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the hosting the retreat and the future of leadership training and development for Kappa’s leadership.
annual leadership retreat as well with their respective leadership teams.
magic happens. That’s when we see mo- mentum towards the type of effective- ness, change, improvements and results that makes us more significant and relevant as an organization. Organiza- tions get into trouble—from an opera- tional effectiveness perspective—when leaders don’t operate in their respective leadership space and try to manage (or micromanage) when there is a demand for leadership. It throws everything out of balance resulting in dysfunction, and ultimately an underperforming culture.
Q: Why did you select the theme “Leadership versus Management” for this year’s retreat? McMikle: Kappa Alpha Psi is an or- ganization of such a size and complexity that we need our leaders to lead at every level. That may sound simple enough in theory, but that’s not really always the case with execution. That’s one of the reasons why there can be such a variance in performance. It’s vitally important to clearly define the expecta- tion of leadership with the leaders who have the responsibility of leading others in their respective roles and space. But it’s just as (if not more) important that your leaders first understand the differ- ence between leadership and manage- ment if operational excellence is a goal. We often throw certain leadership terms around as though they’re interchange- able but they’re not. So, I wanted to establish a foundation or a baseline of understanding from which we could continue to move forward as a leader- ship team with an expectation of how we will lead. When leadership and management work together in an integrated fashion,
Q: What is the importance of host- ing an executive leadership retreat?
McMikle: There are a couple important reasons. First, is the benefit and need to get your leadership team on the same page, to set and align strategic goals and objectives, team build, create synergy and expand leadership capacity. Secondly, retreats spark innova- tive thinking and perspective chang- ing experiences if facilitated correctly. Harnessing and channeling that energy is productive and always bodes well for an organization. Retreats should challenge a leader’s thought processes, pushing them out of their comfort zones to stimulate personal growth and lead towards the accomplishment of greater results (individually and collectively). Q: This was the second executive leadership retreat that you have facili- tated during the 34 th administration’s time in office. Should we expect these executive retreats to be the new stan- dard mode of operation for leadership training in Kappa Alpha Psi? McMikle: Absolutely. We are an organization that operates under the banner, “Training for Leadership.” That can’t just be a statement that we claim. It’s a motto that we must live by. Effective leadership of any organiza- tion starts at the top. We have to set the standard of expectation and opera- tional excellence at the highest levels of fraternal leadership if we expect the rest of our fraternity to lead accordingly. That’s why we’ll continue to leverage the executive retreat as a regular tool to sharpen the senior leadership and move the fraternity forward. But leadership retreats need to oc- cur at every level of our fraternity. Our undergraduate and alumni chapters should be hosting a leadership retreat every summer with their newly elected officers. Our provinces should host an
Q: Was the retreat all work, or did you incorporate any play?
McMikle: We are a fraternity… and the bond of fraternity is the most important part of who we are, so we had to incorporate some play time after each day’s work was done. We had a great mix of team building, bonding and evening food and fellowship time. However, we did it responsibly. Because of the Coronavirus pandemic, we took the precautions to fellowship in our own self-contained bubble. We had a local restaurant sponsor that closed their dining room for our exclusive use one evening. On another night, a corporate sponsor teamed up with the Hartford Alumni Chapter to pay for an impressive
Senior Grand Vice Polemarch Jimmy McMikle and Junior Grand Vice Polemarch Myles Miller listen intently to a leadership retreat particiant's point..
THE JOURNAL ♦ WINTER 2021 - SPRING 2022
PUBLISHING ACHIEVEMENT IN EVERY FIELD OF HUMAN ENDEAVOR
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