An intensive virtual, cohort-based learning environment for leaders, changemakers and innovators who work on vexing systemic problems that can only be addressed using a collaborative approach. Our focus puts the planet and equity for all people in the centre of the work we do and the way we teach.

WHO THIS IS FOR?

Facilitators, convenors, strategists, systems thinkers, collaboration designers, organisational and team leaders….

If you are part of large, complex issues which cannot be solved by any single department, organization or group, and work to create intensive, sustained collaboration between diverse stakeholders to make progress, this course can help you.

WHAT WE COVER

  • The basic tools and attitude to attract the right stakeholders in the right way to begin to guide them to address complex, system issues
  • The essential first steps to design and facilitate solutions to  complex, systemic issues
  • Feeling more confident in front of a group
  • Creating (and experiencing) a highly interactive and engaging approach to collaboration.
  • Hands-on experience with Miro and other online tools for group collaboration and community building in the virtual space.

Each session will begin with engaging check-ins to build connections before diving into our work together.

WHAT IS A COMPLEX, SYSTEMIC ISSUE?

An issue with no easy answer and a high degree of uncertainty and interdependence with other issues. For example, working with a group of key players in the maritime industry to help advance the decarbonisation of shipping.

Are you:

  • frustrated by a lack of impact in getting things done collaboratively?
  • managing multiple stakeholders with different agendas?
  • seeking to bring diverse participants together to seek common ground?
  • challenged by the large amount of complexity in front of you and need to make sense of it?
  • hungry to understand more about complex systems and how to help others know what to do?
  • working with individuals or teams to understand complex issues to co-design solutions & strategies that put our planet and equity at the center of attention?
  • understanding your own role, perceptions, triggers, creating awareness and setting your intention as you work with groups to advance their impact?

If you are hungry to be effective and have impact, this course is for you. Whether you live within an organization or you are working along-side one, this course offers concrete, applied concepts and tools to attract and work with the right groups to action. If you want to build the skills and learn the tools to tackle tough issues at the intersection of systems like planet and human health, or social and economic justice, but you haven’t figured out how to bring others along with you, this course is for you.

Apply by January 31st

APPLY TO JOIN
100
of the last cohort said they would take another TVW course
APPLY TO JOIN

Spaces are strictly limited to 20 participants.

Application Deadline: January 31st

MORE THAN THEORY

Bring your own case study challenges and projects to work on during this course. You will be putting ideas into action to solve the challenges in front of you right now.

You will experience highly participatory sessions where we will  “learn by doing,” and by example, will be part of a rich experience created by using advanced facilitation methods in a virtual setting. You will largely work in small groups with other cohort members. You will meet other professionals and train together on real-world assignments. You will have access to individual and small-group coaching sessions and office hours.

The core course will deliver both a learning and reflective practice for participants during and between sessions: fostering the conditions for participants to build trust and groups/configurations that build on the work together outside of session days and beyond the course itself.

You will leave with…

  • Increased confidence in leading multi-stakeholder projects and a better sense of self
  • A starter tool kit for collaboration and co-creation
  • Models for facilitating productive conversations
  • Ways to align diverse perspectives around shared intent
  • An understanding of systemic challenges and what it takes to address them
  • Increased understanding about the roles of outcomes and objectives to better manage group dynamics
  • A cohort of colleagues and instructors to support you on this journey
  • An alumni space in TVW’s Learning Community to continue your learning journey

You can complete our online application here.

Applicants will have a short interview and will be notified if they are accepted.

REGISTRATION FEES

TVW Learning Community members: $999

Non-Members: $1250

APPLY TO JOIN

Application Deadline: January 31st
Spaces are strictly limited to 20 participants.

BASIC INFORMATION

Small cohort sizes
Expect personalised experience and meaningful connection with your peers. Our cohorts will have a maximum of 20 participants.

Time investment
The course runs over 8 weeks and meets bi-weekly (February 17, March 3, 17, 31) with Cohort touch points in between online sessions. Expect to spend 4-hours on Zoom each session and ~2 hours between on readings and other work.

Session Times: 

9 am ET | 15:00 Europe

Ongoing community
All participants in this cohort gain access to the TVW Learning Community, a supportive, collaborative space to continue your learning journey.

APPLY TO JOIN

Application Deadline: January 31st

DELIVERED BY

The Value Web has been at the forefront of delivering complex design and facilitation programmes for nearly two decades. You’ll be learning directly from experienced practitioners, supported by a network of advisors and guest speakers.

