Pennsylvania needs strong local leaders to ensure a good future in business, industry, government and civic organizations. And Penn State University’s Cooperative Extension stands ready to help anyone and everyone develop the right mix of skills through its “Learning Today, Leading Tomorrow” program. Commonly known as LTLT, the program’s curriculum was designed by a group of extension educators to address leadership gaps--or needs--they had discovered across the Keystone State. It is divided into four units, namely personal and interpersonal leadership skills, group/organizational leadership skills and community/public leadership skills.

Extension Educator Don Tanner was on the program’s development team and has used it in the three counties—Potter, McKean and Cameron—that he serves. “It was amazing,” he says of the cross section of folks who enrolled in the courses. From industrial leaders to the man on the street to a county commissioner who wanted to enhance his leadership skills, he says nearly everyone told him the skills they learned from the program helped them stand up in front of a group more comfortably and handle things in a more organized way.

Bosses at a local factory sent supervisors through the program and later reported that it enabled them to work better with employees and be more organized, Tanner says. Conflict resolution was among the modules they studied. One fellow, a local school board member, told Tanner the lesson on conflict resolution taught him that “Sometimes you have to argue a point and sometimes you have to give in.” Tanner says it is rewarding to hear a student say what that school board member told him long after the class ended, that the words he heard in the class came back to him in times of need. And the board member repeated something the curriculum designers all like to hear, “You CAN teach an old dog new tricks.”

Joann Kowalski, extension educator in Susquehanna County and state leader for LTLT, says some people see a stigma attached to the word “leadership.” People often say, “I can’t,” when it comes to leading groups or achieving goals. “There is definitely a leadership gap, especially in many rural counties,” she says. So the folks who teach LTLT focus on the idea that leadership is not a birthright but rather something that can be nurtured and developed. Kowalski says she had earlier attended a leadership program and a Dale Carnegie course in another state, both of which stirred in her very strong feelings that everyone should have such opportunities. “Being an extension educator, I started to feel very concerned about the lack of curriculum for leadership within the extension ranks.”

The folks who developed the program are pleased with the results. Its four units are broken down into a total of 13 modules or classes, each of which runs three hours. Participants can choose to use the entire program or they can choose just the modules they need. The cost is $30 for each module and the program can be tailored to fit whatever time frame suits the user. Most extension educators have been trained to present the program so every area of the state is covered. So far, it has been largely presented to non-profit and public agencies. Tanner says most extension employees in his part of the state have been trained in the LTLT program; Kowalski says an effort is under way to reach both internal groups like Penn State’s master gardeners and 4-H leaders as well as external groups.

Michael McDavid, Northeast Regional Director, has worked with the leadership of the state Conservation District for the past year and a half and recently introduced it to state Grange leaders. LTLT helps people take up leadership roles in their communities and get more confident in those roles when it comes to delicate issues, he says. People who respond to questionnaires a year after the program ends are pleased that they are able to apply the concepts to real situations, McDavid says. “I am always impressed with not only how people get involved with the program but they are able to apply their own backgrounds and experiences. They begin to learn from one another as they learn in the context of the formal instruction.” Acknowledging the many leadership programs already in place throughout the state, McDavid says LTLT is a little different in that it is designed to augment rather than replace or replicate them. Kowalski says extension educators can identify needs like the one in her region that called for a modified curriculum for an Hispanic audience.

Program recruitment can be done in a variety of ways, including direct mail to groups and organizations involved in visioning processes, newspaper and radio. LTLT has program materials available to assist in recruitment. They include press releases, brochures and solicitation letters.

by Linda Hudkins

Timothy Kelsey
State Program Leader for
Economic and Community Development