Community Leadership Programs Done Right

Tammy J. Bond: Across the country, there are over a thousand leadership programs developing tens of thousands of leaders every single year in communities in every state. And right here on the space coast, Leadership Brevard has been doing that work for 40 years. But let's tell the truth about this friends.

Developing leaders and changing leadership behavior, it's not the same thing. So as we head into the Ruby anniversary, the Ruby celebration for Leadership Brevard, this is the real conversation we're gonna sit down and have with Leadership Brevard graduates to talk about what actually changed them, what didn't, and what leadership looks like when it's tested in the real world. Because leadership, it isn't what you learn in a room, it's what you, your team, experience. when you leave that room.

Welcome to the Leadership Sandbox. I am excited to share today's episode with Monica Newman-McCluney, who's the head of U.S. Corporate Social Responsibility and Embraer Foundation.

Monica, welcome to the conversation and thank you also, I need to say, for being the board chair of Leadership Brevard and for joining me in the sandbox today to talk all about the program that you and I are pretty darn proud of. Monica Newman McCluney: Well, thank you so much, Tammy. It is really my honor and my privilege to serve as the board chair and to have been a graduate of leadership Brevard class of 2022 best class. Tammy J.

Bond: And best class ever. Yes, that is a saying that I hear loud and clear. So Monica, Leadership Brevard has been developing leaders for over 40 years. This is our Ruby celebration.

From your seat as the board chair, what do you think we are getting right? And where might we still be missing it for Brevard County? Monica Newman McCluney: Boy, what a question. My goodness.

You know, I think that we're getting a lot of things right. I think that we are inspiring people to want to lead within their own organizations and more importantly, out in our community. I think one of the things that we've really done well and continue to get right is connecting leaders with opportunity. to give in our community.

you know, I can speak from my own personal experience. Going through the Leadership Revive program, the networking that came from that, you know, one of my goals was to leave the program as a sitting board member for a local nonprofit. And my goodness, now I can count. how many nonprofit boards I actually sit on, both at a local level and at a national level.

And so it's given me, ⁓ I think the skills from a governance standpoint to be able to successfully sit on a board and lead a board, but it's also given me the confidence to do that as well. So, and I think where do we have room to grow? ⁓ I think we have room to grow in terms of developing Tammy J. Bond: Yeah.

Monica Newman McCluney: leaders at an even younger age and reaching back to a slightly younger demographic and pulling them forward into the leadership space because they have so much to offer as we continue to develop our own community and we look at the challenges that our community has and the solutions that they bring to the table I think are a little different than maybe what you or I would think is a solution to the problem. So I think we have room to grow where that's concerned.

Tammy J. Bond: Yeah. Yeah. Well said.

Yeah, I would agree with that for sure. So. I guess I'll ask this this way. What, when you think back to your experience as the best class ever of 2022, what did leadership of our challenging you that maybe you didn't see coming?

You didn't see it before until you went through the program. Monica Newman McCluney: I think it challenged me to look at our community through a different lens, right? To not just look at the obvious, what's in front of you, ⁓ but to really kind of challenge how we're approaching the challenges in our community. And again, looking at new and different solutions to those challenges and approaching those solutions in a collaborative way.

So how can I at Embraer partner with folks over at Lockheed Martin and over at L3 Harris and maybe even at NASA, how do we work together as a community to solve challenges together? We all have employee resource groups. We all have employee volunteer programs within our organizations and how do we galvanize those individuals to help us face some of the challenges that our community is facing. Tammy J.

Bond: So when I hear you say that, what comes up for me is remembering back to earlier in the year when the current class was going through one of their leadership Brevard days and we had ⁓ several different ⁓ community partners that came in to teach different aspects of wellness through the arts. And one of the gentlemen, ⁓ what just still profoundly sticks out to me, we had one of the gentlemen, the speakers came in and he brought a bunch of ⁓ just abstract things like little square wooden blocks and yarn and rubber bands and sticks and just a whole bunch of stuff that he like threw in the center of every table and then he turned on music and was just like play right just go play and it was so interesting and this is my wheelhouse in leadership development when I go in and I'll take challenging little games in and it's so interesting to watch this shut down like people get paralyzed, like, wait, I'm supposed to play, but aren't we supposed to be learning, right?

Or we're at work, but how does this, how do you incorporate this into your everyday work as a team member in whatever company and whatever level of leadership? And I bring that up because there was one of our team member, one of the class members who said, quite high emotion came up. And he's like, I want to know how to do this every day at my workplace. Like, how do I bring this in?

And that's what I love about the profound aspect of what we can offer through a very creative, unique way where you're at a table with peers, but not from the same company, just peers in the community, learning a unique skillset or learning something you didn't know you wanted or needed. And then they brainstormed all the ways they could take back this kind of playfulness into the workplace. So I thought that was a. Monica Newman McCluney: Mm-hmm.

