Leading Leadership Education

The 1990 Extension Leadership National Impact Study established a set of 19 competencies important for leadership education directed by Extension professionals. The competencies are skills and abilities Extension agents teach individuals, such as solving problems, managing meetings, arbitration, and clarifying attitudes.

A Purdue leadership Extension specialist disseminated selected results of this study to 32 agents in Indiana, through a program that included short lectures, group discussions, and an activity designed to relate these leadership competencies to their work. The agents were told data from the study show every Extension professional spends on average 10 hours a week conducting leadership education.

Each agent at this workshop received 30 poker chips representing three weeks of his or her work with clients in the area of leadership education and a handout describing the 19 competencies. They were to divide their 30 hours (poker chips) among the 19 categories using any three-week period of their year. Nineteen floor spaces, one for each of the competencies, were marked with a strip of computer paper. The agents then placed the corresponding number of poker chips on the appropriate floor space.

As the poker chips piled up, it became obvious agents as a group spent more time directing leadership education related to certain competencies than others. The poker chip piles on the floor were compared with the report data and the similarities of this group with the national data verified report results for the agents.

The exercise allowed agents to note a difference between Indiana and the national Extension System. The agents had placed a significant pile of chips on the "develop resources" competency, which wasn't as important in the national study. This reflected the expectation that Indiana faculty, staff, and volunteers cultivate the financial well-being of the organization.

Another feature of the activity was that different colored chips were given to agents working in each program area so the number of different colored chips on each competency could be discussed and compared to various program responsibilities.

Through these activities, agents were able to examine the 19 leadership competencies and some of the data reported in the study. It generated discussion among staff from different disciplines and helped them evaluate their leadership education work. This simple activity is one way for professionals throughout the sys-tem to review the impact study report and evaluate the way they spend time working with leadership education.