The Charlotte Regional Business Alliance hosted the first session of the Emerging Business Leaders (EBL) Class 13 cohort on Thursday.
EBL is the CLT Alliance’s seven-month immersive leadership and talent development program for high potential, diverse professionals. The program is designed to enhance leadership capabilities and connect high-performing peers from various sectors in the Charlotte Region who will ultimately create a competitive advantage for the region’s workforce and economy.
Attendees met at the Queens University Sports Complex & Conference Center in south Charlotte for the program’s first session.
Laura Foor, the CLT Alliance’s vice president of external affairs, kicked off the session. Then, the cohort was led by Paul Joyce, executive director of the Queens University Executive Leadership Institute, and Elizabeth Rohan, assistant director at the institute.
Rohan led the cohort in an icebreaker exercise to help everyone get to know each other. Everyone stood in a circle as she asked her first question:
“Step into the middle if you are a native of North Carolina.”
The participants answered more complex prompts about their identities, too. Some discussed what it was like to be a parent at work. Others talked about being a person of color at their companies, saying it was an asset but could also be exhausting.
The cohort was then prompted to examine 23 personality trait cards laid out at each table. Each person selected a trait that was important to their leadership role at work. Participants at one table said tact, concentration, and perfectionism helped them interpret situations and respond as the faces of their companies.
Joyce invited the cohort to use a personality profile to examine how their traits and behaviors impact their leadership responsibilities. After each section of the exercise, Joyce and Rohan presented a scenario to the cohort and asked them to apply what they had learned about personality to each situation.
Participants contributed their thoughts and experiences, getting into lively discussions about how each category applied to them and their workplaces.
EBL is just getting started. For the next several months, Class 13 will be challenged and motivated to go outside their comfort zone and take their leadership skills to the next level. Cohort members will confront tough topics like polarity management, ethical leadership, difficult conversations and more.
