Emotional Intelligence: Leading with Your Head and Your Heart
Emotional Intelligence (EI) is one of the key skills that leaders need to demonstrate to build strong teams. In this session, participants will explore a range of EI tools that can support them in developing healthy and empathetic professional relationships. They will practice self-awareness, self-regulation, and relationship-building skills.

Leadership 101: Building Essential Leadership Skills
Participants will be given the opportunity to explore what ‘Authentic Leadership’ means for their own leadership style. They will have the opportunity to take the TLS Leadership Excellence in Skills Assessment and will explore elements of leadership that come naturally as well as those that may present challenges.  One or two areas of focus will be identified and specific developmental actions will be explored.

Navigating Healthy Boundaries with Staff
Establishing healthy boundaries can be among the most challenging aspects of leadership. During this session, participants will have an opportunity to define healthy boundaries in their current role. They will focus on aspects of boundary setting like managing former peers and supporting staff in setting their own boundaries. Areas of challenge will be identified. Action plans will be created to support new learning and approaches.

Whole Brain Thinking: Making Decisions Logically & Intuitively  (6 hours)
Have you ever made a decision and realized you hadn’t quite thought it through completely or you didn’t have a good feeling about it? Whole-brain thinking is an approach to decision-making that incorporates the logical, deductive, and rational side of your brain with the creative, intuitive, and sensing part of your brain. By looking at situations from this more holistic perspective, you will become a better problem solver, critical thinker, and empathetic leader. Come strengthen your ‘thinking muscles’ in this highly experiential session.

Being a ‘Coach-like’ Leader: Practice Asking More & Telling Less
Many leaders can easily fall into the trap of attempting to answer every question and solve every problem. This cycle can create staff who are overdependent and excessively reliant on their leader. It can also result in leaders who become overwhelmed trying to manage and prioritize the work to be done. In this session, leaders learn how to become more ‘coach-like’ in their approach to leadership which includes cultivating an attitude of curiosity, asking impactful questions, engaging in meaningful dialogue, giving constructive feedback, and empowering staff by supporting them in ongoing learning and development.

Communicate Clearly Amidst Chaos & Crisis
Experiencing chaos and crisis is to be expected when managing a team or an organization. During these times, clear communication is critical to keep staff calm and focused. However, our natural instincts may cause us to withdraw and protect ourselves. In this session, participants will discuss a crisis communication formula based on human needs where leaders explore how to meet staff’s needs for security, connection, and contribution during times of upheaval.

Developing Leadership Presence through Mindfulness
Presence is an energy. Presence is a state of mind. Presence is powerful. As a leader, it takes focus and intention to become fully present in the experience of each moment.  Vulnerability and authenticity are key aspects of becoming more present for yourself and others. In this session, participants learn foundational mindfulness principles and skills to train their minds to more fully focus and their emotions to become steadier. Developing these skills enhances a leader’s ability to connect deeply within and develop meaningful and transformative relationships with others.

Maintaining Composure in the Face of Hostility:  For Managers  (6 hours)
Participants will learn how to recognize and regulate their emotional reactions when faced with emotionally charged (anger, rage, rudeness) situations and people. They will explore the role their nervous system plays, identify specific triggers, and learn to respond instead of reacting in these situations. They will practice simple, yet powerful, de-escalation skills to use in situations of conflict and aggression. Participants will also discuss how to support staff that are faced with highly charged situations.

Creating a Culture of Accountability
This session will explore how to effectively establish and promote accountability as part of an organization’s culture. Participants will have a focused discussion on the meaning and implementation of accountability – for themselves as well as members of their teams. Each person will be encouraged to identify 1-2 specific strategies to assist them in their own accountability, as well as establishing clear expectations within their team.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging 101: Foundational Concepts
For organizations to attract and retain high-quality employees in a competitive marketplace, they must proactively address issues that include Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB).  In this session, participants will explore the importance of self-awareness, intention, and impact when discussing DEIB.  Additionally, they will define the DEIB terms and discuss how to bring more professional awareness about these concepts to their teams.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging 101: Unconscious Bias
Unconscious biases are social stereotypes about certain groups of people that individuals form outside their own conscious awareness. Everyone holds unconscious beliefs about various social and identity groups, and these biases have an impact on the workplace. In this session, participants will explore the component of Unconscious Bias and identify ways to recognize their own bias.  Strategies to decrease bias in the workplace will also be discussed.

