LEADERSHIP CERTIFICATE 3.0

The Making of Leaders!

Download the Leadership Certificate 3.0 flier and detailed program description.

Session 1:  

21st Century Leadership: What It Means to Be a Leader

Successful organizations include effective management and strategic leadership. Leadership is a process in a group context where one ethically motivates others to achieve common goals. Leadership is a relationship, not a position.  Participants in the Leadership Certificate will be engaged to maximize their effective management and leadership skills.

• What is the difference between management and leadership?
• What does it mean to be an effective leader?
• What is the responsibility of the leader in building a dynamic organizational culture?
• What are the elements of designing the “perfect” workplace?
• How do leaders inspire a shared vision, making the choices that matter?
• What is the role of the leader in effecting organizational change.
• What are the differences and similarities between corporate and non-profit organizations in leading organizations?

This session will provide an overview of the Leadership Certificate topics: Strategic leadership, value and data-driven planning, using emotional intelligence and developing one’s leadership style repertoire, coaching others to achieve individual performance, creating high impact teams, reaching agreement through negotiation and conflict resolution strategies, planning and conducting effective meetings, improving one’s leadership presence through effective presentations and strategic communication, effecting transformations by driving organizational change, and planning  a leadership change project back at your organization offering an opportunity to practice the leadership learning resulting from the completion of the Leadership Certificate. 

SESSION OUTCOMES.   At the end of the session, participants will:

1. Be introduced to the Leadership Certificate faculty and the topics to be covered in the program.
2. Know the difference between management and leadership, and the importance of both.
3. Understand the importance of vision to achieving organizational effectiveness.
4. Discover the most effective leadership traits and how do they differ from leadership behaviors.
5. Determine the relationships of leadership, followership, team work, values, power and ethics.
6. Compare the basic and advanced leadership development areas.

Session 2:  

Planning for Focus, Action, Results:  How to Think and Plan Like an Executive!

One of the primary roles of leaders is to look to the future, scan the horizon for opportunities and threats and then create a detailed blueprint to move their business forward.  Unfortunately, with rare exception most business planning processes are over-engineered...and subsequently they fail at their intended purpose of creating focus, clarity & accountability.  This session is designed to teach participants how to create a very clear, concise business plan that will create focus, discipline, accountability and results…on a single page.

• Most common complaint of executives is they can’t get their people to work on the right things.
• Employees, all too often, confuse being busy with producing results.
• Functional units within companies frequently act so independently one might think they are actually part of another company.
• Business planning processes typically viewed as just another once a year event with little benefit.

SESSION OUTCOMES.  At the end of the session, participants will:

1. Create a specific plan for their business, department, project or program on a single page.
2. Craft Vision Statements for any business that clearly defines what is being built in 1–3 short sentences.
3. Understand the techniques required to develop Strategies that define how a business will be built and what will make it successful over time.
4. Determine a set of critical business Objectives that will focus the company’s resources on the results that are the most critical to its overall success.
5. Create a Mission Statement in 8–12 words for any business that will attract your perfect clients, partners and employees.
6. Clearly define the business-building projects and programs that implement the Strategies and assure the achievement of the critical business results.

Session 3: 

Engaging & Inspiring Others: Developing Your Effective Leadership Style Repertoire  

As you are charging up the hill, are others following? Getting the support of others is a key element in translating leadership into tangible results, and it is not best achieved by issuing orders. Every leader has a personal leadership style, an approach that has resulted in some dramatic successes, some failures, and overall is accountable for one’s present position and role. Understanding one’s leadership style and how it does and does not lead to a distinctive and consistent high performance is an invaluable asset. A key element of one’s leadership signature is the ability to combine one’s intellectual and emotional capabilities to effectively manage and lead. In a highly interactive environment, this module will address participants’ leadership style, which combines flexible patterns of leadership behaviors influenced by one’s mastery of Emotional Intelligence.

• How will different situations determine the leadership style that will maximize your effectiveness?
• Which situations best encourage your high performance capabilities?
• What is Emotional Intelligence and what are the characteristics of an “Emotionally Intelligent” Leader?
• What techniques may be adopted to leverage one’s own emotions towards more effective relationships?
• How do leaders learn to be persuasive under pressure to meet organizational goals?

Individual data about one’s Emotional Intelligence (EI) will be collected and provided to participants. 

SESSION OUTCOMES.  At the end of the session, participants will:

1. Understand the leadership styles required by various situations pared with an awareness of one’s EI.
2. Be able to not only listen, but to be seen as an effective listener.
3. Achieve organizational results by managing one’s “hot buttons" and leveraging interpersonal skills.
4. Improve one’s effectiveness in obtaining support from others at all organizational levels.
5. Build one’s executive potential by creating positive relationships and demonstrating an increased level of maturity.

