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How We Work

How Do We Support Leaders, Organizations and Networks?

We know that leaders, groups and networks make changes when they are fully involved in the process.  Our work engages leaders and groups and allows them to develop a shared understanding of where they are at now and where they might go to be even more effective. 

The ICL staff and consultants know that people create new understandings, build new skills and talents, and change approaches and attitudes when they are highly motivated and involved in the learning process.  All of our work asks leaders to reflect on their own experience, assess their own needs, consider other approaches and experiences in the group, and identify big and small changes that will support the impact of their work in the world.

The Institute works through three principle program approaches:

Public Programs – ICL designs, leads, and invites leaders/organizations to join public programs that vary from our one-day regional workshop series, to our more common intensive professional and organizational development programs that are from nine months to two years in length.  Our pioneering intensive program designs include the Executive Director Leadership Program, the Complete Fundraiser Program, Shared Leadership Programs, the Sustainable Campaigns Program, and the Leading Change Program.  These unique programs create focused and goal-oriented learning opportunities for participants.  The intensive programs blend the tools training, consulting, peer support, peer learning, coaching, research and facilitated discussion. 

Custom-designed Programs – Leaders and groups often approach ICL with a specific leadership, organization, or network need.  This might be a need for organizational change, one-on-one coaching, deeper strategic analysis, organization or campaign planning, consulting with a leadership team, board development, fundraising training or consulting, and process design and meeting facilitation.  Through a contracting process, we work to agree on shared goals for the work with the group or the leader.  Then ICL designs and delivers the services identified in the contracting process.  This approach allows us to customize our approach and to use a wide variety of process consulting and training tools to meet the organization’s needs.  This tailored approach is a hallmark of ICL’s work, and one that allows us to work effectively with a leader, a more complete organizational system, issue coalition, or leadership group. 

Tools and Resources – ICL has created a number of workbooks and resources to support leaders and groups in their work.  These tools allow leaders and groups to assess themselves and think more systematically about how to increase their resources and have more impact.  Tools like the Benchmarking Workbook and the Managing in Hard Times publication both tell the story from groups who have experience, give new models for thinking about the work, and create a format or worksheets to guide the work.

Who We Serve

The Institute is honored to have worked with so many leaders, organizations, and alliances that are making a day-to-day difference in the health of the planet and her people.  In the last two years, the Institute has worked with over 1,000 organizations and 2,000 individual leaders. 

Based on our experience, we that know that change must take place in individual leaders, organizations, communities and society in order to impact the natural and human world. We see our role as working in an integrated, cross-sector way to best foster effective environmental outcomes.   Our work includes the following approaches:

Individual leader: Using a shared leadership model, we support people in key leadership roles and the development of new leadership, especially from new and diverse voices.

Organization: Using a systems approach, we help leaders look at the dynamics of the whole organization to find solutions and to employ the best practices.

Community: Supporting the development of coalitions and networks, we work collaboratively in regions to cultivate a healthy ecosystem of organizations and leaders across a wide range of issues, approaches and size.

Society: Guided by a vision of environmental democracy, we facilitate deep civic engagement of leaders and organizations in their communities, and help citizens actively influence the well-being of the planet and human health through democratic participation in community and government.

We think successful change is facilitated in the following circumstances, and we will use these guidelines in developing our programs, selecting participants and promoting our services.  We believe that the strongest leverage for change is at the community level, and we will work in specific geographic areas with partner organizations, networks and ongoing coalitions to create a stronger community of support for leaders and synergy between stronger, healthier organizations.  We seek to work with leaders or groups that:

1)         Demonstrate readiness for the work and an openness and willingness to learn about themselves, and to think critically and creatively about their organization and the larger environment.

2)         Have the vision of building shared leadership to carry out their plans, and the commitment and resources to implement change.

3)         Are committed to building civic engagement in their community and membership.

4)         Actively seek to build diversity within their organization and to build collaboration with diverse leaders and constituencies.

5)         Want to find solutions by using a systems approach to look at the dynamics of the whole organization.

6)         Lead within the conservation and environmental community or have emerging potential to be influential.

7)         Actively lead in a network--especially those networks with diverse participation.

8)         Work in a region where we have or are creating programs that are offered consistently.

We expect this list will evolve as we learn more from our work, and that it will help groups choose us, as well as help us choose them. 

Who We Partner With

ICL coordinates very closely with other groups who serve different constituencies and who work to build capacity to protect the Earth.  As much as possible, we participate in cross-communication and networking to make sure our programs complement each other, rather than duplicate. 

In the last few years, we have either planned with or collaborated on fundraising and program delivery with the Environmental Support Center (ESC), the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST), and River Network.  Here are some examples of that work. 

Together with ESC, we are currently conducting the Strengthening Organizations and Leaders for the Environment program (SOLE-SE) as a joint effort to build the capacity of southern groups through a suite of workshops, consulting, and funding services.  In addition, ESC and ICL jointly piloted a “Managing in Hard Times” publication and project. 

To support change in the food system, ICL has worked with CAST to create the Cultivating Leadership for a Changing Agriculture Program that serves science societies, nonprofit sustainable agriculture, and university-based sustainable agriculture research centers.  With River Network we have partnered to support the National Watershed Health Project, strengthening capacity building programs in selected states.

We also coordinate activities with other regional or national groups; ONE Northwest, Land Trust Alliance, Sustainability Network, Training Resources for the Environmental Community, Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund, and Yellowstone to Yukon Coalition.  We have active collaboration with state/provincial groups such as the North Carolina Conservation Network, Ohio Environmental Council, River Alliance of Wisconsin, Alabama Environmental Council, Alabama Rivers Alliance, Trees, Water & People (CO), Montana Watershed Alliance, and the Minnesota Environmental Partnership.  

We are committed to sharing what we are learning from our partners and peers in the work, including colleagues in the broad conservation and environmental community, the organizational development field, the nonprofit management support community, and other leadership development programs.   Toward that end we participate in and are members of groups such as the Alliance for Nonprofit Management, Environmental Leadership Collaborative, the Leadership Learning Community, and the Organizational Development Network.