JLH League Lines - Fall and Winter 2018 - 2019 FINAL

CONNECTICUT COUNCIL OF JUNIOR LEAGUES LEADERSHIP TRAINING
BY TANISHA JACKSON
On Saturday, November 3, more than 30 volunteers
from Junior Leagues across Connecticut received
leadership training at the Junior League of Greenwich
headquarters, spearheaded by the Connecticut
Council of Junior Leagues (CCJL). Tori Hollingworth,
a presentation skills coach and communication
training specialist, facilitated the training opportunity
themed “Creating and Leading Teams with
Impact.”
The training workshop focused on delivering clear,
concise messages with confidence in an effective
manner, and the ability to influence teams as a leader.
The course included a seminar with group exercises
for members to practice the newly learned
skills. The first group exercise consisted of participants
brainstorming to list characteristics of effective
Junior League teams. Some recurring traits listed by
the teams were: organization, common goals, attendance
and cohesiveness.
Leading requires establishing trust. Establishing
trust requires: communication, credibility, and relationships.
The first step in establishing trust requires
CONNECTICUT COUNCIL OF JUNIOR LEAGUES (CCJL) COMMUNICATION TRAINaccountability-
following through on assignments
ING PARTICIPANTS L TO R: ASHLEY BORN, SARA LAVERY, TANISHA JACKSON,
and meeting expectations. Relationships require
building a rapport with committee members. Leaders
should structure meetings beginning communi-
CHRISTINA LUMBRERAS, KATHRYN JOERG.
cations with a human side, and then diving into the
business of the meeting, and ultimately ending on the human side.
Effective communication requires determining how people like to be communicated with. How do you persuade people, motivate and
pull people in? Understanding a member’s preferred method of communication results in better listening and being heard more clearly.
Once people are listening, you must persuade them by appealing to ethos (credibility), pathos (emotion) or logos (logical appeal).
Leadership is not about you, it’s about who you are communicating with and communicating with people in a way that they will understand.
Do you prefer inductive or deductive communication? A group exercise on communicating with committee members allowed us
to critique our communication styles, including eye contact and body language for effective communication.
Motivation techniques were also discussed. How are your members motivated? Leaders can empower team members to become
future leaders by delegating tasks. Delegation requires strategy and matching tasks with individual capabilities. Leaders should support
and guide members in tasks, provide timelines, and deadlines for touching base on a specific date to see if tasks are completed.
A group exercise on delegation required members to create a list of committee tasks, prioritization of tasks, and delegation of tasks.
Difficult conversations require leaders to show empathy with difficult people, conversations that have a goal, and engaging the problem
to show leadership. In order to deal with a difficult person, first describe the bad behavior, describe the impact of the behavior on
the group, and prescribe solutions for the problem. Questions that leaders should ask are: What do you know about the difficult person?
What are your assumptions about this person? What are the contributions to the difficult behavior? In difficult conversations,
selectively agree with something that is true – validate the person. A group exercise on dealing with a difficult committee member was
used to demonstrate how to make people feel valued, coaching of members through a difficult situation, breaking up problems into
multiple options, and to celebrating successes.
The last training topic was learning seven steps of problem solving. A key to group problem solving is to brainstorm with committee
members so that they feel empowered and part of the solution. The group exercise on problem solving required implementing all seven
steps in making decisions on a committee problem.
In the concluding exercise, participants created an action plan to incorporate the techniques learned in daily situations. The training
course was a useful resource for members and co-chairs and those interested in pursuing leadership. This course gives members
tools to lead with confidence and make committees stronger.
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