Optional Orientation:
January 15 & 16, 2025

2025 Start Date:
January 29 & 30, 2025

2025 End Date:
June 11 & 12, 2025

Course Format: 18 live webinars (38 training hours) plus an optional Orientation/Tech Test. All coursework is completed online, no travel is required. 

Participants meet weekly for two hours, in one of four seminar-sized groups. Attendees may participate on the day and time of their choice based on four options:

Wednesdays

  • Alpha Group: 11 AM to 1 PM ET
  • Beta Group: 2 PM to 4 PM ET

Thursdays

  • Gamma Group: 11 AM to 1 PM ET
  • Delta Group: 2 PM to 4 PM ET

During the application process, individuals indicate a preferred day and time for the webinar group that best fits their schedule. Participants may attend any of the four webinars if they have a schedule conflict during a particular week. 

Regular sessions are interspersed with self-study weeks. Participants can also enrich and apply their learning through optional activities such as networking sessions, homework, and make-up work for missed sessions.

Because the Academy observes Daylight Saving Time, class times will change accordingly in March.

January 15 & 16 – Orientation / Tech Test (optional)

Join us for a 1 hour webinar. We’ll orient you to the Academy’s virtual classroom, practice interactions, and help you troubleshoot any technical difficulties before our first instructional session.

January 29 & 30 – Session 1: Charting our Course

  • Welcome and Introductions

  • Course Overview

  • Partnering and Managing by Network

February 5 & 6 – Session 2: See the Possibilities

  • Agency Leadership Perspectives on Partnership and Community Collaboration 

  • The 22 Competencies & 21 Partnership Success Factors

February 12 & 13 – Session 3: Heart, Head, Hands

  • Collaborative Leadership

  • Partnership Network Life Cycle

February 19 & 20 – Session 4: Connect to Community

  • Community Collaboration and Process Design

February 26 & 27 – Session 5: Look Beneath the Surface

  • Partner Culture Awareness

  • Trust Ecology

March 5 & 6 – Session 6: Paddle Together

  • Alumni Case Studies
  • Launching the 2025 Case Study Program
  • Foundations of Collaboration Skill Check 

Week of March 10 – Self-Study 

Self-Study is optional and designed to help you apply what you learn. There are no instructional webinars during self-study weeks, but there may be networking webinars.

March 19 & 20 – Session 7: Find the Common Threads

  • Engaging with Native Nations and Indigenous Communities. 

  • Active Listening 

March 26 & 27 – Session 8: Walk a Mile in Their Shoes

  • Shoe Stories

  • Facilitation

April 2 & 3 – Session 9: Calm the Waters

  • Conflict Management

April 9 & 10 – Session 10: Change Your Tack

  • Negotiation

April 16 & 17 – Session 11: Dig Deeper

  • Conservation Social Science Frameworks and Tools

April 23 & 24 – Session 12: Put the Wind in Your Sails

  • Partnership Impact Model (TM)

  • Leveraging Partnerships Skill Check

Week of April 28 – Self-Study

Self-Study is optional and designed to help you apply what you learn.

May 7 & 8 – Session 13: Smart Moves

  • Political Savvy and External Awareness 

  • Entrepreneurship and Risk Assessment

May 14 & 15 – Session 14: New Paths to Follow

  • Peer to Peer Presentations: 2025 Case Studies 

  • Appreciative Inquiry

May 21 & 22 – Session 15: Get Your Ducks in a Row

  • Managing Partnerships, Agreements, and Funding 

May 28 & 29 – Session 16: Reflect on the Journey

  • Peer to Peer Presentations: 2025 Case Studies 

  • Sustaining Partnerships and Community Collaboratives

June 4 & 5 – Session 17: Putting it All Together

  • Next Generation Conservation Leadership

  • Vision and Strategic Thinking: What’s Possible Now

June 11 & 12 – Session 18: Commencement 

  • Peer to Peer Presentations: 2025 Case Studies 

  • Gathering In 

  • Graduation

June 16-27 – Self-Study

Make up work: Watch the recording for any sessions you missed. Share your takeaways to receive credit towards an Honors Certificate.

All make-up work must be submitted by June 27 to receive credit towards an Honors certificate.

Managing by Network is cohosted by: