Leadership Institute Retreat
October 2009

When asked to share a word that summarized the day-long 2009 Leadership Institute retreat, this is what participants said:

Honor Opportunity Impact Relationships

Enlightened Educational Passion Inspired

Valuable Thankful Commitment Challenged

Sometimes only one word will do to capture a feeling or experience, especially at the end of a long day of discussing, questioning, and sharing. The retreat set out with two goals in mind:

(1) Forge new relationships between the institute’s participants.
(2) Provide participants with an opportunity to learn about and use the latest strategies and resources for developing effective community leaders.

For more on the day, click here to view the retreat agenda.

Kicking off the nine month leadership institute training was an evening dinner on October 15, 2009 hosted at the Puyallup-Sumner Chamber of Commerce. Participants were able to connect, hear more about the next day’s all-day retreat, and learn from ’08 Institute alumnae and owner of Newell Hunt Furniture, Arla Cuddy. Arla shared a number of highlights from her experience and what she feels are lasting impacts on her involvement in the local community. She emphasized how helpful it is to now have her Institute classmates as part of her network and to call on for ideas and support as she extends herself more in the community.

At 9am sharp on Friday, October 16, 2009, Puyallup-Sumner Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Sally Zeiger Hanson officially kicked off the ’09 Leadership Institute by welcoming and congratulating participants on their acceptance into the program. Participant applications were widely solicited and then reviewed by the Institute Planning Committee. Only those individuals showing the best chances to benefit from the long-term training were selected.

Following the short retreat introduction, each participant received a binder which held an official personalized assessment report based on the Extended DISC Personal Analysis System, a useful tool for examining individual behavior and behaviors within specific situations. The DiSC assessment classifies four aspects of behavior by assessing a person's preferences in word associations.

DiSC is an acronym for:

• Dominance – relating to control, power and assertiveness
• Influencing – relating to social situations and communication
• Steadiness – relating to patience, persistence, and thoughtfulness
• Compliance – relating to structure and organization

For a nice historical timeline of DiSC, see :http://www.discassessments.net/history.html and for some spot-on applications, refer to this online AORN Journal article entitled ‘Using the behavioral instrument to guide leadership and communication’

Rick Hogan, Pierce College District Business Program Coordinator and a faculty member, provided an overview of the methodology behind DiSC, followed by a thorough review of each participant’s results.A theme that ran through Rick’s presentation and through participant discussions was how many of us have difficulty seeing in ourselves what others see in us. Although too often overlooked, self-awareness is probably one of the most important leadership traits, especially in today’s fast-paced, information-rich environments where decision-making only seems to be faster and more complex. With this in mind, retreat facilitators planned and delivered an intensive, interactive session on personal assessment.

Ooh's and aah's could be heard throughout the room as participants could see aspects of themselves in their results. One participant

commented, “I have shared my DiSC results with a number of people who work with me. They were surprised at the accuracy, as was I. Many of the items described me to a tee. This was a great tool to start the process of understanding my behaviors better”.

A small group exercise closed this session to help process the results and discuss implications for their leadership development. The DiSC assessment process and results will be used throughout the institute and across the various topics to help reinforce the importance of self-awareness, awareness of others, and ideas around negotiating style differences to ultimately lead more effectively.

After lunch, institute participants shifted gears and welcomed four local leaders representing four outstanding local organizations: Jon Engels, Puyallup Rotary, Marlene Murphy, Sumner Community Food Bank, Robyn DeLorm, Daffodil Festival, Sister Pat Michalek, St. Francis House. For more than 90 minutes, small groups of three or four participants meet with each of the guests to hear about how these organizations operate, how they as leaders manage the daily challenges of serving the community, and how they manage day-to-day issues such as raising funds and navigating a difficult economy. A benefit to this session was that not only did participants learn more about these community organizations, but the presenters gained an awareness of the Leadership Institute as a resource for their respective organizations. One of the overarching goals of the Chamber’s Leadership Institute is to foster and facilitate connections between emerging leaders and local leadership needs. This session was an important step in making these community connections.

Closing out the day was Sumner School Superintendent, Dr. Gil Mendoza. Dr. Mendoza shared his rich personal story from growing up as a migrant farm worker to working for Ross Perot on key national priorities to becoming an educational leader in Washington State. As he shared his story, participants had the opportunity for their own reflection and discussion on the attributes of leaders.

It was clear from his session that Dr. Mendoza still views himself as an emerging, servant leader who is driven by strong personal values of service, especially to children. He shared examples of how he has sought out mentorship opportunities whether by simply observing others he respects or through more intentional interactions and conversations.

A strength of Dr. Mendoza’s leadership is his support of colleagues and staff. A leadership strategy of his is to elicit successes and affirmations from his district

employees, and celebrate accomplishments throughout the year. He now sees a culture of positive affirmations and the affirmation of successes taking on a life of its own in the district. He noted, “Leaders are less in charge than they think and followers are much less passive than we often realize. People will follow where their hearts go.” Dr. Mendoza shared his list of favorite leadership books, included below:

Dr. Mendoza’s suggested resources:

• On Leadership by John W. Gardner
• The Servant by James Hunter
• Leadership Challenge byJames M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner
• Handbook of Leadership by Bernard Bass

Additional Resources:

• Online AORN Journal article entitled Using the behavioral instrument to guide leadership and communication
• Historical timeline of DiSC
  

All in all the day was a success. A unique ongoing evaluation process of the retreat is underway using an online threaded discussion page. Click here to join the discussion. This method is designed to encourage further reflection and collaboration well after the retreat while fostering a learning community culture throughout the institute

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