Leadership Walton Class 2019-2020 Kicked off in August
It just happened…we just kicked off our 2019-2020 Leadership Walton Class with 24 participants!
With almost 60 nominations and over 40 applications, this year was tough on the Leadership Walton Selection Committee to select only 24 to participate; however, they made it happen. When making the selections, the committee always looks for diversity in types of business, areas in the county, ethnicity as well as reviews the applications and the reasons why someone wants to participate.
This new group of 24 bonded well in Dahlonega at Forrest Hills Resort August 15 & 16 at their Retreat which started with an afternoon of team building activities followed by the great “Walton’s Got Talent” talent show. Most of this year’s class only knew 2-3 people prior to the retreat so it was fun to watch the connections happen. During the team building activities we discovered multiple ways of communication-verbal and non-verbal, working together as a team to make an activity happen and worked to build trust within the group.
On Friday, we focused on individual thinking styles and how best to work with others who don’t think like you do, pointing out potential conflicts with the various style differences. One of the new training activities this year included “Networking for Success Tips” and “How to write an effective Elevator Pitch”. The class will be able to practice these at the Walton Chamber Networking Breakfast August 28th.
Throughout this year, the group will go on a Walton County Scavenger hunt and have a close look into many community operations including Public Safety-fire, police, sheriff, jail, 911, EMS and EMA; Healthcare; Government – city, county and state; Economic Development – recruitment and existing industries; Non-Profits in Walton; and others that make Walton tick.
Thank you to Kevin Little, Hank Shirley & Kenny Smiley for going on the Retreat with us and helping with the activities. Kevin has chaired and c0-chaired our LW classes for several years now and he and Hank will co-chair our Leadership Walton class this year.
Welcome these members to the 2019-2020 Leadership Walton Class: Eva Aycock, Doug Blevins, Gloria Briscoe, Gary Carson, Gretchen Christie, Tonya Cole, Tim Elliott, Susan Farrow, Daphne Faulkner, Danny Ford, Joel Garrison, Brian Hobbs, Carla Joyner, Andrew Kenneson, Christie Key, Adrienne Little, Miranda McWaters, Barry Parsons, Charles Phillips, Brian Roth, Tim Tallant, Leslie Watson, James Williamson and Dawn Young.