University of Northern Iowa

 

 

CEO Roundtables Include Monthly Learning Sessions

Posted on Wednesday, April 14th, 2021

by Gary Nesteby, Facilitator

In December 2020 several of the CEO members completed a survey designed to provide a Success Score for their organization through their eyes.  The survey asked the CEO to assess their perception of how systematic they were in the areas of: Leadership, Strategic Planning, Customer Focus, Workforce Engagement, Operations and their use of Data to make decisions.  The results of those surveys produced discussions about how we could use the roundtables to learn more about what they could do to increase their effectiveness in these areas. 

Leaders that are attending the CEO roundtables realize that they have very useful resources among all of the members of the three groups within the Advance Iowa PeerSpectives membership.  In order to add value to all members we have changed the agenda for each month to include speakers and resources designed to address the priorities of the survey as well as monthly issues that are affecting the businesses.

"The CEO group that I belong to has been invaluable. Much has been gained on a personal and leadership level, even for the short time I have been with this group. (less than one year) I am grateful for the flexibility, topics, discussion and opportunity to connect and share in a confidential space."

        - Jenny Steffensmeier Steffensmeier Welding and Manufacturing

 

The Learning Sessions take place each month and include a one hour fifteen minute presentation and discussion between all members of the three groups.  The topics are aligned with the resources and the issues discovered from the Success Score results.  For example, we began the sessions with presentations and discussions on strategic planning and how to develop the plan as well as deploy it across the organization.  Many of the CEOs asked for information on how to use Google Analytics to collect data and help make decisions in their marketing and customer engagement.  Some of our future topics include:

  • Data usage for decision making
  • Google Analytics- Steps make it work
  • Business Continuity
  • Engagement of the Workforce

As leaders of businesses, it is important that we work together to learn from each other and experts in the field of business.  Our intention is to continue to find the resources that can help answer many of the issues brought up in the meetings.  We also promote the ability to build a relationship between other CEO members and carry on that connection in the future.  Although we are designating this program as CEO roundtables, we also realize that there are many leaders within your organization.  Key decision makers within any business may join this program as we expand to build on our collective knowledge and share best practices to make Iowa a a state of success.

More information at https://advanceiowa.com/ceo-peer-groups

Contact: Gary Nesteby - gary.nesteby@advanceiowa.com or 319-573-5491