July 17, 2025

Leadership is always viewed and evaluated within the context of its time. Exceptional leaders choose to act in alignment with their foundational core of values, purpose, and mindset, utilizing evolving capacities of skills in the context of their time. Today in our “leadersad “world, leaders face a multitude of challenges and use their leadership capacities to develop collective capacity to leverage their organization’s diverse talents and energies. This building of collective capacity is crucial both within and outside their organization. The leader who taps into collective capacity leverages a diverse array of talents and skills within groups to benefit the community beyond their organizational structure. These leaders understand, as Jeff Henderson writes in For that “Doing good is good business. “John Maxwell writes in High Road Leadership that high road leaders bring people together, adding value to all, seeing the big picture, and acknowledging their humanity. Collective capacity involves building connections and is vital for today’s leaders. James Kouzes, author of The Leadership Challenge, writes, “To lead people into the future, a leader must connect with them deeply in the present.”

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The Harvard Business Review defines collective capacity as “Collective capacity in a leadership context refers to the shared ability of a group to work collaboratively toward common objectives, leveraging the strengths, skills, and perspectives of all members, rather than relying solely on the expertise or authority of one individual. It is not simply the sum of individual skills, but the dynamic and relational resource that emerges when people coordinate efforts, make decisions together, and hold each other accountable for shared results.” For practical implementation, developing collective capacity means intentionally fostering relationships, shared norms, and collaborative processes that empower everyone to contribute to the organization’s success

Key Features of Collective Capacity in Leadership

Joint Decision-Making: Decisions are made collaboratively, valuing input from all stakeholders and recognizing that the best solutions often arise from diverse perspectives.
Shared Responsibility: All group members contribute to and are accountable for the overall outcomes.
Pooling of Talents: Individual talents and skills are harnessed and integrated, enabling the group to achieve outcomes that are greater than any one person could accomplish alone.
Relational Process: Leadership is enacted through the relationships and interactions among group members, not simply through a formal title or position.
Focus on Common Goals: The group’s collective energy is directed toward shared, co-created goals, rather than personal or siloed agendas.

Personal examples are often the most effective learning experiences for leadership development. In my recent experience, I have had the honor of being involved in an event that, although a four-day symposium, demonstrates the leadership practice of building collective capacity serving participants and the community in sometimes unconventional ways.

During my career, I have attended and presented at local and national conferences in my fields of leadership and counseling. These conferences offer outstanding learning experiences and networking opportunities for expanding my leadership capacities and those of others. The conferences are also a significant economic boon to those who own and operate local hotels and restaurants. These conferences have great value, depending on how much a leader chooses to learn and engage with others.

I wonder what would happen if those attending and involved could collectively add value to participants and the wider community. This would demonstrate building collective capacity that extends beyond the short timeframe of the conference. I believe the value added to the community could be immense.

I believe this because I have seen the leadership capacity of building collective capacity in action over the past three years. I have seen and experienced firsthand how collective capacity brings the community together at all levels to support one group, in this case, educators, and in turn, deliberately adds value to the entire area.

“We are all doing good for the good.”

Faith Gremillion

The experience was the 3rd annual NELA (North East Louisiana) Teachers’ Symposium. This Thursday’s leadership insight will describe how the work of founder Faith Germillion and partner Lisa Holyfield created an experience through their leadership and building collective capacity to honor, inspire, and support educators, as well as serve the Monroe/West Monroe, LA community. Five benefits that are applicable to all organizations will be highlighted.

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I have been honored to be part of this symposium since its inception in 2023. Faith interviewed me at the recommendation of one of my mentors in the Maxwell Leadership program, Dr. Jeane Ford. I wasn’t sure what I was getting into, yet two things drew me: I could bring my wife, and I was intrigued by the concept of supporting educators and the community. What we have found over the past three years is that NELA was the product of a failed dream. When Faith Gremillion, an award-winning teacher, retired, she wanted to start a private school. The numbers are huge in the success of private schools, and unfortunately, they were not there at St. Christopher’s. Faith is a model of extreme resilience, and she sought a way to support educators and the community. The result was NELA. She, along with Lisa, built a team that included Alli Smith, Hester Jane Burnside, Maggie Sims-Geneoso, Ricky Robertson, Jessica Rainwater-Grigson, Jennifer Zimmerman, Joy Cassie, and a stellar film crew led by Sam Magee of Shop Talk Studio. They pulled together a one-day conference in 2023 with 140 participants. The theme has always been to support educators in loving education and leaving a legacy.NELA presentation offerings focused on learning and practicing skills of the head, heart, and hand, as well as self-care, and adding value to the community. The event was life-changing for all of us. In the next two years, the NELA experience utilized the same team of organizers and supporters, with various presenters, expanding to two days and 150 participants in 2024 and three days with 170 Participants in 2025.

