Developing leaders and strengthening leadership capacities in Nebraska’s communities is one of Rural Prosperity Nebraska’s core focus areas. In mid-November in Grand Island, 28 emerging leaders from the group Leadership Unlimited participated in one such program — the Psychological Capital training workshop.
PsyCap is essentially the “interior fuel” that boosts people’s confidence, resilience, hope and positivity. Unlike character traits people are born with, PsyCap skills grow with practice.
LJ McElravy, an associate professor of agricultural leadership, education and communication at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln who taught the workshop, said when people strengthen their PsyCap skills, they perform better at work, feel more satisfied, stay committed to goals and experience better overall well-being.
“For community leaders in rural Nebraska, developing PsyCap is particularly valuable,” he said. “Leaders with high PsyCap demonstrate a greater ability to navigate uncertainty, inspire others, build collaborative relationships and sustain momentum on long-term community development initiatives.”
Jessica Hedricks, executive director of Leadership Unlimited, said by class participants taking this workshop, they had the opportunity to complete the assessment and gain an understanding of their current PsyCap scores.
"Then through Dr. McElravy’s interactive workshop, they learned ways that they can increase their scores and grow their PsyCap,” she said.
The PsyCap workshop follows a four-part framework (dubbed “HERO”) designed to accentuate these essential characteristics — Hope, Efficacy, Resilience and Optimism. Of the four HERO concepts, optimism ended up being a key takeaway for many of the participants.
“Optimism is hard, but with the right mindset and practice we can strive for more,” said one participant.
Another said they were looking forward to creating “a culture of optimism and resilience” in their own occupational circle.
“When local leaders learn the HERO model, it doesn’t just change the way they lead — it changes what their communities can accomplish,” said Shawn Kaskie, the Rural Prosperity Nebraska Extension educator who connected McElravy with Hendricks. “It gives them the mindset to tackle tough challenges, collaborate around a shared vision, and move forward when the path isn’t easy.”
The workshop also introduced practical project navigation tools such as “pre-mortem,” which helps leaders anticipate obstacles before they derail a project, and the “yes, and” strategy, where an individual accepts the challenges before them as a reality and focuses on action-oriented approaches to address those challenges. In the field of PsyCap, both “pre-mortem” and “yes, and” aim to help people apply a positive mindset to any issue.
These interactive exercises and peer group discussions helped participants visualize how PsyCap applies to real-life situations — from coaching youth to supporting neighbors, from local leadership to individual growth.
One participant shared plans to “implement this within my school and activities.”
Another emphasized “utilizing it in not only my workplace, but also my personal life.”
“I’ve always been an advocate for the ‘Yes, and’ approach,” Hendricks said. “Having Dr. McElravy support this mindset and show how it fits in the HERO framework was great. The HERO framework should be modeled in any workplace where people have to work together to accomplish any given task.”
Rural Prosperity Nebraska’s programs like PsyCap show how rural communities can cultivate the talent and strengthen the leadership pipelines already existing in their communities.
For more information about the PsyCap program, contact Shawn Kaskie at shawn.kaskie@unl.edu.
