Classes Write Leadership Statements

Several classes write leadership statements.  These statements were derived by thinking back as to why they enrolled in LeadershipPlenty and then examining what they learned thus creating a statement as to how they plan to use what they learned in their community. 

Thayer County LeadershipPlenty Participates in Visioning Project

LeadershipPlenty alumni became involved in a county-wide effort in Thayer County last winter.  Youth met and were involved in making contacts across the county for an Intergenerational Dialogue.  Other LeadershipPlenty alumni were involved in focus group interviews in each of 13 communities.  The goal was to help develop a county-wide vision for Thayer County.  UNL Extension conducted both the Intergenerational Dialogue and the Focus group interviews.

Expanding leadership, again!

By Joe Johnson,Session Reporter- Sept 13, 2006

On Sept. 7, another class of local leaders embarked on the task of enhancing their skills though the Butler County LeadershipPlentyIII. The course is in its third consecutive year and continues to enhance leadership skills within Butler County. Current students of this year's course come from all walks of life and serve many different roles within their communities, ranging from community leaders to high school students. The reasons for taking the LeadershipPlenty course varied, much like the students in the course. Linda Vandenberg, Senior Center Manager reported that she wanted to "build more networking opportunities." Don Moravec, investment tax advisor, said the course will help developing working relationships, provide an opportunity to meet new people and to "put faces with names". Others said they were asked to take the course by their employer. No matter what the reason for taking the course might be, the diversity in the group will benefit all students greatly during the remaining seven weeks. Coordinators of the 2006-2007 LeadershipPlenty course are Larry Peirce, Joan Kovar and Gina Barlean, all previous students of this course. The first of eight sessions was held in the Hruska Memorial Library's conference room and focused on the theme of "Finding Leaders Within". Larry Peirce, editor of The Banner-Press, gave a presentation called "Media 101" which focused on the importance of creating and maintaining a positive relationship with local media sources. Peirce reported, "groups work with the media to serve the best interest of their projects and to influence others to support their project". Louie Niemann, presented a summary of the dialogue and its ongoing progress. She explained that DAN is a youth-led regional (County, Cities and Villages) dialogue that encompasses five different generations that came together to discuss the issue of attracting and retaining youth in a small rural community. The partners of DAN will meet one more time on Sept. 18 to complete the task. Extension Educator Barbara Schmidt provided a presentation and explanation of personality theory to the group. The class found Mrs. Schmidt's presentation to be lively and provided an opportunity to discover his or her personality "color." Schmidt stated the importance of knowing one's own personality traits and how their personality works with other personalities in a group. Schmidt made it clear to the group that all personality types are needed for a successful project. The next LeadershipPlenty course will take place at the David City Volunteer Fire Department on October 5, 2006. In November, the class session will involve the four pillars of Hometown Competitiveness, an initiative that has been brought onto the local scene. The pillars are youth attraction, leadership, charitable giving and entrepreneurship. Class members this year are Alan Zavodny, Audrey Skretta, Brenda Siffring, Candi Yates, Dolly Stara, Jackie Masek, Joe Johnson, Julie Wachal, Katie Heller, Linda Vandenberg, Maria Lunde, Nancy Vrbka, Samantha Kosch, Steve Barlean, Sarah Lentz and Mark Holoubek. LeadershipPlenty is a copyrighted course of the Pew Partnership for Civic Change. It is presented byUniversity of Nebraska-Extension with sponsorship by the David City Area Chamber of Commerce. The David City Area Foundation provides a $2,000 grant for the course, and that grant includes $500 from the Jack and Betty Tarr Fund. The lunch at this session was sponsored by The Banner-Press.

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Butler County Uses Alumni to Kick Off New Class

The third class of LeadershipPlenty met on Thursday, September 7 in Butler County.  The coordinators utilized the past two years of alumni to begin the class.  Six alumni from the past two years shared how they have been putting the tools and resources to work to help their communities. 
Joan commented that "we all have something to offer and together we can do much as a team.  I have begun to find out how powerful this network can be."
Gina said "I enjoyed class so fully and got a lot out of it.  I've learned that as we have more Leadership graduates, the network continues to grow and we can learn to work together as a team."
Laura said that "networking was one of the key things I took from the class.  It helped me work better in groups that I'm in.  I learned that we need a variety of people types to work together."
Carolyn says "each of us has a passion, a burning love for something.  In my life I practice leadership spiritually through my church, in the community, I'm involved because if David City lives my business and lifestyle live.  In my work and in my personal life I have found that it is also important to be a leader."
Louise says "I was able to grow through this class, expand my network.  I'm a lot different person because of LeadershipPlenty."
Monica shared that "success is waking up with someplace to go."  As I was transitioning to a new type of work it helped me to really get to know people I thought I new all my life.  I have become very appreciative of those who have gone before us and forseen what we now have like hospital, swimming pool, library, athletic fields.  Because of LeadershipPlenty I was on the fund-raising board for the recent hospital additon.  I wouldn't have done that otherwise."
Larry was very animate about what he learned about conflict.  "I am much better listening to all points of view now.  This class changed the way I though about conflict.  I realize that we need conflict and it is not the end.  Conflict can stop good ideas but there is a way to deal with it.  No one gets 100% of what they want."

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LeadershipPlenty Class Does Survey

The 2006 Butler County LeadershipPLENTY class had a group of individuals that assisted the Chamber and HTC with doing more for it's business community.
The Chamber board has suggested that this group from the leadership class help by conducting an in person survey during the months of May and June.
The purpose of the Survey was be to find out from Chamber members (and some non-members) what kind of ideas or constructive suggestions that they might have for the Chamber board and office, to better serve their members. This is a dues paying organization and the Chamber is not ONLY interested in having you participate in community and chamber events, but ALSO want to include new ideas that you might have!
Results will be shared at the September Chamber Luncheon in David City.

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News Highlights from Thayer County

	On Tuesday, March 28, the Thayer County LeadershipPlenty class met at the Aurora Coop Branch Office in Byron, Nebraska.   The topic of the day was "Moving From Talk to Action".  This is a transitional phase for the class as they learned how to develop an action plan on the projects they have been working on.
	The class began with single word descriptions of an issue they had previously identified.  From that single word they went through the steps shown below to get to the point of narrowing the focus and identifying goals, which is the process of moving from just talk into action or getting something going. The three ideas that the group built their action plans from included community pride, technology and business growth

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Below is the outline that the class used:
STARTING POINT

• Describe the situation

• Identify values of the group

• Write a vision statement

MAPPING THE JOURNEY

• List information to collect

• Identify partners

THE WHO, WHAT, WHEN OF THE GOAL

RESOURCE REQUIREMENTS

• Resources needed

• Resources promised

• Potential added resources

INTERIM GOALS

EXPECTED OUTCOMES