Develop Your Leadership Capabilities in Local DFW Meetup Groups

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Not long ago, employers might have been compelled to hire a candidate who claimed that once given the opportunity, he or she could succeed in a management or leadership role. Today, the opportunities to develop leadership outside of one’s employment are so abundant, that claim no longer impresses. The leaders of tomorrow are developing their skills today, whether on the job or through other avenues. Meetup is a hub for finding these avenues!

If you’re not familiar with Meetup.com, it is the leading online site for creating in-person communities based around interests, ideas, and activities that matter to people. Chief among these are professional leadership groups, through which you can learn about who’s who in your industry locally, make valuable contacts, and build your professional brand. Many groups get fairly specific too, dealing with in-demand skills like Agile, Scrum, public speaking, and UX.

The time you invest in Meetup groups won’t just help you build your leadership capabilities; it will help you build your career. So consider joining these leadership development groups and staying active throughout your career:

Network After Work – Dallas Networking Events – 10,539 Members

This is a professional community consisting of entrepreneurs, professionals, executives and thought leaders who understand the importance of building meaningful connections. It is built on the idea that professionals in every industry across the world all share a common goal, to develop strong relationships that help grow their businesses and careers. It is primarily a networking group, but it offers a wide variety of in-person and even virtual events.

DFW Scrum – 5,622 Members

Scrum is a process framework that focuses on delivering the highest business value to the customer as early as possible through short iterative development cycles that allow rapid and repeated inspection of the project. Scrum can of course be used on just about any project (if it involves people and it has to get done, you can use Scrum). This group offers mentoring opportunities, as well as expert speaker presentations.

Dallas Agile Leadership Network – 2,442 Members

This is a support group for executives, managers, and other leaders who want to increase the agility of their organizations. Unlike other groups, the Dallas Agile Leadership Network places emphasis on culture and business alignment over practices and tools.

Speaker Co-op – The Original Business Speaking Org – 1,655 Members

Parlay your industry or specialization expertise into speaking and leadership communication development opportunities. This is a cooperative community of over 1,000 business & public speakers working together for exposure, masterminding, resources, and education. It has been a resource for event planners and organization volunteers, helping them find great speakers for their meetings, conventions, and events.

WATT (Women Advancing Technology Together) – 1,195 Members

WATT International encourages women in technology to be fearless as they advance their careers, providing education, inspiration, guidance and connections to career opportunities. Its purposes are to encourage women to be fearless in sharing their unique perspectives and talents; to encourage more women and girls to enter and advance to leadership roles in technology related fields; to change the status quo through education, collaboration and inclusion; and to assist companies in attracting, hiring, and retaining top female talent.

Texas Agile – 531 Members

Interested in Agile project management? It’s revolutionizing software development and other business processes. There are several Meetup groups for this topic, including Texas Agile, which connects local practitioners and industry experts via a monthly meeting and an annual one-day conference.

Dallas UX Leadership – 455 Members

This is a group of curious, open-minded, motivated UX professionals looking to cultivate a community of practice where leaders and aspiring leaders have an opportunity to contribute, collaborate, and learn through stories and experiences. The belief is that by building everyone’s leadership skills together, the group can elevate members as leaders.

There are hundreds of local groups. You can find them on Meetup.com/find simply by entering a keyword and your location. If you are participating in valuable leadership development Meetup groups that you would like to promote to our community, feel free to do so on our Facebook page in the comments for this post!