Citizen to Leader Workshop Descriptions

This opening session introduces participants to the Citizen to Leader program and sets the foundation for your leadership journey. Participants will explore the differences between managing and leading, identify characteristics of great leaders, and analyze real-world examples of effective and ineffective leadership. Through presentations, discussions, activities, and reflections, participants will gain clarity on their personal leadership aspirations and the expectations of the program.

Learning Objectives
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Distinguish between management and leadership and explain why both are important.
2. Identify the core characteristics of effective leaders.
3. Analyze examples of good and bad leadership and draw lessons from them.
4. Reflect on their own leadership style and articulate initial growth goals.

coming soon

This workshop will show participants some of the common effective methods and pit falls encountered when influencing others. We will establish a framework that participants can use to increase their influence. By walking through a number of scenarios we will demonstrate how to more effectively move your ideas into actions.
This workshop utilizes short lecture, guided discussion, and hands-on application activities in small teams. Team activities are debriefed by the instructor through group presentations.

 

Learning Objectives
Participants will gain practical skills to:

• Define “influence” as it pertains to projects, and understand the differences between responsibility, accountability, authority, and power
• Assess influence situations and apply appropriate strategies to achieve success
• Analyze how organizational structure and culture impacts the ability to influence
• Employ strategies to influence others in a virtual organization
• Create plans for communicating and building interpersonal agreement
• Identify their preferred style of influencing others and determine the effectiveness of that style

This workshop will examine how to maximize the effectiveness of project communications by recognizing the impacts of the various enablers on the different levels of communication skills. This workshop offers a mixture of knowledge and action learning using a mindset, skill set and toolset framework to enable participants to identify communication improvement opportunities in the project environment and to improve their personal ability to communicate.
Throughout the workshop, participants are being asked to pay attention to three aspects of their capability:

1. Mindsets that are either enabling them to be effective communicators such as embracing versus avoiding conflict. Inevitably each person will identify a mindset that is not helpful which they need to “reset” in order for them to be more effective.
2. Skill sets that need further development in order for them to be more effective such as listening, framing, facilitating, paraphrasing. Each participant is being asked to identify those supporting skills that will require additional focus and refinement.
3. Tool sets that need to be acquired or further developed that will provide leverage in use of time or clarity of messaging. Each participant will come away from the workshop with a job aid that provides additional tools which can take the form of a framework, a template, a job aid or even a book or helpful website.

 
The bottom line is that becoming a more effective communicator requires more than just skill development; it requires the right attitude/mindset and the right tools and support.
Building on the output of the mindset, skill set and tool set model above, each participant will be asked (periodically during the workshop) to identify specific behaviors that need to be stopped, started or continued for them to improve how they communicate in their current role. There is a worksheet in their workbook to keep track of these three categories of personal change. Part of the workshop summary and close is for each person to articulate their stop, start and continue list and a work plan for changing their high priority items. Participants are encouraged to share this workplan with their manager or supervisor. Bill will be requesting a conference call follow-up with the participants in the workshop within 30 days as a “check-in” on progress.

 

Learning Objectives
Participants will leave the workshop with a clear perspective on:

• What effective communication looks like, especially in the context of presenting ideas, resolving conflict, facilitating dialogue, influencing, and the framing and reframing of ideas and concepts.
• Their individual current state for each of the above communication skills.
• The identification and prioritization of any gaps between current skill levels and what defines “good” communications in each area described above.
• The required mindset, skill set and tool set adjustments to close any gaps in communications ability.
• A commitment to making any identified adjustments including a timeline for priority items.

Conflict – From Prevention to Resolution™ enables you to gain a better understanding of the sources of conflict and learn tools for preventing conflict from arising. It also provides methods for taking advantage of differences. Conflict – From Prevention to Resolution™ is a skills-based, constructive approach that can release the energy tied up in conflict, allowing creative resolution and more productive relationships.

Learning Objectives
By the end of the workshop participants will be able to:

• Apply basic concepts about the nature of conflict to a real-world situation
• Practice skills that help to prevent conflict from beginning
• Identify your own conflict style and how it may contribute to conflicts you face
• Demonstrate managing your own contributions to conflict
• Analyze conflict situations and how to manage escalation
• Practice using tools and techniques that help prevent, manage and resolve conflicts

Offers business professionals with the ability to describe the fundamentals of AI and generative AI; generate text, code, images, video, and audio using generative AI; identify the challenges of generative AI; and implement organizational strategies for generative AI.

