Leadership Center a Resource for Revitalization
Published Apr 07, 2006
David Kolzow heads the Tennessee Leadership Center, which he helped launch in the summer of 2005.
The Tennessee Leadership Center celebrated its first anniversary in June 2006, and Executive Director David Kolzow says things are going “fantastically.”
“Our first effort has been to work with the ECD’s Three-Star Program. We’ve facilitated six workshops around the state and trained some 500 community leaders about the direction of the Three-Star Program,” he says.
The Three-Star Program is the Department of Economic and Community Development’s certification program designed to give local communities the tools and incentives to plan their own successful economic development.
The Tennessee Leadership Center is a natural supplement to that program, providing an economic development and training center created to help leaders market their communities and better compete for new industry. The TLC offers training and workshops on the basic principles of economic development, strategic planning, site selection, diversifying the rural economy, managing an organization for excellence, community assessment and leadership skill development.
“We’re working on going out to various counties to conduct training workshops there,” Kolzow says. “It’s ideal to bring training to these communities so leaders don’t have to take a whole day off to come to Nashville.”
Joel Max Williams, executive director of the South Central Tennessee Development District in Columbia, participated in one such workshop in Waynesboro in spring 2006.
“I was really impressed with it,” Williams says. “Dave came down and talked about ways to help local communities diversify their economies, and he offered a lot of thought-provoking ideas on things we could do to compete for manufacturing and industry. Sometimes we feel powerless to do much in rural communities, and the Tennessee Leadership Center helps get leaders in tune with problems so they can communicate that with citizens.”
In May 2007, the TLC will offer a weeklong basic economic development course certified by the National Economic Development Council.
“That will be a real plus, because people will be able to get started on their certification as a community developer right here in Tennessee,” Kolzow says.
Community leaders across the state are beginning to realize the value of the TLC as its training programs start to get off the ground.
“The superintendent of one school system inquired about TLC facilitating their school board retreat, and another community asked us to help reorganize their entire economic development approach,” Kolzow says. “There are a number of things like these that we see a possibility of doing.”
Perhaps one of the TLC’s greatest assets is its role as an information source.
“We’ve been designated as the resource clearinghouse for economic development resources. People can look at our Web site to see our DVDs, surveys and unique resources to Tennessee,” Kolzow says.
The accomplishments of the Tennessee Leadership Center in its first year are in part due to the center’s close relationship with ECD.
“They’ve been very responsive and helpful with everything we’ve done, and it’s unusual to have that kind of relationship,” Kolzow says. “That’s one reason we’ve been able to get so much done.”
For More Information
Tennessee Leadership Center
tntomorrow.org
Story by Jessica Mozo
Photo by Greg Emens
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