Effort aims to boost leadership skills at the county staff level

Key Takeaways

Can you imagine what would happen if General Colin Powell, Fortune 1000 CEOs and other executives came together with career coaches and professors from the most prestigious universities to mentor your frontline leaders? What if we could leverage such talent and expertise to advance excellence in county government?

Thanks to a new program adopted by NACo’s Board of Directors, we can.

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NACo High Performance Leadership Academy

The NACo Higher Performance Leadership Academy, a 12-week online program, was designed — in partnership with the Professional Development Academy — to enable frontline county staff to achieve their fullest potential, making them smarter, more effective leaders.

The academy gives managers the tools they need to accomplish their goals faster, build collaboration across departments and foster positive cultures within their teams. Covering topics such as leadership, organization, collaboration, communication and delivery, the curriculum addresses the whole solution of competencies needed to close the leadership skills gap at the frontline.

Additionally, and importantly, the academy is designed to be non-disruptive to frontline leaders’ busy schedules. It requires just a few hours of time each week, and there’s no travel away from the county required.

This past July, NACo’s Board of Directors approved a scholarship program to make this high-impact program accessible exclusively to NACo member counties.

This is regularly a $1,995 course that costs just $495 for each county’s first enrollee, and $1,495 thereafter.

With increasing challenges with unfunded mandates from states and the federal government, heightened community incivility and the constant struggle to achieve more with less, county frontline staff need the sharpest skills to deliver results for our residents. 

The NACo High Performance Leadership Academy will help to retain rising stars in county government and enable them to be better leaders.

The first sessions begin Sept. 17. Subsequent sessions will begin in January 2019.

We encourage counties to identify individuals for enrollment.