At this year’s Council of State Archivists (CoSA) Annual Meeting Work Session in July our own Jim Kichas reported on his learning opportunities as part of the CoSA-Ancestry Leadership Award he had received. Patricia Smith-Mansfield and Ken Williams nominated Jim for the award to help him in his new position as Archives Manager here at the Utah State Archives and Records Service.
CoSA paired up with Ancestry to award the CoSA-Ancestry Leadership Award in an effort “to facilitate next generation leadership development.” The COSA-Ancestry leadership award funds a leadership opportunity for mid-level managers at state and territorial archives. The goal of these opportunities is to support the up-and-coming managers, to “improve job performance, professional knowledge and skills, and to enhance leadership capabilities, particularly as they relate to fostering collaboration, interdisciplinary project management and strategic thinking.”
With this understanding, Jim used his opportunity to attend a Dale Carnegie Leadership Training for Managers. This three-day training focused on a number of topics through interactive group training and exercises and was a prime opportunity for Jim to evaluate his personal leadership style. Jim described it as
an important professional development opportunity that has led to real, identifiable changes in myself, my leadership style, and how that style directs action at my institution. My single biggest takeaway is that, while I’m far from a perfect leader, I do have the capability to learn from my successes and my mistakes and iteratively improve my overall leadership capacity and capabilities.
Congrats on your award, Jim!