“Fifteen Minutes In, I Knew the Impact”: Reflections from Our Lone Rock Leadership Cohorts Convening
Gathering in the mountains – and gathering momentum
In June, sixteen executive leaders representing twelve Alliance member organizations joined us at the Lone Rock campus in Colorado. For some, it was their first time meeting fellow Leadership Cohort peers in person; for others, a long-awaited reunion after months of virtual collaboration.
This convening marks the second in-person gathering of our Leadership Cohorts. In less than three years, this programming has scaled to more than 50 cohorts and 500 executive leaders, with nearly 90% of member organizations now represented.
Setting the tone
We kicked things off with a community dinner. One leader captured the mood perfectly:
“Taking time to step away from the day-to-day work, the routine, the challenges felt daunting during such a chaotic and challenging time. But fifteen minutes into dinner last night, I knew the impact of being in this space with you all.”
What we worked on
Problems of practice. Small-group sessions surfaced issues leaders are wrestling with right now – from internal organizational dynamics to navigating an increasingly chaotic and challenging political and policy landscape.
Collective Action ideation. Our brainstorming pushed us beyond immediate fixes to ask: What challenges and opportunities solutions can twelve organizations tackle together that no single one could take on alone? Ideas ranged from a shared data dashboard to a cross-sector youth apprenticeship pilot.
Deepening Relationships. Unstructured hikes, coffee chats, and late-night card games did the quiet work of converting colleagues into confidants – a hallmark of the cohort model, which 79 percent of leaders credit with reducing feelings of isolation in their work.
Why this matters
Leadership Cohorts offer participating executive leaders a rare combination of strategic peer support, practical problem-solving, and idea generation—all delivered within a trusted community of peers.
In just 3 years, our Leadership Cohorts programming has scaled to include more than 500 executive leaders in over 50 cohorts.
What happens next
By advancing individual leaders’ growth alongside organizational impact, outcomes from the convening include:
Sharper solutions to immediate challenges they can apply right away.
Ideas to advance our collective action initiatives slated for launch later this year.
Renewed energy – 83 percent of cohort members report feeling more optimistic about the sector after experiences like these.
Learn more about APA’s Leadership Cohorts program here.