Our current Vice Chair Alex Whiteleather has recently written on one the Annual Leadership Workshop where new hires had a first taste of what it is like being a Sales Centre Candidate!
On February 4, 2013 the Schey Sales Centre hosted the first Annual Leadership Workshop for all sales certificate candidates. This year, one of the main goals and objectives for the Schey Sales Centre is to increase candidate’s interest and knowledge on the topic of leadership. With increased interest and knowledge on the subject of leadership, the centre hopes to continually increase the amount of students who will be dedicated and motivated towards becoming the future leaders in sales. Shaping candidates into exceptional leaders will be an added bonus when these candidates are put in front of the program’s advisory board members, corporate sponsors, and when they move onto the real world. Many steps are being taken to accomplish this year’s new goal!
The first Annual Leadership Workshop was a great success, and candidates were lucky to have Tim Reynolds, new Director of the Robert D. Walter Center for Strategic Leadership and Tammy Reynolds, executive in residence in the College of Business, come to present on leadership. At the conference candidates learned about what skills and values leaders possess, what each of their personality types were through the DISC assessment, and how these results can help in shaping their leadership skills, and most importantly what top companies are doing today to develop leaders within their company.
Top companies today are committed to developing leaders, just like the Schey Sales Centre. These top companies understand that leadership is a way of life; it is a practice and a mindset. Leaders lead the way and leaders have an unrelenting focus on talent, and this is just what these company’s focus on. When companies are developing their business strategy, their leadership strategy clearly reflects and aligns with that overall business strategy. The companies want to ensure that their programs and practices within the company align with developing the leaders they hope to mold. The Schey Sales Centre is working to align their programs and practices of the business strategy with developing leaders through a new leadership strategy, just like the top companies are doing today.
Sales Certificate Candidates have started to participate in numerous leadership trainings on top of attending the Annual Leadership Workshop. Many candidates have obtained their 21st Century Leadership Certificate through the Amanda J. Cunningham Leadership Center. This leadership certificate is awarded to students after completion of seven leadership training courses, all geared towards developing the skills necessary to succeed as a leader in today’s global economy.
Moving forward, the Schey Sales Centre’s Candidate Advisory Council is planning to increase the amount of leadership within the program from around 45 leadership positions to an upwards of 90 leadership positions. This increase in leadership opportunity will allow over 50 percent of the student organization to be involved in helping to lead the business to success. Through the programs hosted by the Schey Sales Centre, there is no doubt that increased awareness of leadership and the importance of being a leader will help to spike the number of candidates interested in helping to run the business through these various leadership positions. Leaders are emerging today, especially within the Schey Sales Centre!
Alex will be graduating this May and working for Whirlpool Corporation at the headquarters in Michigan.
