The Leadership Development Program Continues Strong with a Focus on Teamwork

The Leadership Development Program (LDP) has shifted its focus from Leading Oneself to Leading Others or Teams.

In August, three very important topics were presented:

1. Accountability
2. Feedback/Gossip
3. And “Markon Magic,” a special presentation by Matt Dean

These three topics become the foundations for the next phase of the LDP, Teamwork or Leading Others. 

In late September, Markon hosted a follow-up session with our learning partner, The Clearing, led by Jen VanMeter and Matt Lynot. Jen and Matt presented a session titled, “High Performing Teams,” which included the following Primes: Big Hat/Little Hat, Trust, Cohesion, Dynamic Incompleteness, and Ennoblement.

Jen also provided a training session on the Drexler/Sibbet Team Performance Model – a topic that created a few funny moments as the leaders role-played specific project scenarios that come up on a regular basis.  

To close our September session, Ray Carney led a team-building exercise called The Marshmallow Challenge.  The teams both worked very hard on assembling a structure. In the end, the team consisting of Faron Smith, Tom Waltrip, Eric Sterud, and Eric Hammerschmidt was victorious with a 24-inch structure.  

The key lessons of prototyping, specific roles, and identifying a project’s marshmallow (the item that looks light but turns out to be heavy) were discussion points after the team-building game.  

The LDP extends a huge THANK YOU to Jen, Matt, and Matt for their briefings and continued support this year.