Ontario’s Aspiring Leaders graduate with great aspirations!

Most times when a new program is introduced that involves substantial commitment from a large group of people, it takes time, maybe even years to gain momentum. Not true for GROWMARK’s Aspiring Leaders Program that was just recently introduced in 2015. In its first year, GROWMARK put almost 100 FS System employees from Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and Ontario through the multi-faceted three-month leadership program that involved several training sessions on GROWMARK, leadership styles, accounting and finance, communications and government relations. 

Participants received daily readings and exercises to stimulate their knowledge base and help them look inward and develop strengths and weaknesses, and were also asked to keep a daily personal journal.

The best way to understand the value of a program is to listen to what participants are saying. These are some of the comments we heard from Ontario FS System employees about their experiences:

 “I felt both needed and wanted by mentor.”

 “I never worked with this group before, and now we are friends!”

“Brand yourself; join groups that matter to you, define what success is for you!”

 “Journaling was something very new to me, but my mentor held me accountable!” 

Last Friday, Ontario GROWMARK System employees that took part in the Aspiring Leaders program came together to present their final group presentations to other aspiring leaders, their mentors and managers from various member companies and GROWMARK Ontario region staff.

Teams of three and four were responsible for picking their topics and preparing for this day. Group topics covered a number of team building and leadership concepts as well as insight into consumer misunderstandings about agriculture and food production. 

Congratulations to the following Ontario Aspiring Leaders graduates!

From (L-R), back row: Carrie Kuhns of GROWMARK and program facilitator, Ontario graduates: Paul May (UPI Energy LP), Chris Albrecht (FS PARTNERS), Robyn Pool (AGRIS Co-operative), Luke Siertsema (Huron Bay Co-operative), Matt Minshall (AGRIS Co-operative), Jackie Rodgers (UPI Energy LP), Cindy Charlebois, (GROWMARK Ontario region), Jeff Wilson (County Farm Centre), Lucas Meyer (FS PARTNERS). Front row: Nicole Weber (FS PARTNERS), Larry Croft (FS PARTNERS), Holly Becker (Huron Bay Co-operative), Claire Mumford (UPI Energy LP), Kyle Beatty (County Farm Centre), Sharon Fleming (FS PARTNERS), Brady Debruyn (AGRIS Co-operative) and Jason Murray (FS PARTNERS).