Leadership Forums

Plugged-In Management: Get in Tune with Your People, Technology and Organization to Thrive

cjohnson@scu.edu (Cheryl Johnson) — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 00:00:00 PST

Terri Griffith

Plugged-In managers are those who understand how to work and manage in a way that brings together all the related organizational processes, technology tools, and people. The processes, technology and people (with their knowledge, skills, and abilities) must all be considered and dealt with together in order for our work and organizations to be effective

Think about our move to Google Apps for Education. This session will help you work and manage in a way that brings together:

The knowledge, skills, and abilities of your employees.
The technology tools of the work-you don't have to be a tech guru, you just need to know what 's important and how to fine the skills you need.
The way you organize your work-this is the one of the biggest opportunities for the Google Apps for Education move.

You typically can't make a change to one of these dimensions without making an adjustment to others as well.

Following this session you will have the resources and tools to:

Assess your starting position
Evaluate your options
Outline a plan to move forward
Learn to share you approach with your team

Effective Leadership Using DiSC

cjohnson@scu.edu (Cheryl Johnson) — Wed, 23 May 2012 00:00:00 PST

Dianne Hildebrand

During this fun and interactive workshop, we will use the DiSC to identify your behavioral and communication style. We discuss how your style affects others, and design strategies to improve communications with your employees. Finally we will talk about how you can use this easy-to-use assessment with your team to:

Improve communications
Enhance teamwork
Facilitate constructive interactions
Reduce conflict

Workplace Bullying

rrana@scu.edu (Rekha) — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 09:40:00 PST

Lynn Lieber, Esq.

The repeated infliction of verbal abuse, such as the use of derogatory remarks, insults, and epithets; verbal or physical conduct that a reasonable person would find threatening, intimidating or humiliating; and the gratuitous sabotage or undermining of an employee's work performance.

Prevent bullying that leads to workplace harassment! Researchers are finding bullying more harmful than sexual harassment. Bullying in the workplace can increase turnover, reduce productivity, incite workplace harassment lawsuits and even escalate into workplace violence.

In this workshop, SCU Law School Alumna, Lynn Lieber Esq. will discuss the cost of bullying in the workplace and describe the steps an organization should take if bullying does occur. It also covers how Human Resources can train workers to recognize and report bullying before it turns into illegal workplace harassment.

Workers Compensation Training for Supervisors

cjohnson@scu.edu (Cheryl Johnson) — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 00:00:00 PST

Craig H. Hamakawa, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

As a supervisor, would you know what to do if one of your direct reports was injured at work? Worker's compensation is a system of state and federal laws that provides benefits for our employees who are injured on the job. If you have an employee that is injured on the job, worker's compensation kicks in to provide benefits to that employee.

Come to brush up on your responsibilities as a supervisor should any of your direct reports become injured or ill as a result of their work. Controlling the total cost of workers compensation claims begins with prompt claim reporting. Additional information is available at: http://www.scu.edu/hr/benefits/wrii.cfm

Difficult Conversations

rrana@scu.edu (Rekha) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 11:02:00 PST

Diane M. Hildebrand

What is it that makes a conversation so difficult, why do we avoid them, and why do we often handle them badly? Conversations are incredibly important. They are the building blocks people use to communicate their versions of reality; to invite others to respond and to work together in solving pressing issues. When problems arise in non-effective organizations people either withdraw into silence or say something but only to upper management. In the most effective organizations, people have a difficult conversation, face to face, and they hold it well. This, of course, takes skill and these skills can be learned. I invite you to attend this working session where you will learn how to successfully conduct a difficult conversation. The learning objectives include:

Understand what makes a conversation difficult.
Overcome the 5 common mistakes that derail us.
Identify the steps in preparing a difficult conversation.
Write an action plan to have difficult conversation.

Leading Organizational Excellence: By Avoiding the Top 10 Leadership Mistakes

rrana@scu.edu (Rekha ) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:54:00 PST

Jack Smalley

In order to reach new heights of organizational success, comprehensive leadership strategies must be an integral element of the organization's vision. Leadership is critical to the success of this vision becoming the organization's mission. This interactive session details the Top 10 leadership mistakes that can cause irreparable damage to leadership's credibility and integrity thus quickly derailing any career and the organization's strategic initiatives.

Through true life experiences, we will discuss the consequences of questionable leadership mistakes such as:

The failure to embrace diverse thinkers and mavericks. To effectively compete in today's market, organizational change must be constant. In order to achieve and maintain best practice organizational change, leadership must capture the people element by aligning behaviors to operational strategy. Leaders must destroy the box of traditional and limited visionaries by recognizing and motivating diverse thinkers and take measured and well calculated risk.
Too much talking and not enough walking. Some of today's leader's commitments contradict their actions. Leadership is measured by the values visible through the actions employees take, not their talk. Credibility, trust and integrity are the three most critical elements to leader's success and they cannot be compromised.
Failing at communication. Excellent communication skills are essential for leadership success. Leadership must remain visible and accessible especially during the current global turbulence and uncertain times. The best high performance work systems and comprehensive leadership strategies will fail without honest and thorough communications. The messenger is as critical as the message. To successfully lead through the maze of uncertainty leaders must have a clear and concise message to influence relevant stake holders in organizational change; performance management; rewards initiatives; employee development and talent management. Honest and direct communication from leaders possessing integrity will strengthen leaders' commitment to become valued and respected business partners.

