Biggest Challenges Faced by an Executive Director Leadership Development Program at San Francisco
Linda's biggest challenge as Executive Director of a Leadership Development Program is adapting to the "wide range of people" in each class, whose backgrounds vary widely from human resources to managing public transportation. This requires constant evaluation of curriculum effectiveness, using feedback like scores and comments to ensure examples "resonate with" the diverse learners.
Executive/Leadership, Communication, Overcoming Challenges, Problem-Solving, Adaptability
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Linda Yeung
Executive Director, Leadership Development Program
City and County of San Francisco
University of California, Berkeley
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Masters of Law and Diplomacy
Spanish & Other Languages, Political Science, American Studies
Government & Public Sector
Human Resources (HR)
Honors Student, Scholarship Recipient, Immigrant, First Generation College Student
Video Highlights
1. The diversity of participants in Linda's leadership development program presents a significant challenge in ensuring content relevance and resonance across various professional backgrounds and experiences.
2. Assessing the effectiveness of training through numerical scores and qualitative feedback (comments) helps Linda adapt her teaching methods to better suit the diverse needs of her audience.
3. Linda continuously strives to improve her training by analyzing participant feedback and modifying her examples to increase relevance and engagement, highlighting a commitment to effective instruction and continuous improvement.
Transcript
What is your biggest challenge in your current role?
I think it's not always knowing my audience. I have a class sometimes with 25 to 30 people, and they're from all walks of life.
San Francisco is such a diverse employer that we have people from all over the world doing all kinds of jobs. I could have someone in my class who is in human resources and is trying to recruit the best and brightest, or I could have a manager from the MTA.
This man I actually love having in my class was negotiating contracts with various locations around the cities so that many bus drivers could take a break and actually walk away from the bus. It's such a wide range of people that I get to work with.
In some ways, it's very fulfilling, but in other ways, it's challenging because I'm not sure if what I'm saying is relevant for them. Sometimes I get scores of 4.8 out of five, but then when I drill down into the comments, I may hear some of my examples don't resonate with them.
I really have to think about whether I should change those examples for my next course so that it is more relevant for the class.
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