March 8, 2023, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Grand Rapids Community College’s Workforce Training is offering a new program requested by West Michigan businesses that provides the skills required of a newly appointed leader.
The Preparation for Leadership program is intended for the many small- to mid-sized organizations that often are not able to provide detailed leadership development training to potential or newly promoted leaders.
Upskilling employees to become leaders can save money on the hiring process and operations training.
“This leadership training goes beyond the typical 'leadership 101', said John Van Elst, interim executive director of GRCC Workforce Training. “It is built to address the skills and responsibilities new supervisors will face.”
Van Elst said he is excited to have Thomas Hecksel as the trainer for this course.
“Thomas has a proven track record with his experience and expertise with small to mid-sized companies in the West Michigan business market to improve their performance and competitiveness.”
The training is a nine-hour course over three days that provides new and future leaders with detailed tools and techniques for immediate results. It is designed to challenge the participants with specific discussions on the skills and responsibilities they will face as a supervisor or leader.
The interactive curriculum allows learners to gain easy-to-implement strategies to put into practice. Actual employee interaction scenarios are practiced in group discussions so skills can easily be applied.
“This training addresses common hurdles for many new leaders such as gaining credibility from others,” Hecksel said. “Responsibility checklists are used to give a clear picture of the elements involved in being a leader.”
Training includes a personality test to improve understanding of participants’ leadership traits, styles and preferences. This will help them recognize how to best deal with others who may have different traits.
Class runs Thursday mornings beginning April 27, 2023 and will be held at the GRCC Tassell MTEC.
For more information go to grcc.edu/leadership.
