impacT24: Where Leaders Grow!

What does it look like when leaders create REAL impact in the lives of others, their teams, or their communities?

As a community-benefit non-profit organization, we exist to serve all leaders on their leadership journey so that they can positively IMPACT others.

On Wednesday April 20, 2024, Sophia Partners, along with over 75 committed servant-leaders from the Fond du Lac community and surrounding areas, gathered at the Radisson Conference Center in Fond du Lac for the:

This inspirational day featured six speakers who share in a commitment to servant leadership and an unwavering commitment to the power and potential that comes from co-leaders + conversation. 

Scott Knutson

Founder and Chief Serving Officer of Leading2Serve, brings more than 25 years of leadership coaching, leadership development, and organizational development experience across multiple industries. 

The Power of Play (at work)

In a rapidly changing work environment, Scott shared that teams who embrace and access the creativity of their members can increase organizational performance and turn ideas into action. 

Scott used LEGO® Serious Play® as a way to tap into people’s ability to imagine possibilities, communicate and make sense of the challenges faced on teams, workplaces and communities.

Top takeaways included:

• Power of our hand-mind connection and how it can help connect us to our subconscious and/or other insights.
• Impact of metaphor in storytelling.
• How fast you can create/work when you stop overthinking.

Letesha Nelson 

CEO of Goodman Community Center, is a dynamic and visionary leader with over 20 years in the non-profit sector and has demonstrated a deep commitment to empowering individuals and communities.

A Leadership Story: Leading Authentically

What are the keys to leading authentically? Values! As a naturally authentic person, Letesha has learned success comes from:

• Knowing key aspects about staff members – the #1 thing you can do as a leader is create space for your team to be/express who they are.
• Providing consistency! Clarity, predictability, trust, reputation, communication, and cooperation are all connected to your consistency! Always remember: Expectations go BOTH ways!
• Understanding intent vs. impact – be it communicating yours or understanding your teams! If you see something strange, take time to understand it!
• Embracing vulnerability as a leader – this can be an opportunity for you to show up as your true self and connect!
• Honing your emotional intelligence. Listen more than you talk. Always!

Letesha shared that every person can be an authentic leader with these five concepts and by listening to each other’s leadership journey.

Emily Protine

Director of Culture and Communication at Bonner Carrington, brings more than 14 years of experience to her role where she curates and facilitates leadership and organizational culture workshops emphasizing servant leadership.

Action + Reflection = Positive Outcomes

Have you ever heard the phrase “slow down to go faster?” In organizational life, that is often not possible. What if taking time to reflect on goals and actions did help make efforts go faster, have a greater impact, align expectations, and strengthen teams and organizations?

Emily introduced the Praxis Model where reflection and action are equally important.

Top takeaways included:

• The power of writing out your dream job! Don’t be afraid to reflect and then have conversations to explore what’s possible. 
• We all have natural tendencies and comfort areas – are you a natural reflector or a natural action taker?
• Leadership = creative work. Need the cycle of reflection, to action, to reflection. Stalling in one area doesn’t build trust or serve your team well.

Kristin Bock 

Speaker, Consultant, and Founder at Body Language Blueprints, works with high-achieving professionals to tune into nonverbal cues so they can engage their teams and win more clients. 

Tune Into Your Cues

Kristin is on a mission to help leaders provide the nonverbal respect everyone wants and needs. By being more self-aware of your body language and its impact on communication and trust, you can avoid cue-lessness and shout “I’m a Great Leader” without saying a word.

Choose 3 Words, then ask yourself these questions: 

• How do I want others to perceive me?
• Are my three words in alignment with what I want to communicate to the world?
• Why did I choose these three words?

When you establish how you choose to show up, it becomes easier to reverse engineer:

• What kind of body language to use.
• What kind of nonverbal cues help relay this message.
• What areas to focus on.

Kristin Steede

Sophia Partners Board Member and Gallup® Certified Strengths Coach, is a dynamic keynote speaker who helps others discover what they do best and how to use it to make an impact through Gallup’s CliftonStrengths® and servant leadership skill building.

Serving Out of Bounds: Setting Healthy Boundaries

Kristin explored the importance of setting healthy boundaries as a servant leader and discussed how boundaries contribute to personal well-being, organizational effectiveness, and sustainability.

As a leader, you can learn how to identify boundary violations, communicate your needs effectively, and establish clear boundaries that support your ability to serve others authentically.

Top takeaways included:

• The difference between perception and reality. Servant leadership ≠ overserving.
• WE are often our own worst boundary violator. Boundaries are essential regardless of your leadership style.
• It’s important to prioritize self-care and well-being as leaders! 

The inspiration for this conference started fifteen years ago, when Sophia Partners, formerly Sophia Foundation, hosted a community leadership event and began working to help individuals and groups in the greater Fond du Lac area learn and practice servant leadership. 

To this day, we remain dedicated to creating a network of transformative leaders who positively impact the places and spaces we share—families, teams, workplaces, neighborhoods, and communities.

Thank you to everyone who attended the impacT24: Aspiring Servant Leaders Conference.

We can’t wait to see where you create IMPACT next!

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