Submitted photo Tyler Knutson (standing), Technical Director of the Yellow Medicine Soil and Water Conservation District, successfully completed a one-year leadership development program. Knutson is pictured exercising his skills as a group leader.

CLARKFIELD – Tyler Knutson, Technical Director of the Yellow Medicine Soil and Water Conservation District, successfully completed a one-year leadership development program sponsored by the Minnesota Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts (MASWCD).

Knutson says he has already put the invaluable skills, relationships and confidence in his leadership and followership abilities to work at the SWCD and in the community.

“I cannot say enough about this program and its applicability in my life and community involvement, let alone my career,” Knutson said. “The principles and theories discussed and practice help to transcend issues that all people, families, communities, businesses, and organizations face.

“The most beneficial for me were the development of a shared vision, understanding leadership and followership types, personality interactions, conflict styles, and having difficult conversations,” he said.

The 2017-18 MASWCD Leadership Program brought together 32 participants from across the state to strengthen their leadership capacity for conservation work in Minnesota.

The group was comprised of local SWCD staff such as Knutson as well as locally elected Soil and Water Conservation District supervisors,staff from the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources and regional staff from the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

The group met for seven multi-day sessions to study and practice leadership topics including building personal leadership skills, the leader-follower relationship, developing a vision, practicing ethical leadership, strengthening team leadership, facilitation as a leadership skill and working with stakeholders in public issues.

One particular session stood out for Knutson. “During our last session, we dove into a fascinating fresh buzzword known as ‘neuro-leadership’,” he said. “It deals with what it is happening and why it happens in the brain as people are faced with change.”

Not just how they react, he said, but how every functioning human brain reacts to something different occurring, especially when it is at the hands of a decision of another person.

“Dr. David Rock has developed a model of this expanding study area and has worked on a large amount of literature,” Knutson said.

 A thread in all of the topics covered by the instructors, Lisa Hinz, professor and Kim Boyce, retired professor, Knutson said, was the development of confidence to overcome and the understanding of the challenges that exist to becoming an effective leader or follower.

“As MASWCD Executive Director LeAnn Buck puts it, ‘Know thy self, and embrace your weaknesses’,” Knutson said. “In the past year, I have elevated myself to several leadership roles, with that growth I have also learned to ‘say no’ sometimes. A task easy for some, and difficult for me.”

Both learning experiences have allowed Knutson to become a better friend, family member, volunteer firefighter, community involved person, and public servant in local government, he said.

 “As readers go forward, I encourage them to take part in experiences that test their limits in their effectiveness of family, community, business and individually,” Knutson said. “It is a truly rewarding experience to take part in any level of leadership, communication and effectiveness development.

“I used to see a difficult conversation or argument as a painful, harrowing experience,” he said. “I now know them to be great challenges and opportunities to move forward and grow.”

This was the eleventh group to complete the statewide leadership program; more than 225 SWCD staff and supervisors have completed the program since 1996. The content is designed and delivered by current and former staff of the University of Minnesota Extension.

For further information about the MASWCD Leadership Institute, contact the Minnesota Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts at 651-690-9028 or visit the MASWCD website at www.maswcd.org.