Cambodian Leadership Learning Community (CLLC)

We are particularly proud of the CLLC. In 2017 Bill, Peter, and Sophal sponsored and presented a two-day Leadership Skills workshop for about 35 leaders from 20 separate NGOs* in and around Siem Reap – all focused on the education and wellbeing of Cambodian girls and women. The workshop was well received and resulted in requests for more workshops.

Our second workshop, a few months later, was on Strategic Planning. Equally well attended, and equally well received, we soon saw that we were on to something important. We progressed to more intensive topics in the following months with workshops on critically important topics like Leadership for NGO Sustainability.

Meanwhile, that group of impressive leaders began taking on a life if its own. They had a name. The CLLC. They were forming into a cohesive community. They began holding self-managed monthly meetings. WOW! Awesome. Now this group meets regularly to share information, explore best practices, and to help each other grow – thereby living out one of the key values of the CLLC group, namely: No one of us is as smart as all of us together.

More workshops followed as they requested new topics, or as Bill and Peter suggested ideas for them to consider. The most recent workshop in November 2019 featured five presentations from within those CLLC leaders themselves. We were so proud to sit back and observe two leaders sharing their unique experiences working with their boards of directors as they reframed their mission statements. That was followed by an inspiring presentation by another CLLC member about why it is important to work to the highest possible standards – in particular with regard to family social work and child protection.

After lunch we heard some creative ideas and first-hand experiences in successfully communicating with and nurturing donors. Many notes were taken during that time period. That stirring presentation was followed with some pragmatic guidelines for successful project management and achieving the desired outcomes on time and within budget.

Concluding the two days session, two of the members shared their experiences from a recent leadership development workshop they attended in America. Inspiring to say the least.

In late January we’ll be back together in Siem Reap. This time we’ll be joined by two superb consulting colleagues – Lynn Leahy and Randy Keirn. Our topic for the two days will be Essential Leadership Skills as Lynn and Randy share their experiences in effective team building, coaching for success, conflict resolution, and related leadership and communication skills. We are all very much looking forward to those two days with this dynamic group.

* Non-Governmental Organizations