The Results Are In!
Congratulations to Our 2018 MIG Chair-Elects
By Jill Schreider
Jill Schreider is a marketing and communications intern at the International Leadership Association. As a communications major at the University of Maryland College Park she looks forward to graduation May 2018 and a future working in public relations.
ILA’s Member Interest Groups (MIGs) are led by committed, energetic, thoughtful members, elected to serve for three-years, one year each as chair-elect, chair, and immediate past-chair. “While we appreciate all ILA members who generously volunteer their time and expertise to the association, the three-year commitment of the MIG Chair-Elects provides important continuity,” says Shelly Wilsey, COO of ILA. “We greatly look forward to seeing them expand and build upon their member communities.”
The 2018 Chair-Elects Are
Below you will find a brief introduction of the chair-elects, as they answer a few questions for you to get to know them better. Visit each MIG’s home page (see link above) and click on “Q&A With Chair-Elect” under the gold Community Resources bar to read the complete interview. We’ll also be featuring these interviews on the ILA Facebook page and Twitter over the next few weeks. Be prepared to share!
Each chair-elect is excited to advance their MIG, while connecting with other ILA members to make an impact. They have ambitious goals as they take on this leadership position hoping to grow their groups and cultivate deep, engaging, and crucial conversations. Individually, each also has distinct objectives pertaining to the special interests of their community.
Jan Cardwell, Chair-Elect of Leadership Development shares, “One goal that I have is to develop advisory group forums. The purpose is for leaders to help each other by sharing challenges they are facing as a leader with other leaders.” A few challenges in particular that Cardwell mentions is changing workers, the virtual workplace, and new technologies. It is important that our leadership embrace the digital world we live in, as “leadership competencies are different from workplaces in the past.” During her term, Chair-Elect Katherine Friesen of Leadership Scholarship would like to “support scholars in their quest to produce rigorous scholarship,” and, “acknowledge rigorous and relevant scholarship being produced in leadership, highlighting the contribution and implications of the work.
We also asked our winners to discuss a challenge crucial to tackle in the realm of leadership today, something that is important to continue working on, both inside and outside the MIG. Heather Henderson of Leadership Education views diversity in leadership as an issue we all “need to understand, to research, to shift, to teach and to learn.” Her personal research, for example, illuminated the gender imbalance in school superintendents. Inequities in educational leadership settings is something she hopes to highlight during her time as a MIG leader.
Russell Robinson of Pubic Leadership and Shanita Akintonde of Youth Leadership both see challenges with preparing leaders to lead. Robinson points out that we have issues with selecting and developing our leadership. In public leadership, “preparing and selecting leaders, combined with their development to strategically lead organizations and lead an inspired workforce has been a challenge.” Similarly, Akintonde remarked on the absence of presence that leaders possess. “Leaders must be fully present — engaged, concerned, and cognizant of the needs and wants of those they are charged to lead,” she explains. “In other words, they must first understand before seeking to be understood.” As she explains, youth leadership is necessary for any organization that wants to ensure longevity in order to pave the pathways for the next generation of leaders to follow. During her term, she is excited to take on this challenge, while generating enthusiasm among others.
Thank you to each member who made the decision to run for a leadership position in one of the Member Interest Groups. Your dedication and willingness to serve are deeply appreciated.