Sunday, September 16, 2012

ELP August 2012 Class


We kicked off Pete’s portion of the class with a group discussion “gut check” at each table about how we feel the ELP program is going so far this year and what we might do differently for next year’s group of budding ELP’ers. The current co-chairs took notes as we opened up the discussion as a class in an effort to keep pushing the ELP program to its ultimate potential of effectively teaching and coaching young professionals to become great leaders in their respective firms, communities, and homes. “Why should anyone take you seriously?” This is how Pete got our attention back on him and proceeded to give us a quick recap on previous lessons, from the Competency Model, to the Ability/Awareness/Commitment Triangle, and the Farm Gate Model, which shows how the middle managers of the world have the hardest positions. We touched on how to create an environment that enables people to advance their work and Andrew gave a great example of this that he has implemented at his firm with the help of a couple colleagues. They periodically hold a firm wide forum to learn from recent graduates on how to enhance the companies design capabilities. It’s a great opportunity to learn from young, energetic, “change the world” kind of individuals and keep the brainstorming and fresh ideas flowing through the company, which will keep the company relevant to new and ever-changing clients. We wrapped up the class by “giving back to the profession” as Pete called it, by having table talk about a series of questions the Univ. of Utah’s Design Center has come up with to better define the roll of a fully developed manager. This was no easy task and took some great contemplation and discussion between classmates to create each tables idealistic fully developed manager.

Chris Owens

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