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Welcome to BetterCulture's Support Hub for

Future Leaders Programs

Your go-to hub for all the training and resources you need to successfully Coordinate and Facilitate a BetterCulture “Future Leaders” program with confidence and ease. 

Have specific questions we can help answer? Don’t hesitate to contact BetterCulture in either of the following ways:

Register for Office Hours
Meet with BetterCulture

Support Hub Directory

Step 1: Identify your program facilitator & connect them with BetterCulture

💡Tips for Identifying a Facilitator

In terms of identifying a facilitator, your first decision to make is if you will select someone on your chamber staff or someone external. About half of our partners end up having a staff member run their programs, which has a few key benefits…

 

Chamber-Led Facilitation – The Benefits

    • Meaningful Connections with Members: First, having a facilitator from your staff or Board can help develop and strengthen relationships between the chamber, the participants, and the organizations the participants are affiliated with.
    • Marketing the Chamber: Additionally, an internal facilitator might be able to speak to overall goals and vision of the chamber – and to be more aware of other offerings from the chamber – than an external facilitator would be able to.
    • Facilitating is Fun! Many of our partners have shared that internal facilitators really enjoy facilitating local programming – that it can even feel like one of the “perks” of the job. If you are the type of leader who enjoys leading discussions and connecting with your member businesses in meaningful ways, you might consider facilitating this program yourself, or finding another member of your staff where this type of work would fill their bucket.

 

So, to the extent you can find someone internal to facilitate your program we would encourage you to do so.

However, if your team is strapped for time – or if this is just not of interest – finding an external facilitator is another great option.

 

External Facilitation – Two Options

Finding an external facilitator is fairly straightforward. Simply find your ideal fit, determine their availability and establish any terms you’d like to have with them. Some partners opt to pay their facilitators, and some are able to find volunteers who are happy to help build community in this way. Here are some suggestions if you decide to find an external facilitator (whether a volunteer or someone you hire):

    • Option 1: Find a Volunteer: Some chambers choose to recruit volunteer facilitators from within their community to lead local programs. These volunteers might be individuals with extra time—such as a recently retired professional—who are eager to give back. Others are engaging their member businesses to find internal talent, like asking a local bank if their Training & Development Manager would be interested in facilitating. This creates a win-win: the business gets recognized as a program sponsor, even though the only contribution is the employee’s time. The business gains visibility and connections, and the facilitator gets to do meaningful work that aligns with their strengths.
    • Option 2: Hire a Facilitator: Some chambers choose to hire a facilitator and provide a small stipend as a way to increase ownership and accountability for the success of their program. Hiring a facilitator can be especially helpful if the chamber wants to layer additional activities on top of BetterCulture’s content—such as field trips, guest speakers, or community engagement events. In these cases, a paid facilitator can take the lead in coordinating these extra components, helping to create a more robust and well-rounded program while ensuring everything runs smoothly.

💡Selecting the Right Facilitator

When you’re looking for a facilitator, whether internal or external, here are a few key traits to be looking for…

Program Facilitators – The 3 Key Traits to Look For

    • Can they guide group discussions? First, and at the risk of sounding obvious, the person you select has to be skilled at facilitating group discussions. This is the #1 skillset you are looking for. Notice that we didn’t say that the person has to be charismatic, or has to know BetterCulture’s content inside out. When looking for a facilitator please know that you are NOT looking for “Workplace Culture Experts” – our content carries that weight, bringing plenty of proven expertise to the table. Instead, facilitators above all must be good at leading conversations and asking questions that spark reflection and discussion among your group. If someone asks a question that stumps the facilitator, you are looking for the type of person who would be comfortable saying “really good question… what does the group think? Does anyone have any experiences or thoughts about ways you might handle that as a leader?”
    • Are they invested in others’ success? From there, the ideal facilitator will have a genuine interest in the success of the people participating in your program. Our facilitation guides and training resources will help your facilitator to understand the types of questions they can be asking to drive engaging and impactful conversations – but our training does assume you have selected someone with a desire to engage with our content and help your participants grow as leaders.
    • Are they reliable? As a final check, be sure you select a facilitator who follows through on commitments. Are they organized and willing to do a little pre-work before each session to make sure they are prepared and that the program is a success? If so they will find BetterCulture’s training and resources will make facilitation a breeze.

