The 2019-2020 Leadership Hardin County Class started their journey together with a retreat at Barren River State Park Resort. We kickstarted the day with an icebreaker where we each had a partner to introduce and created a Hardin County timeline that included 2 dates for each person. The first date marked the moment that brought us to Hardin County. There we learned the terms: native, transplant, and boomerang. The second date marked an important moment in Hardin County History. It was intriguing to see how most of us used a date that referenced our employers.

Our next session, presented by Kenny Rambo, was “5 Practices of Exemplary Leaders.” These 5 practices included: “Model the Way,” “Inspire & Shared Vision,” “Challenge the Process,” “Enable Others to Act,” and “Encourage the Heart.” We dove deeper into each but the point that Kenny drove home was that the most influential leaders in our lives possess one if not all of these traits. While sometimes these leaders are on the Forbes list or the front of Time magazine, the leaders that typically have the most impact on us are the ones that empower us in our everyday lives.

After lunch, we had a fishbowl conversation where we determined the top 3 issues facing Hardin County. The fishbowl dynamic illustrated the leadership we have in Hardin County and how the conversation and priorities shift after changes in leadership. We settled upon: Economic Development, Workforce Development, and Health/Wellness as our Top 3. We will continue to visit these topics throughout the course.

Dayna Fentress led our next session called “Getting to Know You (and Your Personality).” In this activity, we took a personality test that divided our class into colors. It was very interesting to see what category everyone fell into. It was even more informative to understand how to apply the information in our work settings and everyday lives. Understanding personality through this lens will enable us to lead in a way that will maximize everyone’s potential.

We ended our afternoon with more team building activities. These exercises really made clear the importance of working and coming together. As a community the only way we will continue to grow is if we share resources and see the bigger picture. We are better together than apart. We also learned that sometimes when trying to sol ve a problem, it’s better to start with the end goal in mind and figure the rest out as you go. We ended Day 1 with dinner and a social where it was nice to see everyone let their hair down and connect on a deeper level.

During our time for the second day of the retreat, we started off the day by listening to author and speaker Jeff Peden speak on “Building a Culture of Leadership”. His presentation was built around being an effective leader without having to spend money. His leadership principles outlined and demonstrated traits and characteristics of successful leaders. His bubbly personality wore off on the room as you could hear laughter throughout his presentation.

After listening to Jeff, we used the quarter challenge as an exercise to show teamwork and goal setting. We broke into three teams and were told it wasn’t a competition. Each team had to set a goal for how long it would take them to pass a quarter around while only touching the top of each team member’s hand. After the first attempt, you could feel the confidence in the air as each team’s goal kept getting shorter in time as more and more attempts were made. After roughly four attempts, a member from each team had to transfer teams. This was interesting because the new team member brought new ideas to the team which in return reduced times for each team. At the end, all 37 of us were a team and had to set a goal. We set a goal of 30 seconds and crushed our goal by a whole two seconds coming in at 28 seconds. Throughout this exercise, I believe we all learned that leaders from different teams can sometimes help other leaders and improve performance even if they aren’t a part or familiar with your organization.

As we wrapped up our retreat, we sat in a circle and brainstormed potential class projects our class wanted to complete. There were multiple ideas thrown around, but no final decision was made. Volunteers for our class project committee were established and we all said our goodbyes to what turned out to be a wonderful two–day Retreat at Barren River State Park Resort. We are all looking forward to what the next 11 months will bring and the friendships that are beginning to blossom.