[three_fourth]The Servant Leadership Certificate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is designed for those who aspire to lead people and organizations in a responsible way. It’s one of the few programs of its kind, helping leaders and aspiring leaders understand a unique style of stewarding resources.
“I would define servant leadership as the process of putting others’ needs before my own,” says LaShana Miller, a graduate of the UW-Madison program. “It’s giving them what they need to be made whole.”
The Servant Leadership Certificate is a noncredit program offered on five Fridays in daylong sessions. Participants can take the five modules in sequence over about three months, or else take them as time allows.
The sessions occur in a supportive environment at Middleton’s lovely Holy Wisdom Monastery. They feature small-group discussions, self-assessments, and presenters who are experienced servant leaders themselves.
“The program had a cohort feel, in a retreat-like setting where we could step back from our lives and spend time immersing ourselves in the framework of servant leadership,” says Carrie Sanders, another graduate of the program.
Artful leadership
The five modules include Servant Leadership Fundamentals, Artful Leadership Through Self-Knowledge, Building Community and Developing Others, Stewardship of Organizational Resources, and Servant Leadership Project: Recognition and Reflection.
Each module provides a deeper understanding of a leader’s responsibilities.
“With its principles of listening, empathizing, and making the leader’s goal the growth and development of others, I believe this program can change the world,” says Sanders.
To learn more about the Servant Leadership Certificate, see the video above, visit the program webpage, or contact Robert Toomey, robert.toomey@wisc.edu, 608-262-2451. The next sessions are scheduled for Sept. 9, Oct. 7, Nov. 4, Nov. 18, and Dec. 2, 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.[/three_fourth]