Sessions
We'll be adding more sessions in addition to those you can preview below, so please check back soon to see our full lineup!
While the skills and knowledge gained from these sessions can be universaly applied by all managers and people leaders, we wanted to recognize the unique connection each session has with one of our conference themes — Grow, Empower and Lead — so that attendees can tailor their selections to their individual needs. Use the legend below to identify which sessions correspond with which themes and which sessions are available to CORO participants and graduates only.
Table of Contents
- Your career and relationships
- Gain information and insights that enhance your professional expertise
- Yourself and your team
- Discover new models that shift your perspective
- Others to succeed
- Learn tools and resources that increase your management and leadership effectiveness
- Available to CORO participants and graduates only
August 2 Session Schedule
August 3 Session Schedule
August 2 Sessions Guide
| Session | Presenters |
|---|---|
| Grow track session CORO Participants and Graduates Only Sharpen Your Critical Thinking Tools | Courtney Young-Law and Laney Whitcanack |
| Grow track session Making Connections that Count | Vanessa George |
| Empower track session Why Emotional Intelligence Matters | Helen Ojeda and Karen Fay |
| More sessions to come — check back soon! | |
| Session | Presenters |
|---|---|
| Empower track session CORO Participants and Graduates Only Using Inquiry in Peer Coaching | Courtney Young-Law and Laney Whitcanack |
| Lead track session Supervisory Compliance: Achievement Unlocked! | Jennifer Damico Murphy, Stephanie Leider and Shondella Reed |
| Grow track session Increasing Your Personal Change Capability | Scott McCallister and Lisa Terry |
| Lead track session Time for Leadership: Breakthrough Practices for Today | Pierre Khawand |
| Grow track session Enhancing Your Superpowers!: Mindfulness for Managers | Meg Corman |
| More sessions to come — check back soon! | |
| Session | Presenters |
|---|---|
| Empower track session CORO Participants and Graduates Only Position Yourself to Negotiate | Courtney Young-Law and Laney Whitcanack |
| Empower track session Team Dysfunction: Steps to Mitigate Its Influence | Reg Randles |
| Empower track session Key Drivers of Employee Engagement & How to Use Them | Maire Hairston |
| Lead track session Leading the Workforce Today & Tomorrow | Erin DiCamillo and Ingrid Laman |
| Lead track session The Innovative Leader: Design Thinking in Action | Pierre Khawand |
| More sessions to come — check back soon! | |
| Session | Presenters |
|---|---|
| Grow track session CORO Participants and Graduates Only What's Your Line?: Creating Your Professional Narrative | Courtney Young-Law and Laney Whitcanack |
| Grow track session "Just Deal With It": An Introduction to Emotional Intelligence | Frank Widman |
| Empower track session The Naked Truth About Customer Service | Lee Tomlinson |
| Empower track session Manager on the Move: How to Create a Pocket of Excellence | Laura Putnam |
| More sessions to come — check back soon! | |
August 3 Sessions Guide
| Session | Presenters |
|---|---|
| Sessions to come — check back soon! | |
| Session | Presenters |
|---|---|
| Lead track session Keys to Attracting the Right Talent | Michael Yates and Steven Wiseman |
| Grow track session Increase Your Personal Effectiveness: Self-Coaching for Managers | Anna Rodrigues |
| Grow track session Mindfulness @ Work – Thrive in the Midst of Overload | Pierre Khawand |
| Lead track session Managing in a Unionized Environment | Peter Chester |
| More sessions to come — check back soon! | |
| Session | Presenters |
|---|---|
| Lead track session CORO Participants and Graduates Only Leadership Ready: Organizational Readiness and Succession Planning | Courtney Young-Law and Laney Whitcanack |
| Lead track session To Lead is to Serve | Reg Randles |
| Empower track session Nourish to Flourish | Staci Richards & Caroline Adams |
| Empower track session Coaching for Success with the GROW Model | Helen Ojeda & Becky Clockel |
| More sessions to come — check back soon! | |
Session Descriptions
- Your career and relationships
- Gain information and insights that enhance your professional expertise
- Yourself and your team
- Discover new models that shift your perspective
- Others to succeed
- Learn tools and resources that increase your management and leadership effectiveness
- Available to CORO participants and graduates only
August 2, 9:45-10:45am Session Descriptions
Grow track session CORO Participants and Graduates Only Sharpen Your Critical Thinking
Presented by Courtney Young-Law and Laney Whitcanack
Leaders need critical thinking skills to frame and evaluate problems so they can create innovative solutions. This session will engage participants in a problem solving session that sharpens their critical thinking and their ability to apply CORO tools.
