Going to the Future to Develop Transportation Leadership Skills

Abstract

The Leadership Development Institute of the Colorado Department of Transportation is an innovative program for developing leadership skills in its engineering-based organization. During a 9-day residential program, participating top-level managers take on various leadership roles to bring a hypothetical but realistic transportation district through its first year—2011. They organize the district, establish relationships with stakeholders and customers, evaluate, and improve organizational effectiveness. The intent of the exercises is to provide feedback to the managers and to encourage them to try the new leadership behaviors they experience when they return to the workplace. The steps involved in implementing the Leadership Development Institute include the development of the future-oriented scenario, definition of relevant leadership skills and tasks, design of 18 experiential exercises, involvement of participants in giving and receiving feedback, support of transfer of the training to the workplace, and evaluation of the program results. Observations and surveys indicate that participants find the program engrossing and realistic, and they experience improvements in their leadership skills in areas such as stakeholder orientation and communications with employees.