The Texas A&M Forest Service Leadership Institute hosted the kick-off session for its sixth cohort Oct. 7 to 9 in San Antonio. The institute is a leadership program that offers a transformative experience for participants, hoping to leave a deep and lasting effect on their ability to lead in daily environments.
The vision of the institute is to establish a program that will rally existing and emerging leaders within the fields of natural resources and increase their capacity and ability to enact meaningful change throughout Texas.
“Our agency mission is to conserve forests, trees, and natural resources; protect lives and property; and provide statewide leadership,” said Leighton Gibson, Texas A&M Forest Service Marketing and Communications Manager and institute coordinator. “The leadership institute helps build the capacity of our partners who share that mission through leadership training, furthering our mission across the state.”
This year’s cohort boasts a diverse group of 23 members from differing natural resource organizations across the state including assistant city managers, fire chiefs, conservation managers and organization directors.
“The leadership institute was a great opportunity to learn more about ourselves while developing new skills to improve our workplaces,” said Jason Brown with the city of Cleburne and participant. “I am excited to use my new tools with my team.”
Session I of cohort six was designed around leading oneself. During this session, participants focused on building a cohesive team with other cohort members and exploring who they are as leaders through enrichment programs about interpersonal leadership.
One key to success for the institute is dynamic and engaging speakers. In this session, participants heard from Frank Keck about building a united team and foundations of leadership, Cindi Baldi, PhD, about decision making in leadership and Todd Cottrell about discovering strengths.
“I find the best leaders are the most self-aware—they know who they are and where they’re going,” said Frank Keck, Texas A&M Forest Service Leadership Institute speaker and facilitator. “Our goal is to really help leaders in different natural resource capacities develop themselves, to make a better Texas.”
The leadership institute hopes to continue to grow and support local leaders while increasing the network of natural resource professionals across the state with each cohort.
Over the next several months, the cohort will participate in monthly lunch and learns, networking opportunities and course activities. The cohort will graduate from the institute in April, after the second three-day session, which will have a new host of speakers and leadership trainings.
To learn more about the Texas A&M Forest Service Leadership Institute, the speakers and how to participate, visit https://tfsweb.tamu.edu/about/leadership-institute/.
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