Leadership Growth Academy

Offered by: Lori E. Miller, MS  & Anthony DeSimone CPA, CMA 

The Three Keys of the Program:

Development of Interpersonal Skills.

Development of Leadership Skills

Development of Results-Based Management Processes.

Targeted Demographic:

Executive Staff

Why Our Leadership Academy Stands Out:

Customized Success Plans: Prior to class commencement, we establish clear, defined results to achieve, setting the stage for your success.

Personalized Coaching: Experience one-on-one monthly coaching sessions tailored to your unique needs, ensuring personalized growth and development.

Career Advancement: Our curriculum is designed with one goal in mind - to equip you with the leadership skills necessary to ascend to the next level within your organization..

Defining Success before the class begins:

Understand the career development and succession planning path to accelerate the path they are on.

Clearly identify individual learning objectives and goals as defined by the purchaser of the program.

Clarifying what success will look like for them at the end of the experience.

Structure for Monthly Program:

Once a month, 3 hour group session at the purchasing company conference room, approximately 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. 

Topic/Theme of learning for the day (one to two hour training/facilitated session).

Application & sharing of best practices.

Utilizing AI and other applicable tools for the implementation of concepts.

Discussion of challenges or issues.

Action Planning – On-the-job application assignment, which will be reviewed at the start of the next class.

Follow-up 1-hour monthly coaching session for each participant. 

Resources Provided:

Initial meeting with decision maker to clarify vision for participant(s) outcomes for program. 

DISC Management Profile for each participant.

Participant Binder which includes:

Materials for all classes.

Job aids and templates.

Action planning worksheet for every class.

Program Length

This will be a 6-month program.  The sessions will take place once a month, on a specified day from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m.  Attendees will be a blend of leaders from various successful businesses in the area. 

Cost for the program is $3,750. That will include the monthly meetings with training, a monthly coaching session for each individual and all materials for the course.  

SUMMARY OF EACH MONTH TOPICS

Self Awareness / Emotional Intelligence

What is the #1 thing leaders need to be successful? It is having self-awareness! Research studies show that the most successful people are the ones who know their strengths and know how to put their natural tendencies to work. In this session participants will evaluate their skills and behaviors necessary for management-ship and learn strategies to grow in their role. Each participant will each receive a Management Profile that will highlight their unique style and how to adapt approaches to meet the needs of the organization and people they are managing.  Participants will discover their management preferences and best strategies in the areas of directing, delegating, motivating, developing others, and working with their manager.

Psychology Today defines emotional intelligence as an individual’s ability to identify and manage one’s own emotions and the emotions of others. When a person can intentionally manage their emotions effectively, it will produce better results when interacting with others. Participants will develop their skills in the areas of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. Using the RULER model, leaders will be able to Recognize, Understand, Label, Express, and Regulate emotions as they occur in the workplace to create better outcomes when working with others. 

People Development & Accountability

In this session, we'll embark on a journey to enhance leadership effectiveness through key concepts: Psychological Safety, clarity in organizational roles, and the intricate dance of responsibility and results, with a focus on People Development & Accountability.

We'll start by unraveling the significance of Psychological Safety in leadership, ensuring leaders understand its critical role in fostering an environment where team members feel safe to express ideas and concerns. This understanding is pivotal for leadership effectiveness.

Navigating the organizational chart, we'll clarify each leader's position, highlighting the importance of knowing whom you report to and who reports to you. This clarity is essential for effective communication and operation within a company.

Central to our discussion will be the "Results Expected" spreadsheet. Leaders often face the challenge of defining what satisfactory performance looks like, encapsulated in the question, "My boss thinks I'm doing a great job if...." Recognizing the gap in awareness of expected outcomes, we'll guide participants through identifying and articulating these expectations, ensuring they can confidently communicate them to their teams.

This session is designed to empower leaders with the tools and insights needed to demystify leadership complexities, ensuring each team member understands their objectives and contributions towards the team's success.

Communication Effectiveness

Human Resources professionals say that 80% of  people who fail at their job do so for one reason – they don’t relate well to other people. Powerful communication skills can make a positive difference in a person’s personal and professional success. In this session, participants will learn about verbal and non-verbal best practices to improve both the content and delivery of messages. Leaders will learn how to deliver and receive feedback to effectively create healthy and productive relationships.

Strategic Thinking 

As a leader, it's critical to ensure that the team knows exactly where they're headed. In this session, we will perform a deep dive into the essence of company core values. We'll explore why the most successful organizations not only establish but also intimately know, live by, and base their hiring and firing decisions on these values. This practice is fundamental to maintaining a coherent and value-driven company culture.

Next, we pivot to understanding our customer, emphasizing the importance of identifying and appreciating our internal customers. Leaders will be encouraged to reflect on whether they would receive five-star satisfaction ratings from their teams. This segment aims to instill a service-oriented mindset in leaders, ensuring they meet the needs and expectations of those they lead.

Finally, we will tackle the clear definition of the company's initiatives for the next year. Utilizing a structured spreadsheet, we'll break down these initiatives into manageable milestones and specific action items. This process not only aids in planning and execution but also in securing team involvement and buy-in. Participants will learn best practices for engaging their teams in the creation of these initiatives, significantly boosting the likelihood of collective success.

This session promises to equip leaders with the tools and insights necessary to build a values-driven culture, understand and serve their internal customers effectively, and strategically plan and execute company initiatives with the full support of their team.

Meeting Management / Stress Management

Attending and facilitating meetings is a requirement for most leaders. However, many times meetings are a complete waste of time because they aren’t producing the right results. In this session, managers will learn positive ways to manage the meeting process and come to effective agreements between the individuals and groups to overcome the trap of moving in directions that are counterproductive to the team’s overall  purpose. Using the Five P’s of Purpose, Participants, Planning, Process, and Perspective, participants will be provided strategies and tools so all work meetings will be as productive as possible with everyone moving in the right and same direction. 

Managers spend a majority of their time focusing on team members,  managing customer expectations, solving problems, and achieving goals. They are continually focused on managing organizational and people needs but what happens when burnt out starts to creep in? This session will focus on the difference between stress and burnout, causes and cures, and strategies that can help prevent and relieve symptoms. By the end of this session, leaders will have a framework to balance all of their responsibilities by discovering what is most important and learning how to say YES to the right things and NO to the insignificant. 

Operational Excellence Leveraging ChatGPT & AI

In this dynamic chapter, we journey from the traditional to the cutting-edge, merging old-school discipline with futuristic innovation in leadership practices. We begin with the "Time Maker," a tried-and-true method for meticulous time and task management. This segment offers a step-by-step guide on leveraging a classic approach to ensure you never miss a meeting, task, or responsibility again. Participants will receive a Time Maker book to implement and test these principles in their daily routines.

Transitioning from the past to the future, the latter half of the chapter propels us into the realm of ChatGPT and AI applications. Here, we'll explore how these advanced technologies can significantly enhance a leader's effectiveness and efficiency. The session will unveil various AI use cases that promise to streamline processes in both professional and personal settings. Attendees will gain hands-on experience with these tools during the class, opening doors to unprecedented levels of productivity and innovation. Remember, ChatGPT will not replace you; the people who use ChatGPT will. 

This chapter serves as a bridge between timeless management principles and the limitless possibilities of artificial intelligence, empowering leaders to blend the best of both worlds for unparalleled success.