Sixteen members of the Cook County Farm Bureau participated in an interactive advanced leadership program conducted by the Illinois Agricultural Leadership Foundation (IALF) on January 30th.
Advantage: Leadership – Crucial Conversations focused on the importance of having difficult but essential conversations to promote change and understanding, not only in agriculture leadership, but in all aspects of life. The program was based on the best-selling publication, Crucial Conversations.
Attendees participate in a scenario exercise at the Cook County Farm Bureau addressing crucial conversations.
Participants addressed situations when the conversation stakes are high, learning how to reflect and evaluate during a crucial conversation and prepare a course of action once the conversation has taken place. The seminar was conducted by IALF President and CEO Don Norton, and Advanced Leadership Director Todd Lowery.
IALF President and CEO Don Norton leads a discussion during the Advantage: Leadership -Crucial Conversations seminar.
“Many people who find themselves in crucial conversations often discover they are not at their best when those moments arise,” said Norton. “Our goal at this seminar was to give those in attendance the tools to excel in those instances.”
The seminar was the latest in a new initiative by the IALF to foster leadership skills in agriculture outside of its traditional 19-month Illinois Agricultural Leadership Program, which has graduated nearly 500 leaders since its founding in 1982.
The Illinois Agricultural Leadership Foundation provides a 19-month seminar series that develops knowledgeable and effective leaders to become policy and decision makers for the agricultural industry, in addition to Advanced Leadership Training for program alumni, commodity groups and other agricultural organizations. It is a non-profit educational corporation under Illinois law. A board of directors, comprised of recognized leaders in agriculture and business, oversees the program.
