Foundations in First Nations Leadership and Capacity Building

I have been teaching Vital Learning's Leadership Essential Program for just over four years; a program I knew had all of the ingredients needed for employees at all levels of an organization to be successful. In 2007, Vancouver Island University invited me to bring the program to 21 managers and supervisors working for the single largest First Nation organization and employer in the Cowichan Valley, representing more than 3,800 registered members.
It became clear, very quickly that I would also be expected to integrate the cultural teachings of the Tribes represented and provide opportunities for those participating to explore the cultural implications of the skill points I was teaching. Not an easy feat for a white woman with a limited understanding of these teachings and cultural implications but I believed in the program so much that I thought, “If the skill points are the right ones for success at work and in life, integrating the cultural context and teachings of this First Nation can only make them all the more powerful” - And more powerful, they did.
The organization soon began to witness an increased confidence among those enrolled in the program. I was being told that those participating in the program were becoming more successful in their solutions-based approaches to conflict, in their critical thinking skills, collegial relationships and in their professionalism on the job.
The evidence was there that the program was making a difference but I knew it could achieve so much more if I could customize the language, case studies, examples and practice scenarios for an aboriginal audience. Despite this, the students and I were able to to integrate their cultural teachings and explore the cultural implications of the skill points being taught and today, more than 80 aboriginal students have completed the program.
My dream for some time has been to take the leap of faith – To aboriginalize the program and to build its capacity on the delivery side of the equation with in-house and community, Aboriginal facilitators, who would be as passionate about the program as I am. And, it seemed the Universe had been listening when the consortium of the three post-secondary educational institutions on Vancouver Island approached me with an interest in partnering on a project that would see the program customized and expanded to a 16-course program – the “Foundations in First Nations Leadership and Capacity Building” training program.
Working with a mentor from the Tofino First Nation, another curriculum designer, an amazing design company and completing more than 300 hundred hours of customization work, this 16-course program has been created.
As the finishing touches go into the program, I have already begun facilitating the first intake of 15 students and am preparing to host the first “Trainer Orientation” session. The word is out, the program’s reputation is growing, the phones are ringing and I’m realizing that for the program to reach its full potential, I must re-direct my energies into building capacity on the delivery side of the equation.