Return to August 2, 9:45 Sessions
Grow track session Making Connections that Count
Presented by Vanessa George
The session will enable participants to understand the critical strategies and techniques needed to build an effective network, make connections that count, and advance their careers. We will explore the typical internal hurdles that prevent them from expanding their network and will also engage in self-assessments designed to illuminate the gaps in their networking efforts. Participants will receive tips, strategies and techniques to help overcome the hurdles, close the gaps and enable them to proactively connect with others in a meaningful way that supports their career goals and aspirations.
Return to August 2, 9:45 Sessions
Empower track session Why Emotional Intelligence Matters
Presented by Helen Ojeda and Karen Fay
Today, emotional intelligence (EQ) needs little introduction. This “other kind of smart” is the #1 predictor of success both personally and professionally. But knowing what it is and knowing how to use it to improve your life are two very different things.
Join us for a discussion of why emotional intelligence matters and how you can employ it personally and professionally.
Return to August 2, 9:45 Sessions
August 2, 11:00am-12:00pm Session Descriptions
Empower track session CORO Participants and Graduates Only Using Inquiry in Peer Coaching
Presented by Courtney Young-Law and Laney Whitcanack
Participants will have an opportunity to refresh their CORO tools of 4WH and Inquiry as they practice coaching peers or being coached by peers. Peer coaching is not trying to get someone to your answer or solution; instead, peer coaches use inquiry to help people reach their own answer and course of action.
Return to August 2, 11:00 Sessions
Llead track session Supervisory Compliance: Achievement Unlocked!
Presented by Jennifer Damico Murphy, and Shondella Reed
First time supervisors are often thrown into the complicated role of managing people with minimal preparation or training. What training they do receive tends to focus on how to manage performance and how to deal with conflict. But supervisors have a host of regulatory and policy related responsibilities that they only find out about when something goes wrong or an employee complains. The goal of this presentation is to provide supervisors with a compliance toolbox of the regulations and policies they will need to manage on a day to day basis along with resources to address them. After the session, participants will be able to:
- Identify common supervisory compliance issues as they occur in the workplace
- Take the right steps in addressing the identified issue
- Know when to ask for guidance
Return to August 2, 11:00 Sessions
Grow track session Increasing Your Personal Change Capability
Presented by Scott McCallister and Lisa Terry
The goal for this session is to increase the personal leadership effectiveness of each participant as it relates to the people side of change. We will review why change management is an essential component of delivering sustainable results. Participants will also be provided a series of practical frameworks and tools that can be put to work immediately following the session. Participants in this session will:
- Gain an appreciation for research findings that demonstrate the role of change management in delivering enhanced organizational outcomes
- Gain a practical framework to position change management in relationship to sponsorship and project management
- Learn the Prosci ADKAR model, a powerful framework to facilitate individual change
Return to August 2, 11:00 Sessions
Llead track session Time for Leadership: Breakthrough Practices for Today
Presented by Pierre Khawand
Leadership skills, which include time management skills and coaching skills, are essential in today's workplace. Session participants will gain:
- New insights into time, the perception of time, and the multi-dimensional aspects of working effectively to speed up progress and win the war against time
- Practical techniques that can lead to behavioral changes that turn into practices, enabling you to rewire your brain and augment your leadership potential
- Redefinition of playtime and insights into adopting innovative ways to get rejuvenated, leading to new levels of creativity and the path to happiness and fulfillment
Return to August 2, 11:00 Sessions
Grow track session Enhancing Your Superpowers!: Mindfulness for Managers
Presented by Meg Corman
Do you show up at work fully engaged and available, focused, at ease, listening more than talking, confident in being who you are, and open and flexible to whatever arises? In this session we will explore how mindfulness practice can make you more effective as a manager. By attending this session you will:
- Understand what mindfulness is and learn benefits of practicing it in the workplace
- Understand the bio-physical stress cycle and how mindfulness can help you cope more effectively in stressful situations
- Experience specific mindfulness practices to see how you can use those during your work day
Return to August 2, 11:00 Sessions
August 2, 2:30-3:30pm Session Descriptions
Empower track session CORO Participants and Graduates Only Position Yourself to Negotiate
Presented by Courtney Young-Law and Laney Whitcanack
Negotiations are mistakenly thought of as high-stakes, adversarial discussions between competing parties. But negotiations are carried out daily with people on our teams and often with similar goals. This session will give an overview of the negotiation process and help participants learn specific skills that will help them create and consider mutual-gains negotiations.
