Leadership Workshops

Great leadership is the key to attracting, motivating and retaining the most talented people. This is why a good development program should be among your most important competitive advantages. I offer several 1/2 day workshops covering all the most essential leadership topics. Workshops typically blend teaching, small group exercises and video in an interactive and fun guided discovery approach to learning.

Fees:

• $2,500 plus GST for each 1/2 day,
• $4,000 plus GST for each full day
• up to 15 participants
• an additional $100 plus GST for each additional participant.

The Five Hallmarks of Great Teams

I consider this half day to be the most essential, most foundational, for every leader and always recommend it as the place to start. We begin with a powerful look at just what it means to be a team and then examine the very foundation of every team - leader follower relationships, and the five enduring hallmarks that have always set the most productive and satisfying relationships apart from all others. Among the topics, we take a close look at accountability (what it is, why it matters and how to get more of it) and how to navigate disagreements with skill. This half day holds the keys to building a team that navigates change well. The big idea: we can't build strong leader follower relationships until we understand the timeless design for how and why these two essential roles are designed to interact.

Feedback

High performance teams are built one performance, one conversation at a time making the ability to provide skillful feedback that builds on strengths and corrects weaknesses, among the most important leadership skills. This said, the reality is most leaders do not have have the skills or confidence to hold these brief but powerful conversations well. During this engaging and highly interactive 1/2 day you'll discover why feedback is so essential, a three step approach to providing expert feedback, what characteristic behaviour is and how to respond to it, how to avoid the biggest feedback mistakes and eight characteristics that make for expert feedback.

Communication

Words are powerful, they are among the leader's most fundamental tools. We talk to people we care about; we listen to people we care about – this is the message leaders who communicate well send. Strong communication skills build trust and engagement. Poor communication practices distance leaders and can give rise to cynicism. In survey after survey, people name more communication as the key to improving morale and performance, yet few leaders know how to make the most of this opportunity. During this powerful half-day participants discover the keys to effective group and individual communication.

Vision and Culture

Ideally, vision should be an inspirational force and culture, as we know, has the power to propel teams to new heights or impede their performance. Creating the right culture is a prerequisite to building performance and it is the key to attracting, motivating and retaining talented people. During this half-day we unpack these two important topics, giving participants a head start on using vision effectively and shaping a culture that will produce performance and job satisfaction.

Performance Management and Difficult Conversations

The best leaders make every performance count, rewarding strong performance and skilfully correcting and disciplining team members who are not measuring up. Under a skillful leader team members should learn more about their strengths and weaknesses as the team grows stronger. But a fear of confrontation and an aversion to pain causes many leaders to avoid the most important and often difficult performance issues. Poor performers present the tests of conscience that leave leaders hesitating and unsure. In this foundational workshop participants discover an approach to managing performance that serves both people and the organization, learning that they don't have to choose between the two. We examine the process, but more importantly, the big forces that hold leaders back. Participants learn how to respond to the full range of performance, including how to hold the most difficult conversations with skill and confidence.

Workplace Coaching

When we think of the leaders who inspire us most, we often describe them as mentors. Coaching gives them this status. A mentor is just someone who has taken a personal interest in us; someone who is willing to pass on what he or she has learned. This is what makes workplace coaching such an essential and powerful leadership practice. Leaders who are not coaching are missing one of their most powerful team building opportunities. During this half-day participants discover how coaching turns talent into strength and builds relationships.

Participants discover the keys to effective coaching as they analyze a video of a professional coach in action then get an opportunity to apply what they are learning.

Leading Through Stormy Seas

You can only tell the strength of a submarine's hull when you take it down – it's pressure that reveals the cracks. Leaders are not defined by their efforts when things are going well. The most defining moments come when the team faces hardship and needs good leadership most. Make the wrong moves in these critical periods and performance will decline just when everyone needs it most. Get it right and these storms can result in accelerated team growth. Leading people through them takes a different approach. During this half day participants examine the nine keys to successfully leading a team through a stormy period.

10 Habits for Success at Work

Originally developed for employee groups this workshop has become a favourite with both leaders and employees. The big idea: maybe the people who have the most successful and satisfying experiences at work have a set of habits that make all the difference. Taken to heart, this half-day has the potential to change participant's experience at work, often correcting and confronting the poor habits they may not have recognized and replacing them with habits that lead to success.