Leadership Wheeling Begins 2024 Program
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Leadership Wheeling 2024 inductees embarked on their 12-week program of learning and leadership development at their first training session held on Tuesday at Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack.
Participants in the program were selected from different industries and companies across the Ohio Valley. What earned each member a spot on the inductees list was an interest or experience in leadership along with a desire to engage in the community.
"I’d say the characteristics on the applications that will be consistent across inductees is they want to learn more about Wheeling," said the creator of the 2024 Leadership Wheeling programming, Ronna-Renee Jackson. "Some inductees are managers, and some are not, but leadership is at all levels and not just a title."
As the LaunchPoint Leadership Group CEO, Jackson has been tasked by the Chamber to build a program for this year's leadership class. With her expertise, Jackson aims to give inductees a better understanding of their role within their industry or company and how to foster leadership skills in that position.
While creating this year's programming Jackson focused on building upon the framework of the previous Leadership Wheeling courses while introducing new opportunities for leadership skill cultivation for participants.
Mike Howard, chief operating officer of the Wheeling Chamber of Commerce, noted that Jackson's knowledge will not only give the program an upgrade but also add an element of the unconventional to how they learn leadership skills.
Each session in the program will be formatted in two segments. In the morning, participants will take a tour of an Ohio Valley establishment to learn about city history, local government, various industries, arts and culture and non-profit organizations. In the afternoon, attendees will partake in leadership development activities centered on the location they visited in the morning.
After the inductees tour local TV stations for their morning media class, Jackson detailed that they will learn public speaking skills and how to read body language in the afternoon session.
"We're trying to take the idea of the day and then develop a leadership component that we can introduce to align with that," explained Jackson. "We plan to cover a lot of ground in the next 12 weeks."
Ohio Valley establishments this year's class will visit include Touchstone Research Laboratory, the Challenger Learning Center at Wheeling University, East Ohio Regional Hospital, Oglebay, the Capitol Theatre, City Hall and Independence Hall.
On top of on-the-job learning, inductees will hit the books. Each participant will receive a curated library of five leadership books and take a "Strength-Finders" talent assessment.
"I love what Jackson brings to the table and what she's doing for us to add to the already tourism-type activities we do when we tour local businesses and attractions," explained Howard. "She brings with her some great leadership training for participants to learn this year and use for hopefully many years to come in leadership.
Apart from additional leadership knowledge, Jackson will introduce a class project to the program. Inductees will come up with a project, such as a fundraising drive, and then design and develop the program to deliver as a gift to the community.
"I think what's really important about the project is that it gives participants an opportunity to work independently outside of the group," noted Jackson. "They don't want to always come to these sessions and hear me yap on and on. The project will give them the chance to get to know each other well and network better."
An alumni network spearheaded by Jackson is also in the works to connect this year's inductees with those past.
"The program has been around for 40 years, so there are a lot of alumni out in the community," noted Jackson. "I've been diligently scouring the records to try and find a list of alumni to create a network so inductees are connected to past Leadership Wheeling participants."