Leadership Fellows are second-year, full-time MBA students in the Foster School of Business who support first-year MBA students to adjust to Foster and enhance their leadership and team capabilities. They do so through peer coaching, mentoring, and more.
- The Fellows help individual MBA teams focus and reflect on their team process and functioning. Each first-year team’s assigned Fellows provide input on the team’s contract, and facilitate activities such as a check-in meeting early in the quarter to reflect on how the team is doing, as well as facilitate a mid-quarter feedback session.
- Each Fellow also meets individually with their assigned first-year students throughout their first six months in the program to check in on how things are going. First-year students can use them as a sounding board for topics such as transitioning to MBA life, as a thought partner to help identify developmental priorities, as a peer coach to help figure out how to handle challenging situations, etc.
Fellows work closely with each other and with the Center for Leadership and Strategic Thinking’s coaching staff in a supportive network to enhance and refine their own leadership, strategic thinking, and coaching skills.
Become a Leadership Fellow
Being a Fritzky Leadership Fellow offers a select group of second-year students with a unique, hands-on leadership development opportunity. Each Fellow coaches and mentors up to 4 teams of first-year MBA students in autumn and winter quarters.
Program Features
Fellows:
- Participate in training focused on learning leadership development strategies, models and methods of coaching.
- Engage in a two-credit Leadership and Coaching Practicum during autumn and winter quarters that exposes them to the latest work on leadership, strategic thinking, coaching, effective communication, and team performance. This course will earn them 2-credits total across the 2 quarters.
- Create leadership development goals and action plans, track progress toward these goals and receive developmental feedback from others
- Receive individual 1:1 coaching from a CLST professional leadership coach
- Work closely with other fellows in a supportive network that is focused on developing their leadership
Program Benefits
- Greater self-awareness about your leadership
- Increased ability to effectively lead others and manage interpersonal relationships
- Improved skills in team development, conflict resolution, coaching and group facilitation
All Fellows are paid a stipend in fall and winter quarters for participating in this developmental experience.
These stipends are funded by a permanent endowment supported by the Fritzky family.
Interested in becoming a Leadership Fellow?
Click on the headings below to find out more about the roles and responsibilities of Leadership Fellows, as well as application information.
The Leadership Fellows Program provides a select number of full-time second-year MBA students with the unique opportunity to significantly advance their leadership. The approximate time commitment during the autumn and winter quarters is 5-7 hours per week.
There are three key elements for the Fritzky Leadership Fellow program.
The first is the important role of the Leadership Fellows in supporting team and individual development of first-year MBA students during autumn and winter quarters.
The second is to serve as a role model for developing others including in their Fellow cohort. Through workshops, experiential activities, coaching, and mentoring activities.
Third is for Leadership Fellows to strengthen their own leadership skills, their skills in coaching, team facilitation, conflict resolution, giving feedback, and team and leadership development.
Expectations
Leadership Fellows are expected to:
1. Act as an ambassador of the Leadership Fellows program to the entire Foster community.
2. Serve as a Fellow once selected for the year beginning with orientation in spring quarter.
3. Attend and participate in all Fellow-related events, including workshops, coaching & training sessions. These include a multi-day kick-off session and skills training called Leadership Fellows Lead Week in September.
Note: Prior to accepting an offer to join Leadership Fellows, one must commit to arranging summer internship, travel, and personal plans to enable participation in the activities that will take place during a week in mid-September.
4. Develop and execute a plan for personal leadership growth over the course of your time as a Fellow. This includes periodic self-evaluation of progress and getting structured feedback from others.
5. Support up to 4 first year core teams per quarter. You will meet with your teams on a regular basis during autumn and winter quarters.
6. Meet with assigned team members individually based on a schedule TBD during the Leadership Fellows Lead Week.
7. Attend and fully participate in all MGMT 511 sessions during autumn and winter quarters.
8. Participate in the Leadership Fellows recruiting process for the following year and attend recruiting-related events.
Each Leadership Fellow will receive a stipend for autumn and winter quarter for successfully fulfilling the Leadership Fellow responsibilities. Stipend details will be provided prior to interviews.
The Leadership Fellows program begins in the spring of the first year and continues through the spring of the second year with the main duties taking place during autumn and winter quarters of the second year. The approximate time commitment during autumn and winter is 5-7 hours per week.
Leadership Fellows are expected to commit to the responsibilities and events listed below.
Spring Quarter, first year
- Early to mid-May:
- Half-day leadership development onboarding workshop
- Transition celebration with outgoing Leadership Fellows
Summer between first and second years
- Ongoing contact with program
- Mid-September: Multi-day kick-off session and skills training
Note: Prior to accepting an offer to join Leadership Fellows, it is critical that you commit to arranging your summer internship, travel, and personal plans to enable participation in the activities that will take place during September.
