Today was the first session of Leadership Lincoln County 2005 (LLC). According to a handout we received the purpose of LLC is to focus participating students in the five basic areas of:
David Bernard Stevens from the NP Chamber of Commerce started us off with an energetic reflection on leadership. David's reflections on cause and effect were especially insightful for me. I intend to be more careful about assuming I see the relationship between a specific cause and what I might perceive as its effect. I made a note during his talk to ask myself, "What it is that I'm not seeing and what are my assumptions in this situation? I also appreciated his reminder to engage in systems thinking.
Stu Shepard, took us through the Color Matrix personality style. I always enjoy working though exercises of this type. I've experienced several personality style inventories but not the Color Matrix. My dominant color is Green with Blue as my secondary color. I wasn't surprised to learn that the Green/Blue reflected a style similar to my Meyers-Briggs type --INFJ. At least I'm consistent. I now have another way to undderstand how I and other people relate to the world. That vision enables me to be more effective. I've gained a greater appreciate for my own strengths and weaknesses from this activity.
The LLC leaders then used our personality types to place us into five groups. Each group is responsible for implementing a project that will make a positive contribution to the community or a person in the community. I think this will be fun. My group talked about a number of possible projects. We agreed to think about possible projects and discuss our ideas before our next LLC meeting.
After lunch Jan Wright conducted a session on "Networking." In addition to providing numerous tips on networking she demonstrated the tips she shared with us. I really liked her opening exercise. Write the name of your favorite song on a square of paper. She collected them and then read several and we had to try and determine who the song belonged to. Not only did the exercise break some of the groups tension it reinforced the results of the Color Matrix exercise we just completed. (I may use this in some of the trainings I conduct. I'm always on the lookout for a good exercise.) I did appreciate the push to network.
It was a good day. I must admit I felt something like entering that first day of school. My apprehensions aside I got a lot out of the day and I look forward to strengthening my leadership styles and skills and meeting a whole new group of people.