Creating the Business Leaders of Tomorrow – Copperleaf Leadership Exploration & Development
In a recent Waterstone Culture Dashboard survey, over 93% of Copperleaf employees agreed that “my organization’s leaders care about the well-being of their team members.” We are proud to have strong leaders at Copperleaf® who value the continuous learning and growth of team members and are willing to volunteer their time to mentor others. The young employees of today are the business leaders of tomorrow, and sharing knowledge, collaborating, being transparent, and promoting from within are all important aspects of our company culture.
Earlier this year, a grassroots initiative was created, driven by employees who wanted to create a way to learn from our company’s leaders. The Copperleaf ‘LEAD’ Initiative (Leadership Exploration And Development) serves to:
- develop and educate employees interested in expanding their leadership skills
- provide employees at all levels of the company with the opportunity to connect and interact with the leadership team
- help current leaders to continue to grow and develop their management skills
Everyone is encouraged to bring ideas to the volunteer LEAD Planning Committee who selects a topic to focus on every two months. Topics can originate from diverse sources, such as books, videos, TED Talks, podcasts—or anything else you find inspiring! Members are divided into small groups which are led by an experienced leader who facilitates a discussion of the topic and shares his/her knowledge. Recent topics have included:
- “Having Difficult Conversations” based on the book Crucial Conversations Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, which brings together insights from different disciplines such as law, organizational behaviour, and psychology, in order to improve communication skills
- Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces that Shape Behaviour, a book that explores the subtle, unsuspecting influences that affect the decisions we make
- The New One Minute Manager, a guide to the three techniques of an effective manager
The Copperleaf LEAD Initiative is off to a very successful start and we’re excited to see how it continues to evolve! If you have any suggestions for interesting topics, speakers, or books we should consider, please reach out!
Copperleaf is invested in the continual growth of our employees and we are always looking for talented individuals to join our fast-growing team. Check out our current job openings here.