4 Essential Implementation Leadership Academy Take-Aways
June 13, 2022 – Implementation Leaders have worked diligently for years to make socially significant changes in their communities. As justice agencies continue to evolve at a rapid pace, leaders are often left with limited tools, support, and knowledge for how to lead change effectively. In this blog, the ACJI team shares what each of its own leaders considers essential Implementation Leadership Academy learning–something every alumni should remind themselves of from time to time.
Use Your New Vocabulary
“The 10 Principles become activated, energized, and given life when used as a new language.”
My ambition for those who attend the Academy is that they walk away with a new mindset, and, more importantly, a new vocabulary to share and spread in their organizations. The 10 Principles become activated, energized, and given life when used as a new language. It can be contagious when used in hallways, around watercoolers, at meetings, and during learning events within agencies and organizations.
I hope that ACJI alumni metabolize the principles and tools we teach to such a degree that they become habits and are evident in the climates and cultures of their organizations.
Don't Be Afraid To Pursue Long-Term Goals
"I want Academy Alumni to be empowered, even emboldened, to challenge misalignments in pursuit of their long-term organizational goals."
I hope all ACJI Academy participants walk away from our eight weeks together with the ability to see below the surface. That they can look at their organization and identify opportunities to strengthen their highest-impact strategies while feeling the courage to eliminate things that aren’t working or are getting in the way of those long-term goals!
It is also important to me that our alumni know they are not alone. Implementation is hard for most people and organizations. ACJI Alumni are part of an implementation community that can provide support and encouragement — because they’ve walked in your shoes for miles trying to reach their own long-term goals!
Be Bold
"Implementing change starts within ourselves."
My hope for implementation leaders is that they leave the ACJI Academy with the momentum to experiment with new tools and skills to make intentional daily choices in alignment with their goals and vision.
I want them to feel like a part of a bold community of leaders that is willing to courageously look inward and model to the people around them how implementing change starts within ourselves.
Challenge The Status Quo
"My hope for ACJI Alumni is they return to the office with motivation to challenge status quo."
Traditional leadership school teaches you to manage change as if it is a structured phenomenon that can be controlled. Infusing the science of implementation into justice organizations is no longer optional, but rather a requirement to advance and align effective practices with scientific principles proven to show outcomes.
My hope for our Academy Alumni is that they return to their agency or organization with motivation to challenge the status quo, equipped with tools and strategies to navigate change with relentless optimism, shifting the focus away from managing change to embracing the chaos and learning opportunities along the ride.
Find out what graduates of ACJI’s Implementation Leadership Academy have taken away from the course in this video produced by ACJI in 2022 at our annual Implementation Leadership Summit.
Learn more about the ACJI Implementation Leadership Academy HERE. Reserve your spot in the upcoming session and start reaching long-term goals and challenging the status quo with the new skills and tools gained.
