GREENSBORO, N.C. (Dec. 15, 2011) The eighth annual U.S. Army Forces Command Leader Development Program (FLDP) was held at the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) here Dec. 5-9 .
Twenty military-lieutenant colonels and promotable majors, along with six senior civilians- GS 13 and 14, represented FORSCOM. The mission of the program is to provide leaders with an opportunity to stimulate a process of growth by focusing on assessing and better understanding their strengths and developmental needs as leaders which will allow them to better function in leading the groups or units within which they live and work, and the organizations to which they belong.
The FORSCOM commanding general, Gen. David M. Rodriguez, opened the program by addressing the attendees.
"Over the next couple of days, I expect that you will learn a lot about your leadership style, your peers, and most importantly about yourself. It's a great opportunity to do all that," he said. "We have to develop leaders who can assess situations and then take the resources they have and accomplish the mission," he added.
"You're here to become more effective leaders, to learn, to grow, to become better. We have got to do that as an Army as we move forward. I ask that you not only spend time this week improving yourself, but think of some ways you can take back lessons to your organizations and do something with it," he concluded.
The CCL provided facilities, instructors, lunch and transportation for the FORSCOM attendees over the five day course. Participants attending the training resided in a hotel close to the CCL facility.
Dr. Clemson Turregano, a senior faculty member at the CCL and an instructor during the FORSCOM program said this about the program.
"The CCL is a feedback intensive program with a robust curriculum. Over 10,000 leaders from all branches of the government are trained here annually," he said. We have five standard curriculums that we use but all can be 'tailored' to accommodate the needs of our participants.
The CCL also takes their leadership training on-the-road and provides leadership training to other countries. "The CCL has trained Afghan officers in Afghanistan and trained senior level government officials in Iraq," he added.
Mr. Trinidad Capelo, IT Governance Team, Information, Resource Integration Division, FORSCOM G-6 [Communications] was one of the FORSCOM participants in the program.
"It helped to give me more self-awareness about myself and some areas that I thought were my strengths," he said. If they weren't my strengths, I was provided insight on how I can improve them with one-on-one sessions with professional counselors here.
"I've been to several leadership schools both in my prior military career and civilian career and this was a very unique and exceptional way to approach expanding your leadership horizons," he added.
Lt. Col. Lamar Parsons, battalion commander, 504th Military Police Battalion, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, also attended the program.
"It's one of the best leadership courses I've been to going through professional military education at all levels from OBC [Officers Basic Course], the captains' career course and CGSC [Command and General Staff College]. What this course offered that was unique was a perspective of self-reflection through honest assessment and then a creative way of defining leadership and better tools in which we can use day-to-day to make our organizations better," he said.
"You're going to learn and you're going to do self-discovery. It's an opportunity I wish all leaders had a chance to go through. The curriculum is really that good," he added.
FORSCOM selection for attendance at the CCL was very competitive. The FORSCOM Deputy Chief of Staff, G-1 [Personnel] compiled an order of merit list. The commanding general selected these 26 attendees from a list of 74 nominees submitted by FORSCOM units nationwide.
Ms. Cathleen Loomis, senior project manager at the CCL has worked with FORSCOM the past three years coordinating the logistics and operations between the CCL and FORSCOM.
"I'm more logistics and operations and helping the participants with whatever needs they have before, during and after the program," she said.
"It's clear to me that the 'vetting' process they [FORSCOM] go through is very extensive and we have the finest Army leaders here. It's just an honor for us to be able to serve the Army participants and we're very proud of the fact that they trust their leadership training with us. It's just a great pleasure to have them here," she added.
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