Resilience-Driven Leadership (RDL) Training Curriculum

• Tailored   – to your specific goals, culture and organizational needs
• Practical  – full of information people can employ on the job immediately
• Evidence-based  – integrating best and emerging practices known in the field to date
• Creative  – including unique and interesting innovations based in adult learning principles
• Interactive  – engaging attendees and emphasizing the application of content
• Adaptable   – to a wide array of people working with a diverse and ever-changing workforce
• Fun  – a little humor goes a LONG way!

Recommended for:  conferences; all-staff meetings; agency-wide celebrations

A focused, but comprehensive overview of RDL presented in an entertaining and thoughtful way with targeted opportunities for whole group engagement.*

Key RDL concepts ("resilience" as the antidote to workplaces trauma, burnout and stress)

Intro to leadership brain science in 3 minutes (or less)

The impact of social and emotional intelligence on the workplace

Practical approaches that can be used immediately to:

1. Recognize and combat one's own trauma, burnout or chronic stress
2. Maximize opportunities to build resilience in the teams you lead
3. Expand your capacity for exceptional customer (client) services

Challenging assumptions

* Workshops and Keynotes are available for a variety of topics beyond "leadership."  See "About Us" for other areas of subject matter expertise.

Grounded in resilience (trauma-informed approaches) and equity, LEADS offers trainings for staff, supervisors, managers and directors addressing the unique challenges faced in human-serving organizations navigating their way through the pandemic recovery process.  Topics include

• Staff anxiety with "return to work" policies, health concerns and general wellbeing
• The "Great Resignation" and its realities for recruitment, hiring, retention or letting go of staff seeking their next phase
• Maximizing Supervisors' Superpowers - taking care of ourselves while overseeing the wellbeing of others.

Recommended for: staff orientations or retreats; middle or senior management skill development training

For the Half-Day Experience, topics covered in the Workshop Format are included PLUS:

Leadership ethics

Broader interactive activities

Illustrative scenario/case consultation

"I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand." - Confucius 

This offering includes the Half-Day Experience content expanded and creatively re-imagined using themes that engage staff and suit your organization.  The Full-Day also offers enhanced opportunities for practicing concept application.

Recommended for: Leadership institutes; certificate programs or retreats

Example: (Using Wizard of Oz metaphor*)

Morning

•Kansas – foundational concepts; learning objectives “rainbow”

•Tornado – navigating crises and major transitions; trauma, resilience & ethics

•Yellow Brick Road – the human service leader’s journey; getting back to basics to stay on course

•Meet the Scarecrow - “brains” -professional knowledge & judgement

•Meet the Tin Man – Role of “heart” in leadership relationships; from interpersonal dynamics to systems level transformation

Afternoon

•Meet the Cowardly Lion – “courage” to lead; building capacity in others; risk taking in HHS systems

•The Emerald City – examining our mission, goals, vision, values and principles

•Haunted Forest/Poppies/Witch’s Castle – leadership challenges

•The REAL Wizard - actual leadership versus illusions

•“No place like home” – Recognizing and honoring our strengths; wrap up and takeaways

*This theme was presented for the National Association of Social Workers - Virginia Chapter Pre-Conference Leadership Institute.  Other effective themed metaphors are available and developed to specifically suit the organization's needs.

The RDL training series is comprised of 5 independent, yet interconnected leadership modules.  Each module is a full-day session.  The 5 modules are designed to accommodate a wide variety of leadership goals and are geared toward a diverse audience including supervisors, managers and directors (and those aspiring to these roles).  

NOTE: Modules are not sequential, so attendees can choose to enroll in just one, attend several or complete the entire program. 

The full training series focuses on 3 key trauma-informed learning areas: 1) knowledge of evidence-based practices; 2) individual skill development/use of self; and 3) the fundamentals of system change.

Module 1: Engaging People, Motivating Teams, Forging Change, and Leading Transformation

The human service professional as "leader" will learn how to maximize their ability to inspire colleagues and promote individual and system transformation. Participants will learn how to translate their professional skills into coaching practices for staff engagement and navigating the inevitable evolution of their organizations. 

Module 2: Culturally-Humble, Anti-Racist Leadership

Centering racial and social equity, this module explores the role of the human service leader within historical, organizational culture, and community context. Includes examining how individual, interpersonal and systemic elements of diversity, equity, inclusion and culture impact the organization and workforce - including supervisees, supervisors, peers, interns and community partners. Ethical considerations related to leadership competency and centering the voice and volume of those with lived experience are highlighted. 

Module 3: Making Difficult Conversations Easier: Effective Conflict Resolution in Human Service Settings

While human service workers receive a lot of training on addressing client/customer problems and challenges, we are far less prepared to deal with the range of staff and management issues that arise in our own agencies. Grounded in principles of social and emotional intelligence, this module offers strategies for communicating with respect, navigating complex individual and team dynamics, and solution-focused role modeling in alignment with our core values and professional standards.

Module 4: Organizational Development & Strategic Planning for the Human Services

Understanding our organizations and participating in its transformation is important for directors, managers, and clinicians alike. This module focuses on human service workers across all positions as organizational change agents.  Stale mission statements, goal declarations, charters, and values lists are empty in the absence of employee engagement and a genuine belief in the direction of the organization.  This module focuses on the strategic planning process as a "human service intervention," grounded in establishing and maintaining TRUST, built on a viable theory of CHANGE, and galvanized by a clear, unified VISION.

Module 5: The Mindful Leader: Help for Helpers

Because "we are the instruments of our work," the focus here is on healing and nurturing one's leadership "self."   This module provides participants with an array of specific tools to promote their own well-being so they can ultimately lead people and programs with more focus, positivity, authenticity, and compassion. In this module, participants journey back to the passions and motivations that prompted them to enter this field in the first place as a prelude to being in the present and contributing to a better future.  The emphasis here is squarely on self-awareness and professional renewal - the cornerstones of resilience.