Throughout the season we have been documenting Field Program Assistant Manager Erin Galloway’s experience with the course that the Kathy Barnett Leadership Grant has allowed her to take, thanks to the Whister Community Foundation. She has now wrapped up her course and is sharing her insights with us.
The course I chose for the award was the Leadership Development Program from Athabasca University. This course has four different modules that teach you how to lead yourself to leave a lasting impact on your organization. I enjoyed taking this course while starting my role as the Field Crew Assistant Manager as it allowed me to immediately put my skills into practice. I am very grateful for this opportunity.
I have experienced a variety of different leadership styles which I have been reflecting on while going through this course. Being a calm and levelheaded leader is important and I have been learning that leaders cannot bring their bad days to work. This is something I totally agree with because it is so easy to create a negative space for your employees if you let your bad days affect your leadership style. In addition, it is important to be adaptable as a leader and learn how to adapt your leadership style to your employees’ learning styles. This course has given me helpful tips on leading long-term employees versus new employees, which was especially helpful while onboarding new staff at the beginning of the field season.
A large part of this course was about developing the climate of your workplace. I learned crucial skills such as developing trust and how to make constant feedback normal instead of making it feel like a formal performance review. An important part of creating a healthy work climate is recognizing people for a job well done. I think I can get distracted by making sure everything is being done correctly and forget to praise people when they don’t need those reminders and corrections. I am very lucky to have talented and competent individuals on my team at SSISC, and they deserve credit where credit is due!
Overall, I gained new skills and strategies to help me succeed in my management role at SSISC. I enjoyed how the course focused on creating good relationships with your employees and doing everything in your power to help them succeed. I have been able to implement these skills in the last couple of months and I look forward to continuing to develop my leadership skills in the future. I am incredibly grateful to have received this grant from the Whistler Community Foundation. It has really helped build a foundation of good leadership qualities that I will continue to build on.
A huge thank you to the Whistler Community Foundation for supporting Erin and our team!
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