Philanthropy Today
Philanthropy Today
Flint Hills Regional Leadership Program on the GMCF Community Hour Show Episode - 183
The Flint Hills Regional Leadership Program offers a comprehensive approach to developing regional leaders through hands-on learning, community engagement, and servant leadership principles. By emphasizing collaboration and diversity, the program prepares participants to navigate challenges and contribute meaningfully to their communities.
• Overview of the Flint Hills Regional Leadership Program
• History and evolution since 1992
• Curriculum centered on regional community needs
• Emphasis on servant leadership and practical experiences
• Diverse participant demographics fostering collaboration
• Application process and scholarship opportunities
• Graduation benefits and networking outcomes
• The importance of preparing for community challenges
Philanthropy Today is brought to you by the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation. In this episode we feature a recently broadcast segment of the GMCF Community Hour, as heard on NewsRadio KMAN. Happy Monday. We continue with the GMCF Community Hour here on NewsRadio KMAN, and no further mention of the Kansas City Chiefs on this Monday morning, or morning Monday, if you're a Chiefs fan. Jack Lindquist is joining us and Jack is, in this segment, going to be talking about a program that he's deeply involved in, and that is the Flint Hills Regional Leadership Program. Welcome back, jack.
Speaker 2:Great to be here and great to be able to talk about this leadership program.
Speaker 1:Yeah, how many years has this program been in place now?
Speaker 2:Well, it started in 92. The first class graduated in 93. And so this for me personally is I just graduated my ninth class that I've been director for.
Speaker 1:OK, and you took over. Let's see, eileen Cray was.
Speaker 2:Yes, she was right prior to me, and so in 2016, the class of 2016-17 was my first class.
Speaker 1:Gotcha, gotcha, and you're still managing to do all these things and get great people to come through and get together and learn how to do things together.
Speaker 2:Well, it's a pleasure, and especially seeing the young emerging leaders that we surface with this program gives us great confidence in our future. This region has so much potential and we have challenges and we have the need for people with vision, and that's what we do.
Speaker 1:Tell us a little bit about the structure of the program. You get what?
Speaker 2:a couple of dozen leaders, yeah this last class, for instance, was 26 members. Okay, that was the largest class we've had since pre-COVID. So we're really pleased that we are getting our numbers back up intentionally. We have been designing the program, of course. We were running from 24 to 30 in the years prior to that, since 2016. And this last couple three years, especially during COVID, we were right-sizing it to 20 members just for the spacing and everything and easier to manage for the changes in transportation. But we're back to normal now and our numbers are climbing back to higher numbers, and so we're really pleased to be able to expand the program and we've added a couple more counties. Oh, have you? Yes, uh, three years ago we expanded into, uh, waubonsie county, which was a great move for the program to be able to include pottawatomie and gary counties.
Speaker 2:Yes, that was the core and then we've added LaBuncie County and this past year, as an associate member, we added Morris County. So our footprint for this particular class because they have to live or work in the core area, which would include LaBuncie County now they were from seven counties actually we also had members from Dickinson and Clay that worked at Fort Riley.
Speaker 1:So much bigger footprint Do you have a need to grow into those other two counties, Clay and Dickinson.
Speaker 2:We're actually trying to curb that because there's huge demand for contiguous counties outside of the area that want to join and we just don't have the capacity to be able to move that many people around the region for the sessions. You're talking about people that have to be on the road for 75 miles for some of the sessions. So that's quite a challenge and we don't want to put too much pressure on our participants. So we're maintaining the core area. All the sessions are in the Waubonsee, the four-county area, and any additions like Morris County that came in as an associate member. We don't have sessions there but we do allow applications from there.
Speaker 1:Let's talk a bit about those individuals. And you know, within the structure of the program you have little oh goodness, what do you call them? Tours. You get little stops in basically some place of relevance in just about every one of those counties Right.
