Stafford Technical Center

Leading From Within

Maximize the Leadership Potential in Your Company by Leading from Within 

Nothing speaks more about how much you value an employee than when you invest in their personal and professional future.  Leadership savvy managers throughout Vermontare well aware of the importance of developing the leadership potential in their existing workforce particularly during a time when the economy is less than robust.  And let’s face it, there is no short supply of regional courses and national seminars that promise to give you a premium product – usually with a premium price tag attached.  However, Human Resource Managers in the Rutlandarea are well aware of a home-grown program that has been providing leadership development training to most of the major employers in our region – and that program is Leading from Within.  This program has been consistently lauded by local employers as one that has provided outstanding content and value in leadership training since 2005.  Sponsored by the Adult and Continuing Education Department at Stafford Technical Center in conjunction with Action to Excellence, Inc., Leading from Within returns to Rutland on Thursday, January 12, 2012 for both a morning and afternoon session.  LFW is a program that is designed for anyone who interacts with internal or external customers, project team leaders, employees who serve on teams, and managers who want to achieve outstanding results in their organizations.

Past sessions have included employees from local organizations such as:  Carris Reels, Kalow Technologies, Rutland Regional Medical Center, General Electric-Aircraft Engines, and Central Vermont Public Service Corporation. Without exception, students praise Leading from Within for its ability to provide them with the techniques and processes that can be easily applied to their interpersonal interactions both at home and at work. Other students who have completed the program were relieved to discover that no matter what industry you are in, the situations and problems leaders face are essentially the same. This realization came as a result of the highly-interactive format that is a trademark of the program. The end result is the creation of a learning environment where participants learn from others in the class because each person offers a different perspective about the issues they encounter in their own place of employment.

Leading from Within is a comprehensive thirteen session leadership program that meets once each week for four hours per session.  This time-spaced methodology allows participants to practice the concepts introduced each week in their work environment and then bring their experiences to class for sharing and coaching by the facilitator and peers.  This type of active participation in the learning process also makes information memorable and session’s fun because people learn by doing – not just by hearing.  Another important feature of this program is the sequence of the material developed by the facilitator which helps students open their minds each week to the possibility of learning new skills while adapting old ones.  Students routinely receive validation from each other through spontaneous dialogue because the program is never delivered exclusively through a lecture-presentation format.  And it is from these weekly dialogues that students learn that although they are employed in a variety of employment settings most are facing the same leadership challenges where solutions are remarkably similar.  And finally, the skills that you learn and hone through LFW are portable skills that have value within and outside of the organization where participants are currently employed.  Ultimately they are the foundation upon which most people build their ability to motivate and lead others in their personal and professional lives.

The cost of tuition and materials for Leading from Within is $ 1,650.00, but due to the generosity of the State of Vermont Department of Economic Development Manufacturing Training Program, representatives from companies that are involved in the health care, telecommunications, manufacturing, information technology and environmental industries will receive a tuition subsidy of $ 400.00 per student, substantially lowering the cost for participation in an already reasonably-priced program.  For more information about Leading from Within you may call Dave Rogerson at ATX at (802) 869-2603, or Maryanna Ezzo at Stafford Technical Center at (802) 770-1178.