The Leadership Vision Apprentice Program: Investing in the Future
At the Leadership Vision 2014 Annual Summit in December, our team identified five bold steps of focus during 2015. These bold steps were intended to be evaluative targets throughout the year on both a company and individual level. One of those targets was to identify the “next generation.” Interestingly enough, those two words were not fleshed out during our Summit, and as the year has progressed, “next generation” has taken on a few different interpretations.
One of those iterations was to develop an Apprentice program. At Leadership Vision, we want to continue to expand our reach. This is not only something we want to do for the business, but also as we think about the role we play in expanding the strengths movement on a global level.
In order to do that, we need highly talented and trained professionals to come alongside us to provide meaningful and sustainable strengths work. Becoming an expert in what we do isn’t a quick process. It’s one thing to understand basic definitions of the themes of strength, but it’s another thing entirely to appreciate the nuanced differences and interactions of the talents that make up those themes, and how those interact on a team and organizational level.
Because of this, we needed to think strategically about how we brought the “next generation” along for the future of our organization.
Part of that strategic Apprentice plan is for an individual to:
- Grow in relationship with all Leadership Vision team members
- Intentionally engage in the philosophy, disciplines and practice of Leadership Vision
- Personally develop as an individual and professional
- Successfully complete 12, 1-to-1 StrengthsFinder conversations, reflection and summary
- Experience the core business strategy of Leadership Vision: 201, 1-to-1’s, 360º
Because of the values Leadership Vision holds of personal development, team member, servant leader, and family first, the Apprentice program takes those into account throughout the process. As with everything we do, it needed to also take a relational and intentional approach. Because of this, it is slow. It takes time to build relationships, and to understand if there is a cultural fit.
In order to complete the apprentice program, participants need to attain proficiency in several areas. This helps them hone their understanding of who Leadership Vision is as a company, and deepen their knowledge surrounding our behavior-based understanding of strengths, and the practical experience of teaching and delivering a strengths based approach within professional consulting contexts.
Click here to download more information about this program.
At the conclusion of this process, a participant will have:
- Gained a better understanding of who they are as a person, a team member and a professional
- Received the training needed to become a contributing member of a Leadership Vision consulting team
- Experienced the culture of Leadership Vision
We are thrilled to announce Sara Schlipp-Riedel as our first Apprentice! She has spent the past six months going through our program and will soon be participating as a member of our team. For those interested in this apprenticeship program, we will be accepting additional applications at a later date. We are trying to be smart in the way we scale this, and to make sure that we can meet the requirements and expectations stated above. That being said, if you are interested in this in the future, please share your contact information and we will be in touch as we have additional opportunities in the future.
