Making a Difference
2013 - 2014
Community Development Program Focus Team
Grand
Challenges
K-State Research
and Extension:
providing education
you can trust to help
people, businesses,
and communities
solve problems,
develop skills, and
build a better future.
Bruce Chladny
County Extension
Director
913-299-9300
bchladny@ksu.edu
David Key
District Director
and Community
Development Agent
785-336-2184
dkey@ksu.edu
Trudy Rice
PRIDE
Project Coordinator
785-532-5840
trice@ksu.edu
Board Leadership Series:
So you are serving on a board … now what?
Situation
Increasing the capacity of local leaders of all ages and sectors is critical to long-term
quality of life in Kansas communities, and two of the grand challenges identified by K-State
Research and Extension stakeholders are developing tomorrow’s leaders and community
vitality. Research indicates that building leadership capacity is critical to community
viability and sustainability (Flora and Flora, 2008; Green & Haines, 2008). Residents who
are connected and invested in their local communities are more likely to maintain that
connection throughout life. Communities need leadership skills to address critical local,
state, and regional issues.
What We Did
A team of K-State Research and Extension professionals developed a Board Leadership
Series of presentations and handouts. Over a three-year period, the educators delivered
four sets of four-day, two-hour training sessions for community board members across the
state. These “high-touch, high-tech” webinars were hosted at 24 local extension unit offices
and facilitated by local professionals in each host office. A panel of experts presented the
material through technology, and the experiential learning took place at each site.
Outcomes
More than 500 members of about 100 communities learned skills related to:
• holding effective meetings,
• understanding fellow board members,
• handling financial responsibility, and
• planning for the future.
Participants represented such groups as township trustees, university foundations,
parent-teacher organizations, and church boards. The training increased the capacity of
each community to address critical issues within local organizations, the community itself,
or the region.
In follow-up surveys six months after the series, participants have reported that
committees have been restructured and policies formalized and that meetings are
better organized, more carefully planned, and more productive.
Success Story
One participant reported:
“Truthfully, some of our board members want to serve the organization but do not know
how — they just love the cause. We have not had board training in a long time, and we are
doing a better job of fundraising and financial management.”
Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service
K-State Research and Extension is an equal opportunity provider and employer.