Session 4: 

Making Choices that Matter:  Inspiring Vision and Being a Strategic Leader

Organizations have Visions, Missions, Values, and at times Strategies, also statements of competitive advantage and market positioning abound. However, often these statements can appear stale, “plaques” which do not reflect environmental realities, undermining motivation.

• Whether your role is one of leading a unit or a total organization, how can you provide clarity, focus, and a sense of congruity to those you lead?
• Do these concepts belong only at the top of an organization? Can strategy have a place in a leader’s daily routines?
• Can daily choices reflect a commitment to sustainability? 
• All the above presented in the context of Change Theory and research findings.

SESSION OUTCOMES.   At the end of the session, participants will:

1. Learn the Strategic Pyramid; the nature and scope of Mission and Vision statements
2. Learn the 5 “temperaments” of a strategic leader and understand their role on individual choices
3. Learn and apply the seven criteria that confer the adjective “strategic” to a plan or a decision.
4. Understand the role of creativity in the strategy process
5. Be exposed to an empirical model that ties market positioning with Team profiles

Session 5:

Leading Change: Transforming Organizations to Stay Ahead of the Curve

Change, planned or unplanned, has always been part of organizations and life. Today, the adage “change is the only constant” is as valid as ever. Change is as much about envisioning and executing as it is about creating a fertile environment for change. Often called Organizational Development, the practice of and research on change strongly suggest that the leader’s approach to it is more essential than the nature of the change.

• How can the leader create an environment that makes change not only accepted, but desirable?
• Does the size of the intended change influence the nature of the process?
• What does a “change agent” need to effect change?
• How do human emotions impact acceptance?
• What is the difference between “change management” and “change leadership”

SESSION OUTCOMES. At the end of the session, participants will:

1. Know what leaders can do to lead successful change efforts.
2. Understand the difference between change and transition and how to apply to leading change. 
3. Be prepared to practice influence techniques for leaders to be capable of overcoming resistance.
4. Be able to describe and predict the stages in any given change effort.
5. Be familiar with common myths about organization change.

Session 6: 

Creating High Impact Teams: Building Trust Leading to Team Accountability & Results

Understand the “Value Chain” that begins with Trust and ends in Focused Results. Learn how to assess the “Trust Level” of one’s unit and use it as a baseline to move from developing Trust, to establishing Accountability, to arrive at Focused Results. Effective organizations achieve results that flow from their missions and values. Keeping teams focused in meetings in the pursuit of those results AND ensuring they have the skills to deliver are additional challenges of a leader.  Most teams today are geographically dispersed adding another level of challenge for leaders. Whether you have telecommuters, dispersed or global teams, it is essential to develop trusting relationships in order to ensure the achievement of your business goals. Here are some of the challenges we will address:

• How do you create a collaborative team, whether meeting together physically or remotely.
• How can you use models and stages of team development to monitor your team’s effectiveness?
• How can you engage team members to ensure shared responsibility and results?
• How do you develop a focus on results within limited meeting time?
• How can team commitment be obtained by fostering constructive conflict?
• What is the relationship between goal commitment and accountability.

SESSION OUTCOMES.  At the end of the session, participants will:

1. Know the characteristics of high impact teams and how to develop your own effective team.
2. Understand the stages of team development and how to accelerate the growth of a team.
3. Facilitate and nurture constructive conflict in the process of establishing team commitments.
4. Create a replicable and effective process linking trust, commitment, and measurable results.
5. Practice structuring an agenda for a team meeting that will impact the results of a team.
6. Learn how to conduct effective meetings for teams that meet in one location or virtually.

Session 7: 

Surmounting Obstacles:  Using Negotiation & Conflict Resolution Strategies

Effectively addressing conflict within the workplace and negotiating workable solutions around personal and organizational concerns is essential for today’s leader.

• How can you match the best role from the conflict resolution continuum to a particular dispute?
• How can negotiating successfully resolve present conflicts as well as reduce future issues?
• What opportunity does the leader as mediator have to meet organizational goals?
• Which techniques are best suited for certain tasks?

SESSION OUTCOMES. At the end of the session, participants will:

1. Apply the Dispute Resolution Continuum for the best approach for negotiating and resolving conflict.
2. Practice the mediating role that leaders must play to succeed.
3. Rehearse negotiating techniques to reduce future conflict when resolving present disputes. 
4. Learn the “Don’ts” as well as the “Dos” when resolving conflict.
5. Rehearse situations of repeated conflict to end vicious circles. 