Tammy J. Bond: a really neat example of where our program sets people up to look at themselves and their work different than if they were just doing a team building exercise, you know, or training in their workplace with their peers that they're there every day with. Does that make sense? Yeah.

Monica Newman McCluney: It does, absolutely. I think that, you know, I wasn't there that day, ⁓ but it sounds like they had an amazing time and it was a lot of fun. But I think about the way that we teach Lean and Six Sigma within our own organization and how we, again, solve problems. And we do it in our dojo using Legos.

So when we bring students onto our campus, we utilize those same tools to help them work together to solve whatever the problem is. And they do it through the use of Legos. So it's actually pretty cool. Tammy J.

Bond: Yeah, yeah, it's very cool. Legos are fun. ⁓ So what would you say that ⁓ one leadership behavior that you maybe found yourself looking at introspectively, I guess, ⁓ that you, it forced you to think about it differently in yourself after going through the leadership bravard? Monica Newman McCluney: Thank you, Anna.

Tammy J. Bond: year-long program, nine-month program. Monica Newman McCluney: Oh my goodness. And it's a great question.

And it's been a few years. I you would ask me this question in 2022. You know, I think I've always been a good communicator. Tammy J.

Bond: I know good questions, huh? Yes. Monica Newman McCluney: But I think that my communication skills through listening have improved. And I think I can directly align that back to my leadership reward experience.

Really sitting in the moment and taking in the information and really trying to process it. Again, I've always been a solutions-oriented person. My thought processes have always kind of operated that way. Tammy J.

Bond: Mm-hmm. Monica Newman McCluney: But I think sometimes when we listen, we hear, but we're not listening. So we're not really processing it. We're listening just to respond, not to ⁓ find collaborative solutions.

And so I think that it has helped me to do that and to be more disciplined about my communications approach and style. And so, you know, it's even helped me become a little more settled in processing information before I respond, even in an email. So I think that's definitely a skill that I honed during my Leadership Brevard experience. Tammy J.

Bond: Yeah. Yeah, probably because you were with strangers, you know, and it requires, I think we often lean in into different, ⁓ sometimes strengths, but also there's a willingness or ability to be more vulnerable, to recognize where maybe a gap is, right? That I can close this gap in the safety of strangers easier than it is in the workplace, because I'm protecting, right? I might have some barriers up, so I love that.

I love that. So as the board chair of leadership Brevard how do you ensure, what's your thoughts and how do you ensure that our program here doesn't just create awareness, but actually develops leaders who lead differently in the community? Monica Newman McCluney: Well, I think part of that is having a very strong board of directors. People like you who have an expertise in this area who can constantly evaluate the curriculum that we're offering and its impact.

with those that are receiving the information. So I think that that's really been a strength over the last year. ⁓ And so I thank you for all that you bring to our board. And there are others with similar skill sets.

And it really has made a difference that the board has been hands on with curriculum development. ⁓ But again, not just developing the curriculum, but evaluating and assessing throughout to make sure that we're able to make adjustments. as we get feedback from those that doing the program. I think that's, yeah, I think that's been very helpful and I think we're seeing the impact of that with the feedback that we're getting from those that are in the current class and I think, it is really good.

It is impressive. So congratulations to everybody that's been part of our curriculum development process. Tammy J. Bond: Yeah, that's good.

Great feedback. Yeah, our net promoter score is really good. everyone. Yeah, it's been great.

All right, so here I'm gonna bring it, I'm gonna bring us in, I'm gonna land the plane with this. If leadership of art is gonna matter for the next 40 years, what has to or what do we see that needs to evolve and how do we develop that or how do we develop the leaders for that? Monica Newman McCluney: So, thank ⁓ Wow, that feels like a little bit of a trick question, Tam. You know, we as an organization...

Tammy J. Bond: No tricks. Monica Newman McCluney: Again, we're a legacy organization with 40 years of strong programming. I think that we've demonstrated our worth in the community and we are transitioning.

We've had a leader who's been with us for 25 years who has done an absolutely amazing job at developing and growing the organization to where it is today. And I would say very, very successfully, ⁓ Tammy J. Bond: amazing. Monica Newman McCluney: But as we transition to new leadership, I think that we're going to experience some programmatic transition and evolution as well.

And so, you know, I think there's always the possibility that we will start to touch different demographics, whether it is a youth demographic, a female demographic, whatever kind of that that affinity group may be. But I think that that's going to become part of our evolution and the next phase of of Lead Brevard I'm excited to see what that looks like and I'm even more excited to be a part of helping to develop what's next. Tammy J. Bond: I'm excited.