NOTE: Some partners opt to have multiple facilitators for a single group, which can be helpful if one of your facilitators can’t make a session due to illness or a scheduling conflict. However, if you decide to have multiple facilitators – or a “backup” facilitator – we strongly recommend you have your backup attend at least one of your program sessions before you have them facilitate their first session. This will ensure your facilitators are as aligned as possible around the format and flow of sessions, and around the experience of your participants.

💡Welcome Letter To Facilitators

 

Coordinator Resource:

Welcome Letter to Facilitators

Please send this to your facilitator once they are selected. 

It provides them with: 

Access to BetterCulture Content

Key logistics and materials

Ways to schedule training with BetterCulture

Access the Letter

Step 2: Finalize Details and Logistics for Your Program

💡Naming Your Program

Chambers have complete flexibility when it comes to naming their Future Leaders program, and we’ve seen a variety of great approaches. Some chambers choose to keep it simple and straightforward with names like “Future Leaders of Omaha” or “Future Leaders of Dubuque.” Others go with something a bit more branded and prestigious, such as “20 Under 20,” which can make the program feel more selective and create a sense of honor and exclusivity for participants. Still others opt for a different direction altogether, using titles like “Next Generation Leadership Program” or something uniquely tailored to their community. There’s no right or wrong—naming the program is entirely up to the chamber and can reflect your goals, brand, or audience in a way that makes the most local impact.

💡Setting your Program Price

Chambers have full discretion when it comes to setting participant fees for their programs, but based on our experience with dozens of chambers, there are a few helpful guidelines to consider. First, community size plays a big role—smaller communities often find lower participant fees more feasible for participants. Second, the target audience of your program impacts what you can charge; for example, programs designed for executives typically justify a higher price point than those aimed at high school students. In general, we recommend:

    • “Future Leaders” programs often have low participant fees but are great candidates for grant or sponsorship funding – additionally, if you can structure your program where your local school district or local college is paying the fee, this will allow you to charge a higher price point; 
    • “Rising Stars” programs for young professionals tend to have modest participant fees but are well-positioned for sponsorship support – if you can structure your program where your member businesses are paying the fee (instead of the individual participant), this will allow you to charge a higher price point; 
    • “Leadership Programs” can usually pull in both a higher fee and sponsorships, and fees are often paid by a participants’ organizations (not out of their own pockets)
    • “Executive Roundtables” typically need to command higher fees to be sustainable.

 

If you’re unsure about where to start, one option is to set a higher price point but offer an “Early-Bird” discount in your first year to help generate interest while still communicating the full value of the experience. You might continue to offer this “Early-Bird” rate in future years – or you might opt to discontinue (or reduce) it. 

💡How many program sessions / Session Length

Chambers have full discretion over how many sessions their program will include, but here are some best practices based on the type of program you’re offering.

    • Future Leaders programs typically consist of either 7 or 10 sessions. A 7-session format allows you to cover 3 Tenets per session, with your first session covering only 2 Tenets to leave time for icebreakers and group engagement. A 10-session format allows for a deeper focus on 2 Tenets per session. In both formats, we recommend planning for 20–30 minutes per Tenet.
    • Rising Stars programs follow the same general structure as Future Leaders.
    • Leadership Programs are most commonly delivered as 8 sessions—one introductory session followed by one session for each of BetterCulture’s 7 Principles of Leadership. Most chambers choose to “flip” the classroom by assigning videos to be watched ahead of time and using session time for discussion, which usually requires 90–120 minutes per session. If you prefer to show the videos during the sessions instead, plan for sessions of up to 2.5 hours.
    • Executive Programs are generally shorter, lighter-touch experiences with videos shown during each session. These programs are often structured as 10 monthly sessions, each lasting 60 minutes—with 30 minutes to discuss 2–3 BetterCulture videos and 30 minutes reserved for networking or general conversation among participants.

Step 3: Develop your marketing and sponosrship materials

💡Sample “Future Leaders” Programs

Here are sample Chamber-led programs that are geared toward “Future Leaders” in their communities.

NOTE: BetterCulture is not utilized within these specific programs – we’re simply illustrating programs that are geared toward local high school or college students, and where BetterCulture’s content would be a very natural fit. 

Youth Leadership Council Bluffs (IA)

Eden Prairie (MN) Future Leaders Program

Coachella Valley (CA) Chamber Future Leaders Program

Central Brandford County (PA) Youth Leadership Council

Step 4: Secure sponsorships and recruit!

