Leadership Series

Navigating Office Politics

In today’s dynamic workplace environments, understanding and navigating office politics is essential for professional growth and success. This session offers practical insights and strategies to help professionals effectively navigate office dynamics, build positive relationships, and thrive in their careers. Through interactive discussions, and real-world examples, you will learn how to identify and manage office politics, cultivate alliances, and maintain integrity while advancing your goals.

Learning Objectives:

1. Recognize the various dynamics and stakeholders involved in office politics, including power structures, alliances, and informal networks.
2. Develop strategies for building positive relationships and alliances with colleagues, supervisors, and key stakeholders to navigate office politics effectively.
3. Acquire techniques for handling challenging situations and conflicts diplomatically, including managing disagreements, handling office gossip, and resolving interpersonal conflicts.
4. Learn how to maintain integrity while engaging in office politics, including setting boundaries, avoiding unethical behavior, and staying true to personal values.

Influencing without Authority

In today’s collaborative work environments, professionals often find themselves needing to accomplish tasks and projects without direct authority over others. This virtual session is tailored to equip you with effective strategies for influencing and achieving results when you’re not in charge. Through interactive discussions, and real-life examples, you will learn how to navigate organizational dynamics, build alliances, and leverage influence to drive successful outcomes.

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand the importance of building strong relationships and networks within the organization.
2. Discover your inner strengths and abilities to influence others and achieve your goals.
3. Explore strategies for identifying key stakeholders, understanding their motivations, and aligning interests to achieve desired outcomes.
4. Learn how to build win-win solutions, and overcome resistance to gain buy-in and support.

From SME to Managers to Leader

You’ve been promoted to being a manager—but wait, nobody has told you how to lead people! Too often, leaders are given greater responsibility without a clear understanding of what is involved. In this session, we will support you in effectively transitioning from being a subject matter expert to assuming a managerial and people leadership role. While excelling in a specific field is valuable, leading and managing people requires a distinct skill set and mindset. Through engaging discussions, and interactive activities, you will gain practical insights and strategies for navigating this transition effectively.

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand the behavioural differences between being a subject matter expert and a manager, and a leader.
2. Define the mindsets required for being a SME vs. a manager and a leader, and uncover the underlying challenges in each of these shifts.
3. Gain insights into personal leadership development, including identifying strengths and areas for growth.
4. Develop an action plan for strategies to leverage areas of strength and develop areas for growth.

Mastering Performance Feedback

Providing constructive feedback is essential for fostering growth, enhancing performance, and strengthening relationships within teams—and yet, many of us struggle to do it effectively. This session is designed to empower you with the skills and techniques necessary to deliver and receive impactful performance feedback in the workplace with greater ease and confidence. Through interactive discussions and “real play” scenarios, you will learn how to deliver and receive feedback with clarity, empathy, and professionalism.

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand the importance of feedback and its impact on engagement and performance.
2. Learn a model and mindset for providing feedback that propels individuals forward.
3. Gain insights into addressing performance issues sensitively and respectfully, while still ensuring accountability and fostering a positive work environment.
4. Practice application of the feedback model to “real play” scenarios to prepare for upcoming conversations.

One Size Doesn’t Fit All

Understanding the needs of your neurodivergent employees can sometimes feel like a complex puzzle to solve, but it doesn’t need to be. This session provides a concrete approach to having respectful and effective conversations with your neurodivergent employees (and other team members) to better understand how you can work together better.

Learning objectives:

1. Identify common myths and assumptions about neurodivergent employees.
2. Assess your needs and desires as a leader and recognize potential biases and opportunities for increased understanding.
3. Develop key questions to ask to better understand the needs of your employees and leverage a list of common tips and strategies.
4. Construct an action plan for a collaborative conversation with your employee.