WithIt Plans Leadership Development Institute

March 14, 2012  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in on March 15, 2012 Home furnishings leadership network WithIt will focus on furniture industry leadership training with a one-day institute in May.

Sara N. King, principal of Optimum Insights Inc., a private firm devoted to developing executive leadership skills and increasing executives' performance, is building and facilitating the program for the WithIt Leadership Development Institute. The Institute is slated for Thursday, May 17, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Ashford Suites Hotel, High Point. Registration is $325 per person and is open to male and female executives.

With more than 25 years experience in leadership training and development--including 23 years at the Center for Creative Leadership, a top-ranked, global provider of leadership education and research--King has served thousands of executives in Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, educational institutions and nonprofit organizations. She is the author of "Discovering the Leader in You," a book she revised last year that highlights the importance of a conscious decision to lead and offers a framework for developing leadership vision, values and skills.

King's full-day program for the furniture industry will be divided into two parts, each a high-level learning experience focused on honing specific skills. The first segment will help mid-level executives learn to maximize influence within their organization. Through an assessment tool completed in advance of the Institute, participants will learn their current style of influence and how it might be perceived by others. Then, by engaging in experiential exercises, they will be able to link their influencing style to leadership effectiveness. Participants will take home practical tools for determining how and when to adjust their style to maximize influence.

The second part will provide relevant and timely instruction for leading a department, division or organization through change. This section will improve the participant€™s readiness to deal with and influence during change. With a new understanding of their individual approach to handling change, Institute graduates will be better able to motivate a team, revise work processes and deliver more satisfactory results during challenging times.

"The goal of the one-day Institute is to produce stronger, more effective executives within the participating companies," said WithIt President Julia Rosien of SocialNorth.com. "But the long-term goal of the Institute concept is to elevate executive-level leadership training within the home furnishings industry and to begin to foster a community of inspired executive leaders who have the ability to take their companies to new heights."

Registration is available online here.