Workshop offers leadership inspiration
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POLSON — Karen McNenny has great advice for anyone considering becoming a boss: “I will talk you out of leadership. You get a buck more an hour and it’s not worth it,” she said, “but it’s exceptionally rewarding.”
Each spring members of the Lake County Job Service Employer Committee offer a low-cost seminar. This year’s workshop featured McNenny’s “Leading from Where You Stand.”
McNenny’s mantra is “bringing peace, one workplace at a time,”
Leadership, she said, is the hinge pin of the workplace experience.
Because people spend 52.5 percent of their waking time at their workplace — more time around coworkers than family or friends — bosses need to think of themselves as social activists, crafting an environment where people are living lives.
Leaders really do care, McNenny said, although employees may not think so. Bosses are the ones losing sleep, checking emails at 3 a.m., and unfortunately, “the urgent often trumps the important.”
Effective leadership, according to McNenny, is evolving from power-based — a master who dominates the workplace with very little feedback — to servant leadership involving coaching and mentorship to draw out the potential in each employee.
“People will work hard for money, but they will devote their lives for meaning,” McNenny said. “We have a responsibility to awaken this in our employees.”
Donna Mitchell, recently promoted director of admissions and placement at Kicking Horse Job Corps, attended the April 24 workshop at KwaTaqNuk Resort.
“I knew this would help,” she said, even though she’s been with Job Corps 25 years. “Now that (supervising) is my job to do, I want to know more. It never hurts to get new information.”
Mitchell will utilize what she learned, asking her team what they like and dislike to learn what engages them.
“It’s going to be work, but fun to deal with this new style,” she said.
Interacting with the locals was one reason Mitchell attended the workshop. With more than 100 participants from businesses throughout the county, there was plenty of opportunity to connect with peers.
Members of the Job Service Employer Committee serve as advisors to the Job Service Workforce Center, helping to identify and take care of the business community’s needs.
Everyone is welcome to attend their upcoming meeting Tuesday, May 12, at 8:30 a.m. at Mrs. Wonderful’s Marmalade Café, 325 Main St. in Polson.
