LFCE Faculty Profile:
Erica Glynn Nelson
Building a Foundation for Success through Leadership Skills
Erica Glynn Nelson speaks enthusiastically about one of her recent successes in helping leaders develop their own skills. "George was an official with a local municipality, where in his organization all decisions flowed from the top down. Today, George has rethought his leadership role, empowering his direct reports with responsibility for decision making. I challenged George and his fellow leaders to see themselves as bigger than their departments, to ask questions of each other. Through this process, I became his quiet advocate, encouraging him to realize his vision, and put the changes in place within his organization that he wants to see before he retires." Nelson states with satisfaction, "He started to see the value of what I was talking about. He’s now an advocate for this new leadership style across the organization."
Nelson has brought these leadership development skills alive for LFCE clients McDougal Littell and Banco Popular N.A. Nelson has also taught related communications and management communications, coaching, feedback, networking and executive presentations skills for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Kajima Construction, and Allstate Insurance.
"Erica Glynn Nelson’s ability to identify each person’s unique natural leadership talents and then develop them through coaching and teaching is excellent," observes LFCE EVP Kathy Leck. "Erica builds a strong foundation for success within the leadership teams in our client organizations."
Leadership training, while based on timeless principles, has been evolving. "Today we think and talk more holistically about leadership, and have added coaching to the leadership skill set," according to Nelson. "While the foundation of leadership training now is the same as it’s always been, today’s leaders need to update their skills to meet current challenges effectively."
Nelson developed her skills through experience designing and facilitating leadership programs for administrators and faculty at universities in Massachusetts and Chicago. In addition, she has done corporate training, editing and writing, and legal mediation work. In 1997 she incorporated Nelson Performance Development, LLC, and in 2000 she joined the LFCE faculty.
Nelson’s legal mediation work, which she now does as a volunteer, adds unusual depth to her leadership expertise. "I first signed up for legal mediation training because I found it difficult to remain impartial in disputes," confides Nelson. "Many leaders don’t feel comfortable managing conflict because they find it personally upsetting, but you can’t be conflict-avoidant and be a strong leader. Great leaders manage conflict within themselves as much as they mediate conflicts between and with others. As a mediator in the court system I’ve learned to develop self-control as the parties work toward acceptable compromises in a dispute. Managing conflict gets easier as you do it more often."
