In spring 1994 NPS Chief of Training and Development Gil Lusk convened a task force to deliberate several recommendations that had arisen from two of the strategic objectives (proactive leadership and professionalism) of the Vail Agenda.(1)

One of the subgroups of the task force(2) designed a program for improving leadership competencies. The concept of leadership seminars, including a delivery format and an outline of the issues and topics to be covered, was developed. The seminars were not to be conducted using traditional training techniques, and they were not to be used as skills training. The intent was to apply contemporary learning approaches while providing introspective, consciousness-raising experiences. The idea was to invite each participant to accept the seminar as a nonthreatening and constructive learning experience. Each participant was expected to contribute to the success of the seminar.

The initial workgroup’s proposed objectives for the leadership seminars were:

1. Formulate (through discussion and exposure to diverse thinking) a mental image of the kind of organization where people would like to work. Identify steps that could be taken to move the National Park Service in that direction. Define individual participation in this change.
2. Develop a willingness to cast off routine, typical thought (organizational gravity) and open minds and spirits to exploration and innovative thinking and behavior.
3. Recognize and accept that improvements in the organization and in individual assumptions, values, beliefs, and behaviors are realistic and possible.
4. Examine the assumptions on which NPS systems, practices, and processes are built. Determine the extent to which those assumptions should be questioned and modified.
5. Examine individual assumptions, mindsets, values, beliefs, and behaviors that determine leadership styles and methods. Develop a personal commitment plan to improve leadership techniques.
6. Contribute to the creation of an atmosphere (during the seminar and back on the job) that will enhance open discussion and draw out opinions and responses from others.
7. Examine ways to constructively provoke others and the organization (during the seminar and back on the job) to improve ways of thinking and performing.
8. Recognize and appreciate the advantages to the organization and to individual employees that can result from a diverse workforce.
9. Explore current leadership principles and the issues facing the National Park Service and establish a process through which personal efforts contribute to improvement.
10. Examine the growing complexity of issues and changes in influences on the National Park Service, and consider how leaders, at all levels, must respond more effectivelyOriginally, five major provisions for the leadership seminar program were recommended.(3) The NPS restructuring implementation (and budget and new administrative initiatives) delayed the start of the seminar program. After consulting with the National Leadership Council, Deputy Director John Reynolds approved the program in February 1995, and an invitation (training announcement) for seminar facilitators was distributed shortly thereafter. At a 2½-week facilitators’ seminar at Albright Training Center in September 1995, the program was modified from what was originally intended and approved by the National Leadership Council.(4)