At “When Everyone Leads,” twelve elected leaders from across San Mateo County joined their colleagues in a professional development workshop hosted by Leadership Council SMC. 

This unique program was held on Friday and Saturday, April 26 and 27, 2024. It was designed as a shared experience for participants to build skills that accelerate their impact as leaders while deepening their relationships with fellow elected leaders in the County. “When Everyone Leads” facilitators were from Kansas Leadership Center (KLC), experts in public sector leadership development. 

The program was fast-paced and interactive. Participants received a rich toolkit of definitions and thought-provoking activities to help them shift their thinking to new ways to exercise leadership effectively from their publicly elected position. Throughout the two days they collaborated to unpack new concepts while considering how they could apply them to their biggest challenges in their elected roles.

The elected leaders who attended will also participate in two custom-designed, 90-minute, group coaching sessions with the facilitators to be held over summer of 2024. These sessions are designed to help the elected leaders understand the deeper nuances of the competencies they learned and to further apply these skills to their most significant areas of concern.

From the “When Everyone Leads” attendees: 

"The program helped me to think about adapting techniques to practical issues for my community. The presenters kept me engaged and thinking about ways to apply skills learned."

"This is a fantastic program that anyone and everyone can benefit from."

It has been Leadership Council SMC’s mission to create communities where everyone has access to, and influence on, the mechanisms that allow them to pursue a happy, healthy life in which they thrive. An important lever in achieving this mission is the ability of individuals to become, and succeed, as an elected leader. This mission was the impetus to create our Elected Leaders Program for San Mateo County that will focus on the life cycle of an elected leader, starting with candidate forums for supervisory races, and professional development and relationship-building opportunities. 

“When Everyone Leads” was the second offering in this broader program of curriculum specifically designed for elected County leaders. The first, “Newly Elected Leaders Training,” was a unique day of dialogue, collaboration, and skill building around the role of public officials.

Special thanks to Racquel Thiesen and Dione Gates of KLC for their expert facilitation. Leadership Council SMC also thanks the San Mateo Public Library and the Skyway Center for the use of their beautiful facilities.