Healthy Approaches to Managing Conflict
This session is designed to bring a broader perspective to the concept of conflict and conflict resolution. Using a model that provides various modes of conflict, each participant will be encouraged to consider an actual conflict-based situation during the session to allow the opportunity to explore various approaches to handling the situation.

Leading a Multigenerational Team
Workplace teams are now composed of four generations of people who all work in different ways. In this session, participants will review the attitudes, behaviors, and skills that each generation exhibits.  Participants will also identify skills for improving communication, motivation, and engagement among diverse teams. Finally, coaching and managing across different generations will be discussed.

Managing & Motivating Hybrid Teams
Post-pandemic, the world of the workplace has changed. Many work environments provide staff with the flexibility to work virtually (either full- or part-time). This dynamic is new for supervisors to manage, especially if there are also staff who are working onsite. In this session, participants will explore the challenges and opportunities this hybrid workplace provides.  They will also review key approaches to effectively manage and motivate staff on hybrid teams.

The Power of Strengthening Team Trust
Participants will explore the fundamental role that trust plays in creating an effective team. They will discuss ways to identify when trust has been damaged and/or broken and will review specific strategies for building trust. Participants will also brainstorm how empathy and compassion matter when building trust. The session will conclude with participants having identified specific behaviors to support their own ‘trust-worthiness’ as a leader as well as strategies and approaches to build trust within the team.

The Role of Staff Care in Effective Leadership
Participants will examine the role of staff care within their organizations and teams, beginning with a focus on self-care and an examination of their own core values. They will then explore the ways that ‘staff-care’ supports healthy and effective teams and identify ways to assess how the team prioritizes ‘self/staff-care.’ Finally, they will brainstorm strategies for incorporating this important element into the culture of their organization as well as their teams.

The Leadership Forum™ supports managers/supervisors in exploring the essence of ‘who they are’ and ‘how they are being’ as a leader.  Participants then take this insight and explore ‘what they are doing’ as a leader in terms of building relationships and communicating with others effectively.  In the forum, we discuss a broad overview of leadership qualities and skills, while taking a deeper look at some of the key aspects of successful leadership. Participants are guided by certified coach trainers, and supported by peer learners, in a highly interactive learning environment.

Key topics included in The Leadership Forum:

TLS can customize these sessions based on an organization’s leadership needs.  For example, cohorts can be comprised of individuals who are new to management as well as being women-only or co-ed. Additionally, material can be delivered in full-day, half-day, or 90-minute timeframes.

Public speaking is often cited as people’s #1 fear, no matter their title or experience level.

In Speaking as a Leader, participants are guided to improve their ability and strengthen their confidence when speaking with or presenting to others. They begin by taking a self-assessment to identify areas of strengths and opportunities for improvement. Specific skills involved in high-performance communication are taught including developing engaging content, delivering with powerful presence, and tailoring messages for a specific audience.

In a safe and supportive environment, participants have the opportunity to practice speaking and presenting at each session while also receiving peer and coach constructive feedback.

Key skills covered in Speaking as a Leader include:

• Effective warm-up techniques for body, face, and voice
• Recognizing and addressing ineffective habits such as the use of ‘filler words’ or excessive hand/body movement
• Creating a compelling ‘story’ that engages the audience and delivers a powerful message
• Strategically using a podium and stage (even when seated) or video screen to provide optimal connection with an audience
• Addressing limiting beliefs that may negatively impact delivery
• Cultivating a powerful presence that captivates the audience’s attention and encourages engagement

The Leadership Experience™ (TLE) is a dynamic professional development program designed to support managers/supervisors in exploring the essence of ‘being’ and ‘doing’ as a leader by expanding self-awareness and teaching practical, immediately applicable skills.

The program provides opportunities to explore key leadership topics such as confidence, healthy boundaries, decision-making, and building trust. It is designed for new or more experienced leaders who are interested in continuing to develop their leadership skills for both current and future roles.  Participants are guided by certified coach trainers and supported by peer learners in a highly interactive and experiential learning environment.