LEC Attendees Explore Evolving Leadership, Shifting Demands

The 2024 SIOP Leading Edge Consortium (LEC): Developing Leaders in a Shifting World brought together business professionals from various industries to network, learn, and exchange information in Minneapolis late last month.

If you missed the LEC, catch up on what you missed in this episode of The Edge of Work podcast, which features SIOP Fellow and LEC Co-Chair Shonna Waters, SIOP Members Trish Vassar and Richard Chambers, and LEC presenter Sofia Lamuraglia sharing insight into how to lead effectively in a changing workplace.

Led by Waters and LEC Co-Chair José David, the planning committee assembled a high-quality educational program, featuring nearly 30 experts with diverse backgrounds in leadership, coaching, technology, business, law, and public health. In addition to the 2-day event, attendees had the opportunity to participate in workshops on coaching’s impact on learning agility and talent agendas.

“The consortium theme was developing leaders for a shifting world,” Waters said. “We heard the imperative for three angles on that problem: humans, business, and technology, as well as the need to take multiple perspectives and help people navigate complexity and ambiguity.”

Attendees heard from speakers on various topics including DEI perspectives in leadership, leadership data, leading during a crisis, and integrating coaching with technology-driven solutions. Sessions included panel discussions, forums, fireside chats, case studies, and keynotes.

One attendee shared this on their post-event survey: “Great speakers, space, and networking opportunities. Keynotes were both great!”

The first keynote featured Peter Fasolo, from Johnson & Johnson, with a “C-Suite Perspective on Leadership in Organizations.” The second featured Kelsey Mederios from the University of Nebraska Omaha on “Leadership During Crisis: Only the Strong Survive?”

“The importance of leaders in creating a multiplicative impact on the success of their organizations points organizations to focus keenly and invest vigorously in developing more leaders and greater capabilities within them,” David said. “With the pace of change leaders are facing, it is critical for practitioners to identify the ways to best support them and accelerate their growth.”

Attendees left the LEC equipped with actionable strategies to design and implement cutting-edge leadership development initiatives tailored to their organization's needs as they learned:

• What’s changed and what hasn’t in terms of what it means to be a leader
• New leadership success factors for the evolving world of work, such as the hybrid model and sociopolitical volatility
• How organizations are effectively developing leaders at scale
• Ways organizations are providing personalized development, including using coaching and technology
• Successful solutions and proven practitioner strategies from real-world case studies

Seeing old connections and making new ones was also a takeaway several attendees noted on the post-event survey.

The SIOP LEC continued its tradition of providing advanced knowledge and skills for all attendees. Planning for professional development opportunities next year outside the 2025 SIOP Annual Conference is already underway. More details will be shared in spring 2025.