Key Skills and Tools Needed in Leadership, Communication, and Conflict Management

Presented by Wynn Call, Chair of Psychology, Mesa Community College, Arizona

A hands-on workshop to enhance your leadership and communication skills in disarming and managing conflict at any level.

When you finish this workshop you will know:

• Ten characteristics of an effective leader
• Three key differences of "Good" and "Bad" communication
• Eighteen common communication errors and how to avoid them
• Five secrets of effective communication
• Five key steps in managing conflict at any level
• Understand and use the "Law of Opposites" in dealing with conflict situations
• Three traps to avoid when inquiring about a problem
• Three traps to avoid when using "I feel" statements
• Four keys to good "Motivational Interviewing"
• Role playing and practice with "Real Life" situations
• Some ending suggestions

Smoother Sailing: Lead with Your Strengths

Presented by Khaki Wunderlich, Associate Dean of Learning Support and Organizational Development at Tompkins-Cortland Community College; and Chris Xaver, Program Chair of Communications and Media Arts at Tompkins-Cortland Community College, New York.

Decades of research have yielded this simple yet profound finding: Weakness fixing only prevents failure; strengths development leads to excellence. Transformational change in our institutions requires that we actively search out, respect, value, and employ our individual and organizational strengths. Becoming a strengths-based leader requires that you know your own strengths, apply those strengths to your work, recognize and value strengths in others, and encourage your team to develop and apply their own strengths.

Through interactive exercises, demonstration, and discussion, you will:

• Be introduced to strengths-based research and theory
• Experience the positive impact of a strengths-based program through an exploration of your own strengths
• Appreciate the value of a strengths perspective in staff and student development
• Learn strategies for use of the StrengthsQuest™ program and available resources

The Trick to Being a Chair/Organizational Leader

Presented by Bill Lamb, Dean of Liberal Arts & Distance Learning, Johnson County Community College, KS

The workshop will present a variety of strategies for new front line administrators, including chairs, directors, deans, and other organizational leaders. Activities throughout the day will help participants to define their role as leaders and to develop cohesive teams. Topics will include:

• understanding leadership versus management in organizations
• understanding yourself and how you work with others
• time management
• dealing with conflict
• adapting to constantly changing organizations

The activities will be directed to small group interaction with time for sharing strategies as well as applying new methods to real world examples. The afternoon session will encourage the sharing of "best practices" learned from the group. Participants will receive a variety of written materials to use as guides and references, and additional opportunities provided through the academy institutes will be discussed.

King Willem I College, founding member of the Dutch Edward de Bono Foundation, presents: Edward De Bono's Management Tools for Building the Innovative Team/Organisation

Presented by Yvonne Moerman, Vice President of Koning Willem I College in 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, & a member of the National Educational Advisory Board of the Minister of Education of the Netherlands; and Harry van der Schans, Senior Advisor at Koning Willem I College and a certified De Bono trainer/consultant, & the Director of the De Bono Expertise Centre of Koning Willem I College

Learn to use lateral thinking and De Bono's Six Hats to increase the effectiveness of your teams and organization by:

• Reducing meeting times by up to 50%
• Addressing the behavioural factors that impede successful teamwork
• Removing the politics from team decisions and meetings
• Providing a common language for your entire organisation
• Delivering more effective outcomes
• Offering you a lot of fun!

What will you learn? The lateral thinking and Six-Hats process encourages people to separate fact from opinion and to look fully at both positive and negative options. It stimulates participants' innate creativity and helps them discover how to turn seemingly insoluable problems into real opportunities.

Who should attend? This workshop is designed for all people who wish to improve teamwork, to initiate more productive meetings, to generate new ideas, and to solve problems faster. It will be especially beneficial to the following groups: strategy teams, project managers, managers, and executives who want higher levels of innovation and creativity, and individual contributors and teams working in highly competitive or changing environments.

Workshop Outline: The day will include a mix of teaching and practical exercises, the aim being for you to leave the workshop with skills, which you have practiced and can apply immediately.

The nature of thinking: Why we need to change our thinking behaviour
Why argument is inadequate
Introducing the Six Thinking Hats
Tools and techniques focusing on each Hat
Occassional and systematic use of the Six Hats
Framework for structuring meetings and focusing thinking
How to turn disagreements into positive contributions
Techniques for opportunity thinking
Programming meetings for successful outcomes

Give yourself and your organisation the edge you will need for the future. Attend this skill-building workshop and discover how 'lateral thinking,' by using the Six-Hats method, will increase your creative abilities.