The Whitworth University Institute of Leadership is looking to double in size as demand for the young program has grown. 

Kevin Parker, founder of the institute and its chairman, says the adaptive leadership program that caters to rising professionals is winding up work with its fourth cohort of students soon—each cohort studies leadership over a nine-month period that coincides with a traditional academic year—and will be starting its fifth in the fall. For its most recent cohort, Whitworth attracted 200 applicants for just under 25 spots, he says. 

Next fall, the leadership institute is looking to add a second cohort that would accommodate the same number of students and run consecutive to the existing session.

"It started as a Spokane-centric program, but it's grown more to a regional representation," says Parker, adding that the program is now pulling participants from Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and California, in addition to Washington. "We've got huge interest."

Whitworth's Institute of Leadership is designed for mid-level managers or others who are on a C-suite track, rather than conventional college students. Often, the individuals involved have been identified by their employers as future leaders, and typically, employers sponsor their employees' participation, which costs just over $10,000 for the full program. 

Each program is comprised of three intensive weekends of learning over the course of nine months: a long weekend in Salt Lake City in the fall; another in Palm Springs, California, in January; and a final gathering in Sun River, Oregon, in the spring. Eight instructors typically teach at the weekend sessions.

"We're big believers that magical stuff happens when we're offsite and people are away from their jobs and can really focus on the content," says Parker, who is also CEO of Spokane Dutch Bros, which operates just over a dozen coffee stands in the Spokane area. 

In addition, each cohort is broken into smaller groups that meet between the out-of-town sessions.

Leadership institute classes range in size from 21 to 24 participants, with 22 students as the sweet spot, he says. As envisioned, the expansion would add a second cohort running on a similar schedule, with one weekend session starting once the other ends. For example, one cohort would arrive in Salt Lake City for the first intensive session as the other was wrapping up. 

Parker says Whitworth is looking to add a second cohort rather than expanding class size to preserve the ability to work with those small groups.

"We could easily supply a 40- or 50-person cohort and do it all at once, but we lose the intimacy of it," he says. 

The program follows a similar curricula to well-known, longtime leadership-education programs offered through the Aspen Institute and Harvard University, focusing on leadership trends and organizational theory. 

The institute falls under the umbrella of Whitworth's School of Business. Participants receive a certificate upon completion, but they also can receive nine credits toward a master's of business administration degree or a master's in business leadership at Whitworth upon completion as well. 

Joe Longworth, director of technical services at Spokane-based contract pharmaceutical manufacturer Jubilant HollisterStier, participated in the institute's program during its third year. He says skills development and knowledge acquisition elements are essential, but the benefit of the experiential component of learning and sharing in a small-group setting is arguably the most valuable part. 

Charlotte Nemec, president and CEO of Spokane-based Canopy Credit Union and chairwoman of the leadership institute's board, concurs with Longworth's observation. 

"It's that back-and-forth dialogue that happens in the sessions that really makes a difference," says Nemec, who also teaches a segment in Sun River each year.

It goes deeper than dialogue, though, Nemec says, making a point reinforced by Avista Corp. executive Latisha Hill, who has been involved in the institute since its inception. Both say the program is designed to challenge participants to take a close look at how they perceive the world and themselves. 

"We task them with understanding themselves first, and that's really hard," says Hill, who is vice president of community affairs and chief customer officer at the Spokane-based power company. "The transformation starts when we look in the mirror. We look for opportunities to solicit that in a safe environment."

Parker says, "It's really getting into the soul and the heart of the work and who we are and why do we do what we do and how do we alter what we do. And how do we develop proficiency in the way that we lead."

For Longworth, that process involved trying to soften some of his hard edges as a leader. A self-described fixer, he says he always has gravitated toward challenges and messy situations throughout his career, but he wasn't always an easy person to work for. He sought out the leadership institute for help in that arena. 

"What you did to get to the next level is not what you’re going to do to be the successful at that level," Longworth says. 

He served as HollisterStier's senior manager of engineering when he started in the leadership program, received a promotion during it, and received a second promotion shortly thereafter. Now, he oversees teams at the manufacturer's operations in Spokane and Montreal with a total of 25 people, seven of whom are direct reports. Soon, he says, that will change to a total of 40 people, with five direct reports. 

Previously a fixer, he now is tasked with entrusting others in that role. 

"In the past, as the fixer, you find yourself in stressful situations," Longworth says. "Now, I’m in way more stressful situations, and my stress level is orders of magnitude less because of what I've learned."

Parker says one point of emphasis is developing a deep alumni network of past participants. 

Hill says program graduates often stay in contact as part of one another's professional networks well after the sessions end. She's aware of some from the first class that still have a WhatsApp group through which they bounce ideas off one another. 

Nemec, who has sent two Canopy employees through the program, says there's some truth to the "lonely at the top" trope, so such networks can be valuable as people ascend through the ranks. 

"When you’re in the top chair, you don’t have the ability to turn to a coworker," she says. "This gives them a resource that I think they’ll have for the rest of their lives."