Leadership Training Seminars

This section will review the fundamental definition of coaching and manager commitments required to elevate a team and promote success!

Do you feel that your team holds you to a higher standard? Yes! They probably do. As a coach, we must acknowledge our position of power and privilege within our team and what that may mean for communication, setting examples, and general expectations.

Actions and attitudes speak louder than words, and this is too true when it comes to leadership. This section will review why a leader’s attitude matters and why leading by example is key to team member buy-in.

Sometimes a team member is not a great fit for our organization. It happens. We will discuss how to end a relationship with dignity and how to assist a team member in finding a better position outside your organization.

If you want to limit miscommunication and ensure that all parties walk away from a coaching conversation on the same page, we recommend conducting a feedback session in person. This module will review why and provide tips to keep in-person coaching successful.

• Introduction: Why in-person coaching sessions are best.
• Modern Coaching: Using video when in-person coaching is not an option.
• Protecting privacy: Ensuring a safe and open conversation for all parties.

Providing feedback or requesting changes can be a difficult pill for someone to swallow. Depending on the delivery, we can be de-motivating. In this module, we will discuss the sandwich technique on feedback, including:

• Choosing positive and inspiring feedback to accompany your coaching.
• Separating feedback coaching from discipline.

Your situation assessment might not be on the same page as your team member. Everyone might have their own perspective on what happened during a workflow breakdown. Our leadership training seminars will discuss the general steps to follow when a team member disagrees with your assessment of their work performance.

Are you a reactive leader? Do you provide coaching only when needed and let your team do their own thing the rest of the time? While autonomy is excellent for encouraging your team to grow and learn in their way, that doesn’t mean we should disconnect and only react when someone goes wrong. That is what we call irresponsible leadership. In this module, we will review the benefits and techniques of consistent coaching.

• Consistent Vs. Non-consistent coaching.
• Non-consistent coaching and the perception of bullying.
• Eliminating Coaching Excuses. Stop making excuses for your lack of coaching. 
• How much time and how often should you devote your schedule to coaching?
• A simple introduction to the Take-15/30/60 concept.

Although coaching takes effort, planning, and time, it can be a pleasure for you and your team members with the right outlook. In this module, we will discuss some simple changes we can make to remove some of the coaching pain points.

• Scheduled Coaching: An alternative look at immediate feedback.
• Avoiding Surprises: Follow-up meetings to promote accountability.
• Ongoing Development: Why training and development should be a part of your coaching process and what it can look like.
• Resources: Planning, preparing, and updating resources for team member success.
• Practice: Using roleplay or scenarios-testing to help facilitate learning.

Most of us like having a clear path and a goal to work towards. Setting achievable goals is essential. A responsible manager will ensure that how we structure tasks, learning and goals are fitting for everyone, not just select high-performers. Setting achievable goals with an approach for learning, adjustments, feedback, and failure should all be a part of your action plan. Let’s take a step back and think more deeply about setting goals. In this module, we will review topics such as:

• Ensuring that learning and development are a part of your goals.
• A review of the competence cycle.
• Dangerous “deadline-first” thinking. 
• What is a manageable timeline, and how is it different for all team members?
• Plan for failure. Do you plan for a flop? If you are not making failure a part of your action plan, you are setting yourself up for one.
• Bullying By Unrealistic Actions. Overwhelming or unclear tasks can set people up for failure or be perceived as a form of bullying. 
• Precision Steps: Setting precise goals with dissected milestones and timelines.
• Short-Term Wins! Allowing for short-term wins will motivate and encourage people. Using milestones to boost the feeling of accomplishment amongst team members.

It might seem simple in concept, but writing an in-depth standard operating procedure requires a little more thought than just a step-by-step process. This mini-module will review how to craft an excellent SOP for your organization.  

• Use Case. Understand where the SOP will be used and what will make it an appealing resource.
• Consistent SOP. The importance of a consistent format between departments.
• Summarize. Summarizing the SOP
• Why. Explaining the why and making a case for the process. 
• How. Breaking down the how-to in a step-by-step format.
• Demonstrate. The importance of providing in-depth and practical examples.
• Presentation. Don’t overlook the power of marketing and presentation for buy-in. 

