Dear Big Goal Partners, The purpose of this communication is to seek commitments for industry representatives to participate in the Gallup Strengths Coaching training the week of March 2 to the 6th. The course market value is $7,500 and is in direct support of our region’s Big Goal career connection efforts. Despite the near term setback with the Lilly Endowment, we remain committed to the career connection strategy that we outlined as exactly the game-changing effort this region needs to engage our high school students with the high-wage, high-growth jobs in your industry. Our students must be prepared for the jobs of the future, and we understand that you need an incoming workforce prepared and motivated to help your company grow. With this in mind, we are moving forward with a pilot of the strengths-based career connection effort we spoke with you about in the summer. You may recall that this effort will connect students directly to representatives of our region’s target industries that have been trained and certified as Gallup Strengths Coaches. Gallup Strengths Coaching is a professional development model that focuses on developing the student and employee strengths rather than mitigating weaknesses. It’s been employed by Fortune 500 companies around the globe, as well as in schools and universities. We believe this approach provides a foundation for a “common language” for the career connection that we know is critical to the development of our talent pipeline in Northeast Indiana. We have arranged for Gallup to come to Fort Wayne the week of March 2nd through March 6th to train 20 Strengths Based Coaches. We aim to have ten coaches from industry as well as ten from our New Tech high school partners. We are seeking a commitment for an individual from your company to participate in this valuable training and subsequent coaching. This is a week-long training session that will occur in Fort Wayne. Participants will be required to attend the entire 4 ¼ day training to achieve certification. Your designated employee will receive the full course value of $7,500 in professional development expertise (at no cost to companies aside from their time commitment). The course will provide the knowledge and certification for participants to:
- Help others understand their talents and how to use them to produce results and reach their goals.
- Advise on how to overcome obstacles, weaknesses, and vulnerabilities.
- Educate others about how to use strengths to transform their relationships.
- Help individuals understand their unique strengths in the context of others.
- Help managers use strengths-based techniques to address specific team-related issues.
- Teach teams use their unique talents for greater productivity.
The attached PDF provides additional information on the course and a description of Strengths Coaching Certification can be found at: https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/Purchase/en-US/Certification The ideal candidate from your company would be an individual with a firm understanding of your industry and one who works well with other team members. This coach will ultimately connect to high school students, so they should be comfortable with this demographic and show potential for leadership and developing others. We believe that this would be an exceptional professional development opportunity for emerging leaders or Human Resource professionals. Please respond to Carrie Gillenwater at carrie@neindiana.com by Monday January 19 if you are able to commit to this training. If you are able to commit, please provide us with that person’s name and email who will participate as early as possible. We have 10 available slots, so placement will be on a first come, first serve basis. Please do not hesitate to contact John Sampson (469-3471) or Ryan Twiss (469-3464) if you should have questions on the details. Our sincere thanks for your support!