Windy Schoby

Fish and Wildlife Policy Advisor, Northwest Power and Conservation Council — Salmon, Idaho • Fundamentals Cohort 1

WCLDP Program

Seeing
Differently

For Windy Schoby, WCLDP didn’t just add tools to her toolkit — it changed how she reads the systems, people, and dynamics around her. From agency work to her own community, the tools of adaptive leadership have traveled with her everywhere.

“One of the biggest things I became aware of during my time in WCLDP was an increased self-awareness of my strengths and weaknesses. I also became well acquainted with the tools to critically examine situations and challenges differently than I had before.”

– Windy Schoby

Experiential Learning

Hard Questions, Real Progress

Through WCLDP, Windy deepened her ability to hold multiple interpretations of a situation — using that skill to guide groups through active listening and courageous conversation. She learned the power of asking questions that open discussion rather than close it.

“Prior to my experience at WCLDP, despite my natural desire, I was more inclined to keep everyone happy and comfortable and turn the heat down. I realized that often leads to groups feeling stuck, not making much progress, or not surfacing the unspoken.”

The shift was practical and immediate. Asking hard questions can be disruptive — but Windy found it nearly always leads to greater progress and engagement, both inside organizations and across factions of stakeholder groups.

Leadership Beyond the Job

Building a School for Her Community

Outside of her professional role, Windy applied WCLDP tools to help her community navigate a school bond — a deeply local, high-stakes adaptive challenge. After an earlier failure to mobilize community support, her team asked harder questions and engaged more honestly with what was holding people back.

The Outcome

The effort succeeded. Her community is now building a brand-new prekindergarten through grade 8 school — proof that adaptive leadership tools don’t stay at work. They go home, too.

Lasting Impact

Turning Weaknesses Into Strengths

“My group called me a catalyst. They mentioned that I seem to have the ability to ask the right question at the right time to get or keep the discussion moving in a productive direction. I was good at making people uncomfortable, meddling in lots of things and gathering lots of information to make change; I had considered this a weakness in the past.”

“I’ve learned some hard skills and confidence to work more effectively. Through WCLDP I gained the confidence to see and trust my own skills.”

Why It Matters

An Investment
That Travels

01

Self-Awareness as a Leadership Tool
Fellows leave with a sharper understanding of their own strengths, blind spots, and patterns — and the confidence to act from that knowledge rather than around it.

02

Holding Multiple Interpretations
The ability to sit with competing perspectives — rather than collapsing toward the easiest answer — is one of the most transferable skills the program builds.

03

Asking the Hard Question
Productive discomfort moves groups forward. Fellows learn to raise the questions others are avoiding — and to do it with skill, not just courage.

04

The Power of Story
At the policy level and beyond, stories change outcomes. Fellows continue developing this practice long after graduation — because some tools only deepen with time.

Investing in the future of an organization and having people with these skills is vitally important. It can become a catalyst for change — multi-directional, collaborative, and lasting. But it requires showing up with an open mind.

Continued Practice

“Getting into policy level decisions, stories are so powerful and have the ability to change the outcome in significant ways.”