Leadership Focus 1: Kick-off at Hoffman Challenge Course

Leadership Focus Session 1: Kick-off at Hoffman Challenge Course

This is the kick-off session for the fall Leadership Focus, a series of workshops that are held over the course of the semester. The Leadership Focus is taught by Clint Sidle, director of the Park Fellows Program, and is open to all Johnson students.

Leadership Focus Overview
The Leadership Focus program follows a progressive leadership development sequence that starts in the fall. This sequence covers broad areas of the leadership experience – first, discovering leadership (defining what leadership is, especially for oneself), and then, applying leadership through the development of personal, interpersonal, team and system mastery skills. This kick-off workshop is recommended to those taking the Leadership Focus and to others who are interested in learning about teams and leadership in a live setting. (Please note that students can attend the Hoffman Challenge Course LSP even if they are not able to participate in the rest of the Leadership Focus series.)

Session 1: Hoffman Challenge Course
The workshop serves to introduce the Leadership Focus and develop the group as a team by placing participants into hands-on learning situations. These learning activities include a progressive series of group initiatives and individual challenges in both low and high elements that are designed to address issues of leadership, communication, planning, and trust. They are minimally physical, somewhat unconventional enjoyable activities. Most challenges are impossible to solve alone, and each may require a different approach. Skilled trainers assist groups in drawing lessons from these experiences.

The program will be conducted at the Hoffman Challenge Course. The Hoffman Challenge Course is a premier, state-of-the-art facility, completed in the fall of 1997 on scenic Mt. Pleasant in Varna NY. Incorporating many recent innovations in challenge course design and technology, the Hoffman course has an extensive range of both low and high element challenges. Retaining the traditional challenge course focus on personal exhilaration, the Hoffman Course places a special emphasis on teamwork and group problem solving.

What Students are Saying about the Hoffman Challenge Course LSP

"This is a fantastic program. It made me think about what makes an effective leader."

"I learned a lot about leading teams and how to directly apply these concepts to the work environment."

"I got a lot of great feedback about myself and had a ton of fun!"

"The quality of the course was amazing and the debriefing sessions gave me quality takeaways that will apply to my future work."

Important Notes: Please wear closed-toe shoes and comfortable clothes suited for light activity.  Breakfast and Lunch will be provided.

Directions to the Hoffman Challenge Course:

• From the Cornell Fieldhouse follow Campus Road to Judd Falls Road
• Turn right onto Judd Falls Road to Rte. 366
• Turn left onto Rte. 366 and follow into the Town of Varna (about 2 miles)
• In Varna, make a right onto Mt. Pleasant Road. Follow for exactly 2.7 miles
• At 2.7 miles just before the observatory, turn left and park in the gravel parking lot
• Walk in along the tree line about 1000 feet to the HCC.?

Fall Leadership Focus Schedule
All classroom sessions are held from 4:25pm to 5:40pm. Please click on the links below to register for other sessions.

Area: Discovering Leadership (what is it?)

• 09/13/2014--Session 1 (Full-day kick off): Hoffman Challenge Course at Cornell Outdoor Education Center
• 09/22/2014--Session 2 (75-minute classroom session): Leadership Theory
• 09/29/2014--Session 3 (75-minute classroom session): Transformational Leadership

Area: Personal Mastery (managing self)

• 10/15/2014--Session 4 (75-minute classroom session): The Leadership Wheel
• 10/27/2014--Session 5 (75-minute classroom session): Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
• 11/12/2014--Session 6 (75-minute classroom session): Emotional Intelligence

Area: Interpersonal Mastery (managing relationships)

• 11/17/2013--Session 7 (75-minute classroom session): Difficult Conversations

Structure and Credit
In an effort to develop and maintain the cohort of learning partners effectively, the Leadership Focus is offered as a series of workshops that take place over the fall semester. The entire series for the fall semester will be offered as 0.5 LSP credits on a pass/fail basis. Students receive 0.2 LSP credits for attending the Hoffman Challenge Course, and then must attend at least five of the six classroom sessions in order to earn the remaining 0.3 LSP credits.

(Please note: You can register for the Hoffman Challenge Course without signing up for the rest of the series. Classroom sessions, however, are only open to those students participating in the full series.)