INSIGHTs & INTUITION

What’s the most effective program or tool that your organization has found for leadership development?

The Teaching Transformation and Development Academy is committed to providing faculty and staff leadership opportunities designed to support and enhance the UND student experience. One tool we find very effective is the CliftonStrengths® assessment. As a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, I help individuals and teams in developing a stronger understanding of their talents and how to leverage them as “Leaders in Action.”

Through effective coaching, individuals and teams experience enhanced performance, stronger collaboration and improved levels of service.

We created our internal leadership program, BE Leaders, to help employees grow personally and professionally within the cooperative. Our program focuses on the positive influence of leadership, not simply leadership as a title. Participants dedicate 12 months to exploring various aspects of leadership through discussions, knowledge exchange, assignments, networking opportunities and a team leadership project. Ultimately, participants end the program knowing more about themselves and their leadership abilities, as well as more about other areas in our organization.

With multiple offices and departments at EAPC, we promote key leadership roles for our mid-level managers for each department and office. With a lead-by-example approach, the Ownership group provides trust and latitude for managers to confidently guide their teams.

We also have subsets of these multiple office and department managers. EAPC provides extensive Project Management training to teach this set of leaders how to effectively manage projects through completion with minimal errors and industryleading profitability.

Lastly, we foster healthy competition between offices and departments by using metrics to measure completion of goals. We also share “lessons learned” and encourage teamwork between PMs, office managers and department managers to fill the valleys and shave the peaks of work in our very active and fast-paced business.

One of the most effective and rewarding ways for our employees to develop leadership skills is to get involved with civic and charitable work within the community.

We encourage and support our employees’ efforts within the communities we serve, and have found that our employees develop valuable leadership skills that also translate well in their work for our organization.

Internally, the most effective avenue we’ve found for developing leadership is for employees to serve on one-time, special-project committees or on more-permanent, ongoing management committees. Service on these committees exposes less-experienced employees to more-experienced leadership, day-to-day operational challenges and participation in developing solutions to those challenges.

PERSONAL LINES MANAGER AND EDUCATION DIRECTOR VAALER INSURANCE GRAND FORKS, N.D.

Rise of the robots

Source: Brookings Institution analysis of International Federation of Robotics data Chart: fedgazette.com (Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis)

The following charts use the latest results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, released in April, to show the average scale scores, both regionally and nationally, for all students in 8th Grade reading and math. Pictured here are the scores and trends over time for Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and the nation The scores from Massachusetts also are included for comparison; Massachusetts students have scored first or statistically tied for first place on NAEP tests in fourth and eighth grade reading and math since 2005.

The NAEP Reading and Math scales range from 0 to 500. Some differences shown may not be statistically significant.

Source: NAEP eighth grade reading: eighth gradE math: