Emerging Leaders Academy (ELA)
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The Emerging Leaders Academy (ELA) is a professional development program for public sector employees. The program prepares promising nonmanagerial staff for leadership roles in their departments and organizations.
This work has never been more crucial, as many organizations are facing leadership retirements or vacancies without succession plans to promote existing staff into those roles.
Participants learn the qualities of good leaders, participate in coaching sessions with mentors, and develop personal leadership philosophies that they bring back to the workplace in the form of new ideas and a renewed sense of commitment. Employers often comment on their ELA graduates’ growth in skills and engagement.
About the Emerging Leaders Program (ELA)
Developed by practitioners for practitioners, the Emerging Leaders Academy is more than just a series of professional development classes. Each class builds on ideas from previous meetings to create a broad, practical understanding of public service work that meets the needs of communities and residents.
Each meeting is grounded in hands-on activities, helping participants glean valuable insights for immediate practical use and long-term career success.
ELA graduates return to their work with new ideas and a renewed sense of commitment, which is evident to their supervisors. Once an organization or department has sent one or two staff members to ELA, they generally prioritize sending additional staff to future sessions because of the results they see.
ELA curriculum
The ELA curriculum uses a relationship-based model to explore successful leadership in the 21st century. The content is research-based but practitioner-oriented, and class time is spent discussing how the ideas and skills translate across work domains.
Topics include:
- The Neuroscience of Leadership
- Values-Based Leadership
- Strengths-Based Leadership
- Listening and Acknowledgement
- High Performing Teams: Working Together
- Organizational Culture and Political Savvy
- Navigating Change and Transition
- Handling Conflict: Difficult Conversations and Negotiation
- Values in Action: Introduction to Public Budgeting
- Wellbeing in the Workplace
- Enhancing Customer Service and Civility
- Perspective Taking and Communicating Up
In addition, participants will receive guidance around mentoring and development topics such as:
- Developing a skills and competencies portfolio
- Shadowing a mentor
- Creating an individual development plan
- Introduction to the coaching model with a speed coaching session
Hear from recent ELA graduates
ELA for planners
We are thrilled to announce the PMC's Emerging Leaders Academy is offering American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) Certification Maintenance (CM) credits through a partnership with the Kansas chapter of the American Planning Association (APA). The course counts for 20 CM credits and one required equity credit. For more information about this partnership between the ELA and the APA, visit this link. Thank you, Kansas APA chapter!
Additional details
The cost for the Emerging Leaders Academy is $1,800 per person.
The fee covers tuition, materials, and the end-of-session graduation ceremony. Most commonly, agencies sponsor their employees’ participation. Sponsoring agencies are billed by the PMC once classes have started.
Disclaimer: If your state, municipality, or agency is funding your participation in a Public Management Center program, please make sure that your participation complies with the specific funding requirements set by your organization.
Agencies that invest in sending staff to ELA gain a more prepared and engaged talent pool to draw from for the future, a critical need as many leaders in public service organizations move toward retirement. ELA participants gain knowledge and skills in leadership, organizational dynamics, communication, and career planning to help them identify and achieve their professional goals while equipping them with tools to make even stronger contributions to their organizations.
ELA hosts sessions in the spring and fall. Participants meet together nine times, approximately every other week, February-June, or for the fall cohort, August-December. Classes are a full day, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Participants should plan on about an hour of preparation before each class. Participants complete two larger assignments outside of class time. In total, then, ELA is roughly a 75-hour commitment.
ELA has taught me that leadership is a verb. It's about listening, learning, and focusing your strengths to be an inspirational force for positive change. —Amanda Halstead, Program Analyst, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 7
Learning about my top strengths was a huge benefit of participating in ELA. That knowledge has provided wonderful insights for my professional and personal life and will continue to be beneficial to me for years to come. —Linda Bruce, Accounting Services, KU Center for Research
ELA was a really transformative experience for me. It helped me get out of just thinking about my own projects to the bigger picture of my department, library, and the valuable qualities of my co-workers in a conscious way. I feel happier at work after this and think I'm a better co-worker too. Thanks for all you did to make it so meaningful and valuable for us all. —2023 Participant
Your class has several fascinating and helpful theories and thought processes. It was great to be exposed to those that were new to me and a good refresher for those that I had come across before. All those added up to help me deliver a performance during my promotional exam and interview that was apparently enough to convince them that I was worth promoting. —2023 Participant
Questions about the Emerging Leaders Academy?
Kate Nygren
Education Programs, Associate Director
knygren@ku.edu
Zion Guevara
Project Coordinator
zionguevara@ku.edu