The Developmental Stages of an Extension Professional (DSEP) model depicts how professionals can move through the stages of service, education, management, and leadership to build volunteer and program capacity. It encourages Extension professionals to assess the situation and adjust their leadership style. Researchers used a mixed methods…

Engaging the Extension workforce in professional development is critical for learning, behavior change, and continued development. However, county Extension directors find it difficult to juggle the various demands on their time, including the need to develop the leadership competencies required to be successful in their roles. Online leadership…

County Extension Directors (CED) are tasked with a myriad of responsibilities, many of which are directly related to leadership skills. Despite the identification of competencies and skills needed by CEDs in order to maintain successful programs, little research has been conducted on actual Extension leadership programming. Even more uncommon in…

Communication between 4-H professionals and the youth they work with is an important part of a successful 4-H program. By creating a Council of Presidents comprised of officers of all the clubs in your county, you can increase communication while assuring your program addresses all four essential elements. The Council is also as a vehicle for…

Because information technology continues to change rapidly, Extension is challenged with learning and using technology appropriately. We assert Extension cannot shy away from the challenges but must embrace technology because audiences and external forces demand it. A hybrid, or blended, format of a leadership cohort program was offered to public…

Given the changing dynamics of society and the pressures on Extension organizations to adapt, leadership effectiveness has become a crucial element of success. The program presented here is designed to enhance individual emotional intelligence. Through in-depth engagement of the participants, they learn to apply dynamics of emotional intelligence,…

This article summarizes the results of an evaluation of the impacts of a community development program to develop leadership skills in its adult volunteers. The evaluation featured 20 questions about leadership skills learned as a result of volunteer experiences. Data analysis strategies beyond a simple means ranking resulted in evidence…

Many Extension leadership development programs have been evaluated for effectiveness. Little literature exists focusing on the evaluation of leadership development programs involving elected and appointed local officials. This article describes an annual program involving elected and appointed local officials and shares quantitative and…

A module on disease prevention was created for 4-H volunteer leaders who work with livestock projects in Washington to better prepare them to teach youth about bio-security and its importance in 4-H livestock projects. Evaluation of the module and usage statistics since the module's debut were collected and evaluated. The module increases…

This leadership education evaluation study explored the leadership development outcomes of potential county extension directors and the ways to improve the program. The leadership education program aimed to improve participants' leadership abilities in understanding self, building relationships and managing resources. The analysis of quantitative…

This study investigated the return on investment (ROI) of the Southern extension Leadership Development (SELD) Program as implemented at the University of Georgia. The SELD program builds around the skills individuals and groups in cooperative extension work need to be effective in the future. The centerpiece of SELD is the Managerial Assessment…

The Cooperative Extension Service has been a key partner in the design, implementation and evaluation of leadership development programs. To evaluate the effectiveness of their training and the effects of response shift bias on outcomes using a self-report measure, one hundred forty-seven County Extension Agents participated in this leadership…

Measuring the Return on Investment (ROI) in training and development has consistently earned a place among the critical issues in the human resource development (HRD) field. Leadership educators may soon find that program sponsors and administrators asking for ROI information as well. This paper reports the ROI of the Southern Extension Leadership…

The objectives, strategy, and methods recommended for future urban 4-H programs are discussed. Specifically explored are the major factors in society that influence the establishment of objectives for these programs, namely: the American democracy, the nature of man, and the external and internal social forces within our environment. Extension…