Town employees graduate from first professional development course

Aside from on-the-job training, Town Manager Howard Tipton said the town wanted to do more for employees’ professional growth and development. 

Last fall, the town sent out an employee engagement survey and found that was one of the key desires identified by the town’s employees. That led Tipton and town staff to develop the ENGAGE program, which the first 14 graduates completed on June 5. 

“ENGAGE was our first attempt at providing a broader professional enrichment experience for employees,” Tipton said. “If we’re not growing and developing, it’s hard to keep up with our ever-changing reality.”

When thinking about who he could entrust to develop and run the program, Tipton said his No. 1 choice was Support Services Director Carolyn Brown.

The program began in January during an introduction meeting where the class heard from Tipton. Then followed two days of “crucial conversations training” in February — an assessment about the five archetypes, viewing three “TED Talk” videos, reading two assigned books and taking two LocalGov U courses that the employees chose. 

On June 5, the first “class” of ENGAGE graduates convened in town hall along with Tipton, Mayor Ken Schneier and the town’s department heads. The 14 graduates were from all over the town’s departments, including Public Works, Tennis, Human Resources, Finance, Town Clerk and Planning, Zoning and Building. 

“This graduation is a testament to your courage to step out of your comfort zone. You’ve shown that it's never too late to learn and to grow,” Brown said to the graduates. 

Aside from the required courses, reading materials and videos, everyone seemed to agree that one of the biggest parts of the program was getting to know other town employees, both personally and professionally. 

“Getting to know each other a little better in this class, I hope, is one of the things that you’ve enjoyed most,” Tipton said to the graduates. “Spending time focused together can be enriching as you grow to appreciate the unique perspectives that we all bring, and understanding that it takes all of us in the workplace to see the whole picture.”

Photo by Carter Weinhofer

Cecilia Imbriaco, who works in the Finance Department, spoke about her key takeaways from the inaugural program and said that all the material learned throughout the course could be applied to both professional endeavors and everyday life. 

The simplest way to put it, she explained, is like an “attitude adjustment” that transforms a mindset from “going to work” to “going to experience new things.” 

“You get to make someone’s day better,” Imbriaco said. “And, through the program, I have learned how to do that a little more effectively with kindness and respect for other people.”

Public Works employee Rich Walters said his favorite parts were learning about everyone’s different archetypes. The archetypes — wood, fire, metal, water and earth — correspond to different personality types. 

In a professional setting, it helps to know each person’s archetype when talking through ideas and conflict, Walters said. 

“I really enjoyed that portion, specifically because it kind of informed me about others and their attributes,” Walters said.

Overall, Tipton said that different results in the workplace come from engaging your mind, and courses like the ones in the ENGAGE program were an attempt to activate a growth mindset for the town employees. 

“If you’ve learned nothing else, I hope you take away that life is a journey, and if we’re closed off to new ideas and viewpoints, then we’ll be stuck in a fixed mindset,” Tipton said to the graduates.