Building Leaders, Building Loyalty: What the GEARS Program Teaches About Community Engagement
Building Leaders, Building Loyalty: What the GEARS Program Teaches About Community Engagement
Local manufacturers kept telling the Manufacturing Leadership Council at the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce in Southwest Missouri the same thing: the region has good workers, but not enough are ready to step into leadership roles like plant manager. The response wasn't a workshop or a webinar. It was GEARS: Growth, Education, Action, Relationships, Success. Building it took 18 months. Now, one cohort in, GEARS offers a clear playbook for what real community engagement looks like when it's done well.
GEARS grew directly out of listening. The Manufacturing Leadership Council, made up of about 30 area employers, had raised concerns about soft skills and leadership gaps for a while. Rather than build something in-house, the Chamber partnered with Leadership Springfield, a local leadership development group, to design a six-month cohort-based training built around local industry's actual needs.
The first cohort ran in 2026 with 27 participants, each selected by their employers. A second cohort is already being planned for 2027.
Participants sharpen their leadership skills, expand their network, and gain practical insights from industry experts and peers, equipping them to grow personally and professionally, drive meaningful action within their organizations, and contribute to the continued strength of the region’s manufacturing economy.
Each session is organized around one of the program's five keystones. Participants take the 5 Voices assessment early on, giving them a shared language for understanding themselves and each other. As Ben Vickers, Manager of Business Development with the Springfield Area Chamber, put it, the goal is "learning how you as an individual might interact with others," and he added that while many white-collar employees are regularly exposed to personality and strength assessments, it is a first-time experience for many of those in manufacturing.
The most talked-about session, according to Vickers, was the final one on Success, led by Jack Stack, founder of Springfield’s SRC Holdings and creator of The Great Game of Business system. Hands-on sessions on operational excellence, including LEGO builds, also scored well for engagement.
Beyond skills, GEARS has quietly become a civic pride campaign. One participant admitted, "I didn't realize that manufacturing is one of Springfield's biggest industries." Vickers said many came back from sessions energized about what's happening in the city itself. Employers have noticed too, reporting real change in how their people show up at work.
That combination of skill-building plus civic connection is why the program matters beyond any one company's bottom line. Vickers pointed to the "silver tsunami" that is hitting manufacturing nationwide, the wave of retirements and turnover reshaping the workforce. GEARS was designed to help the industry "have a strong handoff" before that wave hits harder.
Looking ahead, organizers plan to stretch sessions from 1.5 to 2 hours, adding room for networking and optional plant tours. The program will stay focused on manufacturing for now, though Vickers said it could become a model for other sectors like engineering and healthcare.
Perhaps most notably, GEARS has become a business attraction tool in its own right, a tangible way of telling employers, "we want your employees to stay here in Springfield."