Resources For Human Development Resource Center

RHD's Leadership Development Program

Outside the Lines Studio, the art program at RHD Boston for people with intellectual disabilities, needed a new director. Else Eaton, a staffer and art teacher, was everyone’s choice – smart, hardworking, talented, great with the clients. The only thing she lacked was leadership experience. But at that time Eaton happened to be a participant in RHD’s Leadership Development Program, an internal education program aimed at identifying and preparing the kinds of leaders valued by RHD and those it serves. Fortuitously, RHD had been preparing Eaton for exactly the challenge she’d now have to meet.

“I became a manager a month before the program finished,” said Eaton. “Going through LDP was helpful in preparing me for that – understanding what leadership means, different ways of communicating with people, ways of addressing issues. I had an idea of what to expect, and I had more confidence in taking on that role.

“It’s an opportunity for people to show what they can do, to realize their potential within RHD and for RHD to be aware of who their next leaders are and what their skills are. RHD is really good about identifying strengths and developing positions and roles for people where they can grow.”

Staff turnover in nonprofits is a fact of life. The American Public Human Services Association puts the national turnover rate at 26 percent each year. This can leave some programs foundering, if only for a short time, and can be disruptive to the clients. But RHD’s Leadership Development Program provides continuing education for career advancement and prepares employees to be better leaders, so that there is always someone highly qualified in the pipeline who can step in. This provides continuity to the program and to the services to RHD’s clients.

“We wanted to design a program that would allow us to grow leaders,” said Stacey Bunch-Harrison, LDP co-director. “We wanted it to be values-driven and speak to the type of leadership that we value at RHD. We wanted people to learn that you can’t separate the personal you from the professional you. And we wanted it to really push people.”

In RHD’s Leadership Development Program, participants develop an Action Learning Project to enhance services at their units. Participants are required to lead others in the project. They go through exercises that work on all phases of leadership and problem solving. Perhaps most importantly, they engage in personal reflection that forces them to examine different pieces of their personalities. LDP participants say it can be a grueling process. But the rewards of going through it are limitless.

“I learned different pieces of management, different styles of management – and the difference between management and leading,” said Traci Stevens, a staffer at Family House Norristown when she went through LDP. “I did not know there was a difference between the two. It teaches you that who you are translates into how you manage and lead people and programs. Why do I think the way I think? Why did I make that decision? How do I address people?

“At RHD, you’re expected to be creative. You’re expected to bring you to the table. That takes a lot of work in really figuring out who you are, and how to take who you are and lead people. There are not many people in a setting where you look at who you are within the workplace, and think about who you are, where you come from and where you want to go.”

Stevens is now an RHD program coordinator, and after graduating from LDP has returned to work with the program as faculty.

LDP has been so successful in the Philadelphia area that it has expanded to sites in Boston and in Northeast Pennsylvania. This year, RHD’s Lousiana programs began their own version. While some basic components are universal, each Leadership Development Program is crafted to the different needs of its regions.

“Every person gets something different out of it,” said Mary Russell, LDP co-director. “The cool thing about doing anything at RHD is it doesn’t have to look the same in different places.”

The Leadership Development Program pays off in very tangible ways for RHD, making sure programs and units operate at a high level of efficiency and always deliver quality service. But it also has intangible benefits for the employees and their personal growth. 

For example, Eaton is now pursuing a master’s degree in arts and disability and nonprofit management. Darline Brutus, a site manager at a Boston-area residential facility, said she’s changed significantly.

“In the beginning, it was such a big challenge between my job and LDP,” Brutus said. “My writing coach and counselor kept encouraging me and pushing me. Now I’m more confident. I’m still kind of a shy person, but less than I used to be. Now I can express my thoughts.

“I want to advocate for my clients, and talk with confidence. And LDP will pop into my mind, and I remember what I learned to do. You go through your journey, you find some hard times, difficulties, challenges in your way. That doesn’t mean you give up. You get up and keep going. I’m still living LDP every day in my job. I feel blessed that RHD offered me this opportunity.”All smiles: LDP participant Huy Tran speaks to the crowd at graduation ceremony