A First-of-Its-Kind Leadership Program for Springfield Manufacturing

The manufacturing industry is at an impasse as baby boomers retire and younger workers taking on leadership roles but often lacking developmental material and industry connections.

This is why Leadership Springfield and the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce's Manufacturing Leadership Council recently partnered to produce GEARS—a six-month program for 25 individuals in Springfield's manufacturing sector to gain meaningful insight through five mission principles: growth, education, action, relationships and success.

Each session in the program focused on one principal and took place onsite at a manufacturing facility, allowing manufacturers to ask questions and network with other professionals. It came with plenty of professional incentives, too, with participants under 40 eligible for benefits with The Network, and participants over 40 eligible for benefits with the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce.

Program organizers Carrie Richardson of Leadership Springfield and Ben Vickers of the Springfield Chamber saw success in its opening weeks by fostering a sense of community among participants. "We're seeing real connections being built both within the manufacturing industry and within the community," Richardson says. There are more than 500 similar leadership organizations nationwide, but she was not able to find any others with a program like GEARS in her research. "This is literally a first-of-its-kind experiment that right now, we feel really good about," Vickers says.