Unlocking change making leadership and campaign managementÂ
Campaign management can be a challenging and lonely role with limited support available. We sometimes need to ask tough questions like ‘What can I stop doing?’ and ‘How do I turn this into real impact?’ and ‘What should I do if things go wrong?’ That’s where Action Learning Sets (ALS) come in. ALS have emerged as a powerful tool for collaborative learning and problem-solving. At SMK, they are a safe space for campaigners and change makers to tease over thorny issues with their peers. In particular, short open questions – guided by an expert facilitator – can play a pivotal role in driving insightful conversations, fostering critical thinking, and unlocking new insights in campaign management.
What does an ALS look like?
Our ALS is structured around a group of up to 8 peers who meet around once a month over a 4-month period to discover practical ways of addressing ‘real life’ challenges you face and support your own learning and development. Â
Previous set members have told us that our ALS helped them with:
- Increased confidence in their work/life.
- A clear action/next step that gets them back on track.
- Learning about themselves and their values.
- Practice in vital skills that help with line management or chairing.
- A sense of peer solidarity and feeling less isolated.Â
Who is this for?
Senior Leaders: This set will appeal to senior leaders who are new to campaigning and change making and want to understand what it means to lead a campaigning organisation, or people with some background who want to explore how to encourage their organisation into more of a campaigning or change making mode.
Emerging leaders: This set is for new campaign managers in change-making organisations, specifically managing a campaigning workstream or team.
Our ALS are facilitated by charity co-founder and expert facilitator Josephine Knowles.
The total price to join a set is £695 plus VAT.
Please email info@smk.org.uk if you are interested. We are happy to answer any questions you may have about the programme.Â
A place for leaders in the campaigning sphere
Read SMK’s blog for ACEVO, the association of Chief Executives of voluntary organisations.
The power of succinct questions in Action Learning Sets
Read SMK’s ALS facilitator, Josephine Knowles blog on one of the key skills for participants.
Hear what participants say
“I really recommend SMK’s Action Learning Set. It was great to have a safe, common space we could come together – it gave a real sense of solidarity’’.
Watch interview here >Â
“Those three hours – that’s probably the best three hours of the week, a time for you to create some space to really think about what you’re doing, the impact you want to have, how you might approach things.”
Watch interview here >Â
“For me- this has been an amazing empowering space to be able to think about these things, to be able to bring challenges and thoughts and worries that I might not have been comfortable to bring into my organisation.”
Watch interview here >Â
About Josephine KnowlesÂ
Josephine Knowles is a freelance charity coach, trainer, and action learning set facilitator. She is also a proud SMK Associate. Â
Josephine is passionate about spaces that help us gain new insights and contribute to the world with our ‘deepest work’. She loves facilitating learning and is known for her lively and insightful action learning sets. Â
Josephine is an accredited ALS facilitator (ILM), and coach (ACC with the ICF). She has worked in the charity sector with women who sell sex for the last 25 years and has a Masters in ‘Violence Against Women’ from the Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit (CWASU) at London Metropolitan University. She is the Co-Founder (and previous Co-Director) of Beyond the Streets, a UK charity working to end sexual exploitation. Â
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