Leadership conference deemed huge success

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, September 14, 2004

Remember when your mother said, "You are what you eat?" Organizers of a recent community conference think mom's advice fits communities, too.

"We are what we talk about," said Jim Crawford, director of Ohio University Southern's Center for Innovation and Leadership. "The real thrust of what I always saw this as was the beginning of a conversation in the community.

"If you start a conversation and keep the conversation going, it starts the momentum," Crawford said.

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OUS, along with the Briggs Lawrence County Public Library and The Ironton Tribune, sponsored "Designing Our Future" last month.

Leaders of all three sponsoring organizations said the session was a success.

"I think a good way to put it would be, it kind of exceeded my expectations," said Joe Jenkins, director of the Briggs Library system, adding the diversity of the crowd was a big plus. "As the day progressed, those people who stayed really started to get engaged and starting to talk."

The afternoon portion of the conference used the appreciative inquiry process, facilitated by Crawford and Roger Haley with Training Solutions.

"Using that process, which sort of takes a look at the positives and then begins to boil down thoughts from the group, was really key," said Kevin Cooper, publisher of The Tribune. "Although it seemed at first strange that we didn't have a mission or a destination we hoped to reach by the end of the day, that was the point: the mission had to come from the people."

At the end of the day the participants identified three areas of interest for further work: communication, tourism and cleanliness.

"I kind of started out with the thought, this is not about where I want us to be, but about where they wanted us to be," Crawford said. "It's so much better than knowing where you're going than having people who want to get somewhere."

And the diversity of those participating showed that the community's people are its best asset.

The design teams will meet later this month to further discuss their areas of interest and to identify ways in which to further plan the designs.

Design team meetings are as follows: Cleanliness will meet at 6 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 14, at the Workforce Development Resource Center on North Second Street in Ironton; Tourism will meet at 6 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 16, at the chamber office just off U.S. 52 in South Point; Communication will meet at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 28, at the OUS Campus and Community Building across from the Ironton municipal pool.

"I think the design teams are going to choose spots where they want to have influence," Crawford said, adding the depth of conversations in which the teams engaged surprised him. "People actually thought big. If I had a hope, it wouldn't be a for a specific outcome, it would be that we continue to speak big."