Leadership Development Trends

1. Leadership Development Trends Presented by: Linda C. Ridge President OnPoint Solutions, Inc. 312-565-1140 Lridge@thepointline.com ©2006 OnPoint Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.

2. Leadership Development • Two components • Training • Orientation • Two different things – two different purposes • Trend: less orientation – more training

3. Training versus Orientation • Training covers role-context and provides skills • Best done in person & takes significant amounts of time • Provides the biggest payoffs to organizational success • Orientation provides organizational context and procedural understanding • Most of it can be conveyed off-site, in writing • With some in person time to highlight/elucidate things to help them navigate the system

4. Why Training? • Volunteers rarely come to us as skilled governance experts • Many don’t excel at group dynamics either • Trained leaders make fewer hair-brained decisions • Volunteers are mostly bored by orientation • They hate meetings where they must listen to what they could have stayed home and read • They are gung-ho for role and skills training • They consider it a value added experience

5. Training Content Favorites • Knowledge-based governance • Prioritization for resource allocation • Outcomes versus process focus • Critical thinking • Strategic decision-making • Consensus • When is it really necessary? • How do you build it when it is? • How do you move forward when it isn’t possible? • Communications dynamics and skills • Role specific skills • e.g. Group dynamics and meeting skills for incoming chairs

6. Newest Trend in Leadership Training • Leadership Institutes on the rise • Formalized track of leadership training and experiences • By invitation for emerging future leaders or by virtue of position • Multiple course offerings on specific topics • Built in experiential components • Leadership training tracks to prepare individuals for specific roles they want to play

7. Other Popular Training Approaches • Classes on specific topics where volunteers need the most help • Topics depend on the association’s leadership issues/needs • Stand alone offering – half or full day • Voluntary or required for role eligibility • Often a session in conjunction with annual meeting or some other large association event • Add-on 60 minute (or longer) skills training component as part of routine meetings • Single skills building topic may occur over multiple weeks or months

8. Preferred Training Experiences • Most Favored Styles: • Role playing using real-world examples • Interactive exercises • Facilitated group discussion • Ask the experts sessions • Volunteers like them best • They show the greatest benefits in terms of practical, applied learning

9. Orientation • Organizational Context • The big picture and how the volunteer fits into it • Basics of how business gets done here • Favored approach • Do it in writing • Explain only nuances in-person • Use the rest of the in-person time for group discussion of current issues and strategic status • Add a skills training component for added value

10. Orientation Content – Written • Formatted for fast intake and easy reference • Organizational charts – governance and staff charts • Bylaws • Strategic plan • Operating plan and budget • Procedural Manuals • Association governance cycle description and calendar • Association events master calendar • Contact lists (governance and staff) • Their governing unit’s master calendar • List of deadlines (e.g. reporting deadlines) • Their own job description – duties and responsibilities • Checklists • Samples of forms (like expense reimbursement requests) • Sample formats and templates (like report formats)

11. Orientation Content – In Person • Most Important/most valued – Facilitated group discussion • Strategic plan status • Current profession/industry issues update • Current financial issues/status update • Presented materials for context & understanding • The association governance system • Not what but how it works – how we get things done • Interrelationships and interdependencies of governing units • Importance of governance cycles and the volunteer’s individual role within them • Volunteer accountability • Member-staff relationship • Role and responsibility delineations • Mutual partnership; reciprocal expectations

12. Pitfalls for Training and Orientation • Meetings for content I can take in by reading at home • Boring presentations – not enough interaction • Too much about organizational structure – not enough about issues • Too much what – not enough how

13. Let’s Talk Turkey • Your experiences (successes & horror stories) • Your leadership development challenges • Your questions (free consulting)