General Info:
The 2010 class of LEADERSHIP GEAUGA COUNTY will be the fifteenth group to complete the program. This group of graduates will join the cadre of individuals in the community who have committed one year to learning more about Geauga County, to developing their own leadership skills, and to expanding their community involvement by networking and personal commitment. This means there are nearly 400 LEADERSHIP graduates in the community, working individually and together to ensure that Geauga County is a great place to live and work. After 14 years, the LEADERSHIP program has a strong and solid foundation. Each class extends the base of community involvement. We have begun to replicate the most successful experiences and continue to explore new opportunities. This means that we can expect the program to continue to grow and change with community needs but stay true to the mission and vision of LEADERSHIP. As program director I have had the unique opportunity of observing how differently each class approaches the leadership program. The perspective of each group as they examine the same general issues often differs. However, there is an emerging pattern of teams building on past successes and avoiding pitfalls experienced by previous classes. In LEADERSHIP GEAUGA, the seven issue days are planned by teams from the current class. As each team begins to plan their issue day, they ask, What has worked in the past? What has not been successful? After each class day, teams that are still working on planning their days tend to evaluate how well the class needs were met by previous teams. Teams from the class of 2009 will amplify and expand the successful ideas so each issue day will be exciting and bring new experiences to the class. As the year progresses, class members increase their knowledge of each other and learn to adapt their social styles in their interaction with each other. The class of 2009 will prove that when you have good patterns available, you can develop exciting and insightful plans that really work. They will also demonstrate how the awareness of the preferred social style of others can lead to better understanding between people. This class will carry their experiences of assessing existing models, building on them, and responding to current issues into the community. They will continue to recognize and accept personal differences. We can expect to see much success attained as this class addresses community concerns.