While 83% of organizations agree that it is important to develop leaders at all levels of the organization, they also recognize that the benefits of personal leadership development reach far beyond the workplace. The Personal Leadership Development Program will broaden leadership strategies beyond performance and communication to enable participants to make confident decisions and take action.

This program taps into an authentic, connected, and emotionally tuned-in leadership mindset that boosts commitment to achieving professional visions and personal goals. This program will enhance your workplace culture by leading participants in exploring personal leadership styles, adopting appreciative practices, and incorporating mindfulness and wellness. The result -your workplace culture will thrive, becoming healthier, inspired, and energized. 

Key Learning Outcomes 

• Recognize and influence behaviours in others in order to effectively lead projects, effect change, and enhance team performance to achieve desired goals and outcomes.
• Understand personal leadership styles and strengths in self and others.
• Demonstrate authentic appreciation practices to communicate appreciation and encouragement to teams. 
• Examine what mindful leadership is and how it helps leaders become more productive, focused and in tune with those around them.
• Learn strategies to foster psychologically safe workplaces that build a positive and inclusive workplace culture.

Program Content

Legacy Leadership: A Framework for Leaders 
Understand how to enact personal leadership strengths to inspire leadership in others and bring a synergy of collaboration and accountability to your organization. 

• Understand the 5 Best Practices of Legacy Leadership(TM)
• Assess skills as leaders and identify areas for future development
• Identify your influence as leaders
• Connect individual contributions to the vision and values of their organization
• Know your preferred leadership style and that of your colleagues
• Experience the synergy of collaboration and innovation
• Inspire leadership in others
• Utilize a tool for accountability

Appreciative Leadership: Techniques for Motivating Teams
Learn the 5 languages of appreciation in the workplace that help create a healthy workplace culture where everyone on the team feels truly valued.

• The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace.
• Their language of appreciation through completion of the Motivating by Appreciation Inventory.
• Learn how to communicate authentic appreciation in ways meaningful to your coworkers.
• How to effectively lead teams by applying 5 Languages of Appreciation to their work setting.

Leading Workplace Wellness
Explore various aspects of mental health and wellness, the impact of mental health on the workplace, mental health tools, and strategies to foster a psychologically healthy workplace.

• Learn the relationship between mental health and the workplace
• Understand mental health in the workplace
• Examine the mental health continuum
• Explore our experience with mental health
• Positive mental health tools in action
• Strategies to foster psychologically safe workplaces

Leading with Emotional Intelligence
Manage emotional behaviours and influence those of others to promote healthy collaborations, reduce conflict, and be more resilient in difficult situations.

• Identify the 15 EQ competencies that impact leadership effectiveness using a scientifically validated EQ assessment, the EQi2.0.
• Receive a detailed report on your own EQ competencies.
• Provide a greater understanding of how your current EQ leadership approach impacts the performance, engagement, and productivity of direct reports and other colleagues.
• Learn how to communicate with others, especially in challenging times.
• Recognize and influence behaviours in others so that they can effectively lead projects, change and people performance to achieve desired goals and outcomes.
• Discover new strategies that can improve individual leadership effectiveness.
• Consider which EQ competencies place you most at risk for derailing your leadership effectiveness.
• Gain the tools you need to formulate your own leadership developmental plan. 

The Mindful Leader
Build a 'mindful mindset' and become more productive, focused and in tune with those around you.

• Define the mindful leader and realize the benefits of mindfulness for leaders and organizations
• Practice mindfulness strategies in action to experience its payoffs
• Create methods for introducing the practice of mindfulness in your organization

Personal Development Coaching 

Gardiner Centre is proud to make personal development coaching a part of your training experience. Gardiner Centre's personal development coaching is rooted in the discipline of Positive Psychology. Positive Psychology is an empirically based science studying the behavioural actions, conditions, and factors that lead to personal and professional success, well-being, and meaning. A person's outlook, behaviour, and response to situations and toward themselves can influence the above. (Biswas-Diener & Diener, 2015).

Gardiner Centre's personal development coaching utilizes scientifically proven assessments and interventions - activities to apply in your personal and professional life to help you with whatever you are working on after the Personal Leadership Development training program. You can connect your goals, ideas, outcomes, and strategies from the Personal Leadership Program to your coaching session.

As a positive psychology coach client in Gardiner's Personal Leadership Development Program, you will choose one of the following six coaching domains for your one-hour coaching session.

1. Mindset: Exploring the traits and behaviours of optimism, mindfulness, and growth mindset to feel more personally and professionally content. Understanding how your own thinking styles can hold you back.
2. Resilience: Resilience is remaining optimistic and emotionally strong, even while experiencing challenging personal and professional events. Build up your personal resilience level.
3. Personal Influence: Harnessing your personal values and authenticity you possess as your unique personal self, to increase and expand your influence.
4. Emotional Awareness: Understanding your own personal self-awareness style to overcome perfectionism and imposter syndrome for sustainable high performance and success.
5. Personal Confidence: Exploring the underlying causes of self-doubt and harnessing the power of personal values, self-regulation, and strengths to increase assuredness.
6. Authentic Communication: Improving one's written, verbal and non-verbal communication to align with your true communication style and voice.

Course Endorsements & Partnerships

This program qualifies as credits toward the International Association of Business Communicators' (IABC) professional certifications.

When applying to sit for either the exam for Communications Management Professional (CMP)(R) or Strategic Communication Management Professional (SCMP)(R) or to apply for recertification, Gardiner Centre courses can be an integral part of your application package.

To learn more about this global standard certification, visit: gcccouncil.org. To inquire about sitting for a certification exam, contact the local IABC NL chapter at iabcnl@gmail.com, or visit: iabcnl.com.

Continuing Education Contact Hours: 35

Graduate Testimonial

"I found great value in participating in the Personal Leadership Development Program at Gardiner Centre. The instructors demonstrated a high level of expertise and effectively engaged a diverse group of leaders. I have gained valuable insights and practical techniques that will aid in my leadership development and benefit my entire team. I am employed in the field of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and I believe that I have expanded my skill set significantly. I am currently exploring other professional development opportunities offered by Gardiner Centre and am eager to continue learning and growing through their programs."

Kelly Brewer-Balch, ADM(Mat) Level 1 Diversity and Inclusion Program Manager, MGMC, COS(Mat), Department of National Defence / Government of Canada | 2024 Graduate

"The Personal Leadership Development Program was, by far, one of the best programs I have ever been involved with. Everyone in a leadership role should complete this program as it teaches you so many techniques on how to deal with staff and approaching difficult situations. The facilitators were awesome and had a wealth of knowledge. This program has benefited me immensely as I now have a better grasp on best practices dealing with staff."

- Steven Batten, Foreperson of Municipal Enforcement, Town of Paradise | 2021 Graduate

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