More than a dozen leaders from Habersham County Emergency Services have completed a seven-month leadership development program facilitated by LeaderGov.
The participants were engaged in seven workshops that focused on growing their understanding of themselves as leaders, skills to achieve strategic goals, and skills to help them have greater success leading and developing their teams, culminating February 15 with capstone presentations before the group.
Participants went through the workshop program together to foster peer-to-peer learning. During the program, participants learned and grew in areas such as building trust, dealing with conflict, knowing their personality style, servant leadership, setting high-impact goals, execution of goals, leading change, accountability and how to motivate and support your team.
Habersham County Emergency Services Director/Chief Jeffrey Adams talked of the program’s importance, not only for the county’s current Emergency Services leadership but also for continuity and succession.
Adams said in the past, leadership primarily has been taught to the fire services portion of the agency.
“Traditionally, the fire side of it is the only part of it that has done leadership, and a lot of that was management-type training,” Adams said. “I know with EMS, it’s something that’s new.”
Habersham County Manager Alicia Vaughn talks with Habersham County Emergency Services personnel following their capstone presentations Wednesday. (Rob Moore/Habersham County)
Adams said he believes the investment of time was an excellent way to bring Emergency Services leadership closer while teaching them about themselves and how they impact those around them.
“It’s really something that this group needed,” Adams said. “It does a lot for their individual growth, how you handle things at home as well as at work, but then it also carries over into making these bunch better leaders or more effective leaders, not managers.”
Adams said being a leader is different than being in charge.
“The leader is someone who wants to get people to follow them,” Adams said. “The manager is someone who is going to direct them. We need leaders. We want these guys – and several of them mentioned it today in their presentations – that they want to train their replacements. And that’s what we have to do. We have to set this county up, this culture up, for the next group of people that are going to be running the show.”
LeaderGov is an Atlanta, Georgia-based leadership development, strategic planning and retreat services firm specializing exclusively in local government.
