Leading up is a form of managing up, but with a difference. Both practices are focused on helping the leader do his job better. But in leading up, the person leading up demonstrates a degree of selflessness so that the organization can benefit. It gets to the root of what leadership so often focuses on, doing what is right for others, even when it means putting yourself aside. This session presents ways that managers can create and leverage their influence to build coalitions in order to effect positive change and achieve organizational goals.

The best companies know they must engage the entire employee. To do that, however, the company must build a high-achievement, trust-filled culture. If that's what you want, this program is for you. Rather than focus on dry theory and speculation, this program will provide the exact tools you need to create the work environment you want. You will learn simple but powerful skills that you can take back to the job and use immediately. You will learn how to build trust, inspire others, and invite their full cooperation.

With the increasing speed, complexity and data availability in today's competitive environment, superior decision skills are more important than ever. This workshop will help you improve your decision making skills by offering behavioral insights into how people actually think and make decisions. It then teaches the advanced critical thinking skills and creative strategies needed to manage unfamiliar, highly complex problems or decisions that involve significant uncertainty.

This session will explore the impact of finance in decision making and in the development of strategic initiatives. Understanding the role of profitability, cash flow, risk, cost drivers, etc., in creating firm value will be emphasized. Also, significant emphasis will be placed on how the non-financial manager can utilize financial information through a teamwork approach to decision making. The role of cost drivers and strategic cost analysis in a Value Based Management system will also be discussed.

To help participants increase their communication flexibility, this session will focus on the three keys to unlocking successful communication. First, we will consider what motivates people to behave the way they do. Second, we will explore the communication skills we use unconsciously with people who get along with us, and then learn how to consciously use those skills with difficult people. Finally, we will see how to deal with 10 types of behavior that make certain people unbearable to work with.

The objectives of this dynamic, interactive session are to help participants: (1) develop a clear picture of the Work-Life Balance they would like to achieve; (2) identify obstacles that stand in the way of achieving their desired balance; (3) develop a repertoire of action strategies and tools for overcoming current obstacles and any that may arise in the future; and (4) develop their own personal action plan which is concrete, practical and achievable.

How do you do more with less, when there is so much "less" to go around? Cutting costs does not mean you need to sacrifice your organization's future. In fact, you can actually emerge from the experience stronger and more flexible than you thought possible. This information-packed and thought provoking session will provide you with dozens of productive and highly profitable ideas of how to thrive during, and especially after your organization has cut costs to the bone.

This session will help participants define and distinguish leadership and management responsibilities in a technical or professional group or team. The session will also address how to first understand and then adapt to some of the unique motivational interests and viewpoints among technical and professional experts a leader is likely to encounter. Those in lead positions, technical project managers or those who have recently moved into managing a technical or professional function will find this session most helpful.

Prof. Gordon Hewitt will lay out a practical framework that demands a fundamental rethinking of: (1) what competition is now all about in today's complex global markets; (2) what strategy needs to be about, and how to give it credibility; and (3) what top managers need to do to steer their companies through uncharted competitive territory. Prof. Hewitt will also demonstrate why retreating to the "core" and improving incremental efficiency is not good enough.

This session will focus on how to be an effective coach. A profile of "Coaching for Behavioral Change" will be presented and participants will learn the latest techniques for encouraging feedback to develop others (and to develop themselves). Participants will learn how to apply key concepts. The latest research on feedback and follow-up will be used to show leaders how to coach in a way that produces "guaranteed" results for both individuals and teams.

Successful advocates know how important it is to clearly communicate their ideas, how their reputations shape how people respond to their ideas, how they need to build partnerships and alliances with others in getting ideas adopted, how they must "pre-sell" any idea long before formal meetings, and how to be persuasive and influential in meetings. We will discuss new research on each of those topics - research that offers you interesting and surprising ways to champion innovations in your organization.