The community support of NELA has been outstanding, from multinational Drax Energy to several local sponsors, including Justin Underwood of Origin Bank, whose organization has gifted teachers a $1,000 makeover for their classroom for the past three years.. The Chamber of Commerce and the University of Louisiana at Monroe offered support, and local restaurants, CC’s Coffee House and Delta Biscuit, provided breakfast and lunch. Mayor Friday Ellis and Dr. Carrie Castille, the new President of Louisiana University, Monroe, attended and greeted participants. Many businesses provided substantial sponsorships for the event, including Meta, MSE, Entergy,Holyfield Construction, and the Monroe Chamber of Commerce. Several small companies provided sponsorships to enable teachers to participate in the event. Topics were presented to help educators address state social-emotional mandates, leadership, literacy, classroom relationships, personal development, and communication. Self-care, counseling, and Yoga were also offered during the sessions. Members of Maxwell Leadership, Lefluer Leadership, the Center for Teacher Effectiveness, Max Literacy, Ascent Counseling, and the Center for Children and Families provided sessions. The theme was ‘Be the Light: Leave Your Legacy.

What differentiates this conference from others is that presenters brought varied experiences, skill sets, and areas of expertise from across the country to support educators with classes not typically seen in traditional educator conferences. Presenters also reached out to the community during the week of sessions. Sheila Jones hosted a STEM activity class event for over thirty community kids on Tuesday afternoon, assisted by my wife and me. Keynote speaker Christine Miles spoke to participants about developing listening skills and also presented at Ascent Counseling. I was honored to host a learning experience on winning with complicated people for the Center for Children and Families, led by Chief Operating Officer Chris Ramsey, for his staff and the broader community. These services, provided by NELA professional trainers and speakers, were complimentary. This year’s experience for the week was capped by a ‘Color Run’ to support the Tarver Braddock Foundation and the NELA Teacher Symposium. The goal was, and remains, to serve and add value to area educators and the community.

“Multiply those numbers.” ( participants)by 20-25 kids per class. I’d say that’s a ripple effect of excellence.”

Faith Gremillion

In summary, nearly 500 educators have participated in and been supported to enhance their careers, leaving a lasting legacy, while several local agencies and area leaders have benefited from the presentations. Co-Founder Faith Gremillion aptly states, “Multiply those numbers.”

( participants)by 20-25 kids per class.. I’d say that’s a ripple effect of excellence. We are all doing good for the good. When one considers the impact on the University, local government, community agencies, and businesses of adding value through service, the entire NELA area and beyond benefits the whole community, and the numbers are even higher. This is a servant leadership model that fosters collective capacity and provides opportunities for leaders and organizations to learn from one another.

Five benefits of this leadership practice of building collective capacity in NELA

1. The educators involved leave the experience knowing they are valued and supported.
2. The students these educators work with benefit over the school year, learning from educators who are refreshed, renewed, and know they are valued.
3. The community benefits from exposure to excellent presenters who pour their expertise and hearts into their organizations. The fun experience in STEM and the Color Run are evidence of a strong commitment to adding value to the community.
4. The community benefits from enhanced collaboration among area schools, the University, businesses, and government agencies, with community businesses also being highlighted.
5. The presenters and team coordinating this experience are deeply touched by knowing that, through their hard work and self-leadership, they have contributed to something much bigger than themselves. When training and facilitating learning experiences, I often quote Warren Bennis, who greeted his graduate-level students by saying, “Thank you for all I will learn from you in this session.” I can say that this has been the case for me and my colleagues over the past three years.

This is especially true of the ‘boots on the ground team ‘this year. Faith is undergoing cancer treatment and is an absolute rock of a leader. She stayed on mission and on course, building up the team with Lisa to share leadership roles, develop a tremendous learning experience for attendees, and serve the entire community outside of the event. She even maintained her sense of humor, noting she now had a” Hackett hairstyle” (bald). All of us around her marveled at her resilience and calm. We have all learned what servant leadership in building collective capacity looks like from her example. I know that my wife, Becki, and I are better for the experience, and I am sure many of us involved share the same sentiment. NELA is a one-of-a-kind leadership learning experience because the leaders intentionally built collective capacity.

Thank you, Faith, for your example, really for being you

NELA, in my biased opinion, is a model that many professional conferences could emulate to build collective capacity beyond the keynote presentation or small group sessions

The leadership questions/choices for all of us are to imagine:

Imagine the value added to those who don’t usually benefit from a conference in their community?

Imagine what the impact would be for the entire community if, at a local or national conference, the sponsoring organization offered a volunteer day of service to the community.