Skills Institute

Wednesday, 22 February 2012 - 7:25am

Skills Institute Customer Relations Manager Melinda Thomas recently graduated from the Tasmanian Leaders Program (TLP), along with 23 other business and community leaders from across the State.

Each year a group of participants with high leadership potential is selected from diverse backgrounds to participate in the ten-month TLP, which aims to identify, promote and develop aspiring leaders, creating significant future benefits for both them and Tasmania.

Ms Thomas said the program had been an invaluable experience for her personal and professional development, providing insights and lessons that she would take into her role at the Skills Institute.

“One of the most valuable things I’ve taken away from TLP is learning how to encourage people to flourish, inspire creativity and identify what we need to implement now to meet the demands of tomorrow,” Ms Thomas said.

“The program has provided me with so much new information that I am forever re-adjusting my views on all sorts of things.

“This has fuelled my desire to find out more and I am now looking forward to the continuation of this journey through my role at the Skills Institute.

“Being a leader is about defining yourself, having a vision, sharing your vision with other people and then providing people with the tools and the support necessary to make that vision happen.”

Ms Thomas said the program would be hugely advantageous to her role as Customer Relations Manager, ensuring the Institute continued to deliver relevant and quality training that met the needs of industry employers.

“It is the interactions with such a broad range of people through TLP that has enabled me to understand more about other people, including a deeper understanding of what makes people achieve and how to assist them to develop their full potential,” she said.

Ms Thomas is now a member of the TLP Alumni Sub-Committee, which will see her working on community leadership, the TLP Congress and social networking opportunities for other Tasmanian business and community leaders.