Designing Rise: The Mosaic Path of Leadership

A Mosaic Path.

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In my last post, I introduced Rise: Leadership Development for Emerging Technologists — a self-paced course to help technologists grow into emotionally intelligent, confident, and future-ready leaders. In this post, I wanted to take you further into the mosaic path behind the design and the Framework of Instructional Design Philosophy that supports it.

The Mosaic Path: A Visual Metaphor for Leadership Identity

Leadership is not built in a straight line. It is constructed through reflection, experiences, and iteration. That is why RISE is designed around the metaphor of a mosaic path.

The mosaic path reflects the reality that:

• Growth is nonlinear.

• Learning happens in pieces.

• Leadership identity is shaped over time.

Each tile along the path represents a meaningful moment. It could be a personal story, a shift in mindset, a tough decision, or a new skill gained. The pattern is not meant to be perfect and that is the point! It is unique to each learner, built from lived experiences and intentional practice.

In Rise, learners do not follow someone else's path. They build their OWN!

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Instructional Design: Framework Behind the Rise Experience

While at UNC Chapel Hill (Go Tar Heels...YES I had to get that in) studying in the Master of Arts Educational Innovation, Technology, and Entrepreneurship (MEITE) program, I learned about various instructional design frameworks.

Beneath the mosaic path metaphor, I have selected these two evidence-based approaches:

1. Backward Design: Rise was structured by first establishing its final objectives. Rise ensures that every task and reflective practice directly supports practical leadership achievements. Learners do not absorb conceptional content but instead participate in experiences which generate portfolio-ready proof of their leadership development.

2. Constructivist Learning Theory: Leadership cannot be downloaded. It must be constructed. Rise encourages learners to actively shape their development by participating in meaningful activities. These activities include sharing stories, concept application coupled with guided reflection, and experiential learning supported by AI as a Partner in leadership (AIaP).

This results in:

• Modular learning: Each tile represents a distinct key skill or insight.

• Human-centered tools: Which feature emotionally intelligent communication tiles and reframing lenses.

• Authentic Assessments: Gained through a growing Leadership Portfolio.

• Scalable Reflection: Using AI tools to support acting as a Partner (AIaP).

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Learning in Pieces, Growing as a Whole

The mosaic path creates a learning journey beyond just visual impact. As learners transition between modules they accumulate and organize their experiences while reflecting on them. Some tiles come easily. Others require deeper work. But ALL of them MATTER!

Once learners complete Rise, they discover that their leadership identity is made from combining complexity, thoughtfulness, and uniqueness which matches the distinctive people Rise serves.

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🙌 Here is Where You Can Support

Bringing Rise to life is not something I can do alone. This is where you come in.

If you’re a people leader, L&D manager, or senior technologist, I’d love your support in any of the following ways:

• 💡 Share your insights: How are you preparing your emerging tech talent? I’d love to hear your strategies, wins, and lessons learned.

• 🧠 Be a reviewer: Are you open to reviewing a module or two and giving feedback? Your input can sharpen the content and ensure it's relevant.

• ☎️ Let’s talk: I’m conducting informal interview calls to hear from leaders in the field. If you’re open to a 20–30 minute conversation, I’d be honored to pick your brain.

• 💬 Offer moral support: This work is deeply meaningful to me. If you’d like to send encouragement, check in, or just say “Keep going!” each week, I’d welcome that energy.

We rise by lifting others. If you're interested in supporting in any way, please reach out nicoleannhargrove@gmail.com  Your contribution will help shape the future of tech leadership.