The Many Benefits of a Leadership Training Program

During my time at this year’s National Policy Seminar (NPS) in our nation’s capital, I was able to attend the State Leadership Training
Program (SLTP).  Of the two sessions that I was able to attend, I was enthused to see and meet a number of CTE state leaders from around the nation. Like a sponge, I was able to sit by and not only listen to the presentations but also the feedback and questions from the state leaders.  Like a true CTE student, I learn best by seeing, hearing and performing the tasks being taught.  I have always found that going to and participating in various trainings, even though they may not be specific to my profession, has always benefitted me.  They have taught me different teaching styles, presentation formats and just how to be a more effective educator. 

Again, like most career and technical educators, my background was not grounded in education.  I was fortunate enough to have a bachelor’s degree before I entered my chosen profession but it was not in education.  I was in my career for almost 6 years before being offered training.  Once I got the bug for becoming an educator for adults, it turned into a passion. To me, training is an investment, not an expense, and I try my best to reinforce that in my students. 

So, much to my pleasure, being blessed to be named the Region III ACTE Leadership Fellow was a true honor.  One of the benchmarks of being a Fellow is having the opportunity to attend NPS.  While there, I was able to consort and mingle with a variety of CTE educators and came away much wiser and with much more appreciation for what we do. 

The other training session I was able to attend during the State Leadership Training Program was Mike Woods’ session on Delegation.  I was able pick up some very helpful skills.  Many of them hit me squarely between the eyes.  If I could admit to a weakness, it would definitely be delegation.  I learned that I am not alone when it came to my fears of delegating my authority.  One of my biggest fears is that, “nobody can do it as good as I can.”  As I grow in my leadership position, I have found that delegation can be very helpful in certain scenarios and can also offer valuable training to a co-worker.  There is a quote that hangs in my office that says, “Don’t be irreplaceable.  If you can’t be replaced, you can’t be promoted.”  The only way you can ever move up to more responsibility is for someone else to know how to do your job.  I have also learned that in order to decide who to select for the task, you have to consider various different factors, such as the current workload of the employees, the employees’ particular strengths and weaknesses and their training and experience level.

As educators, we are tasked with re-training the country’s workforce.  That alone is a monumental task and I just want everyone outside of CTE to know and understand that this country is truly fortunate to have such a dedicated number of individuals who are striving every day to better prepare today’s workforce for the needs of tomorrow. 

Rich Flotron the Region III 2016 ACTE Leadership Fellow