Big Tent Main Event Recap
Director of Civic Engagement Shaun Rojas stresses the importance of civic engagement alongside leadership development. “We know leadership programs are not enough to transform the civic culture in Kansas. We know it takes people on the ground, doing work. . . trying to tackle issues in the community to make change.” He recognizes the newly appointed civic engagement advisory committee, lifts up alumni in public service and calls on Kansans to host or participate in discussions on guns and public safety. Earlier in the day, KLC teacher Donna Wright guided participants in how to host Journal Talks. For additional photos, view our album on Facebook.
KLC Teacher and Director of Research Dr. Tim Steffensmeier offers an update on the work of Third Floor Research, a KLC partnership with Kansas State University’s Staley School of Leadership Studies and research institutions including Harvard University, the University of Kansas and the Universidad Adolfo Ibanez in Santiago, Chile. Tim introduces the research team and their projects and shares emerging learnings. Earlier in the day, the research team came together from as far as Alabama and Chile to advance the work of four pending research projects. For more photos, view our album on Facebook.
Director of Creative Technology Thane Chastain recaps the State Tour in June and explains how KLC serves Kansans by working with partners around the state, including community leadership programs, transformation grant partners and clients from the business sector who retain KLC for customized leadership programs.
Custom Program Chair Kevin Bomhoff describes KLC’s customized work with companies, “where our framework for addressing problems is equally adaptable to the challenges faced by companies in the profit sector,” he said. With 15 clients including INTRUST Bank, Emprise Bank and NetApp, KLC has trained more than 750 people in 2019. Revenues from custom trainings support transformation grants and community leadership programs around the state.
Program manager Ashley Longstaff recognized 33 new and 30 ongoing recipients of Leadership Transformation Grants, a three-phase partnership to help organizations make lasting culture change. New grant winners representing the sectors of community-minded business, education, faith, government and nonprofit met for orientation and strategy workshops at KLC. Meanwhile, continuing partners gathered at the Drury Plaza Hotel for a day of visioning, hard work and future planning.
Strategy workshops for incoming and continuing grant partners
For additional photos, view our album on Facebook.
KLC President and CEO Ed O’Malley notes the global reach of the Kansas Leadership Center. KLC has trained people from 44 states and 56 countries on six continents.
Vice President Julia Fabris McBride recognizes KLC teachers and coaches and announces a new KLC Path to leadership, a 3-step journey for leadership development. Beginning with individual growth in Your Leadership Edge, the sequence continues with mobilizing others in Lead for Change, then culminates with organizational change in Equip to Lead.
Mary Tolar Mary Hale Tolar, interim vice provost of student success and long-time director of the Staley School of Leadership Studies at Kansas State University, gave the keynote. “We want to improve the civic culture of Kansas. That’s a big ROI. The glory about tonight is to see all the activity taking place … There’s urgency in this work. And yet, we have to be patient. Life on this planet, as we know it collectively as humans, is in peril. It’s changing for sure. What we need more than anything else is to learn how to be better with one another. It’s simple, but it’s hard.”