Speaker 2:Every single session has a theme and that theme is tuned into activities and things that work in that particular area, and so it's a progressive curriculum where each gets a little more challenging and expands that sandbox that we have our participants working and playing in. And so as we work through the process, these individuals are learning about the core area that they are studying at the time. I think the best part of the program is that they're gaining a deeper understanding of the diversity of the region and how, for instance, fort Riley supplies $2 billion worth of energy into the economy in this region, supplies $2 billion worth of energy into the economy in this region. So we have two-day sessions at Fort Riley. That emphasizes servant leadership. Obviously. We have Rock Springs is where we start the training activities, with an orientation, high ropes course, getting to know one another and team building. Pottawatomie County is community collaboration and, as we've seen in the last year, they need a lot of team spirit to be able to recover from things like CAT closing this next year, et cetera, and so we got examples of that. The Waubonsie County session is on advocacy, so we're talking about prairie preservation, the agricultural industry and the importance of rural economies to our entire region. And then Kansas City University is on vision and the importance of investment in education structures.
Speaker 2:Fort Riley, as I mentioned, is servant leadership. As I mentioned, is servant leadership, and that one is really important because when we start out with our team building activity, each session starts out with a team leadership module, the one there is on being able to manage refugees, a refugee situation. So they're put into a tabletop game where they learn how to make decisions on the fly, very quickly, wild cards coming at them that change the plans that they might have had, because you cannot plan for emergencies other than just to be prepared for anything to happen. And so that one is a real exciting one, but also very challenging for the class members.
Speaker 2:Manhattan Rally County Day is on entrepreneurship and the importance of having a broad base of small businesses throughout the region, because we have so much dependence on federal, state and local funds but we also have the need for a lot of support businesses to help with those entities that are here. And then Topeka is on political literacy and understanding the structure of our three forms of legislation activity, and that is the House and Senate. They shadow their representative or senator for a four-hour period of time, spend time with the governor's office and staff to learn about the executive branch, and then the judiciary is the final part of that day. So they're getting full exposure to our governmental structures and how.
Speaker 1:We in this region need to be part of that and have a knowledge of the working relationships across the state that apply and that are accepted, and I don't know if it's part of the application process, but you always seem to have quite a wide selection, quite a balance of individuals of different skill sets Maybe I should say imbalance of people with different skill sets, different backgrounds, different education levels and different past experiences.
Speaker 2:It really is. Not only do we have individuals that are with governmental entities like police departments, fire departments, city management offices, etc. But also a lot of businesses, a lot of NGOs or support services, human service needs etc. Are covered. You basically can take a class and form a town around that class. They've got all the skills necessary to be able to run the businesses, the support structures, the public service issues. Everything is there. What's the application process like? We have?
Speaker 2:Now is the time to take a look at our website and see what the dates are that we have planned for this next class, the 25-26 class. Make sure that they are blocked on your calendar. If you're interested in being a candidate, going online on May 15th or shortly after, up through July 20th. That's the application period. It's an all online process. It's competitive, so you complete the application process online. That includes a one and a half to three minute video introduction that is uploaded along with the application and that's in lieu of face-to-face interviews with the board, but just the chance to get to meet the class members in essence, face-to-face or visually, and then after that the board determines what's the best mix to put into the next class. And by the first week closing of August. We know who the class members are, they're notified and by the end of the third week of August we introduce the class members to the public. They start then two weeks later with training.
Speaker 1:And you go for about what? Five months, Six months, Six months, and then you have a graduation, which you just had.
Speaker 2:We just completed the graduation in Eskridge. It was Waubonsie County's turn to host both the class introduction at the beginning of the session and the closure of the sessions with the celebration session activities. We held it at the Bell Tower in Eskridge, which is a great community center now.
Speaker 1:Okay, now, there is cost to the class, but there are also some scholarships available, are there not?
Speaker 2:Yes, the tuition has not changed over the years. It's $600. We have other investments from the community through all of the founding organizations within the structure of Flint Hills Regional Leadership that's all the county areas they host in kind and cash. And then we have a number of businesses and organizations that support the program financially. That helps keep that tuition at that level. And then our alumni contribute to help provide scholarships to government non-government organizations which would be like nonprofits and small businesses where it would be a challenge for a potential applicant to be able to meet the $600 fund. But they can at least have some skin at the game at $300.
