TN Adjutant General Hosts Inaugural Leadership Academy

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Military Department is conducting the inaugural Adjutant General’s Leadership Academy this year at Montgomery Bell State Park to develop future leaders within the Military Department.

“With so many of our people currently in supervisory and management positions ready to retire, the Academy helps develop more people to be ready to step up and take on those leadership positions in the future,” said Tom Simmons, Talent Management Director for the Military Department.

The Adjutant General, Maj. Gen. Max Haston, himself selects which applicants will attend the academy. Ten were selected this year for the one-year program that began in January. Other State agencies in Tennessee have been offering leadership academies of their own, but this is the first for the Military Department.

 “The course is designed to teach priority setting; determining what is urgent and what is important,” said Steve Chester, the Learning Facilitator Supervisor for the course.

Overall, the Academy is designed to develop leadership abilities in ten different competency areas. Those areas are problem solving, creativity, time-management, command skills, managing vision and purpose, active listening, action orientation, organizational agility, integrity and trust, and developing direct reports and others.

“The leadership abilities learned are introspective to each individual,” said Simmons. “It is an interactive process, not just attending a class.”

Students are required to attend six 2-day summits, held every other month that are managed by the Department of Human Resources. In between summits, they have several books to read. Students are then placed in groups and must present on topics from the books at the summits. The second of these summits was conducted Montgomery Bell State Park in Burns, Tenn., April 10-11.

“The students are usually very geographically separated, so they must find a way to work together to accomplish this even when unable to meet in person,” explained Simmons.

“The goal is to break down the silos,” he added. “It enables the individuals to see where they fit in the bigger picture – more than just what they see about what they do in their own work areas.”

There is a focus on two of the competency areas during each summit.

Anyone who is interested in attending next year’s TAG Leadership Academy can begin applying in October 2017. It is open to all Tennessee National Guard members and Military Department State employees who manage people and/or programs in the State. 

 

The class members of the inaugural Tennessee Adjutant General Leadership Academy at Montgomery Bell State Park in Burns, Tenn., on April 11. “The course is designed to teach priority setting; determining what is urgent and what is important,” he said. (Photo by Staff Sgt. William Jones/TNARNG).

 

Clarksville native, Steve Chester, who is the learning facilitator supervisor for the Tennessee Adjutant General Leadership Academy,  instructs a class on time management during the Academy’s second summit meeting at Montgomery Bell State Park in Burns, Tenn., on April 11. (Photo by Staff Sgt. William Jones/TNARNG).