FRPA's Leadership Intensive Programs

FRPA's Leadership Intensive Programs are designed to build upon each other throughout the park and recreation professional's career. Below is a table to explain what topics are explored in each leadership opportunity under each general area of competency. This continuum allows for the professional to begin with the Emerging Leaders Institute and pair the sequential programs with their years of experience as they move up in an organization. These are not intended to be taken one immediately right after the other. In between each opportunity, the professional should reflect upon and use the skills learned in one before advancing to the next. It may be five to seven years between each! It just depends on your professional journey and where you find yourself at any give time.

To read more about each program, click on the corresponding logo below:

	February 19-21, 2025	February 16-19, 2025	January 28-31, 2025 & August 24-27, 2025
General Area of Competency	Emerging Leaders Institute (concentrating on the profession, in general, and the individual leader) Who should attend? New supervisors and newer to the field; those ready to develop a professional plan for their future.	Leadership Development School (building and leading your team) Who should attend? 5+ Year veteran supervisors ready to learn new skills and how to apply them to your team.	Abrahams-Jones Academy (purpose and passion for the profession; where you fit) Who should attend? Those ready to prepare themselves for highest leadership in their organization.
Welcome	History
Assessment	Strengths Based Leadership - focus on the initial discussion of strengths and areas of improvement	Strengths Based Leadership - revisit strengths relative to building teams, coaching and mentoring	Strengths Based Leadership - revisit strengths relative to building trust and relationships, how leadership contributes to culture. Also add in ethics and integrity.

History of Field	History of Profession	Telling the Story using history and data to paint the picture (introduce calculator)	Segue onto the advocacy side of what the profession is. Telling the Story to develop advocates, garner support of decision makers and community leaders, and how the pillars support the impact of the profession.

Visioning	Basic introduction to visioning - developing your personal vision	Aligning personal vision with organizational vision, and how to develop the vision in others.	Examine how your vision changes from entry to executive level positions, and how agency vision factors into culture and organizational design.

Communication	General - verbal, written, concise, communicating for the audience you want to reach, meaningful communication	Personal Presentation/Communicating with stakeholders	Media Relations and External

Critical Thinking and Decision Making	Decision making and intro to Strategic Thinking	How your decision making affects outside your team.	Strategic Planning/Thinking/Balance Scorecard/Alignment

Organizational Culture and Design	Introduction to organizational culture	Culture and Collaboration	Revisit culture as an introduction to organizational design - these are future directors who will have the opportunity to design their agency

People Management	Building A Team - selecting the right person, working with problem employees, difficult conversations, identifying strengths/weakness of your team	Active recruitment, selection, hiring, coaching and developing your team, conflict resolution, delegation and feedback	Progression planning - developing yourself and developing capacity in others (seeding your bench).

Change Management	Change management (communication); prioritization	Setting Priorities; Delegation With Impact; Change Management (identifying)

Reporting Mechanisms and Evaluations	-	Needs Assessment, Evaluation of Impact and Value	Disciplined Execution - using all the plans to develop, evaluate, and refine

Budgeting	Price strategy and cost analysis, direct vs indirect costs, reporting and how to operate within a budget.	Revenue management, alternative resources analyzing operating data, developing a budget.	Understanding big picture finance - funding sources, tracking mechanisms, budget support of vision, fee schedules and policies.

Planning	Time management for yourself and others. Tracking tools.	Project Management	Planning - CIP management, project management, forecasting

Advocacy / Relationships	Advocacy on the level of parents, leagues, friends groups, partners, etc. Small Scale - more unit level.	Seeking Community Input - community engagement. Higher level of relationship building relative to community partners, long lasting partnerships.	Split out into History and External Relations - navigating the political environment, trust, effective relationships

Progression Planning	Individual/personal goals and professional track.	Setting yourself and organization up for future success.	Discuss importance