💡Sponsorship and Recruitment

We don’t have any “secret sauce” for this step – it simply boils down to scheduling meetings with Member Businesses to build local sponsorships and to enroll their staff members in your program. If you are facing any challenges at this step, however, simply email us and we can schedule time for a strategy session: chambers@betterculture.com

Step 5: Obtain your key BetterCulture materials

💡Obtaining Your Materials

Here are the key materials you need to purchase for your Future Leaders program: 

20 Tenets Workbook ($20/workbook on Amazon.com – Purchase one for each participant)

20 Tenets Facilitator’s Guide ($50/workbook on Amazon.com – Purchase one for the program facilitator*)

*Or download free digital copy here

Securing your Licenses (Complete this form)

Sample welcome email to participants

Sample graduation certificate

FAQs

There are two main on-demand BetterCulture products that chambers utilize to launch new programs in their communities: a leadership curriculum called the On-Demand MindSet Leadership Program; and a professional skills (aka a “Soft Skills”) curriculum called the 20 Tenets of Culture. Both products consist of short on-demand videos (usually 3-5 minutes in length).

Absolutely! Below you will find links to view some sample videos for each of our programs:

Chambers recognize five key benefits from BetterCulture’s content:

  1. Addresses a Universal Challenge – BetterCulture tackles a critical issue for all businesses: building and sustaining a successful workplace culture, filling a local education gap.
  2. Proven, Not Theoretical – Developed within a company recognized five times as Omaha’s #1 Best Place to Work, BetterCulture’s content has trained thousands of leaders over the past decade, with 97% rating it as “outstanding.”
  3. Turnkey & Easy to Implement – Chambers receive everything needed for success, including high-quality study guides, facilitator instructions, and on-demand video content—making it simple for even small chambers to launch programs.
  4. Appeals to a Broad Audience – The content is applicable across industries and works for everyone, from first-time employees to executive leaders.
  5. Generates Repeatable Non-Dues Revenue – BetterCulture programs not only add value for members but also create lasting non-dues revenue opportunities through repeatable, adaptable programs.

There are five types of programs chambers can consider launching through this initiative:

  • Future Leaders Programs – These programs, often called “Future Leaders” or “25 Under 25,” are designed to recognize and develop young community members, even those not yet in the workforce. Chambers can partner with local schools or colleges to recruit participants and seek sponsorship from businesses or economic development entities interested in fostering young talent.

  • Rising Stars Programs – Geared toward young professionals, this program offers a true development opportunity, focusing on leadership skills rather than just social events. Chambers can engage businesses to nominate up-and-coming employees for an 8-12 month cohort, building a prestigious class for young professionals.

  • Leadership Programs/Alumni Programs – Whether you’re launching a new leadership program or enhancing an existing one, BetterCulture’s content can add true leadership training to programs typically focused on networking or civic engagement. Additionally, chambers can use the content to create leadership alumni programs, re-engaging past participants.

  • Leadership Skills Programs – A focused, professional development program offering monthly 90-minute sessions on leadership skills. This model is popular in both larger and smaller communities, providing a streamlined, skills-based approach that requires less time away from work.

  • Executive Roundtables – Chambers can use BetterCulture’s content to engage executive-level leaders through roundtables or business breakfasts, offering new, valuable programming for this crucial membership segment.

Some chambers are opting to simply gather a group of community members once or twice a month then playing BetterCulture’s videos at their program sessions and facilitating a group discussion.  Alternatively, and because the videos are hosted in an online learning platform, many chambers opt for a “flipped” classroom approach where participants watch videos in-between sessions then come to class ready to discuss.  

Both products come with a detailed Study Guide and a Facilitator’s Guide, and with other suggested activities to help a facilitator maximize the impact of local programs.

Physical Study Guides are required and are available on Amazon for $20/Guide.

Facilitator’s Guides are available in digital format for free, or you can purchase physical copies for $50/guide (recommended). 

Yes, in addition to this Program Support Hub, BetterCulture provides Coordinators and Facilitators support in two other ways:

  1. Office Hour Zoom Meetings – Every 2-4 weeks, Coordinators and Facilitators can join these sessions to receive feedback and insights directly from the BetterCulture team.
  2. Email Support – For urgent issues between Office Hour sessions, chambers have access to a dedicated support email for quick assistance: chambers@betterculture.com