Autumn & Winter Quarters, second year
- Provide individual and team mentoring and coaching support for assigned first-year MBA teams including 360 feedback sessions with teams.
- Participation in MGMT 511 Fall & Winter– Leadership and Coaching Practicum for 2 total credits
- Support for recruitment of future Leadership Fellows
Spring Quarter, second year
- Program transition to new cohort of Leadership Fellows
THE SELECTION PROCESS INVOLVES
- An application packet
- A review of other indicators of your ability to serve as a Leadership Fellow, e.g., references and recommendations.
- A structured group interview
Full-time MBA Class of 2025 students in good academic standing will be considered for selection.
The application process includes TWO key deadlines. You must complete both for your application to be complete:
Deadline #1: Sunday, Feb 4th, 2024, 11:59pm – Application packet due:
Submit the following application materials to [email protected]. Make sure to include your name and UW email address on all your materials.
1. Application Essays – Write four short essays, one of each of the following topics (300–400-word limit per essay topic). Please submit all essays in one file.
| Topic #1: Your Core Leadership Value |
| Identify and describe your top leadership value. Please tell us how this value shows up in how you engage with others here at Foster and in other areas of life (e.g., how do you make this value visible to others in terms of actions, decisions, and choices?). |
| Topic #2: Skills of a Fellow |
| Identify one skill you currently consider a strength of yours and describe how you would apply that strength to be effective as a Fritzky Leadership Fellow.
Identify one skill you would like to improve in order to be effective as a Fritzky Leadership Fellow. For each skill, describe how you know the skill is a strength or area for improvement. What strategies will you use to continue to develop these skills in the Fritzky Fellows experience? |
| Topic #3: Feedback |
| Please describe a recent example of when you became aware of a blind-spot or were given feedback that made you aware of something you had previously been unaware of that was having a negative impact.
How did you respond to that feedback? What has changed in the way you think, interact, etc.? How have you evaluated your progress to-date? |
| Topic #4: DEI and the role of Fellow |
| It is a goal for the Foster School to be a welcoming and inclusive community, where all members feel seen, heard, and supported. As Fellows, who are not only members of the Foster community, but also resources supporting their peers, this means intentionally incorporating inclusion, diversity and equity perspectives in all interactions and decision making. What is one challenge you anticipate you would face as a Fellow in Autumn 2024 related to DEI, and how would you try to address that challenge? |
2. Updated resume
3. References – Please use this link (https://foster360.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eEX4PsGIa4I0Vnw ) to provide the names of two people to complete a reference survey on your behalf.
- Reference 1: A member of your autumn quarter core team.
- Reference 2*: Can be a member of your autumn quarter team, another peer, or other reference (e.g., MBA core team member, fellow club member).
*Your team’s assigned Leadership Fellow(s) should not be used as a reference since all current Fellows provide feedback on candidates they have worked with during the year.
Deadline #2: Tuesday, February 13th, 2024, 11:59pm– Online surveys due: Complete online self-assessment survey and have your two references complete the same survey evaluating you.
- Self-assessment survey: After receiving your complete application packet, CLST will send a message to your UW email address with a link to an online assessment survey. You will be asked to rate yourself on qualities that are important to the Leadership Fellow role, such as your leadership, communication skills, and effectiveness as a team member.
- Reference survey: Your references will receive an email with a link to the same online questionnaire/feedback form.
- You’re encouraged to notify your two references in advance that they will receive an email from the Center for Leadership and Strategic Thinking inviting them to complete a survey about you ( [email protected] ).
- Fellows survey: The current Fellows will also receive a survey to provide feedback on applicants.
Your self-assessment and your references’ assessments of you must be completed and submitted by 11:59pm, February 13th . Completion of this survey is necessary for your application package to be considered ready for review and evaluation.
Between 2/14 and 2/21 CLST will review all applicants’ materials and will contact applicants who will be invited to the next round, the group interview, by 2/23.
SELECTION TIMELINE
- Application Packet (essays, resume, reference names) due to CLST – February 4, 2024
- Applicants’ survey sent to applicants, references, and current Fellows – February 6, 2024
- Surveys due to CLST – February 13, 2024
- Interview invitations sent to applicants – February 23, 2024
- Group Interviews – February 26 – March 8, 2024
- Announce 2024-2025 Fellows! – Week of March 25, 2024
FELLOWS INFO SESSION
We will host an information session to provide information about the Fritzky Leadership Fellows program and application process, and to answer any questions prospective applicants may have. This session will include current Fellows.
Wednesday, January 31st, 2024, 12:15-1pm in Paccar 393
QUESTIONS?
If you have any questions about the application process, please contact [email protected]