Leadership Education and Development (LEAD) Initiative

LEAD Initiative Survey: Set the priorities for this initiative.

The LEAD Initiative supports a healthy and vibrant campus ecosystem by building relationships and connections across all parts of our community, creating opportunities for learning and honing leadership skills, and fostering a mindset of growth and productive communication, and resiliency. This Initiative accomplishes these goals through hosting meaningful events and discussions, providing thoughtful curated resources, and supporting all of Montana Tech’s staff and faculty members.

Please contact any of the faculty and staff listed below for more information. We welcome and encourage participation from all faculty and staff at Montana Tech. The realization and potential of this group is dependent on the participation of a diverse group of stakeholders.

Professional Development Day 2024

August 20, 2024
10:00 AM – 3:00 PM

Please contact Kat Fitzgerald-McCormick if you would like to join the team in planning this event!

View the full itinerary for Professional Development Day

Faculty and Staff Leadership Team

Administrative Sponsor

The role of the Administrative Sponsor is to serve in a supporting role to secure resources and to assist the group and leadership team as needed.

Vacant

Suggested Reading List

Lead From the Outside – Stacey Abrams

Stacey Abrams’ book is part memoir part leadership manual.  In compelling personal stories, Abrams describes the key lessons she has learned about leadership along the way.  Mixed throughout the book are some exercises where Abrams has you clarify what you want, find your strengths and weaknesses, and identify your advisors.  This book in particular will speak to individuals that are underrepresented in leadership roles.  The major downfall of the book was that Abrams used her own experiences rather than research to illustrate good leadership principles.

Tags:  Empowerment, Emotional intelligence

Dare to Lead – Brené Brown

Brené Brown researches shame and resiliency.  In this book, she describes why leaders are often afraid to take risks.  The book and the associated workbook walk you through identifying fears and emotions that are keeping you and your team from taking needed risks.  Brown focuses on teaching how to develop the emotional intelligence you need in work and life.  In one of the more interesting exercises, Brown asks you to identify two core values that you will use to guide your leadership work.  This exercise in particular, really focuses you on not just what you want to achieve as a leader, but why it matters to you.

Tags:  Communication styles, Transparency, Emotional intelligence

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team – Patrick Lencioni

In each of the five “fables” in the book Patrick Lencioni captures the worst places you have ever worked.  Lencioni then identifies the specific quality that created the dysfunction.   The five key issues that these terrible environments share:  absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results.  What I enjoyed about the book is the focus on how leaders can create a culture that leads to a more productive workplace. Lencioni has also written a follow up called Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team that is designed to help leaders enact that cultural change.  

Tags:  Communication skills, Transparency, Building and supporting teams, Creating meaningful cultural changes

Crucial Conversations – Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler

Part of being a leader is addressing controversial and/or difficult issues with coworkers, bosses, and employees.  People are often reluctant to have hard conversations because they fear that these types of conversations will damage their relationships with others at work.  Crucial Conversations describes why this fear is unfounded and gives real techniques that can be used at work or at home.  The book includes vignettes that show how the techniques described can be applied in personal and professional situations.  If you are having a hard time communicating effectively, this book gives you a road map to follow. 

Tags: Conflict management, Communication skills

Leading Change – John Kotter

Before you attempt to achieve meaningful organizational change, you should read this book.  There are a lot of ways that this type of change can be derailed.  This book spells out those issues and how you can avoid them.  Kotter spells out an eight-step process to follow.  Each step in the process includes vignettes describing both successful and unsuccessful change attempts.   While the vignettes were derived almost entirely from business, I still found them engaging and useful.  One of my favorite parts of the book actually was not directly related to the eight stop process.  The second chapter included a great chart taken from another of Kotter’s books that spelled out the difference between leadership and management.  Anyone interested in learning how leadership is distinct should check it out.