JODI ENGELBERG

Jodi Engelberg uses models and methods to spur innovation and systems change with groups from every sector and on most continents. She designs and facilitates conversations that enable collaboration, deep relationships, and execution. Click for more >>

SVENJA RUEGER

Svenja is a facilitator and designer of large scale collaboration. Her passion lies in building resilient communities and facilitating collaborative processes to solve complex challenges on a systems level. Click for more >>

AARON WILLIAMSON

Aaron Williamson is a consultant, facilitator, designer, technologist and artist

Aaron Williamson is a consultant, facilitator, designer, technologist and artist based in Toronto, Canada. Using participatory process, visual practice and data-driven design, Aaron focuses on complex, multi-stakeholder challenges. With a practice that spans governments, corporates, startups, non-profits and international organizations, Aaron brings a multidisciplinary approach that is rooted in the belief that each industry, and each stakeholder, has something we can learn from.
Click for more >>

PARTICIPANT REFLECTIONS

COMMENTS FROM LAST COHORT

Describe how you have gained confidence in leading an engagement, project or group now as a Systems Leader.

“I have more concrete understandings of how to use models, tools, and methods to apply directly to my work, and further have defined what it means to be a systems leader.”

Sara Kraemer

“I joined the Academy seeking new tools to add to my facilitation toolkit and frameworks around which to make sense of what I already know and do. There were a lot of overlaps with my system change and community empowerment work, but now I have terminology and frames that organize that work in my head. It has already allowed me to step more confidently into facilitation and design.”

Ellen Shepard

“Seeing and experiencing and hearing the facilitators in action, and capturing nuances to how best to do and deal in different situations, and also the stories and examples of the speakers, contributed to a deeper understanding on how to create more value when creating and facilitating collaboration.”

Claudia van't Hullenaar

“Systems thinking has influenced my work for a number of years - it was the specificity of a systems approach to the design of the engagement and, in several instances, a validation of what I have been doing instinctively.”

Kathleen Roberts

“The course introduced me to tools and frameworks that I can lean on to help participants /sponsors articulate their goals/needs and also help me lead /facilitate better. These have helped me gain confidence when approaching a new engagement .”

Sudarshan Mahajan

“I've already used a couple of models (modified) for smaller engagements (team meetings for example) and started using more visual tools to capture decision-making. I've become more confident in asking "why" to get to the heart of things and help find the "hidden" outcomes" needed for each engagement (large or small).”

Amanda Wrona

Did the course deliver on what it promised? If yes, why?

“Yes. I was looking for more in-depth conversations about different models, tips and tricks for facilitators, a comprehensive understanding of the role of a facilitator, and being able to grasp the complexity of the world's systems.”

Stéphanie Nassenstein

“I feel enriched to have met so many people with so different backgrounds, years of experience; the group was very diverse and yet we could relate to each other which was helpful in my own reflexion”

“I had fun! You and the participants were incredibly inspiring and I feel more and more attracted to orient myself even more towards this field for the future of my career. So very helpful and insightful from a personal development point of view.”

Loiuse Dobler

“The Systems Leader Academy was really rich in content, methods, tools. It was a rare 'behind the scenes' insight of the art of designing for collaboration and facilitation”

“Our three facilitators were absolutely fantastic, and it was great to hear the thinking of some of the facilitation 'legends'”

Claudia van't Hullenaar

“It was a great use of my time and has already started to bring value to my everyday "day job””

Amanda Wrona

“I feel like I have a much deeper understanding of what it means to facilitate, both in terms of planning, prep, carrying out and following up.”

Tania Christensen

Was the design challenge a useful focal point for this course? Why or why not? If yes, how did it help you?

“The design challenge with at its core the outcomes and objectives is at the heart of the course. The VP model will be the best to apply to my projects”

Stéphanie Nassenstein

“I am starting to use it with several smaller team meeting engagements and to help others think about how to engage effectively.”

Amanda Wrona

What worked well in this course?

“The pace worked well, the constant moving between plenary and break-outs, the individual exercises, the sharing and feedback pace as well. Very well balanced”

Stéphanie Nassenstein

“ It was a great mix of types of activities geared to different learning styles. It worked for me both as a participant and in observing how the meetings were designed and facilitated.”

Ellen Shepard

“It felt like a very safe space where everyone was very open - it was a relief to hear from other participants and our facilitators' doubts and struggles as well.”

Louise Dobler

“I {also} loved the amount of room for discussion, from where great conversations could evolve. I really enjoyed reflecting with my sparring partner to apply my learnings to my situation and how we could help each other.”

Jenny Stolper
APPLY TO JOIN

Application Deadline: January 31st

Spaces are strictly limited to 20 participants.