Speaker 1:So it's a 50 scholarship so your, your sessions are are both two days, that all two day sessions virtually most of them are actually one full day.
Speaker 2:uh, we start at 7 30 in the morning and close at five in the evening, but there are two that are are two day, and that includes the orientation and Junction City at the very beginning. Those are held on the first two days of training and then Fort Riley is two days. Other than that they're each one day.
Speaker 1:Okay, and you got those days set up for 2025?. I'll look at the calendar and start making those plans.
Speaker 2:Yes, go to fhrlporg, Take a look at the application process, save the links for the dates and you can download the PDFs so that you've got a copy ready to block your calendar in pencil and then, if you're selected for the class, lock it in.
Speaker 1:And when someone completes the program, what is their?
Speaker 2:walk away thoughts. Well, the first thing is that they get the knowledge in how to build a team. As a leader, it's not your purpose to come up with all the ideas and solutions, but to surface all of the ideas that will meet the needs of everybody, most people possible. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one, so they understand that. Conflict resolution, decision-making, and that's quick group decision-making, confidence building and effective communication strategies, being able to be an advocate for what you do, what you believe in, the organizations that you support, etc. And then the program benefits are just to be part of the skills in informed influence, and that is to be an advocate, as I mentioned, but to be able to help others join in that advocacy, to be able to get support, widespread support, for what you know the needs are of the region.
Speaker 1:I think one of the other attributes is that you have a lot of relationship building within the members of each class?
Speaker 2:Oh, without question we have. They're introduced over 200 key leaders across the area, and so as they go through that experience, they've got the contact information when they conclude. But they can also call on each other, because half of what they're learning is the perceptions of one another and how something might impact them. So they learn that all of leadership is basically storytelling tell to gain and tell to pain and so we have an understanding and empathy of how a decision can help people and how a decision might hurt people.
Speaker 1:Okay, fhrlporg. Any other final points you'd like to convey?
Speaker 2:Just, I know it seems like it's a little ways off for that May application date. I know it seems like it's a little ways off for that May application date, but now is definitely the time to encourage friends or family or work related acquaintances to start searching for this. Nominations are greatly appreciated because when an individual is nominated, it tells them that someone has confidence in them and their potential for leadership in the future. And they don't necessarily have to share those nominations with us, just get their candidate to be observant of what the dates are and ready to apply.
Speaker 1:I think one of the things that's so attractive is that we have a community that continues to expand and grow in a lot of different ways.
Speaker 2:That's exactly right. We have challenges and we've had some stagnation in our growth from what was projected, but a lot of that is just because we weren't prepared for some of the curveballs that were coming to us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you talked about the wild cards earlier and you know one mentioned is Caterpillar and their decision and it looks like that there is some interest in that facility. And you know the Scorpius was another thing that we thought was going to be just wonderful for this area and that's a standstill.
Speaker 2:It's on pause. But that's the way to look at it is that these things are on pause. Things are getting geared up to be ready for those to be added in, whether it's them by name or something else. We have to always be prepared for the possibility of a deployment from Fort Riley and how that can take 5,000 to 7,000 or more people out of the community instantly, and it's being prepared for those ebbs and tides, the growth and the stagnation that we need to be prepared for, but have the right decisions ready.
Speaker 1:He's Jack Lindquist, executive Director of the Flint Hills Regional Leadership Program. Fhrlporg is the website for you to check out and see if those dates work for you and learn more about the structure of the Flint Hills Regional Leadership Program. Jack's going to just stay in that chair for a little bit and we're going to bring in our friend, christine Benny, and together we're going to learn more about Friends of the Fort Riley Museums and yes, museums is in plural there for a reason. We'll talk about why when we return after this break on the GMCF Community Hour here on NewsRadio KMAN.