FOLLOWING THE LEADER

Town of Easton supervisors take 8-week long leadership course

Over the past 8 weeks, leaders and supervisors across all departments of the Town of Easton have been taking specialized leadership training classes from Dale Carnegie in order to improve their performance and become stronger leaders in their roles.

The Dale Carnegie leadership course, taught by instructor Diane Beliveau, is an 8-week course that focuses on topics such as communication techniques, delegation, managing stress, and motivating others. The classes feature real life applications, group work, role-playing, and perhaps most importantly, sharing of personal experiences.

Classes run in 3.5 hour sessions, once per week at the Easton Police Department conference room. Due to the high volume of employees, classes were broken up over 2 days, with some employees attnding on Tuesday mornings and others on Wednesday evenings.

Each week, the class is given homework to apply principles learned during the previous session to a real life situation. They are to apply what they have learned in this situation with a person in their life (friend, coworker, family member) and report back to the class in a public speaking-lite scenario where they share their experience and how it can benefit the rest of the class.

The idea for the course came from Chief Human Resource Officer Rick Farr. Rick brought the idea in front of the mayor in spring of 2022 as a way to improve leadership across the board. Rick had previously utlized this course to great success twice before with his previous employers.

Rick is optimistic that the course will have a positive impact on our staff. Rick stated, “Those who attended the training will be more equipped to tackle complex challenges, expand their ingenuity, and excel in building team harmony. “

Rick added, “They will be able to use their new skills to achieve measurable results and securing a place as a valued contributor. In becoming more adept at influencing, the students will find themselves inspiring others to take initiative and innovate.”

The courses are attended by a motley assortment of roles, ranging from police officers, to sanitation, to engineers, to planning and zoning, IT, administrative, and more. While the roles may differ in backgrounds and in their duties, the class’ focus on interpersonal relationships keeps things relatable regardless of the type of work being performed.

“Human nature is consistent,” says class instructor Diane Beliveau, “it doesn’t metter what you’re doing, if you understand how to connect to someone on a personal level it is going to work.”

Diane has been teaching for Dale Carnegie for 21 years. She adds,“Clearly, the Easton Mayor and Town

Hall have a vested interest in providing staff leadership with tools, techniques, and interpersonal skills that will help them be more effective and efficient in their current roles while having a noticeable, positive impact on the Easton Community.

For more information on Dale Carnegie, please visit: https:// www.dalecarnegie.com/en, or click the above image.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WITH DALE CARNEGIE?

Since 2002 as a Business Development Consultant and a Certified Dale Carnegie Trainer in all Core and Virtual Programs and courses.

WHAT MAKES THE DALE CARNEGIE LEADERSHIP CLASS SO IMPORTANT?

The Dale Carnegie Leadership training is so important because it provides leaders, managers and supervisors tools and techniques to enhance their own performance as well as the performance of their staff to drive results that are critical to the mission and vision of the organization. Ultimately, people are the power behind processes.

Successful organizations are driven by ‘engaged’ and ‘competent’ employees. Greater engagement and competency are achieved by leaders successfully changing their own attitudes and behaviors first and then inspiring and coaching those who work for them to higher levels of engagement, competency and performance. When engaged employees are the heartbeat of an organization, they will drive productivity, innovation, and team performance.

WHAT IS SOMETHING THAT DIFFERENTIATED THE TOWN OF EASTON CLASSES FROM CLASSES YOU HAVE TAUGHT IN THE PAST?

The Town of Easton is unique in the respect that there are people from multiple organizations including the Easton Police, Construction, Maintenance, Sanitation, Public Works, Public Relations, Planning & Zoning, Building & Facilities, Parks & Recs, Finance, Human Resources, IT, Engineering and the Town Clerk & Town Manager.

The participants in the training differentiate it from other classes. Every Dale Carnegie class forms its own personality based on the participants and their Dale Carnegie Trainer. This is what makes every class different, challenging and engaging.

People don’t care what you think; they care what they think …‘Be a Good Listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.’ (Dale Carnegie) When you do this, your relationships will change for the better both on and off the job.

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