In cohort groups that meet over time, or one-time workshops, important leadership concepts are applied to current leadership challenges, producing positive results.

Education

• Visionary Leadership workshops explore the power of a vision, and techniques that turn vision into action.
• Ethical Leadership workshops examine different worldviews that compete in communities, and the challenge they pose to leadership.
• Committees that Work workshops and guidebook examine the traps that can plague committees and the creative solutions for avoiding pitfalls. 
• Facilitation trainings help local leaders guide their meetings for increased group participation and better decision-making.
• Exceptional Personal Leadership workshops help participants identify personal leadership preferences and approaches.
• Leadership for the Common Good workshops introduce concepts of leadership in a shared power world.
  
  Programs
• NELD builds leaders in Cooperative Extension at all levels to provide them with the vision, courage and tools to lead in a changing world. For more information, visit: NELD
• The Bush Fellowship Program helps individuals to increase their capacity for and improve their practice of leadership while working with others to solve tough problems in their communities.
  As an InCommons partner, Extension encourages community leaders to apply.

Assessment and Education

• Communication and Conflict workshops help individuals examine their personal style for handling conflict, and the implications of style differences for handling teams.
• Team Building workshops help individuals understand their preferences as they work in groups, and the effect of different styles in creating effective teams.

Consultation

• Public participation strategies consultation helps local leaders think through ways to involve the public in local decisions, and designs meetings that effectively bring public input to group decisions.

Materials

• Data-informed decision making helps communities thrive
• 2010 census release continues — with changes
• Leadership for the Common Good
• Building Leadership Programs Management Guide
• Public Participation Fieldbook

Research

• Published articles about Community Development

Education

• Committees that Work workshops and guidebook examine the traps that can plague committees and the creative solutions for avoiding those pitfalls.
• Facilitation training helps those who lead meetings use processes that result in more effective, collaborative sessions.

Assessment and Education

• Assessing Civic Leadership workshops help participants determine the strengths and weaknesses of their communities' leadership systems, then set goals for action.
• Communication and Conflict workshops examine individual communication styles, implications for leadership and how to effectively deal with conflicts in groups.
• Team Building and Assessment workshops help individuals understand their preferences when they work in groups and the effect of different styles in creating effective teams.

Consultation

• U-Connect tools and consulting services help local leaders solve problems and make decisions with help from the community.

Materials

• Data-informed decision making helps communities thrive
• 2010 census release continues — with changes
• Public Participation Fieldbook
• Committees that Work Guidebook
• Engaging with the Public tip sheets

Assessment and Education

• Strengthening social capital workshops help participants understand the role of social capital in communities and how it can be leveraged to solve problems.
• Social capital assessments, conducted with volunteers, help communities understand and strengthen the ties between people and organizations that hold them together.

Consultation

• U-Connect consulting help leaders build bridges between the public and communities.

Education

• At Your Service: Working with Multicultural Customers workshops and educational offerings help local governments, businesses and other groups deliver better customer service to increasingly diverse community members.

Materials

• Newcomers mean brain gain for rural Minnesota
• Social Capital and Our Community

Applied Research

• Business Retention and Expansion Programs help local leaders build economic development plans based on what they learn from local businesses.
• Retail Analysis and Development programs use research about the local economy and its customers to promote local discussion about retaining and expanding retail businesses.
• Economic Impact Analysis uses analytic software and descriptive reports to analyze real and potential events that can affect economies and inform future plans.

Education

• U-Lead programs can strengthen local leadership for economic development.
• Customer service education can help businesses up and down Main Street deliver customer service in increasingly diverse communities.

Consultation

• The University of Minnesota Tourism Center can help communities retain and expand tourism businesses and design research projects to inform local decisions.

Materials

• Data-informed decision making helps communities thrive
• 2010 census release continues — with changes

Research at the University of Minnesota Tourism Center helps communities examine critical questions and strengthen local tourism opportunities.

Business Retention and Expansion Programs mobilize local volunteers to talk to tourism businesses, creating an economic development plan that addresses their needs.

Trainings help tourism businesses enhance customer service, make festivals and events more successful and more.

Education

• Roadside Advertising in a Digital World workshops explore the power of using geographic positioning systems to guide visitors to businesses and other destinations in their community.