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<br />leadership con't <br />ing leaders." <br />MASWCD had offered <br />various one-day training <br />courses and brief workshops <br />on leadership in the past and <br />had found them to be of <br />limited value, Buck said, so <br />they decided to try a different <br />approach this time. "We <br />thought `why not offer the <br />Cadillac version?"' Buck <br />said. <br />The "Cadillac version" <br />involved seven two-day <br />sessions, in various areas of <br />the state, spread out from <br />Spring 1996 to Fall 1997. The <br />MASWCD worked with the <br />University of Minnesota <br />Extension. Service (Extension) <br />to determine topics and <br />speakers. /.. ' <br />Topics included <br />"Visionary <br />Leadership," <br />Y_ <br /> <br /> <br />~- <br />_t <br />~~_-~ <br />d - ~\ ~~ ~~ <br />"Organizational Management," <br />and "Balancing Ethics, Eco- <br />nomics and the Environment." <br />Each session included an <br />instruction time--generally <br />consisting of lecture, exercises <br />and small group work--and a <br />discussion time. The group <br />looked at various issues that <br />districts deal with (for example, <br />the friction between urban and <br />rural districts) and how the <br />skills taught in leadership <br />training could be used to <br />address those issues. <br />The idea was a difficult sell <br />initially because of the expense <br />and the intangible nature of the <br />product, Buck acknowledged. <br />"You can't put a price tag on it, <br />like `oh, great waterway,"'she <br />said. <br />The MASWCD board <br />of directors encour- <br />aged the districts to <br />a participate, with <br />c= Mower Soil and Water <br />Conservation District <br />Supervisor and then- <br />~~ MASWCD board <br />~` member Allan Oehlke <br />actually calling dis- <br />tricts to find out who <br />they were sending. <br />Area V (southwest <br />Minnesota) offered <br />X200 scholarships. <br />Did the effort and <br />investment pay off? <br />The answer appears to <br />be resoundingly <br />positive. <br />,~~ <br />"I learned what a true <br />leader is," said Bev, <br />Nordby, manager of <br />4 <br />Mower Soil and Water <br />Conservation District <br />(SWCD). "A leader doesn't <br />have to be the boss. A leader <br />is when you step back, you're <br />more of a coach...you bring <br />people together as a team." <br />Nordby and Buck agreed that <br />they've seen some real <br />changes in the people who <br />participated. "I've seen <br />people really coming out and - <br />stepping forward," Nordby <br />said. <br />"I've noticed supervisors <br />starting to talk more, to ask <br />the right questions," Buck <br />agreed. "I saw leadership <br />participants taking a more <br />active role at the convention. <br />T saw one supervisor who <br />initially questioned if he <br />should even_be in his job <br />moving ahead and reaching a <br />real comfort level with it." <br />Kevin Scheidecker, currently <br />manager of Fillmore SWCD, <br />was a technician for Goodhue <br />SWCD at the time of the _ <br />training. "I won't say that I <br />wouldn't have gotten a <br />manager's job without taking <br />the leadership course, but it <br />did encourage me to want to <br />find a job that let me use the <br />skills I learned," Scheidecker <br />said, adding that he vas one <br />of only two technicians that <br />took the course. <br />The course really helped <br />participants look at issues on <br />a statewide, rather than a <br />district, basis. "If nothing <br />else, it started to make me see <br />leadership continued on p..i <br />