Summit inspires employees to lead by example
They came from different backgrounds with different perspectives. A lieutenant governor and our department director. A national expert on leadership and change management. A college basketball coach and a retired Army general. An expert on organizational culture and a research scientist.
But they delivered an integrated, consistent message on how to become a better leader.
ITD’s second Leadership Summit also attracted 200 employees committed to developing and improving their leadership skills – employees who embrace the concept of becoming the best.
All the inspirational messages delivered at Tuesday’s leadership summit can be reduced to a common denominator and succinct phrase: ”If we’re going to become the best as an organization, I must be my best as an individual.”
Dr. Tom DeCoster, a professor emeritus of Public Environmental Affairs at Indiana University, captured the same sentiment when he quoted, “If it is to be, it is up to me.” Leadership is not content to live in yesterday’s successes – that is called management, DeCoster said. Leadership is looking forward to the potential of the future. The former is bound up in what was; the latter in what can be.
That was part of his morning keynote address, “The Leadership Password: 5 Characters for Successful Leadership.” His presentation described in detail strategies for empowering and inspiring employees to do their best as a foundation for becoming their best.
The all-day conference in Boise began with a humorous video featuring Director Brian Ness in several “servant” roles, from barber to grocer, gas station attendant and retail clerk. He retraced ITD’s evolution the past four years to its emergence as a leader among state agencies and national transportation departments.
Being a leader is about making those around you better, he said. He encouraged participants to document what they learned at the conference and translate it into an action plan for improvement – an “Individual Implementation Plan.” The expectation is that employees would lead by example and inspire others to reach their fullest potential.
Other morning speakers included Lt. Gov. Brad Little who spoke about ITD’s role in growing the Idaho economy, and a pre-lunch recipe for developing a winning athletic team by Boise State University men’s basketball coach Leon Rice.
Retired Brig. Gen. Bill Bankhead, former leader of the Idaho National Guard, made an encore appearance to describe “Leadership 101: The Foundation for Success.” He also spoke at ITD’s inaugural leadership summit last year.
ITD executive officers opened the afternoon session by reviewing recent successes and presenting a blueprint for the immediate future.
The Panel included Scott Stokes, chief deputy; Jim Carpenter, chief operations officer; Gordon Wilmoth, acting chief administrative officer; and Mary Harker, chief human resource officer. Harker announced her impending retirement and introduced her successor, Brenda Williams, from Salt Lake City, Utah. She also introduced the new chief administrative officer Charlene “Char” McArthur, from Edmonds, Wash. McArthur will succeed Wilmoth, who has been filling the position since the departure of Mike Golden this summer.
Jim Johnson, managing partner of Level Three Performance Solutions and chief architect of ITD’s effort to establish a new cultural identity, talked about “Getting to Blue: Building a Constructive Culture” in an afternoon session. He and Jay Otto, managing director of the Center for Health and Safety Culture at Montana State University, led an interactive session that electronically polled participants about their perception of ITD’s culture.
Training leaders David Nichols, Treven Farrow and Jim Phillips concluded the afternoon with a team-building activity.
The Transporter will elaborate on some of the summit’s key sessions next week. For a video summary of the event, click here
Published 10-4-13