Session 8: 

Driving Individual Performance: Coaching for Accountability

Organizations are all about achieving results which flow from their missions and values. Keeping individuals motivated and focused on the pursuit of those results and ensuring they will deliver.    Executing around the “pay for results”, “coach for skills” and “motivate efforts” equation becomes the focus of the leader’s role. 
Leaders must understand the difference between coaching for performance and coaching for development.

• How can organizational metrics be translated into individual and team goals?
• Can leaders create a performance-oriented climate considering organizational and economic contexts?
• How does coaching address and maintain clarity around the Efforts > Skills > Results process?
• What are important coaching skills? Can coaching be too soon / too late? How long to coach?
• Which situations are most appropriate for coaching and which require a more direct intervention? 

SESSION OUTCOMES.  At the end of the session, participants will:

1. Understand the benefits of both coaching for performance versus coaching for development.
2. Learn techniques to be applied throughout the year to establish and maintain the philosophy.
3. Ensure Clarity—Pay for Results—Coach for Skills—Motivate Efforts 
4. Develop clarity around the three, very different components of a performance appraisal process.
5. Differentiate the role of Coach from that of Mentor and that of Manager, while focusing on the former.
6. Apply developmental coaching to build skills, prepare associates for future positions, and as a retention tool.  

Session 9:

Leading with Presence: Driving Effective Presentations & Strategic Communication

Leaders know that communication is a foundation of effectiveness. The intended objective of your message is often misunderstood, taken out of context, or interpreted in unexpected / unwanted ways. Oral and written communications are complex and affected by the audience and mode of communication employed. Written communication is complex as the intended audience is not present to allow for the gathering of feedback, while oral presentation is dynamic and can change throughout the message’s delivery.

• How do you convey your message so audiences understand what is in it for them (WIFM)?
• How can you reduce the length of documents and make them visually appealing enough to entice a reader to read?   
• What techniques help you reach the reader, whether within or beyond your organization?
• How can you professionally present your message in a formal and/or informal setting? 
• What is the best media to use in which setting?  
• How can “stage fright” be corralled and leveraged? How can you learn to develop your stage presence.

SESSION OUTCOMES.  At the end of the session, participants will:

1. Examine how writers write and readers read, and identify audience need and characteristics.
2. Plan, compose and revise written documents, effectively. 
3. Understand the importance of voice and how to write for the audience and not the writer  
4. Produce visually appealing documents using enhanced formatting and imaging for maximum effect.  
5. Learn to use one’s body, voice and environment to build an effective stage presence  
6. Know how to critique other presenters and incorporate learning points into honing their own skills 

Returning on the Investment:

Executing a Value Added “Back-at-Work Project

Yes, resources are limited and, yes, those underwriting the investment of making you a yet better leader are concerned if this is the right time for “spending money.” Brochures talk about “investing” in people but where is the payoff? Participants to previous programs have provided positive endorsements of the value of a Dominican’s Leadership Certificate. Yet, the economic equation is always in play: Can we afford it?

• Participants will be asked to first choose and then get approval for a change initiative project conceived to net the organization at least the dollar amount equivalent to the tuition of this Leadership Certificate.
• Each of the 9 preceding sessions will dedicate the last 45 minutes of the day to working in small teams to track and support the execution of your project back at work. Both the faculty and attendees will provide guidance and coaching to maximize the potential value of the project’s stated objectives.

Session 10:

Celebrating the Outcomes: Leading Transformations to Stay Ahead of the Curve

All undertakings need a conclusion, a way to reflect on the events that transpired and to take stock.
In this half-day session, participants will exchange the outcome of their change project “X”, share what they have learned and personal insights, boast about their contributions in their jobs, and in general, celebrate their hard work and commitment to enhancing their careers.  In addition, a keynote presenter featuring a leadership topic of interest to the participants will provide inspiration for future career steps, culminating the program.

Session 10 will conclude with participants presenting their reports on their Project Leadership.

Important Requirement Notice

1. To earn the Leadership Certificate, participants must complete the entire 10-session program.
2. For Workshop Bundles, certification is not offered unless participants compete all 10 sessions of the full certificate. Also, participants do not complete the return on investment (ROI) project entitled, "Project Leadership".
3. To acknowledge the demands of the work setting and its related emergencies, participants may make-up missed sessions the next semester when the program is offered.
4. Earn Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for certain professions. Contact Dr. Denise Lucy at 415-485-3291, or Denise.Lucy@dominican.edu.

Contact

Franco Vicino, Ph.D., MBA
Director, Leadership Certificate
Faculty, Business Strategy
franco.vicino@dominican.edu
Office:   415-482-2480
Mobile:  707-318-5310