Leadership Plenty Graduation

The Leadership Plenty Class met for the last time on 2-28-06, for their graduation from the class. Members graduating from the Perkins / Chase County area class were: Tim Moore, Brian Long, Shaun Meyer, Jayson Bishop, Spencer Neely, Cory Schuller, Dave Vapenik, Joe Morris, Tammy Delatour, Rod Ready, Allison Sandman, Tony Cribelli, Cyndi Weiss, Lisa Haskins, Amos Davis, Rev. Kay Alnor, Francisca Morales, & Cathy Weiss.

Our final session consisted of two topics, Evaluation and Strategic Communication. Presenters were Cheryl Burkhart-Kriesel, University of Nebraska Extension, and Connie Francis, University of Nebraska Rural Initiative.

Both Evaluation and Strategic Communication play an important role in developing and following through with a plan.

Most people think of evaluation as being done at the end of a project. What needs to occur, however, is evaluation throughout the project. The reasons for evaluating are to see results, see progress toward results, to identify opportunities, make adjustments and to learn and grow. Cheryl reminded us of the saying ‘If you don’t know where you are going…how will you know when you get there?’ Cheryl began our session with having us try to draw both sides of a penny from memory. Even though we all see and use pennies on a daily basis, none of us could replicate all of the details on a penny. Upon further study of an actual penny, with a magnifying glass, there were details that we didn’t even know existed. On the side of the penny with the Lincoln Memorial Building, there is a very small etching of Lincoln in the middle of the pillars, and there is a very tiny ‘FG’ off to the right of the steps. Another realization that we take it for granted. ‘We see it, but we don’t really look at it’. The point being, in order to make improvements, we sometimes have to look at things in a different way.

Our next task was to evaluate 3 different kinds of cookies. In this process, we learned that everyone looks at things differently. Some of the class studied the packages, some went only by taste, price, appearance, number of cookies in a package, number of chocolate chips, the crowd that the cookies would be intended for, easiness of preparation, texture, etc…All of this about COOKIES! This particular activity pointed out how different we are in our perspectives about details.

We then divided into several small groups addressing the three top things we see as problems in our communities that must be addressed if our small communities are going to survive; Jobs, rural to urban migration and an attractive community. We then all evaluated the topics with things we would EXPECT to see, LIKE to see and would LOVE to see. These had to be measurable, though, and detailed. These were in direct relation to the different levels of change in a community; Change behavior, change knowledge/skills, and change values/conditions/status. As you can see by the progression of these particular changes, they become more complex, but if the first change occurs the others will fall into place. ‘If we create jobs and a community that attracts people, the rural to urban migration problem will resolve itself.’

Strategic Communication is something that we all need to learn to do. If you use strategic communication you will raise visibility, build credibility, attract needed resources and engage others to help. An idea always begins with a small group of people with an idea, but there is no way to accomplish it without the assistance from others. If you are trying to create an effective message it must be clear, concise, truthful, and visually interesting. It should also identify an audience, in other words, be specific to the group it is trying to reach. Connie suggested the use of ‘people stories’, which often touch the heart. And, of course include contact information. In our small groups we listed all of the ways we could think of to advertise ideas, and we came up with 115 in 5 minutes!

We would like to thank everyone who made it possible for us to attend this class. Our sponsors were: Southwest Nebraska Community Betterment Corporation, City of Grant, Great Plains Communications, Ted Tietjen, Perkins County Chamber of Commerce, City of Imperial, Adams Bank of Imperial, Imperial Public Power District, Lied Imperial Public Library and the Chase County Development Corporation. Our presenters were: Cheryl Burkhart-Kriesel, University of Nebraska Extension Community Development Specialist; Randy Cantrell, University of Nebraska Extension Community Development Specialist; Leslie Crandall, University of Nebraska Extension Educator; Connie Francis, University of Nebraska Rural Initiative Educator; Dennis Kahl, University of Nebraska Extension Educator; Barbara Schmidt, University of Nebraska Extension Educator and Phyllis Schoenholz, University of Nebraska Extension Educator. We would also like to say a special thanks to Ann Burge for arranging this class for us.

Leadership Plenty was developed by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change and is sponsored locally by the University of Nebraska Rural Initiative, Southwest Nebraska Community Betterment Corporation, City of Grant and City of Imperial.

Article submitted by Shaun R. Meyer RN.