"Leadership Development on a Shoestring Budget "

Now, more than even, municipal organizations must find creative and effective ways to build their internal bench strength. While many organizations might be tempted to do away with leadership development during tough economic times, studies show that those organizations that keep on developing their people are more resilient during downtimes and a step ahead of the rest when resources improve. Leadership development doesn't have to be an expensive investment that is outsourced. In fact, the most effective programs are ones that are built upon internal resources and are run internally. Participants in this workshop will: Learn essential components of an effective leadership development program that assists with internal succession planning; Learn what components are unnecessary; Learn cost-saving strategies for creating programming Learn cost-saving strategies for assessment

Karen Main specializes in creating low-cost and high-impact leadership development programs for government organizations. Her programs utilize internal resources and community resources in order to ensure that the programming is sustainable over time. As an organizational sociologist, she understands that one of the real benefits of formal educational programming is the development of a sense of community. Ask her how a kitchen in a senior center can be turned into a key component of a leadership development program; or what a horse whisperer has to do with leadership development.