Very exciting for sure. agree. I wholly agree. The opportunity to develop the people of all ages and stages of career, it's not just for young people.

It's really what we're doing is developing something that the whole person can come in and participate in to upskill themselves in a very unique way while learning about this amazing community that we all live, work and play in. And I think that's just super powerful. So, all right. So if a leader, not if, because we do have leaders listening in to this podcast.

So for the leader listening right now that might be saying, yeah, I'm doing things right. Things are good. Things are fine. What would you challenge them to take a harder look at when it comes to their own leadership journey or their own evolution?

Monica Newman McCluney: Well, I think there's always something that we can learn. And I think the more exposure we have to diversity of thought, the stronger our leadership capabilities become. ⁓ Tammy J. Bond: Mm.

Monica Newman McCluney: I'm always excited to meet new people and to learn new things, whether it is learning something from a person who is 20 years my junior or 20 years my senior. I always say that this is because I'm a Virgo. It's something about the zodiac sign, right? That we tend to listen before we speak.

We don't jump right in and just start talking. It's always, I'm gonna listen. I'm going to take it in, I'm going to process it, I want to understand it. And it's part of the learning cycle, I think, that we go through.

And I think there's a lot of value in that when you're developing your leadership skills. And you can always learn something new about ways to lead. And I think one of the most impactful things that I've learned as a leader is that you can't lead everyone the same way. People need different things.

They need different methods of communication. They receive information differently and you have to be able to adjust and adapt to each of those individuals to be the most effective leader. So I would challenge any leader that's listening to Tammy J. Bond: Yeah.

Monica Newman McCluney: understand what your leadership style is and look at opportunities to shift and pivot. I know we don't like to use the pivot anymore, but to be able to pivot. I think that that was a big COVID word. It's how do we pivot.

Tammy J. Bond: Yeah, it's been a, there's so many words that are big words that we don't use or maybe don't want to use anymore, but we still do. I like pivot course, correct. Right.

Yes. Monica Newman McCluney: Yeah, but you know, it takes me back to the late 90s, early 2000s and reading the book, Who Moved My Cheese? really familiar, right? And really understanding change management.

⁓ And I think that that is a big piece of effective leadership and being able to evolve your leadership style over time through learning. Tammy J. Bond: ⁓ gosh, yes. that's funny.

Yes. Well, I was just speaking with a young leader who is going to be signing up for our 2027 best class ever for leadership Brevard. And he was saying how he had this passion project that he was talking to me about. I'm like, it's time to get into leadership Brevard because you're going to meet people that have a similar passion project that you can align with.

who knows what you can get. Monica Newman McCluney: I'm just a ball. Tammy J. Bond: create together instead of you being in your silo, let's get you in a group and here's what that and we were talking about what that could look like.

And it was so cool to see, know, his just really think you think we could do like, and then he listed out what the what the project was. said, I don't know that you can or can't. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna solve that for you. But I'm telling you that the people will be in the class that will help you to get to the right solution for that.

And that's the cool part about coming together as community leaders, learning about what and who are in your community. Because we know that leadership, you know, that programs don't fix leadership, that it's a behavior change, and it's also relationally, there's a relational component to good leadership as well, and to healthy leadership. And we've all been in those rooms, or in the conversations, or in the sessions where Monica Newman McCluney: Mm-hmm. Tammy J.

Bond: you know, at trainings where we want to actually, we'd really like to go deeper, but never really knowing how and getting into your local leadership ⁓ cohort is one way where you can go deeper and develop individually and then collectively as well for the betterment of your whole community. It's really powerful. So Monica. Monica Newman McCluney: Mm-hmm.

So. Absolutely. I've been sorry, one last closing thought. I've always kind of operated from a place of, know, leave it better than you found it.

So that's kind of my personal mantra. And again, something that I think has become a part of who I am as a leader due to programs like Leadership Brevard So I'm grateful for the opportunity. Tammy J. Bond: Yes.

Yeah, well, we know that I say it here in the sandbox all the time. Leadership is not something that you're born with. It's something that you grow into. And it takes time and commitment to grow into that next level of leadership every day, every moment, every conversation.

And I'm honored that we have the opportunity to do something truly profoundly impactful for our community. And I'm excited about what the next 40 years looks like and to be a part of what that next is. So thank you so much for joining me in the sandbox today. Thank you for your contribution to not just our community, but to our organization and to truly impacting the hearts, minds and lives of leaders and people within our community.

appreciate you. All right. Absolutely. Yay.

Well, all right, everybody make it a great day. Thanks for joining me in the sandbox. We'll see you next time on the leadership sandbox podcast. Make it a great day.

God bless you. Monica Newman McCluney: Thank you, Tammy. It's been a pleasure being here today.