Good News Friday!

For several years now, Imagine! has selected employees annually from across our organization to participate in a Leadership Development Program. The purpose of Imagine!’s Leadership Development Program is to provide a coordinated platform that strategically develops talent within Imagine! to address the company’s leadership needs for the future.

The program is designed to educate employees (participants) about the complexities of the organization and to assist management in learning about people with talent that may be good matches for leadership roles. The Leadership Development program also allows participants to learn important processes, skills, and offers opportunities to develop and promote leadership skills.

The group also writes and presents on a case study tackling a complex issue facing Imagine!.

Two weeks ago, participants in the 2013-2014 Leadership Development Program, Katie Edwards, Anna Knott, Carla Rapp, and Laurel Reese-Scott (pictured above), gave their case study presentation to Imagine!'s Executive Team and others.

The case study covered this topic: Imagine! has embraced technological progress, incorporating technology and systems use throughout the organization. This growth has brought to light some challenges and a possible division between employees and the technology they are being required to use. Devise a method of finding how deeply this goes into our workforce and propose a better method of mitigation.

Here is how the group approached the case study: “We started by creating and administering a survey to all departments and front-line supervisors. This led us to more questions. We then interviewed an individual from each of the 16 departments at Imagine!. Each member conducted one on one interviews with four department representatives. Once these interviews were completed, we examined the history and growth of tech systems used at Imagine!. We then performed an external analysis, interviewing other Community Centered Boards regarding their use of technology. The next step was analyzing the company’s mission statement and corporate/business strategy as they relate to our technology plan and use. Finally, we performed an analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This research and analysis gave us a much better understanding of where we stand, and pointed us towards some possible solutions to a more successful adoption of technology among staff  members at Imagine!.”

You can tell the team put a great deal of effort into their case study. The group’s written report and presentation were well researched and thoughtful, and their recommendations gave Imagine!'s Executive Team plenty to think about as we continue to move forward with our use of technology to make us a more efficient and effective organization, capable of delivering superb services.

Great work Katie, Anna, Carla, and Laurel! I’m proud to work alongside you all.