Leadership is having the passion and ability to influence others to reach new heights. Critical decisions, impacting the organization, must be addressed. Unfortunately, mistakes can be made along the path that can damage the credibility of any leader resulting in failure of the organization's mission, vision, goals and strategies thus tarnishing its culture. By embracing proven behaviors and competencies outlined in this session and avoiding the Top 10 Leadership Mistakes, we are better prepared to lead the next generation of global talent to unlimited opportunities.

Credibility

cjohnson@scu.edu (Cheryl Johnson) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 00:00:00 PST

Barry Posner

As the world falls deeper into economic downturns and warfare, the question of credibility (how leaders gain and lose it) is more important than ever. Building on their research from The Leadership Challenge, James Kouzes and Barry Posner explore in Credibility why leadership is above all a relationship, with credibility as the cornerstone, and why leaders must "Say what you mean and mean what you say."

This first full revision of the book since its initial publication in 1993 features new case studies from around the world, fully updated data and research, and a streamlined format. Written by the premier leadership experts working today, Credibility:

Reveals the six key disciplines that strengthen a leader's capacity for developing and sustaining credibility.
Provides rich examples of real managers in action
Includes updates to the applications and research

This personal, inspiring, and genuine guide helps you understand the fundamental importance of credibility for building personal and organizational success.

Choosing Greater Good

cjohnson@scu.edu (Cheryl Johnson) — Wed, 11 May 2011 00:00:00 PST

Jeff Bell

Do you sometimes feel like you obsess over a decision? Maybe to the point of being unable to actually make the decision? Join Jeff Bell, author and local radio news anchor for the May Leadership Breakfast Briefing session on Choosing Greater Good.

Jeff will offer a unique and powerful perspective on navigating uncertainty-one he developed through his decades-long battles with, and recovery from, severe obsessive compulsive disorder (a.k.a. The Doubting Disease). He will also share insights into effective decision-making and uncertainty management that no job or university ever could provide. Forged in the darkest corners of what he calls the Shadow of Doubt, Jeff's field-tested (and re-tested and re-re-tested) strategies offer practical, proven solutions to the many challenges uncertainty presents-in business, in organizational management, in life.

Jeff's Choosing Greater Good session draws on both the painful lessons and the humor of his remarkable journey. And while his personal story serves as the backdrop for his message, Jeff also shares nuggets of wisdom he's culled from many expert contributors to his recent book.

Unusually Excellent

cjohnson@scu.edu (Cheryl Johnson) — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 00:00:00 PST

John Hamm

Often, when leaders experience trouble, they look to blame an outside source or expect a small tweak to right their ship. But many times they have actually lost their grip on the basic foundation of their own leadership.

Unusually Excellent will offer both seasoned and aspiring leaders a framework for understanding and a guide for applying the fundamentals of leadership at every stage in their careers. The business environment may change, but no management trend can displace the core laws, proven over centuries, of excellent leadership.

Leadership expert, John Hamm, explains why leadership can’t be mastered as a single concept or tool that can be pulled out of a hat when needed. Excellent leadership is composed of actions, ideas, emotions, cultural forces, history, and expectations that work together in an interconnected system. This system forms the core of the winning combination of superb Character, skill-based Competence, and professional Reputation. Hamm demonstrates that any leader can excel by consistently putting into action the Necessary Nine skills: being authentic, trustworthy, and compelling; leading people, strategy, and execution; communicating, making decisions, and making an impact.

What Did They Do Now?!

cjohnson@scu.edu (Cheryl Johnson) — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 00:00:00 PST

Niki den Nieuwenboer

When we see cases of unethical behavior in the news, we are often quick to dismiss them as examples of immoral people doing immoral things. This will never happen to us, because I am a good person, and we hire ethical people here. Right?

This presentation will take a different point of view. Together, we will explore how well-intentioned leadership and management might facilitate unethical behavior in subordinates. We will learn about people's inner desires and motivations, and about what we as leaders do to make unethical behavior seem not only more attractive, but also as the only way that people can realize a happy and productive working life.

The Myth of Multitasking

cjohnson@scu.edu (Cheryl Johnson) — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 00:00:00 PST

Teri Escobar and Bill Mains

In The Myth of Multitasking author Dave Crenshaw invites us on a journey with his fictional leader Helen. You will easily recognize the chaos that fills Helen's day as your own. As dependable leaders here at SCU we recognize that decreasing demands on our time is an impossibility. Crenshaw says, "You are now living in a world where you [don't even] have time to get time." Crenshaw believes that "you do have that time, it's just getting lost in the seams" and his book The Myth of Multitasking reads like a short FAQ on how to find that time again.

In this workshop we will explore how the five practices of exemplary leadership (from The Leadership Challenge by Kouzes and Posner) align with Crenshaw's practices in Myth of Multitasking. We will also provide several 'best practices' you can use to make technology work harder for you.

