CONCEPT

While companies traditionally succeed at arming emerging leaders with organization and industry knowledge, often those recently promoted into leadership roles realize that excelling at the business of a company and excelling at leading a company require very different skill sets. Next Wave aims to equip new and emerging leaders with the skill sets to navigate the tricky waters of organizational leadership and becoming an inward and outward facing representative of your company. Next Wave is being presented in Northwest Louisiana in partnership with the Bossier Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Shreveport Chamber of Commerce, and NLEP’s Top Skills Program.

SESSIONS

FEB	Hogan Leadership Assessments and development coaching
	Understanding capabilities, challenges, and motives is the first step in any true leadership development initiative. In an effort to explore and understand these nuances and create a common language around which leaders can build development plans, each participant will complete a Hogan Leadership Forecast Series. Hogan’s trademark, development-focused assessment reports offer information regarding how a leader approaches work, leadership, and interaction with others in the workplace. The Potential Report provides insight regarding how others describe a leader’s day-to-day approach to work and leadership The Challenge Report highlights stress- or complacency-induced response tendencies capable of impeding a leader’s performance The Values Report helps a leader understand the work-related motivators and values that likely influence a leadership style The Coaching Report offers a high-level summary of a leader’s performance strengths, values, and performance challenges and provides a template for development planning Upon completion of the assessments included as part of the Hogan Leadership Forecast Series, we will conduct a one-on-one coaching session with each participant. The coaching session will feature a review of the aforementioned reports with an emphasis on having each participant focus on the following: Understanding strengths and potential: The coaching session will begin by focusing on a discussion of each dimension addressed in the Potential Report and how they each impact a different component of leadership performance Preventing derailment: Failed leadership is often the product of flawed interpersonal behaviors that prevent leaders from maintaining a productive team - this portion of the coaching session will include a focus on dysfunctional tendencies that can be mitigated through awareness and coaching Planning for future success: The coaching session will conclude with the development of a coaching plan for each participant that he or she can measure progress against as they move forward and continue to grow as leaders
MAR.06	SESSION I: WHY CAN’T YOU PEOPLE JUST DO WHAT I’M THINKING?
	Understanding your leadership, management, and coaching styles and appreciating financial leadership and management Leadership, Management, and Coaching Styles This session will directly address the challenge of leading visionary teams, managing workflows, and coaching employees. Through group activities and an interactive discussion using group Hogan results, the participants will take away tangible tips on being effective executives with the utmost emphasis on leading employees of all personality types. Objectives and activities include: Interpreting Hogan results as a group and recognizing differences in team members’ personalities, challenges, and values Understanding the nuances of leadership, management, and coaching as being visionary, process-oriented, and tactical Activity: Lead, manage, or coach game Working together as a team to support each other and the mission of the organization Activity: Create a tower, create a team exercise to highlight working around and with strengths and weaknesses Financial Leadership and Management No matter the department or level of leadership, those in supervisory positions are expected to have some degree of financial acumen. The first step is understanding and appreciating financial statements and the stories they tell. Whether it’s departmental budgeting or organizational strategic planning, leaders should have some level of comfort with translating financial data into digestible reports and team goals. Objectives and activities include: Financial statement review Looking for red flags, anticipating questions, and explaining missing pieces Presenting a financial narrative
APR.03	SESSION II: SWEATY PALMS AND DEATH BY POWERPOINT
	Perfecting your professional persona through presentation skills, meeting facilitation and purposeful networking People say, “It’s not what you know – It’s who you know.” Many seasoned executives will tell you it’s who you know and what they think of you. Even as social media has encroached into every facet of our personal and professional lives, business leaders still prefer to do business with, promote, and hire people with whom they have an in-person relationship. Whether you are meeting someone for the first time or giving a presentation to an executive team for the hundredth time, you want to make the best impression. Participants will learn and practice networking tactics for introverts, extroverts, and everyone in between as well as the art of speaking with impact. Objectives and activities include: Assessing audience demographics and gathering data to best deliver critical take-aways Using storytelling and industry expertise to connect with your audience Preparing visual aids and handouts and assessing the presentation setting Becoming aware of nervous habits or crutch words that detract from message delivery Preparing for and facilitating meetings including creating successful agendas and achieving meeting objectives Making the most meaningful networking connections without the side of awkwardness
MAY.01	SESSION III: WORKING WITH HUMANS
	Emotional Intelligence, conflict resolution, and staying positive in tough times Emotional Intelligence and Conflict Resolution Building productive, reciprocal, professional relationships is essential to career and organizational growth. However, navigating relationships with others who have contrasting personality styles or backgrounds can be frustrating and potentially damaging. This session will provide the opportunity to discover your own personal best practices to help you emerge unscathed from conflict situations. Objectives and activities include: Understanding emotional intelligence and conflict resolution Activity: Complete the Thomas Kilmann conflict resolution instrument Activity: Finding common ground exercise Assessing key contacts’ preferences and personality through their communication style Using conflict situations as relationship builders and customer service opportunities Activity: Operating in problem-solving mode as opposed to problem-spotting mode Staying Positive in Tough Times Making tough decisions is inherent in any leadership role. Whether its reducing staff, managing budget shortfalls, or letting go of long-held traditions, sometimes the best decisions for the organization are the least popular. How do you keep yourself and your team motivated through change and turmoil? Objectives and activities include: Promoting and reprimanding in the most constructive manner Assessing communication best practices before, during, and after major changes Activity: Case study on major change event and creation of communication plan Identifying motivators and incentives for various employee groups Activity: Create employee persona and motivation matrix
JUN.05	SESSION IV: ONWARD AND UPWARD
	Industry trends, visioning, and closing ceremony In our perpetually over-scheduled work lives, looking ahead is often overlooked. We know we should be keeping up with regional and industry news and planning for the future, but time is precious and today takes precedence over tomorrow. This session will provide dedicated time for discussion on how to bring successful strategic and succession planning to your department and organization. Objectives and activities include: Report out on hot topics and industry trends Activity: Short-format presentations on top trends Discussion about the importance of cross-training for succession planning Activity: Create a succession plan map for your department Visioning your organization in five years, ten years Activity: What’s the headline? Closing Ceremony featuring Program Graduate Remarks Participants will be given the opportunity to debrief their experience and share take-aways from the series through individual presentations. Series facilitator will engage the group through a short keynote highlighting the growth of the participants throughout the workshops. Participants will receive a certificate of completion and each participant will be offered an invitation for a supervisor, team member, or board member to attend.