders Training. Using the ‘I’, ‘We’, ‘It’ method allowed me to identify the components of the conflict to address the root cause and move forward in a trusting relationship. Then we both celebrated! I was able to apologize for my expression of stress… (and) move forward in a different way together.”
Jesse has noticed shifts in her organization’s processes as well. “We just finished a re-iteration of our application and reporting forms for our grantees, and we literally started with asking ‘Why are we asking the question we are asking’? (and) ‘How do we challenge the norm with intention’? We’ve eliminated so much content from our processes, our reporting looks so much different than it did before. We are all confident that it will be better for our grantees.”
“Our organization is working to focus more on what it means to develop trusting partnerships centralizing conversations about equity. In my role, I’m definitely asking the questions: ‘Whose voice is loudest and why, whose voice is excluded and why?’ It has shifted conversations our organization is having. We were already doing more general operating support grant making with more willingness to think critically about what is being offered and connecting to nonprofit partners in meaningful ways. Based on some of the work I’ve done in both Emerging Leaders and Dismantling Systemic Racism in the Nonprofit Sector I am continuing to explore what else we can do. These programs really validated the need for me to use my role in a different way, beyond just doing my job well. Also what I think of doing my job well has shifted as a result of the training and facilitation.”
Jesse continues, “Once you’ve integrated a skillset you stop seeing it as a skillset, it becomes a piece of how you operate and internalize the learnings, it becomes a part of your vernacular. Moving from Emerging Leaders to Dismantling Systemic Racism became a new lens to see what is in front of me. For example, in the moment of conflict (mentioned above) I’m not referring to slides from the training in my mind, but recognizing how the training has prepared me for this moment. When we’re in a conversation about organizational strategy or about my role or with a grantee, I was always aware of power dynamics, but now I have something I can use to actually access what is happening in the moment to have a more meaningful conversation about next steps. It shifts those conversations because I can actually be authentic with what is real and be resourced for what we want to have happen – beyond the nature or structure of what those relationships would have dictated in the past.”
When wrapping up our conversation, we landed on the realization that “There is a difference between taking up space to make statements and being bold by asking questions”. Our BIG (Bold Impact for Good) programming is an opportunity to really check in with yourself, to better understand impact, and to get curious – it’s not just another to-do list or list of lengthy resources. It sets up an internal framework for resilience and cultivating systems that are rooted in equity rather than rigid metrics of success.
