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The 2012 Leadership Dodge class, sponsored by the Dodge City Chamber of Commerce, met for their second session on Thursday. The program was held at Dodge City Community College and the main topics of the day were education, health and well-being of our youth.
The day began with a welcome from DCCC President Dr. Don Woodburn, who talked with the class about the history of the college and where he sees it moving in the future. One of his biggest dreams for the college is to be able to turn it into a four-year school.
When asked about his timeline for this project, Woodburn said, "If we don't have the proposal for this drafted by 2014, then it won't happen."
After meeting with the president, the class had the opportunity to meet with many college staffers, including professors, the registrar, the head of the English as a Second Language program, human resources, the athletic director and coaches. The class had the chance to talk to everyone in small groups and ask any questions it might have.
In my group, we asked about the roles every staff member played in the college's success of the college and what they would either like to see change or hope stays the same.
Athletic director Casey Malek said he hopes to increase the athletic staff over the next few years.
Many staff members said they would like to continue to see enrollment increase and think features like the new dorm will help.
The class also had the opportunity to meet with DCCC students and ask questions. After the students left, class members discussed what they had learned from the students. Many people in the class had thought most students at the college would be from the immediate area, and they were surprised to find out the number of students who come here from out of state on athletic scholarships.
Leadership participants were given lunch in the Student Union to complete the college experience.
Upcoming projects
While everyone was eating lunch, Roger Proffitt, executive producer of the DCCC foundation, gave a presentation on the future of the school. Specifically, he talked about the new student activities center and community shelter that the school is hoping to build with funds provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency because it will be completely tornado safe.
"We don't want to wait until after the disaster hits to start planning a shelter like this. We need to have it ready before we need it," Proffitt said.
The afternoon was devoted to leadership discussions. The Kansas Leadership Society has identified four competencies of leadership: diagnose the situation, manage self, facilitate intervention and energize others. On Thursday the class focused on the "diagnose the situation" competency.
The class was given a scenario about a construction company that wanted to use an historic building to create low-income housing. There were many different perspectives the class used to look at the scenario, including business owners, homeowners and the people who would likely be the residents living in these apartments. Using the "diagnose the situation" competency, we were able to see the situation from all perspectives.
One interesting interaction during the discussion took place when the facilitators took a moment to ask if we thought the people in the class who were not speaking up as much were still exhibiting leadership. Oftentimes when a person is not participating, it is assumed that they aren't paying attention or don't care about the conversation. But the group decided that you can still be a leader even if you're not the one who is saying the most.
But through our discussion, the class decided that you can be just as engaged, even if you don't add a lot to the conversation.
The second Leadership Dodge class wrapped up with an exercise to showcase everyone's thinking, learning and working styles. The exercise used an egg-shaped chart divided into four areas: Upper left, upper right, lower left and lower right.
Those who are upper left learners perceive information concretely and process it actively, learn by trial and error and are risk takers. Upper right learners perceive information concretely and process it reflectively, learn by listening and are imaginative thinkers.
Lower left learners perceive information abstractly and process it actively, are down-to-earth problem solvers and learn by testing theories. Lower right learners perceive information abstractly and process it reflectively, integrate their observations into what is known and value sequential thinking.
For Robert Heinz, of the City of Dodge City Fire Department, this was one of the most beneficial parts of the session.
"Determining my learning style really helped to give me an idea of where I am at and also where other people are coming from when we don't see eye to eye," he said.
Editors note: The 2012 Chamber of Commerce Leadership Dodge program will be a continuing series through the end of May.
The 2012 Leadership Dodge class, sponsored by the Dodge City Chamber of Commerce, met for their second session on Thursday. The program was held at Dodge City Community College and the main topics of the day were education, health and well-being of our youth.
The day began with a welcome from DCCC President Dr. Don Woodburn, who talked with the class about the history of the college and where he sees it moving in the future. One of his biggest dreams for the college is to be able to turn it into a four-year school.
When asked about his timeline for this project, Woodburn said, "If we don't have the proposal for this drafted by 2014, then it won't happen."
After meeting with the president, the class had the opportunity to meet with many college staffers, including professors, the registrar, the head of the English as a Second Language program, human resources, the athletic director and coaches. The class had the chance to talk to everyone in small groups and ask any questions it might have.
In my group, we asked about the roles every staff member played in the college's success of the college and what they would either like to see change or hope stays the same.
Athletic director Casey Malek said he hopes to increase the athletic staff over the next few years.
Many staff members said they would like to continue to see enrollment increase and think features like the new dorm will help.
The class also had the opportunity to meet with DCCC students and ask questions. After the students left, class members discussed what they had learned from the students. Many people in the class had thought most students at the college would be from the immediate area, and they were surprised to find out the number of students who come here from out of state on athletic scholarships.
Leadership participants were given lunch in the Student Union to complete the college experience.
Upcoming projects
While everyone was eating lunch, Roger Proffitt, executive producer of the DCCC foundation, gave a presentation on the future of the school. Specifically, he talked about the new student activities center and community shelter that the school is hoping to build with funds provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency because it will be completely tornado safe.
"We don't want to wait until after the disaster hits to start planning a shelter like this. We need to have it ready before we need it," Proffitt said.
The afternoon was devoted to leadership discussions. The Kansas Leadership Society has identified four competencies of leadership: diagnose the situation, manage self, facilitate intervention and energize others. On Thursday the class focused on the "diagnose the situation" competency.
The class was given a scenario about a construction company that wanted to use an historic building to create low-income housing. There were many different perspectives the class used to look at the scenario, including business owners, homeowners and the people who would likely be the residents living in these apartments. Using the "diagnose the situation" competency, we were able to see the situation from all perspectives.
One interesting interaction during the discussion took place when the facilitators took a moment to ask if we thought the people in the class who were not speaking up as much were still exhibiting leadership. Oftentimes when a person is not participating, it is assumed that they aren't paying attention or don't care about the conversation. But the group decided that you can still be a leader even if you're not the one who is saying the most.
But through our discussion, the class decided that you can be just as engaged, even if you don't add a lot to the conversation.
The second Leadership Dodge class wrapped up with an exercise to showcase everyone's thinking, learning and working styles. The exercise used an egg-shaped chart divided into four areas: Upper left, upper right, lower left and lower right.
Those who are upper left learners perceive information concretely and process it actively, learn by trial and error and are risk takers. Upper right learners perceive information concretely and process it reflectively, learn by listening and are imaginative thinkers.
Lower left learners perceive information abstractly and process it actively, are down-to-earth problem solvers and learn by testing theories. Lower right learners perceive information abstractly and process it reflectively, integrate their observations into what is known and value sequential thinking.
For Robert Heinz, of the City of Dodge City Fire Department, this was one of the most beneficial parts of the session.
"Determining my learning style really helped to give me an idea of where I am at and also where other people are coming from when we don't see eye to eye," he said.
Editors note: The 2012 Chamber of Commerce Leadership Dodge program will be a continuing series through the end of May.
