ST. MARYS — Midwest Electric’s Manager of Finance and Customer Service Kevin Schmidt recently completed six courses, a capstone project and personality assessments to earn his Cooperative Leadership Edge certificate.
This five-month program by Midwest Electric’s statewide trade association, Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives, and the neighboring Indiana Electric Cooperatives, was based in Columbus, where Schmidt was assigned a mentor coach and completed in-depth coursework and activities both in and outside of the classroom. He also worked alongside Midwest Electric CEO Matt Berry to execute a teamwork-based capstone project that directly impacted the cooperative, complete with a board presentation.
Two assessments, the DiSC Assessment and the EQ-i 2.0 Assessment, revealed Schmidt’s strengths, guiding him through a personal development plan aimed at fine-tuning his leadership skills. Coursework focused on coaching employees, time management, emotional intelligence and conflict, adapting communication approaches, carrying out difficult conversations, business and finance writing, and time management.