Staff Development
Looking for strategies to keep staff motivated and productive?
Seeking effective ways to let your team know they’re valued and supported?
Eager to reap the benefits of reduced staff conflict and better teamwork?
As leaders, you can make a strong, supportive and energizing statement to staff when you invest in their development. Research shows that staff need to feel aligned with organizational vision, valued and heard by leadership, and that conflicts are efficiently resolved in order to do their best work. Addressing these needs boosts staff productivity, satisfaction and reduces turnover.
I work with staff members at all levels — individually and in groups — to deepen their Self-Leadership and knowledge and appreciation of themselves, their colleagues and the team’s culture and mission. I offer comprehensive assessments — temperature reads of your staff on multiple factors to identify exactly what kind of assistance would be most catalyzing. Depending upon what is revealed, I can provide staff retreats, targeted workshops, coaching, and/or facilitated conversations that will heighten staff’s sense of mission, belonging, value and desire to meaningfully contribute.
Sample Staff Development Tools
- In-depth assessments of staff’s leadership and management skills, learning goals, working style and more
- The Me Manual© is an interactive manual for optimizing individual and team performance; it’s a customized tool used in individual coaching, workshops and staff retreats that builds self-awareness, organizational culture and team performance. Working in concert with the We Manual,© the Me Manual© serves as a powerful connector and catalyst for organizations that seek to innovate and thrive.
- Inventories to build self-awareness and teamwork such as the Interpersonal Leadership Styles, Social Styles and the Clifton Strengths Finder
Sample Staff Development Topics
- Building their leadership skills
- Increasing understanding of their operating system and working style: how and when they do their best work and what gets in the way of that
- Refining their supervisory and delegation skills
- Honing their capacity to give, receive and ask for positive and critical feedback
- Developing dynamic professional development plans for achieving greater self-awareness and impact
- Turning stress and strong emotions into positive change and innovation
- Growing their ability to incubate and launch new ideas, programs, initiatives and more
- Recognizing triggers and resolving conflict
“Employees who believe that management is concerned about them as a whole person — not just an employee — are more productive, more satisfied, more fulfilled.”
Anne M. Mulcahy, former chairperson and CEO, Xerox Corporation
“As an executive in national non-profits, I have hired Cathy to work with my teams at numerous organizations and to serve as a coach to many members of my team. In addition, Cathy has coached me at a variety of junctures in my career. Cathy brings an incredibly unique approach to her work, combining a deep, deep emotional intelligence and keen intellect with a broad understanding and powerful insights from adult learning, human psychology and organizational development. Given this knowledge, she is able to draw from a team or an individual, their most authentic leadership selves and channel their skills, knowledge and experiences to get the best results for the organization and the individual. She does it all with a powerful energy, wicked humor and tremendous empathy and care. What a gift!”
—Kate Mehr, Founder/Principal, KJM
STAFF DEVELOPMENT SERVICES
Coaching: Invest in your staff with transformational coaching! As most successful leaders know, staff development is a critical investment. When you’re looking to develop team and culture individual coaching is a great way to do that. It significantly improves employee self-confidence, quality of work relationships, communication skills and work-life balance.
Staff Retreats: Studies show that organizations with high staff morale outperform their counterparts by 20%, and staff retreats are a key morale booster. I work closely with groups to create a highly customized experience that builds staff’s connection to themselves, their colleagues and the team. Your staff will return to work energized and with new clarity and vision. Choose from half-day to 3-day formats to best suit your needs.
Facilitated Conversations: Boost the health of your organization by having an outside facilitator lead enlightening conversations on topics relevant to team unity and forward motion. Topics range from charged issues around gender to strategic planning. Typically 1-3-hour conversations for two or more people, in single or multiple sessions.
Staff Development Workshops
In addition to the workshops below, I can create trainings on other topics on request.
The Me Manual:©Activating Your Staff and Team
Studies show that teams with higher levels of self-awareness score dramatically higher in coordination, decision quality and conflict management. The Me Manual© is an interactive manual for optimizing individual and team performance; it’s a customized tool used in both individual coaching, workshops and staff retreats that builds self-awareness, organizational culture and team performance. This customized, highly interactive workshop teaches team members how to prepare their Me Manual© and use it to make strong connections with their colleagues and the organization’s culture. It can be delivered in one day, spread across a few days or presented at a staff retreat. Pairing this workshop with the We Manual© workshop increases its impact.
The We Manual:©A Powerful Tool for Building Team & Culture
Some research shows that almost 100% of staff believe that team collaboration has a substantial impact on their work. Building a culture that fosters collaboration requires self-awareness and understanding of your colleagues. The We Manual© is an interactive tool that helps you build both, optimizing team performance while unleashing each staff member’s unique value. It increases culture flow and minimizes culture drift, chronicling and shaping every aspect of organizational culture and history, such as refining mission, core values, cultural practices and more. This customized, highly interactive workshop builds the connective tissue between your staff while increasing each participant’s self awareness, management and leadership skills. It can be delivered in one day, spread across a few days or presented at a staff retreat. Pairing this workshop with the Me Manual© workshop amplifies its impact.
Activating the Best in Yourself and Your Colleagues:
Effectively Giving, Receiving and Asking for Feedback
According to some research, nearly 80% of employees who leave jobs cite feeling unappreciated as a main reason. This customized, highly interactive workshop provides a safe and creative space for staff to grow their capacity to give, receive and ask for feedback while participating in building a positive culture. It can be delivered in one day, spread across a few days or presented at a staff retreat. Your team will return to work with newfound dexterity in communicating and increased sensitivity to their coworkers’ feedback needs.
Interpersonal Leadership Styles (ILS): Taking Yourself and Your Team to the Next Level
A recent study found that 86% of leaders and staff cite lack of communication and collaboration as a major cause of dysfunction in the workplace. This workshop provides a deep dive into each team member’s ILS results and the impact of the strengths and challenges of each style on the team. It's highly interactive and can be delivered in one day, spread across a few days or presented at a staff retreat. Your staff will return to work with increased flexibility and awareness of their own as well as their colleagues’ styles, building individual and team performance.