Cultivating Trust, Collaboration & Inclusion to Drive Success

A classic truism in the business world is that even the most talented individuals will achieve success only when they operate as part of a cohesive team. Great teams are characterized by a culture of collaboration and inclusion that leverages the power of diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. But taking a group of employees and transforming them into a high-performing team is one of the great challenges faced by managers.

In this highly interactive session you will learn:

• How to build a foundation of trust across your team to enable a strong team culture

• Other key levers that unlock the power of teams, including setting team expectations and designing work to promote collaboration, innovation, engagement, and inclusion

• Team-building activities that will strengthen relationships and embed high-performing team

A Recipe for Managers

Over the past few years, organizations have faced historic levels of employee turnover. While quit rates have declined recently from their peak, the competition for high-performing talent remains intense—especially in critical roles and growth sectors. And in many organizations, turnover still sits well above pre-pandemic norms.

Managers are under continued pressure to keep their best people engaged, motivated, and committed. The good news? Retention isn’t just an HR strategy—it’s a leadership skill.

In this highly engaging session, you will learn how to:

• Recognize early warning signs of disengagement

• Create the kinds of team experiences people want to stay for

• Communicate effectively during moments of vulnerability (e.g., promotion denial, external offer)

• Take timely, personalized actions that make a real difference

Why It Matters & How to Do It Really Well

Most managers recognize that continuous feedback is critical to employee development and career success, but they often avoid giving feedback or struggle to do it well. This results in employees missing out on important information that would help them improve their performance and enhance their career trajectory. 

In this interactive session, you will learn:

• The core elements of effective feedback

• Feedback do's and don'ts

• How to customize feedback to fit employee needs and styles

• Ways to handle negative and/or unexpected reactions to feedback

Perfecting the Art of Positive Feedback

The rapid pace of change and advances in technology place heavy demands on employees to perform consistently at a high level. It is easy to take things for granted when employees go above and beyond or do something really well. Building a culture of recognition and positive feedback will go a long way toward sustaining high levels of drive and energy. Recognizing employees with sincere, impactful positive feedback strengthens relationships and improves work quality, motivation, performance, and retention.

In this interactive session, you will learn:

• The impact of positive feedback on employee behavior

• A fresh take on guiding principles for giving impactful positive feedback

• Specific examples of effective and ineffective positive feedback

• Team and individual actions you can take to build a culture of positive feedback

Helping Your People to Maximize Their Potential

Understanding what drives each of your employees and finding ways to meet their individual needs is a hallmark of great managers. While there are some "universal" motivators, there is significant variation among employees on how important each motivator is to them.

In this interactive session, you will learn:

• The universal motivators and how to focus your actions as a manager to maximize them

• Questions you can ask to uncover the unique motivators for each of your direct reports

• How to use this information to tailor your approach to managing employees

…Wherever They Are

As hybrid schedules have become embedded into our work culture, managers have been increasingly challenged to find ways to ensure that remote employees feel fully engaged and connected to their manager and team. At the same time, as employees have increasingly returned to the office, managers are challenged to think of new and creative ways to make the experience of being in the office more engaging.

In this interactive session you will learn:

• Creative ways to replicate the best parts of being in the office for remote employees

• Innovative and sustainable ideas for making the in-office experience highly engaging for all

• How to keep the lines of communication flowing for all employees, wherever they work

From Your Direct Reports

Feedback is an essential tool to enhance both individual and organizational effectiveness. When we think about feedback, it's often in the context of managers giving feedback to direct reports or employees giving feedback to peers. While these are the most common scenarios, another invaluable source of feedback is that given to managers by their direct reports or others in their reporting chain.

Managers who have established the type of trusting, open team cultures where employees freely share their feedback, both positive and constructive, are much more likely to be successful. This type of open feedback culture arms managers with the information they need to know what is working well and what isn't so that they can make the right adjustments.

In this session, you will learn:

• Manager behaviors that encourage employees to give candid feedback

• Behaviors that discourage candid feedback

• How to build an open feedback culture across your team so that peers feel comfortable providing important feedback to others

Mastering the Art

Globally, the average employee spends 30-35% of their time in meetings. Many people managers likely spend an even greater proportion of their time either leading or participating in meetings. Despite the significant time investment, a consistent finding over the years is that meetings generally lack purpose, are largely unproductive, and participants are often disengaged and spend significant time multitasking. The good news is that a simple set of practices can dramatically improve the quality and value of meetings.

In this highly interactive session, you will learn:

• How to build purposeful agendas

• Techniques to ensure that meeting participants are fully engaged in the discussions

• Proven methods for achieving tangible outcomes

Elevating the Value

One-on-ones between managers and direct reports are most often used to review project status. While those discussions can certainly provide value to both the manager and direct report, they can be so much more. Beyond status updates, the meetings can be used to share ongoing feedback, discuss employee career aspirations, problem-solve on specific challenges the employee is facing, or have a "stay" discussion.

In this interactive session you will learn:

• The real value of these various type meetings to you and your employees

• Simple ways to structure the meetings that don't involve much extra work on your or your employee's parts

• Discussion starters and probing questions for each meeting type