Resources

Title: Executive Vice President Company: BankFIRST
Years in field: 18
Learning Goals:

• To become a stronger leader by being a more effective listener ·
• To gain a better understanding of time management

Program attended: Program for Effective Leadership (PEL)

There are effective managers and there are effective leaders. While each is important, these are two different disciplines. That was a crucial lesson for me in the week-long Program for Effective Leadership offered by Rollins College Management and Executive Education. Going into it, I thought I'd sharpen some of the leadership skills I'd learned over the course of my career.

What I gained was a better understanding of my skill sets and ways I could align those skills with where I need to go in my career. The work started before I ever entered the classroom. I completed a series of self-assessments, including a 360° evaluation of my management style. Accepting that feedback is a very important step in learning where you need to focus your attention to be an effective manager. After getting the results back, combined with the assessments I took during the course, I decided I needed to focus on being a better listener. It's that principle, "Seek first to understand before you're understood."

The techniques I learned have stuck with me and I periodically review the feedback materials to make sure I'm still on track. My team saw a difference as soon as I came back from the course. And, just as valuable, I'm seeing a difference in my team. PEL gave me an insight into my leadership style and strengthened my confidence.

The class size is small, allowing for one-on-one coaching and a great deal of group dialogue and interaction. The program was intense, with changes of faculty leaders, location and atmosphere. The program was completely absorbing. Because it was so intense, I found it easy to follow the faculty leaders advice: to stay away from the office, disengage from it all, take advantage of productive feedback and go back to the office with a new perspective. As with all programs offered by Rollins College Management & Executive Education, application of the learning to the workplace was an extremely valuable part of this educational experience for me.