Network Leadership Series
Lead networks. Shift systems. Drive impact.
The environmental and social challenges we face today are complex and systemic.
Discovering pathways forward requires diverse combinations of people and organizations across sectors working together – especially when the way forward is unclear.
Yet many collaborative efforts fail because traditional approaches, like strategic planning and project management, are insufficient to navigate complexity and, therefore, to drive systems transformation.
Impact Networks are the organizing structure for navigating complexity and shifting systems.
Embracing a living-systems approach to organizing, impact networks brings people together to build relationships across boundaries, leverage their ongoing work and motivations, and drive progress amid unpredictable and ever-changing conditions.
Learn from a team of practitioners, researchers, and innovators including contributors to the book Impact Networks.
Is Network Leadership Series For You?
This training is designed for leaders who are:
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Launching or stewarding an impact network, coalition, or collaborative initiative
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Coordinating cross-sector, cross-discipline or multi-stakeholder efforts
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Facilitating collective action on complex, systemic challenges
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Eager to develop both the mindset and skillset of network leadership
You may be a network facilitator or coordinator, collective impact convener, foundation program officer, nonprofit executive, government leader, or otherwise a leader working at the intersection of systems change and collaboration.
Why you and why now?
You want to lead networks that meet the complexity of our moment. You want to know how to get the right people to the table, how to hold purpose across difference, and to move from good intent to enduring collective impact.
What You'll Learn
This series develops the head, heart, and hands of network leadership through a blend of discussion, role-play, peer-coaching, and in-network experimentation:
Head: Theory & Frameworks
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Articulating impact network theory of change, and how you surface a theory of change for your network
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Using the Impact Networks’ “5Cs framework” (Convene, Clarify Purpose, Cultivate Trust, Coordinate Existing Actions, Collaborate for Systems transformation)
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Visualizing Self-Determination Theory and what catalyzes genuine engagement
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Reflecting on mindsets: Living systems vs. machine thinking
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Visualizating Social network analysis (SNA) basics, and why you should care about connection “structure”
Heart: Mindset & Identity
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Shifting your identity from leader-as-hero to leader-as-facilitator and convener
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Cultivating internal motivation (your own and others')
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Strategies and practices for building trust, psychological safety, and belonging
Hands: Practical Skills
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Designing quality invitations that support autonomy
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Using facilitation practices: presence, framing, and weaving connections
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Navigating front/middle/back leadership roles
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Holding creative tensions (e.g., individuals’ v. collective’s needs) and polarities
Why NLS?
Embodied - Shift in being and doing
We begin with internal motivation—your own regenerative fuel for this work—as the seed crystal for participants’ engagement. Network leadership requires a shift in being, not just doing. We attend to both.
Practice-Focused - Practicing among trusted peers
Each two-hour session creates space for concepts and practice. You'll bring questions from your own network and workshop them with peers and facilitators. Learning happens in the doing.
Equity-Centered - Using a deliberate equity lens
Drawing from our work on equitable networks, we invite you to do a self-assessment on how your network design attends to equity. We weave an equity lens throughout all eight sessions.
Research-Based - Empirically proven
We share the evidence that grounds impact networks work -- such as Self-Determination Theory, Living Systems Modeling, Behavioral Insights, Network Theory, the Science of Trust, and Systems Change. You'll understand not just what to do, but why it works.
Instructors who are Practitioners and Researchers
Your lead instructors are Weaving Futures Partners, Jeanine Becker and Kate Pugh. Additional facilitators/experts include Abigail Sarmac, Leah Wyatt, Gabriel Grant, Mary Rose Narraro, and Toni Tabora. Please see Our Team for instructors’ bios.
Applications for the Spring 2026 cohort are open through March 31. We review applications on a rolling basis.
Note: Scholarships are available!
Please contact us to apply
Series Format
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8 live sessions over 8 weeks (2 hours each)
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Cohort community for ongoing connection and mutual support
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Co-taught by Weaving Futures partners
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Culmination welcoming you into Weaving Futures’ vibrant community of practice
The Eight Sessions
Session 1: Why Now, Why Me, Network Mindset
April 8, 2026
What is my “why”—my most sustainable fuel for this work?
What becomes possible when I see my work as part of a living system?
Session 2: Theory of Change & 5Cs
April 15, 2026
Where is my network in its evolution—and what's the next developmental edge?
How do I create the conditions for collaboration for systems change?
Session 3: Engagement I — Engagement Spectrum & Interests
April 22, 2026
How can I, as a network leader, spark genuine engagement from network members?
What participant engagement rhythms can I discover and influence?
Session 4: Engagement II — Trust & Distributed Leadership
April 29, 2026
What does it take to build trust across boundaries?
How do I foster measurable ongoing engagement that builds toward collaborating for systems transformation?
Session 5: Facilitation I — Presence & Creative Tensions
May 6, 2026
When do I step forward, hold the center, or step back?
How do I create conditions for emergence and hold the creative tensions in the network without forcing premature resolution?
Session 6: Facilitation II — Framing & Weaving
May 13, 2026
How do I help a network see itself and its possibilities?
How do I connect people across difference in ways that spark collaboration?
Session 7: Coordinate & Collaborate
May 20, 2026
What can I do concretely as a network leader to support members in coordinating across their existing actions?
How do I help the network move from coordinating existing actions, to defining new collaborations for systemic change?
Session 8: Culmination & Welcome Into the Weaving Futures Community
May 27, 2026
What has shifted in how I lead—and what experiments will I carry forward?
How do I stay connected to a community of practice that sustains this work?
Register
The NLS fee includes 8 interactive virtual sessions, participation in peer learning, and membership in the post NLS community of practitioners. Sliding scale for payment is available. We believe in equitable access and invite you to choose the investment that reflects your capacity and context.
NOTE: In addition to your payment, we ask that you please send a brief application. Email Connect@weavingfutures.org (Subject: "NLS Application") with your name, your network(s) name(s), your role(s) in your network(s), your Linkedin, how you heard about NLS, and what you hope to learn as part of NLS.
…because meeting this moment asks for leadership that most of us were never taught — relational, distributed, and rooted in trust.
What Leaders Say
"You've given me a new way of thinking about pretty much everything. I've realized how stuck in this old paradigm I have been. Thank you for nudging me to really see what impact networks are about."
— Julie Uridil, Vitality Lab @ Google
What Leaders Say
"Weaving Futures taught us how to 'be' as network weavers and facilitators, trained us in the art and science of design and facilitation of community experiences, and the essence of our role as community builders"
— Sam Bonsey, Co-Founder and Executive Director, The ImPact
What Leaders Say
"The emphasis on both personal growth and systems change has been transformative for my practice."
— Sekai Chiwandamira, Regional Head, Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE)
