Indigenous Program Model: Sacred Circle of Life

Indigenous Leadership programs at Banff Centre

Our programs provide leaders an opportunity to gain a better understanding of how to establish a strategic direction for their communities and organizations, implement that plan through focused effort, and measure performance. Leaders also learn the knowledge and skills necessary to run effective organizations and build communities with sustainable economies. With investment in their professional development, community leaders will have additional knowledge and tools to achieve incredible change and growth.

Our programming model is in the form of the sacred circle of life. The inner circle sets out the principles that underpin all our work, which we call Right Relations and which mirrors the seven grandfather teachings. The next circle is our Wise Practices model with its seven elements of success, which we developed from our best practices literature review. The seven elements of success are: identity and culture; leadership; strategic vision and planning; governance and management; accountability and stewardship; performance evaluation; and collaborations, partnerships, and external relationships. The third circle lists the programs we offer that are related to each of the Wise Practices elements. The program model also lists special programs and projects, with an additional program that we offer called Truth and Reconciliation Through Right Relations.