VALOR’S POWERED BY COMPASS LEADERSHIP COHORT FOR SCHOOL AND DISTRICT LEADERS
An effective leader who stays in their role is the most crucial lever for increasing student well-being and achievement, retaining high-performing staff and building a strong and healthy overall school culture. The challenges principals and district leaders face are immense. The sheer complexity of leading a community of such diverse stakeholders requires tremendous social, emotional, and relational energy and prowess, as well as a strong sense of identity and purpose.
WE HELP LEADERS MAKE TRANSFORMATIVE SHIFTS IN THEIR WAY OF BEING SO THEY CAN ENGAGE THEIR ROLES AND COMMUNITIES RECHARGED AND MORE EFFECTIVE.
Find your Leadership Center, helping you remain present and balanced in the most critical moments.
With our support, you will develop a personal contemplative practice to keep you anchored during the inevitable storms of leadership.
Lean into your Leadership Edge, learning to welcome the next frontier of your own development.
With our support, you will develop and explore several maps of your inner world and that will help you see the limits of your own worldview and ways you might liberate yourself more fully.
Write your Leadership Story, strengthening your preferred storylines and re-negotiating your limiting storylines.
With our support, you will use a narrative meaning-making framework to story the events of your life and leadership in strength-based ways that align with your deepest values.
Find your Leadership Purpose, naming the way you will offer your unique gifts to the world.
With our support, you will find and name your deepest calling and learn to align your self-story and actions to this vision.
In education, there is a tendency to approach complexity by breaking it into small, discrete parts and then applying technical, skill-based solutions. Much of the professional development available for principals is structured in this way – technical, skill-based solutions for complex and nuanced issues.
This is not that type of training.
Compass-in-Leadership is designed to help principals and district leaders find their own leadership center and story, in fellowship with other leaders, so that they can meet the demands of their role in a more centered, connected, and purposeful manner.
THE POWER OF THE PRINCIPAL
School leaders improve teaching and learning indirectly and most powerfully through their influence on staff motivation, commitment, and working conditions.
“As we recover from the pandemic and move forward, we have a unique chance to reimagine how we support school leaders and make their jobs more human-centered and sustainable. And we have an opportunity to honestly put students first in our education system, giving them a diverse cadre of highly effective leaders that reflect the demographics of our schools and is equipped with the tools and resources for setting them up for success.” – Accelerate Institute
Download Accelerate Institute’s Report:”Reimagining Principal Sustainability”
Development that Matters
TRAUMA-INFORMED LEADERSHIP: RECOVERING FROM TOXIC STRESS
In this session, Valor’s Chief Culture Officer and licensed therapist Daren Dickson leads you to understand how we are wired to respond in moments of crisis, recognize when you or your team might be operating from a state of disconnection and overwhelm, and develop strategies to bring yourself back to a state of connection and balance even in the midst of crisis and uncertainty.
OVER THE COURSE OF TWO YEARS, YOU WILL ..
JOIN A GROWING COMMUNITY OF LIKE-MINDED LEADERS
Being a principal or district leader can be lonely. Principals often feel as though they are “on an island” and solely responsible for taking care of the needs of an entire community of students, staff, and families. Through our cohort model, you will join a growing network of Compass-quality leaders from across the nation.
LEAD
WITH CLARITY
Cycles of toxic stress impact a leader’s decision-making and relationship-building capacities. By understanding your own natural stress response, you’ll begin to hone your ability to remain present with your own experience and attuned to those around you.
BUILD CONNECTIONS THAT WILL LAST
Cohort are capped at 15 participants, so you can expect to build meaningful connections with like-minded leaders from across the country, as well as receive targeted direction from Valor’s Leadership Coaches.
SLOW DOWN IN ORDER TO SPEED UP
Stillness and contemplation are the foundations for cultivating a big heart, sharp mind, noble purpose and actions aligned to that purpose. You’ll be led to develop your own commitment to slow down in order to speed up.
IMPLEMENT ROUTINES THAT SUPPORT YOU
Once you’ve discovered your ‘why’ for stillness and contemplation, you’ll be encouraged to develop a daily practice that’s your own.
REWRITE THE NARRATIVES THAT KEEP YOU STUCK
Employing multiple frameworks from therapeutic and developmental fields, you will be invited to address the core stories, beliefs, and mindsets that block your capacity for change and making your highest impact.
2024-2025 Meeting Dates
Principal Cohort (Year 1)
Fall Convening: October 30 – November 1, 2024
Spring Convening: March 26 – 28, 2025
Rising Leader Cohort (Year 1)
Fall Convening: November 6 – 8, 2024
Spring Convening: April 23 – 25, 2025