Since you are in a position of power, how you say something, plus when you say it, has extended meaning and consequences. The respectful communication module, we will review some essential management communication techniques such as: 

• Common Courtesy: A review of fundamental communication essentials like greetings, acknowledgment, pleasantries, etc., that have more significance when coming from leadership.
• Watch The Clock: Communicating at the “right” time prevents intimidation and respects personal downtime.
• Dangling the Communication Carrot. Stop teasing people with the “unknown” in your communication and updates.
• Work-Life Balance: Prevent discontent by understanding that personal lives will always take priority—a review of manager expectations vs. reality for team members. 
• Team Emotions: You don’t manage a team of robots. Dealing with your team’s emotional state is a crucial component to consider.
• Active Listening: Team members often state that managers do not listen or pay attention to their specific needs. To set realistic goals, you must be attentive to your team’s dynamic and keep your finger on the pulse of what’s happening. We will discuss the importance of active listening.
• Embarrassing & Belittling: Look at ways we may inadvertently embarrass and belittle team members through our communication choices, and change that!
• We all mess up! Acknowledge any leadership mistakes to maintain a relationship of trust and respect.
• Management Reviews: Stop making employee reviews one-sided. Allow your team members to evaluate your performance.

Respectful management communication is among our most popular and requested leadership training seminars!

Ever want to run for office? You already have when you decided to take on a leadership role within your organization. Being a leader has parallels to being a politician! These leadership training seminars will review the politics of leadership, including concepts such as:

• Do you lead like a dictator or a coach?
• Be Likeable! Why does being a magnetic leader add to your success? 
• Connect: Way to develop a personal connection and trust with your team members.
• Neutrality:
• Do you like articulating opinions, political persuasions, or passions? Welcome to the danger zone! We will review why leaders should always attempt to be unbiased at work by leaving their personal convictions for their personal lives.
• Unequal Relationships: Connecting with some team members better than others? We will review how this can be divisive within a workplace environment.
• The Blurred Line: How blurring the professional line at work can have unintended consequences on your ability to lead.

We recommend including our celebrating success module in all leadership training seminars. As thoughtful leaders, it’s crucial to celebrate success and recognize our team members (in a manner they feel comfortable with.)

• Rewards: Not underestimating the power of acknowledgments and compensations.
• Why saying thank you and congratulating success is vital.
• Respectful Recognition: Celebrating in a manner a team member feels comfortable with.

This module will review how to schedule consistent, one-on-one coaching time with all of your team members. We will introduce our Take-15/30/60 coaching concept.

Do you know what type of leader you are? Leaders often claim self-awareness, but that is not always the case. Self-reflection is hard to do while running an organization, directing a team, striving for excellence, and constantly problem-solving. In this module, we will review:

• A review of a selected leadership style theory and which style would be the best within a dynamic, modern organization.
• Tips for adapting your leadership practices and behaviors.
• (When combined with Personality Jungle) A discussion on personality types and how this can affect our leadership style.

Do you think that your personality comes into play at work? It does, and even more so when you are the person in a position in charge. In this module, we will discuss how your personality can influence your decisions, put you at odds with others and affect how your team views you.

• A discussion on natural and adapted personality types.
• Welcoming all personality types within a dynamic workplace.
  • Hiring with personality types in mind.
• The Bear and a review of the four-sub types of bold personalities.
• Managing has a Bear.
• The Peacock and a review of the four-sub types of creative personalities.
• Managing has a Peacock.
• The Fox and a review of the four-sub types of analytical personalities.
• Managing has a Fox.
• The Eagle and a review of the four-sub types of feeling-forward personalities.
• Managing has an Eagle.

Are you waiting for the end of the year to provide performance feedback? Don’t you think that is neglectful? We certainly do. Our Ongoing Reviews module will discuss the importance of providing ongoing, consistent, and regular written reviews to help team members make the required skill and behavioral changes. The session will introduce the Oculus 360 Scorecard concept for ease of implementation.

It would be fantastic if everyone was always on the same page and working towards the same goals. Wishful thinking! In all workplaces, conflicts will eventually occur, which may require coaching or discipline. In this module, we will take a deeper look at progressive discipline and how it can help remedy stressful workplace situations when combined with proper coaching.

• A review of types of leaders and their discipline attitudes
• Myths about discipline.
• Expecting Emotions: How to be prepared for emotional reactions within a discipline meeting.
• A review of the grief cycle.
• The importance of acting early.
• Why fairness is crucial within a discipline conversation.
• Protection. Ensure that all parties are protected during any meetings.
  • Delivering confidentiality during the discipline process.
  • Security. How to protect yourself against acts of violence.
  • Observer. When to include a witness to your conversations.
• The importance of documentation.
• Timing. Timing is everything when planning your disciplinary meetings. Ensure you pick the right time for you and the team member.
• A discussion of incompetence vs. misconduct
  • A review of the progressive discipline process for incompetence.
  • A review of the progressive discipline process for misconduct.