Commander charges Leadership Development Program graduates to rise to the occasion

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Sept. 13, 2024) – Participants finished the second level of the Leadership Development Program Wednesday during a graduation ceremony at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District Headquarters.

Lt. Col. Robert Green, Nashville District commander, congratulated graduates for their accomplishment while sharing helpful tidbits of his leadership perspective gained from many years of experience serving as district engineer and from mentors during his Army career.

“Leadership is really important to talk about,” Green said. “The idea of it is incredibly simple, but the application is incredibly difficult. I hope you’ve learned that leadership is not really about positions, but about the value you get to impart on those around you and the impact you have on our collective ability as an organization.”

The commander said he hopes the course has planted these seeds in each and every graduate. He added that he is always impressed with the candidates who complete the program and enjoys hearing about their experiences, what they plan to take away from the leadership program, and how they plan to apply it in the future.

“We need you to be the future leaders of the district,” Green said. “Hopefully you see yourself rising to the occasion as we face new and difficult challenges. We need leaders to step up and say, ‘I’ll bring the team together. We’ll put our heads together and we’ll figure out how to solve this.’”

The Nashville District’s Leadership Development Program Level Two is open to supervisors and group leaders who are potentially future leaders of the organization. The course develops participants’ self-awareness of personal strengths and weaknesses and their understanding of current USACE leaders’ visions and values to effectively lead others.

Training sessions were held between February and September at Corps and Army facilities across the region, including Fort Campbell in Kentucky, Cheatham Dam in Ashland City, Center Hill Dam in Lancaster, Cordell Hull Dam in Carthage, the Army Reserve Center in Nashville, and Old Hickory Dam in Hendersonville. The class participated in community services projects, including planting a tree at Mystery Park in Ashland City and volunteering at the Nashville Urban Runoff 5k and Water Quality Festival at Shelby Park.

Participants also helped organize and participate in the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) outreach at Antioch Middle School. As part of their class project, they developed a student outreach Standard Operating Procedure handbook with activities, supply lists, and after-action reports to improve the efficiency, continuity, and growth of student outreach efforts to communities in the district’s area of operations. The class will make these resources available to employees involved with community outreach efforts.

Kelley Peck, civil engineer and chief of the Water Resources Section in the Hydrology and Hydraulics Branch, served as the LDP II program facilitator. She explained that the course provided a blend of practical skills, core values and meaningful connections, and participants embarked on a journey of personal and professional development.

“They were taught topics such as emotional intelligence and behavior communication, retrospectively analyzing how they and others manage emotion and communicate under these emotions,” Peck said. “Through the course of eight months, I have seen a lot of growth in the participants. And I can confidently say that these leaders are prepared to make a significant impact within our organization and beyond.”

Dr. Michael Evans of Evans and Associates, Inc., professional instructor with a decade of experience instructing the Nashville District’s LDP groups, worked with the class to enhance professional and leadership skills. In the course he covered emotional intelligence with self-management, social awareness, and managing relationships.

Students learned course material through lecture, applied lessons through role playing exercises, built relationships through team building events, and practiced public speaking through literature presentations and mock interviews.

Evans encouraged participants to step out of their values and what they believe and at least listen to what others have to say, without compromising themselves as individuals.

“You have all of the tools,” Dr. Evans said. “That’s all your district did. They gave me the authority or the reigns to be able to drop seeds. You all made the choice what to do with it and you’ll make the choice what to do with it from this point forward.”

During the graduation ceremony, students spoke about what they took away from the course of instruction and team building activities.

Jason Baltz, environmental engineer and point of contact for hazardous, toxic, and radioactive waste in the Nashville District, said he applied for the course because he relished the opportunity for self-examination.

He said throughout the process of the program, there were two main lessons learned that impressed him. The first is that fear is the enemy.

“We can’t be afraid to take on new roles. We can’t be afraid to step outside of our comfort zone. We can’t be afraid of failing. I think failure can be a great teacher if we let it,” Baltz said. “I know some really effective leaders have struggled with failures and they’ve learned from it. I think fear and leadership cannot occupy the same space.”

The second lesson learned is leadership is not about focusing just on oneself. It’s about helping others to improve and maybe become effective leaders too, he said.

“Effective leadership involves getting the best out of others by serving them. How can we get the best out of our teammates, individually or as a group?” Baltz added. “We do that by meeting their needs. We do that by being patient with them. We do that by being respectful of them, and then by setting the example ourselves through our own sacrifice.”

Samantha Godsey, a maintenance engineer in Eastern Kentucky, said that this course has been an invaluable investment to herself and the mission.

“This has been an invaluable investment, and not just in me, but in the mission,” Godsey said. “We can form a more cohesive structure by embracing creativity, learning in a professional space, and managing constructive conflict. People strengthen resilience in our teams as we work to balance competing demands and be good stewards of public trust.”

The class completed its final lecture session with profound words from Maj. Jesse Davis, Nashville District deputy commander, and rounded out the program with a team building session Aug. 10 on a high-ropes course at Nashville Adventure Park.

The graduation formally recognized the class’s accomplishment and culminates the part-time, multi-faceted professional development program designed to systematically advance leadership skills of Nashville District employees.

The graduates are Dylon Anderson, Caleb Ayres, Jason Baltz, Jonathan Bartusiak, Samantha “Dani” Bautch, Mary “Ginger” Bennett, Zachary Cody Corlew, Marc Dolder, Ashley A. Fuentes, Samantha Godsey, Sulaiman “Sam” Jaser, William Mackie, Aric J. Payne, Sarah Peace, Bradley Potts, and Daniel Rennaker.

Peck announced that Karli Pabian will be taking over as lead facilitator for the Level one program in 2025 and that Ashley Fuentes has been selected as the next program co-facilitator. Applications for the 2025 LDPI course opens this fall.

Story by Lee Roberts. The public can obtain news, updates and information from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District on the district’s website at?https://www.lrd.usace.army.mil/About/Districts/Nashville-District/ , on Facebook at?www.facebook.com/nashvillecorps ?and on X (formerly Twitter) at?www.twitter.com/nashvillecorps .?Follow us on LinkedIn for the latest Nashville District employment and contracting opportunities at?https://www.dhirubhai.net/company/u-s-army-corps-of-engineers-nashville-district .