I had the pleasure of speaking with Sharon Wooten, presenter of MCLP’s topic Crucial Conversations and this month’s Presenter Profile. Sharon’s journey started as a nursing student at Illinois Wesleyan University. However, after working as a nurse for some time, Sharon decided to pursue another path. Sharon was able to utilize the knowledge she acquired to prepare for nursing to Health Insurance at State Farm. Since then, Sharon has held leadership roles in Health Claims and Human Resources prior to her current role in Learning and Development, as a curriculum owner, facilitator and development advisor, and occasional scrum master.
Sharon has a passion for building better leaders as, in her words, “a leader can make or break a team.” She helps growing leaders reach their full potential and loves to see them have that “lightbulb moment.” Sharon believes that what makes a good leader is someone who can make human connections with their team, is a good listener, and can instill balance within the group. Ultimately, a good leader creates an environment where employees can do their best work and achieve great results. As she has seen her own participants grow in leadership, she has also seen those in MCLP become leaders.
Because her class, Crucial Conversations, is at the beginning of the academic year, when Sharon attends graduation, she always sees a class that has truly grown into and excelled in their leadership roles. This is one reason why Sharon connected with MCLP and is so highly involved with presenting Crucial Conversations and being a part of MCLP’s Curriculum Committee.
She loves to support an organization that not only trains leaders but, more importantly, servant leaders, and that shares the value of teaching leadership through service. Sharon believes that once you gain the knowledge and the ability to be a leader, it is important to use that to give back to the community. We are so lucky to have Sharon as a part of our team!