Sonoma Latino leaders explore the Leadership Challenge

La Luz Center recently hosted the Leadership Challenge workshop. In this exclusive to the Sonoma Valley Sun, Sonoma Leadership Systems’ Lauren Parkhill reports on the inspiring workshop.

Emerging leaders from the Sonoma Latino community participated in The Leadership Challenge Workshop, hosted by Sonoma Leadership Systems and La Luz Center. Nine women and seven men, who work in accounting, banking, non-profits, and the wine industry, were invited to participate in and to develop a conversation about what it means to be an emerging leader, and how to develop as leaders in Sonoma County.

The idea sprang from an idea of Juan Hernandez, Executive Director of La Luz Center, and championed by Salvador Chavez, a board member of La Luz Center and the Sonoma Valley Unified School District, as a way to prepare local Latino leaders to get involved in non-profit organizations by serving on boards and contributing to the vision and leadership of Sonoma Valley.

The training was held at La Luz Center’s Booker Hall, and Sonoma Leadership Systems, a locally based, global provider of leadership training and assessments, volunteered to conduct the training and provide materials, pro-bono. John Ward, of ManyMinds.com provided Graphic Facilitation and Sonoma Valley Rotary sponsored the event. Finally, a networking event was held after the event at Carneros Brewing Company by Jesus Ceja, Brewmaster at the brewery and event participant.

The two day program, The Leadership Challenge Workshop, is designed to help participants better understand their own leadership strengths and areas for improvement, build commitment through action, and enables leaders to enlist their team and encourage results. The Workshop is based on the business classic, The Leadership Challenge, which has sold over 2 million copies in over 20 languages.

One of the fundamentals of The Leadership Challenge is that “Leadership is Everyone’s Business” – meaning that leadership can be learned by anyone, regardless of position or job title. Participants not only reported learning the fundamentals of leadership but learned a great deal about themselves and how others perceive them as leaders in the process:

“We applied our own struggles and experiences, and made this experience tangible. The assessment put everything into perspective and personalized the process”

“The entire seminar was well done and an amazing experience. The presenters were genuinely real and effective at delivering the training material.”

“[What I liked most was the] self awareness and discovery.  We must know ourselves and other’s perception of us before we can implement and change.”

“Knowing that my peers think highly of me has given me confidence to take a more active role and voice.”

“The openness and opportunity  to share our challenges to others, and get feedback.”

“I have more confidence in what I and doing for my community.”

For over ten years, Sonoma Leadership Systems has been delivering The Leadership Challenge Workshop worldwide. The woman-owned, Sonoma based business hosts frequent local open-enrollment events and plans site specific events at businesses and organizations all around the world. Each year, executive directors of local non-profits are offered the opportunity to participate in the workshops, for free. sonomaleadership.com