Registration is now open for AIM’s Emerging Leaders program.
The program is geared toward information technology professionals interested in transitioning into leadership roles. Classes within the program offer the real-world experience of existing IT leaders to help participants gain a better understanding of the issues, challenges and skills needed to advance in their careers.
“It’s targeted at people who have been good technical employees, whether that’s been a programmer or network engineer or a business analyst or project manager,” said AIM Events Director Dave Vankat. “Whatever the role might be, there’s a number of people who are good in their technical skills who are thinking, do they want to make a transition into more of a leadership or management role within their organization?”
The program runs from April 26 through June 21. The group meets for one afternoon every other Thursday, with the exception of the last session, which is a full day. Topics include communication skills, resource optimization, performance improvement and relationship building.
“When you move up within an organization, a lot of the success is based on the relationships that you build, and understanding that organization, and how you develop those relationships so you can be successful,” said Vankat.
The conversations draw on real-life examples to illustrate the demands and decision-making involved in leading teams.
“One of the things we do in the program is that we have ‘day in the life of’ scenarios,” said Vankat. “We start each session with a real-life scenario or issue, which some of the existing leaders have had to deal with. They ask the class, here is the scenario, how would you deal with this?”
Another goal is to help organizations identify and grow future leaders.
“Every organization has a need to develop future leaders, whether it’s from attrition, retirement, people leaving the organization––they need to have a ready slate of candidates who might be able to fill those roles now, so that’s what the program is targeted to help,” said Vankat.
Registration for the Emerging Leaders program is open from now until through April 20. For more information, go to http://careerlink.com/lp/emerging-leaders-program/