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We can tell a great deal about a group of people and their culture from their vocabulary. Eskimos, naturally, have many words for “snow”. The Jewish people have any number of words for “community” – as the kahal was always a center-piece of Judaism.
The Case for Community
The 21st century has seen a shift from silos to networks; from go-it-alone to collaboration. Still, like all cultural change such a shift requires more than good will and good intentions. It will take a change in consciousness and capacity. This is ever more pressing today in a religious community that faces an ageing population, a shrinking demographic, and a new generation which is reticent at best in terms of affiliation with the organized community.
Program Design
Community 2.0 is aimed at being a one year, project oriented program which builds capacity and sustainability for collaboration amongst community institutions, be they synagogues, Federations, JCCs, museums, churches, and/or Day Schools. It is designed to work with two or more of these institutions who demonstrate affinity and readiness to work towards a self-identified project that neither could accomplish by themselves.
Specifically, Community 2.0 includes:
- An initial two day residential workshop focused on the principles and practices of collaboration both within the individual institution and between them. It is during this workshop that a final decision is made as to the project they will undertake;
- A second one day residential workshop designed to hone collaborative skills and to trouble shoot any challenges, roadblocks, or breakdowns that have occurred in the first few months of working together;
- A final one day workshop for reflection and evaluation of the work, to celebrate success, to identify work still to be done and how it will be accomplished, and to create the capacity for sustainability beyond the project’s conclusion.
- In between residential workshops there will be a monthly one hour coaching conference call with the entire team to identify issues and to problem solve. Webinars will be utilized to enhance and deepen the learning of specific skills.
Guiding Principles
Community 2.0 is founded on three guiding principles:
- Trusting Relationships: healthy on-going trusting relationships create a platform for potential substantive change.
- Applied Learning: applied learning leads to deeper insight into the process of change and confidence in the ability to bring it about.
- Sustainability: training programs need to be sustainable, so organizations can continue healthy practices without the presence of consultants.
Program Structure
- Residential Workshops—with teams of senior staff and clergy, Board Presidents and likely successors to the President. Each retreat integrates three overarching themes: leadership development, partnership, and institutional development (that is, working together to create positive organizational cultures marked by innovation, accountability, goal setting, collaboration, and support).
- Leadership Development Project—each community will need to decide whether they will choose individual projects according to their own institutional vision, sharing their progress with and getting help from one another throughout the program OR a single religious community project which none of the institutions could have brought about by themselves.
- Webinars—which provide on-going learning and support between the workshops, to maintain progress, share peer insights, and enable participants to move through the inevitable moments when they feel stuck.
- Mentoring/Coaching—which offer experienced, on-going project support and encouragement to help leaders overcome both external and internal obstacles to change.
Read About Other Programs/Services
Coaching
Religious Communities Growth and Development
Research and Evaluation
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