Kyle Christopher knows being a leader in his community is important, and last year his boss recognized Christopher’s potential and nominated him for the inaugural Leadership Batesville class. Christopher is a loan assistant at Centennial Bank in Batesville, and his time in Leadership Batesville allowed him to network, learn and grow with other area leaders.
As one of the first 15 participants in Leadership Batesville, Christopher said, he was not sure what to expect from the yearlong experience. He knew he would get to meet other professionals from around Batesville whom he might not meet otherwise, but other than that, he went into the program with an open mind. Now, looking back, he said he is thankful he participated and got to meet other Batesville leaders.
“I had never met the people who were in this leadership class, and that turned out to be a very good thing,” he said. “I think what’s most important about the leadership class is the networking. You’re getting with other leaders that you typically wouldn’t meet. They work at other banks, or they work in other industries, and you would never really make that connection any other way.”
The Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce has released the applications for the next Leadership Batesville class. Twelve individuals will be part of the 2015 Leadership Batesville class, and applications are due March 1.
“The feedback I’ve received from the employers has been very positive,” said Crystal Johnson, president and CEO of the Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce, who was also a part of the inaugural class. “They felt like their return on investment was really good. We learned everything from basic management up to leadership of an organization.”
Through the program, participants take part in networking, leadership training and volunteering in the community, Johnson said. The skills learned in Leadership Batesville translate very well into the participants’ professional lives, and the community as a whole benefits from having well-trained and well-connected leaders, she said.
Johnson said she believes she can now contact any of last year’s participants when she needs help, suggestions or encouragement in her job.
“We all came into the program as strangers and left with a really good connection,” she said.
Each participant was nominated by his or her employer, and Christopher said he is thankful he was chosen to be part of last year’s class.
“Our market president here [at Centennial Bank], Kevin Rose, was made aware of it, and he is really good at developing his employees and continuing our education,” Christopher said. “He got me enrolled.”
Although Christopher has proven his business leadership before — he received the Book Award for Outstanding Business Student when he was a student at Lyon College — Christopher said he learned new skills through some of the Leadership Batesville exercises.
“It was all about working with other employees, learning to delegate things better,” he said. “That’s essentially what leadership is — learning how to work relationships. That’s relationships with your employer and helping not to just advance yourself but to help advance everyone around you.”
Christopher said he enjoyed exploring different industries in the community through meetings and tours, and he said he is excited for this year’s participants to do the same.
“You’re going to be able to experience a couple things in your community that you wouldn’t get to ever be able to do unless you worked with some of these employers,” he said. “You’re not going to get to tour the factories, you’re not going to be able to meet the CEOs of the companies around here, and you’re not going to be able to meet your fellow classmates any other way.”
For more information on Leadership Batesville, contact the chamber at (870) 793-2378 or find the application online at www.mybatesville.org.
Staff writer Angela Spencer can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or aspencer@arkansasonline.com.