This course equips professionals with the knowledge to leverage generative AI technologies in their workplace. This course covers key concepts around how generative AI systems work, including the basics of machine learning models and Natural language processing. It also highlights practical applications such as content creation and process automation. Organizations adopt this knowledge to drive innovation, enhance efficiency, and maintain competitive advantage by automating complex tasks and generating insights from large data sets. Tailored to non-technical business leaders, this course is crucial for strategic decision-making and knowing how to best implement AI-driven solutions.

Learning Objectives:
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Describe what generative AI is and how it relates to and can benefit work functions.
• Identify potential risks and challenges of implementing generative AI in an organization.
• Develop a milestone plan of key steps and becoming a generative AI–driven organization.

What You Will Learn:
Lesson 1:  AI Fundamentals

• AI terms and concepts
• Generative AI terms and concepts

Lesson 2: Solving Business Problems with AI-Generated Content

• Generating text using AI
• Generating code using AI (*optional topic*)
• Generating images and video using AI
• Generating audio using AI

Lesson 3: Generative AI Challenges

• Shortcomings
• Ethical risks
• Business concerns

Lesson 4: Business Strategies for Implementation

• Best practices for implementation
• Measuring and evaluating results

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot can be used in a business setting to generate text that is unique, thorough, and highly effective at communication. In response to your written prompts describing what you require, these tools can quickly summarize information, generate ideas, solve problems, participate in conversations, and engage in a wide range of other purposes, enabling you to save time and money designing and developing text-based content. In order to achieve these goals, you must learn how to tell AI tools what you want in the right ways through prompt engineering.

This course teaches how to create well-structured instructions for Generative AI tools that generate usable results.  Along the way, participants will learn about key ethical and business factors that need to be considered when using AI-generated content.

Learning Objectives:
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

•     Select and use a generative AI tool to create text from prompts.
•     Use prompt-engineering techniques to optimize text generation for your specific needs.
•     Implement text generation in a business setting.

What You Will Learn:
Lesson 1: Using AI to Generate Text

• Topic A: Generate Text
• Topic B: Select an Appropriate AI Text-Generation Tool

Lesson 2: Getting the Text You Want

• Topic A: Use Foundational Prompt-Engineering Techniques
• Topic B: Use Advanced Prompt-Engineering Techniques

Lesson 3: Implementing Text Generation in a Business Setting

• Topic A: Solve Business Problems Using AI-Generated Text
• Topic B: Address Ethical Concerns

This dynamic and interactive learning experience provides participants with the knowledge and skills to work effectively and inclusively in a diverse setting. It helps them accept diversity and differences, learn to work together with people from all backgrounds and turn the reality of cultural differences to a source of creativity and strength, allowing for different perspectives, innovation, and growth.

This course focuses on practical tools and skills useful in today’s workplace of changing social norms. It guides leaders to navigate their environment, working better with colleagues, co-workers, and clients, regardless of whether they are from other cultures or backgrounds.

Learning Objectives
By the end of this session participants will have gained:

• Cultural awareness and an understanding of the impact of cultural differences
• A foundation and tools to become culturally competent and sensitive
• A better understanding of the cultural challenges facing multicultural workplaces
• The ability to enhance cultural sensitivity and competence
• Practical tools to reduce cross-cultural and social misunderstandings and to encourage positive working relationships

Mindfulness can play an important role in supporting our physical and mental health and well-being and help us to become more fully aware and present in our lives. Mindfulness is a way of paying attention to whatever is happening, both inside and out, in the present moment. It can help us to become aware of our own patterns of thought, emotion and behavior, and to create new and more skillful ways of responding to challenges. Mindfulness has been shown to have many personal and professional benefits, including reduced stress and anxiety, improved mood, increased resilience and enhanced mental clarity.

This one-day interactive and experiential workshop will introduce participants to mindfulness and explore how mindfulness practices can support overall health and well-being. The workshop will include a variety of simple practices, reflective and practical exercises, and discussions about mindfulness and its applications.

Learning Objectives
This full-day workshop introduces mindfulness and helps participants to explore integrating mindfulness practice into their daily lives. Learning outcomes include:

• Participants will gain an understanding of evidence-based mindfulness practices and their benefits.
• Explore the latest research in mindfulness and how practices can be incorporated into the workday to support improved focus, decision-making and working memory.
• Participants will learn practical skills to help reduce stress and improve mental health.
• Participants will explore new ways of responding to challenging thoughts, emotions, and situations.
• Participants will gain an understanding of how they can develop their own daily mindfulness practice.