History

19th Century Leadership

In the 1980s leadership training was led by the local Chambers of Commerce. Both the Arkansas City Area Chamber of Commerce and the Winfield Area Chamber of Commerce started leadership programs during this decade. The purpose of the Leadership Ark City and Leadership Winfield was to bring together class members to engage in educational and informational training sessions to learn about city government and tour business/industry sites, as well to provide networking opportunities for area professionals. Discussion topics included business, education, agriculture, public policy, societal health, local economics, and government. There was strong focus on encouraging and preparing professionals to become involved leadership in civic/service organizations and run for local elected offices.

Transforming Leadership

(The following is from the Kansas Health Foundation publication "Confidence to Lead" - 2009.)

Leadership, or the lack of it, was a concern Kansas Health Foundation staff and board members heard a lot about during listening tours of the state. Having been told repeatedly that communities could not confront pressing problems without effective leadership, the Foundation searched for a way to meet that need.

The Kansas Community Leadership Initiative (KCLI) began in 1999 with the belief that you can change communities for the better by changing the people in them one by one. KCLI helped hundreds of Kansans in more than 40 communities to learn new approaches to leadership.

Existing community programs tended to be informational meet-and-greet networking affairs that were dominated by the business community. Participants would tour City Hall, visit the police station, walk through the packing plant and learn a bit more about their community. That approach had its benefits, but participants – often people already in positions of leadership – weren’t learning many new skills about how to lead. They needed to learn about servant leadership, how people’s learning styles – including their own – influence how they respond to and communicate with others, how chaos is a healthy part of any problem-solving, and how to collaborate and achieve consensus. Those and other 21st Century Leadership skills proved that leaders could be fostered. If people could be transformed by leadership training, then communities could be transformed into better, healthier places. And each step cities, towns and rural areas took in a healthier direction would get the Foundation closer to meeting its mission of improving the health of all Kansans.

In order to participate in the first class of KCLI, Leadership Ark City and Leadership Winfield joined together as Leadership Cowley County. The lessons learned as a part of the Kansas Community Leadership Initiative (KCLI) transformed our local programming. The first class of Leadership Cowley County graduated in 2000.

The support - financial and as an advocate - of the Kansas Health Foundation moved KCLI from an experiment to what we now know at Kansas Leadership Center (KLC). Leadership Cowley County faciltators, board members and alumni regularly engage with KLC for continuing leadership and learning opportunities.

Leadership Here and Now

Today Leadership Cowley County is a powerful program of integrated sessions emphasizing the four Kansas Leadership Center (KLC) competencies. Class members learn and practice diagnosising situations, energizing others, managing self and intervening skillfully. The difficult complex issues are adaptive in nature and require leadership that is adaptive, too!

The leadership principles magnified by KLC are embraced by Leadership Cowley County.

• Leadership is an activity, not a position.

• Anyone can lead, anytime, anywhere.

• It starts with you and must engage others.

• Your purpose much be clear.

• It's risky.

After completing the program, graduates can participate in alumni social and educational activities, as well as opportunities to help shape future Leadership Cowley County programs.

As most of the over 1,200 Leadership Ark City, Leadership Winfield and Leadership Cowley County alumni can attest to, graduates of the program leave well-educated and better equipped to shoulder important leadership responsibilities in our community and their careers.

In 2020, due to the COVID global pandemic crisis, Leadership Cowley County went virtual.

Our plans, ever adaptive, have yet to be determined for 2022. Be assured, you can expect the same high-quality, community-focused learning opportunities whether you experience our programming virtually or in-person.