Join Bill, Teri, and fellow SCU leaders in taking Crenshaw's Multitasking Challenge and decide for yourself if multitasking is an effective and efficient way of working. If managing your time better was on your New Year's resolution list, this workshop is for you.

Creativity and Innovation

cjohnson@scu.edu (Cheryl Johnson) — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 00:00:00 PST

Bruce Honig

Want to know what you can do to encourage and support the creativity and innovation in others, your staff, students as well as yourself? In this interactive presentation you will! You will learn four key ways to cultivate creativity. We will look at the oh-so-many practical approaches to apply the four key ways, as well. We will also explore the four conditions and their elements that make an organization of any size innovative. Knowing these conditions will help you build a program, team or an organization that is will be conducive to innovation. This will be a practical workshop. You will leave with an approach and a plan for innovating at least one element of your professional or personal life.

Identifying Your Leadership Niche

cjohnson@scu.edu (Cheryl Johnson) — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 00:00:00 PST

Jo Miller

What does it take to establish a reputation as a leader? In this briefing, led by Jo Miller, CEO of Women’s Leadership Coaching, you will discover the essential elements that help determine who you are as a leader or, if you will, your leadership identity. You will also learn ways to communicate your leadership identity to others as you build a reputation as a competent leader and manager. You will learn:

The three essential elements of a great career niche
How to identify your unique leadership niche
Ways to communicate your niche to others

Open Leadership

cjohnson@scu.edu (Cheryl Johnson) — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 00:00:00 PST

Charlene Li

Charlene is the author of Groundswell and founder of the Altimeter Group. Her newest book, Open Leadership, addresses how leadership is impacted by the explosion of social media. She will speak to the need for leaders to be open, transparent and authentic. Complimentary copies of her newest book will also be given out to those attending. Use the link to learn more about Charlene and her writing and research:http://www.charleneli.com/open-leadership/

The Truth About Leadership

cjohnson@scu.edu (Cheryl Johnson) — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 00:00:00 PST

Barry Posner

Barry will be speaking about his latest book, The Truth About Leadership, which was co-authored by Jim Kouzes. The presentation will take place in the California Mission Room of the Benson Memorial Center. The first 100 attendees will receive a complimentary copy of The Truth About Leadership. Here is a link to a preview of the book: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ1LqcK999Y

Leading in Turbulent Economic Times

cjohnson@scu.edu (Cheryl Johnson) — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 00:00:00 PST

Jim Kouzes

Jim will explore the current economic conditions and how these times have impacted trust and employee engagement. As surprising as it may sound, in these challenging and difficult times we are likely to see some of the most extraordinary leadership we've seen in decades. Leaders, it turns out, don’t do their best when they're maintaining the status quo or when they feel comfortable. They do their best when faced with adversity, crisis, setbacks, and great difficulty. Challenge is the opportunity for greatness.

This is just one of the "enduring leadership truths" that emerges from an examination of over 25 years of leadership research. At times like these, it's critically important to remind ourselves of what the evidence tells about how leaders get extraordinary things done. It's essential to ground what we do in what is proven and what is real.

Fierce Conversations

cjohnson@scu.edu (Cheryl Johnson) — Thu, 13 May 2010 00:00:00 PST

Deli Moussavi-Bock

Based on the principles of Susan Scott’s book, Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work & in Life, One Conversation at a Time, Deli’s session will give you a robust introduction of foundational ideas and principles that change the way we connect with each other, alter our perceptions of what it means to lead, and become the behavior that propels individuals and teams toward success.

Understand the impact of igniting conversations that:

Interrogate reality
Provoke learning
Tackle tough challenges
Enrich relationships

Employee Engagement and Well Being: How's That Work Again?

cjohnson@scu.edu (Cheryl Johnson) — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 00:00:00 PST

Charlie Ambelang

With all the talk about employee engagement, what does it really look like and why is an important concept for leaders to understand. The relationship between well being and engagement will also be examined. Participants will asses their own level of engagement relative to their position at SCU. They will also learn ways to improve their employees’ engagement with their supervisors, colleagues and SCU.

How To Lead More Effectively With Less

cjohnson@scu.edu (Cheryl Johnson) — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 00:00:00 PST

LJ Rose

Can you, personally, become more effective as a leader when you have less time, resources, and energy? Using Kouzes and Posner’s Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership, we’ll explore this topic to help you learn how to change the pace of your effectiveness as a leader. A spectrum of trends continues to impact how we manage our time, priorities, attention and outcomes as leaders. We talk about productivity and quantify it often. But does productivity always give us more as leaders? In what ways does it make us more and less effective? As leaders, there’s always going to be more to do and not enough time to do it. LJ will help you:

Clarify aspects of productivity that are helping and hindering you as a leader
Broaden your notion of productivity to one of effectiveness
Get clearer on the things you can influence and the things you can’t
Start thinking outcome, not output as a leader

Why Teamwork Matters

cjohnson@scu.edu (Cheryl Johnson) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:00:00 PST

Patrick Lencioni

Pat will explore the power of teams and how leaders and members can help the team function at its' best. He will also offer some observations and suggestions for being successful when your organization suffers from infighting and misalignment.