Leadership Indianapolis Refocuses LEAD Program
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowLeadership Indianapolis says it is partnering with Harrison College to revamp its Leadership, Education and Development curriculum. The organization says the five-week program, which begins today, now focuses on collaborative leadership training.
September 18, 2014
News Release
Indianapolis, Ind. — With an eye toward developing a more robust pipeline of community leaders and offering them training for success, Leadership Indianapolis today announced the launch of a new collaborative leadership program. The Leadership, Education and Development (LEAD) program retains the name of a long-standing local initiative, but the revamped curriculum now focuses on the collaborative leadership skills community leaders need to address key issues and opportunities facing our growing metro area.
“Indianapolis has a rich history of strong community leaders and successful community work. But, through our conversations with longtime civic leaders – and an audit of local offerings – we identified a gap in the area of collaborative leadership training that needs to be filled,” said Leadership Indianapolis CEO Linda Kirby. “We need this new curriculum to make Indianapolis even stronger, and we are thrilled to deliver this program with Harrison College as our presenting sponsor and curriculum partner.”
Leadership Indianapolis tapped into Harrison College’s deep expertise in leadership development to create a compelling curriculum offering for LEAD participants. And Harrison officials are also providing outstanding facilitators who will serve as faculty for the program.
“Community leadership is critical to any city’s success, but it can be a really messy art,” said Dr. Dennis A. Trinkle, provost and chief academic officer of Harrison College. “Real-world leadership seldom matches ‘textbook’ cases of leading, and that’s because politics and personalities get in the way. In LEAD, people will see what real-world leadership looks like and they will explore strategies for pulling everything – and everyone – together so that they can find success in challenging environments.”
According to Kirby, there are five keys to successful collaborative leadership in community work. These five areas – and others –comprise the LEAD curriculum including:
1. Get to Know Yourself as a Leader – One key to becoming a more effective civic leader is, truly understanding yourself – your style, your preferences, your strengths and your weaknesses. Through the use of various exploration exercises and leader feedback, people can gain a better understanding of their unique leadership profile and achieve a deeper level of understanding that can help them build upon effective leadership approaches and rebuild areas that might create obstacles to success.
2. Set a Clear and Compelling Vision – Successful community work starts with the creation of a clear and compelling vision that drives everything. It starts with visioning exercises that allow leaders to explore options, develop roadmaps and define the guiding light(s) for their organization.
3. Motivate Your Team to Take Ownership – Once the vision is set, civic leaders must motivate their teams to feel connected to the vision and to have a sense of urgency to act upon it. Whether they have “positional authority” or not, civic leaders must develop the skills needed to influence people to take action. And that motivation must have a sustainable impact.
4. Develop and Sustain Confidence – Often, civic leaders are asked to step up and lead, but they don’t always feel ready to lead or have the confidence to lead in an effective way. Through various training exercises and role-playing scenarios, people can learn how to develop and maintain their confidence to lead while adhering to the values of servant leadership.
5. Learn How to Manage Conflict – Community work can be challenging, with many priorities, agendas, constituents and personalities. Effective civic leaders know that their people have good ideas and they want to be heard. Training in collaborative leadership provides a keener ear for listening for innovative ideas and a sharper eye for keeping focused on the vision needed to advance the work.
The LEAD program consists of five sessions – every Friday from September 19 through October 17. The classes are held at WFYI and the fee is $1,000 per person. LEAD will be offered again in 2015 and more information is available at http://www.leadershipindianapolis.com/LEADprogram.html.
About Leadership Indianapolis: Leadership Indianapolis works to educate, inspire and mobilize community leaders to serve and strengthen greater Indianapolis. Leadership Indianapolis offers three community leadership programs, the Stanley K. Lacy Executive Leadership Series, LEAD and Opportunity Indianapolis, and other events and programming to develop community leaders. For more information, visit www.leadershipindianapolis.com.
About Harrison College: Founded in 1902, Harrison College is a career-focused institution of higher education serving more than 4,000 students worldwide. The institution grants associates and bachelor’s degrees across five schools of study: business, health sciences, information technology, criminal justice and veterinary technology, as well as through its culinary division, Harrison College campuses are accredited by the Accrediting Council of Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) and the institution is a candidate with The Higher Learning Commission, an affiliate of the North Central Association (HLC-NCA). For more information, visit harrison.edu or call (888) 544-4422.
Source: Leadership Indianapolis