Leaders teaching leaders: Program draws from area citizens' experience
By Lee Bonorden/Austin Daily Herald
A community can never have too many leaders.
That's one reason the Austin Area Chamber of Commerce and Riverland Community College's training and development department has teamed up to create “Leadership Austin,” a community leadership program.
The man credited with creating the idea of Leadership Austin is Todd Penske, president and CEO of Cooperative Response Center, Inc. in Austin.
Penske is a former 2nd Ward Austin City Council Member, who first learned about the community leadership program concept when he lived in Wisconsin several years ago.
Penske helped set up a program at Marshfield, Wis. Then, Penske himself used the program.
He credited the training with helping him become a police and fire safety commissioner in Wisconsin and then successfully seeking a seat on the Austin City Council.
“It helped me get where I'm at today,” he said.
Today, the successful businessman and civic-minded citizen is a community leadership program graduate helping bring the training to leaders in Austin.
The new program was launched Friday at a press conference at Riverland Community College.
Ron Langrell, Riverland's vice president of academic and student affairs, is himself a veteran of a community leadership program in Washington. He has also written the curriculum for another such program. Langrell partnered with Penske to create the Leadership Austin version.
Comparing the new training with the existing Blandin Foundation training is unfair.
“Blandin is a skill-building program,” Langrell said. “We don't see this program as a competition with the Blandin program, but as a complement.”
He is encouraged by the early interest shown in the program by potential candidates and businesses, industries and organization who are supportive of the endeavor.
Sandy Forstner, executive director of the Austin Area Chamber of Commerce, said the new initiative fits within the organization's mission statement.
“The Chamber is, of course, a business organization whose purpose is to improve the environment for business and improve the community overall,” Forstner said. “Actually, out mission statement says we will foster partnerships for the better of business and the community, and I believe there's nothing better than Leadership Austin to fit that mission.”
‘Day Leaders'
On board from the beginning have been a group of leaders called “Day Leaders” in the new initiative:
n Candace Raskin, Austin superintendent of schools: Education Day
n Jim Hurm, Austin city administrator: Local Government Day
n Bruce Henricks, director of Mower County Department of Human Services: Human Services and Health Day
n Rod Nordeng, human resources director for Austin Medical Center: Diversity and Quality of Life Day
n George Brophy, president and CEO of Development Corporation of Austin: Economic Development Day
n Paul Philipp, Austin Chief of Police: Law and Safety Day
While Austin has sent several teams to the acclaimed Blandin Foundation's Community Leadership Program training, Langrell said, “Austin has never had a locally based leadership program.”
“We think the Leadership Austin community leadership concept provides the context now to ‘come back home' and do an implementation on the issues and challenges that affect our community,” Langrell said.
In addition, there will be opportunities to work on skill-building.
“Candidates will actually start in September with a full day of introspection on their own leadership style and some goal-setting on what they expect from the program” Langrell said.
Then, the program will begin in October with Education Day, moving to a specific topic each month.
“We feel candidates will exit this program ready to progress into community leadership positions and their own employment or avocational interests have a context for stepping up in the extended community.”
Over 100 community leadership programs from across the nation were reviewed before Leadership Austin's own curriculum was written.
Applications
Twenty candidates will be sought. An eight-page application form must be completed and returned by June 30.
A $599 fee will be charged, but scholarship assistance will be available.
All residents of the Austin area may apply.
Successful candidates with share three basic characteristics:
n The ability to set and active personal goals
n A demonstrated personal commitment to community service
n A record of achievement in community involvement indicating past accomplishments and potential leadership abilities
The downtown Chamber of Commerce office, 329 North Main (Town Center building) has a flyer explaining the Leadership Austin program in detail.
Expectations
The Day Leaders are called “key components” of the program by Forstner and Langrell.
Raskin has already begun planning Education Day and what it will offer participants. She also believes the relationships participants will establish will be a boon to the leaders.
Nordeng, who will coordinate the Diversity and Quality of Life Day portion of Leadership Austin's curriculum, said the training will answer two important questions for participants. “Why do we live here and why do we choose to work here?”
Hurm said his Local Government Day training will foster new local activity.
“Hopefully the newly developed leaders will be participating in local government,” he said.
Henricks said he hoped the Health and Human Services Day training will “open the door to how the system works.”
Brophy said his Economic Development Day will include hearing from a banker and visiting an industrial hog farm to show the gamut of business in the Austin area.
The man who brought the program to life in Austin, Penske, also has high expectations for the program, which, he emphasized, arrives at the perfect time in Austin.
“We (Forstner and Penske) have been talking about this for several years now,” he said. “We were timing for it to be launched at the right time and this year is the perfect time: our sesquicentennial.”
Leadership Austin is being launched at a time of leadership strength - not weakness - in Austin, according to Forstner.
“There is always a need for more leaders,” he said.
Lee Bonorden can be contacted at 434-2232 or by e-mail at lee.bonorden@austindailyherald.com.
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