LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS

Leading with Heart: A behaviour & culture change programme using the Heartstyles Philosophy

Useful when: there are behaviours that need changing, or a culture that could be better. This transformational programme uses the powerful Heartstyles philosophy to guide people on a journey of self-discovery into why they do the things they do… and how to be at their best more of the time

Learning outcomes:

  • Understand yourself better – and connect with the best of yourself to generate more self-confidence & esteem

  • Connect with colleagues on a deeper level, so that the difficulties you encounter in the workplace become less reactive and emotional

  • Learn how to spend more time ‘Above The Line’ which is a more fulfilling, less stressful and altogether happier way of living



Leading & Communicating with Emotional Intelligence

Useful when: becoming a more inspirational leader, building greater self-awareness and wisdom, reading other people better and building stronger relationship (at home and work), communicating with greater influence.

Learning outcomes:

  • Define EI / EQ and know why it’s useful as a leadership skill

  • Assess our Emotional Intelligence, and know how to improve it

  • Discover where Behaviour comes from

  • Learn how to combine Coaching with EQ

  • Discover your psychological preferences using the Lumina Spark personality model


Selecting & RECRUITING The Right People

Recruitment Guru Bradford Smart has estimated that the cost of hiring the wrong individual is between 4 times and 15 times their annual salary ! (Source: Oran Kiazim 9/3/15 http://www.hrzone.com/talent/acquisition/the-real-cost-of-a-bad-hiring-decision) Businesses are discovering that spending time hiring the right person pays dividends later, as the workforce are more likely to be satisfied and suited to the roles they are performing. Staff members who resonate with the culture of the organisation are also more likely to give greater discretionary effort, and less likely to leave.

This workshop will provide recruiters and team leaders with all of the essential skills to be able to make wise recruitment decisions and pick a great team. Our recruitment expert will share the lessons learned from making his own hiring successes and mistakes, having conducted over 100 interviews and assessment centres. Delegates will start by building a solid Job & Person Specification, understand best practise for sifting CVs/Application Forms, learn about the roles within high performing teams, examine the personality traits within their team (using Lumina Spark) and practise their interviewing skills.

At the end of this workshop you will be able to:

  • Assess the skills, experience and qualities required in your team

  • Demonstrate the skills needed to select the right candidate

  • Conduct professional, ethical, skills-based interviews

  • Be confident making evidence-based recruitment decisions and giving effective feedback


Leading High Performing Teams

Useful when: team members aren’t working willingly and well, motivation has declined, the team energy is flat, no-one is going ‘the extra mile’.

Learning outcomes:

  • Be able to look in the mirror – how am I contributing to this?

  • Be able to identify the characteristics of a high performing team

  • Understand how ‘high performing’ their own team is

  • Be able to explain the Team Lifecycle

  • Create the conditions for teams to do their best work

  • Develop an action plan to improve the performance of their team

  • Practise Coaching skills

  • Know how to leverage different Leadership Styles (eg Servant Leadership, Situational Leadership) to get the best from the team


Handling challenging conversations and people

Useful when: you need to have conversations to improve performance or behaviour, things have gone wrong and need to change, you have bad news (or change) to deliver and want it to result in a productive rather than emotional reaction.

Learning outcomes:

  • Know how to structure a difficult conversation

  • Recognise the ‘Games People Play’

  • Learn how to give & receive feedback that minimises emotional reaction and focuses on performance improvement

  • Say ‘no’ in a way that minimises emotional reaction


Present & Communicate with Impact

Useful when: you want to be a more engaging, inspirational, effective communicator, you are having to chair more meetings, give more talks, motivate others, developing your training course design & delivery skills

Learning outcomes:

  • Receive practical feedback on your style

  • Learn new ways to develop your communication impact

  • Give and receive feedback on communication impact

  • Be able to structure a talk (or training course) to get your message across

  • Handle tricky audience members and questions skillfully

  • Use visual aids for powerful effect

  • Understand your audience to keep them interested and maximize their learning retention


Setting Your Team Up For Success – the building blocks of leadership

As leaders and managers we have extra responsibilities – to use a sporting analogy, we must build the pitch upon which our players can play the game. This includes painting the lines and writing the rules, as well as communicating, encouraging and coaching the team members through the successes and defeats.

Here at Optimus Team Learning, we know what it takes to set teams up for success. This workshop will guide your leaders and managers through a programme of foundation modules that will help them to put these building blocks in place and create the right environment for their team to play well.

At the end of this workshop you will be able to:

  • Create your team vision and values

  • Be able to inspire people with your vision, and explain their part in it

  • Set your team clear goals, roles & responsibilities

  • Create measures to check progress and explain how they link with your organisational goals

  • Understand the Lifecycle of a High Performing Team

  • Know the techniques for influencing & motivating people

  • Know the Coaching Spectrum and be able to select the right technique at the right time

  • Give & receive effective feedback

  • Know how to build pride, trust & respect


Giving & Receiving Effective Feedback

Having regular honest and open conversations with people, so that they take on board your feedback, is an essential tool in everyone’s kitbag. Like any skill, we can get better at it through understanding and practise. This is important in the current organisational climate, where the pressure for every team member to excel requires performance issues to be addressed swiftly and effectively. In addition, adults generally don’t respond well to surprises, so regular informal feedback discussions have been shown to be more effective than leaving those important discussions until appraisal-time.

Optimus Team Learning offers a well-structured, memorable workshop which introduces delegates to the skills needed for tackling those all-important conversations. Not just the problems, but also ensuring that the positive feedback is conveyed also. Delegates will work with three feedback models to deliver their key messages and will also spend time practising their skills in a confidential environment, ready for their next live discussion. The course is well balanced itself, as it includes a section on best practise for receiving feedback.

By the end of this workshop, you will be able to:

  • Know when and how to give feedback

  • Plan a feedback conversation well

  • Deliver a clear and productive feedback session

  • Confidently use three feedback models appropriately

  • Be able to tailor approach between boss, peer and direct report

  • Receive feedback effectively


Become a better Coach

In the modern age, there can be little doubt that people are under increasing pressure to achieve more with less. This includes the pressure for each team member to continuously develop and raise their game. Gone are the days where there are enough good people to pick up the slack from the less good. In modern teams every player has to be strong – workload and cost pressures dictate that teams cannot succeed with a weak link. In an environment such as this, the power of Coaching becomes a game-changing skill.

The Coaching Skills course at Optimus Team Learning will give you the knowledge and skills to be an effective Coach. You will spend time really getting to know what Coaching is and when to use it. You will get plenty of practise perfecting your questioning and listening skills in a safe environment. You will be able to learn how to deploy the GROW coaching model for best effect. This course is a must if you want your team to start thinking (and doing) for themselves.

At the end of this workshop you will be able to…

  • Understand the Coaching Spectrum and how to use it

  • Use powerful questioning and listening techniques

  • Use the GROW coaching model

  • Empower your team to think and act for themselves