Return to August 2, 2:30 Sessions
Empower track session Team Dysfunction: Steps to Mitigate Its Influence
Presented by Reg Randles
Viable 21st-Century organizations understand that the learning organization will be the sustainable model going forward. Interdependence, collaboration and teams are the contributing factors of future success. Many businesses are embracing employee empowerment, modeled by greater key tasks being delegated to teams. Occasionally, teams experience dysfunction. Session participants will:
- Gain insights to contributing factors of team dysfunction
- Understand the importance of trust as foundation of team cohesion
- Depart with skills and techniques that mitigate it’s influence and contribute to team cohesion
Return to August 2, 2:30 Sessions
Empower track session Key Drivers of Employee Engagement & How to Use Them
Presented by Maire Hairston
What is Employee Engagement, and what is it not? This session will break down employee engagement and discuss simple ways to support engagement every day. Using the results of the 2015 Engagement Survey, participants will learn about location-specific Key Drivers of Engagement and how to use these to better support engagement in their individual departments.
Return to August 2, 2:30 Sessions
Lead track session Leading the Workforce Today & Tomorrow
Presented by Erin DiCamillo and Ingrid Laman
With organizations being more complex and interconnected that ever before and multiple generations in the workplace, managers need the tools and resources to lead effectively.
Participants will learn about University of California's partnership with CEB and how to optimize CEB's management resources for career development, talent management, and project support. Through interactive use case examples, participants will walk away with the know-how to navigate CEB's resources to solve topical management challenges such as change management. They will also learn how to share these resources with peers, colleagues and teams to not only upgrade their own skills but also the skills of those around them.
Return to August 2, 2:30 Sessions
Lead track session The Innovative Leader: Design Thinking in Action
Presented by Pierre Khawand
Design Thinking is an innovative method for collaboration and problem solving. Session participants will:
- Understand the key aspects of design thinking, including working with stakeholders to co-create innovative solutions together
- Gain insights into the challenges related to workplace interruptions and solutions to address them
- Learn valuable tips and techniques for collaborating and problem solving in the workplace and beyond
Return to August 2, 2:30 Sessions
August 2, 3:45-4:45pm Session Descriptions
Grow track session CORO Participants and Graduates Only What's Your Line?: Creating Your Professional Narrative
Presented by Courtney Young-Law and Laney Whitcanack
All professionals need a professional narrative, regardless of their industry or years of experience. Participants will leave this session with a first draft of their professional narrative. When asked, "What do you do?”, they will be able to highlight compelling themes in their career and the impact they have made in their work. A polished professional narrative is useful in many settings, ranging from professional conferences to cocktail parties.
CORO Participants and Graduates Only
Return to August 2, 3:45 Sessions
Grow track session "Just Deal With It": An Introduction to Emotional Intelligence
Presented by Frank Widman
Designed to present the concepts of emotional intelligence as explained by Daniel Goleman, psychologist, researcher and author, this session will introduce the concept of emotional intelligence, explore how the brain works in relation to emotions, consider how negative emotions hijack rational thought, and look at the low road and high road pathways of the brain in relation to thought and emotion. We'll also learn that self-coaching could be an effective way to create new brain pathways. By attending this session, participants will gain:
- An increased understanding of how our emotional brain helps us to understand how to more effectively deal with our work environment
- Tools to deal effectively with people in the workplace
- A way to thrive and perhaps even flourish in the workplace
Return to August 2, 3:45 Sessions
Empower track session The Naked Truth About Customer Service
Presented by Lee Tomlinson
The impact of world-class customer service on your applicants, students, their families, staff, alumni and your University’s bottom line – is immensely positive. This program offers participants a step-by-step guide on how to improve the customer service of their teams and ultimately, the University as a whole. The session will provide experiential evidence from the ongoing UCLA Enrollment Management Service Improvement Initiative.
Return to August 2, 3:45 Sessions
Empower track session Manager on the Move: How to Create a Pocket of Excellence
Presented by Laura Putnam
"Manager on the Move" is a highly interactive session that educates managers on the critical role they play in promoting health and well-being for their team members. Evidence suggests that they alone account for up to 70% of the variance of their team members' engagement with both their work as well as their well-being. Following this session, participants will be able to:
- Understand why well-being is essential to enhanced engagement, productivity and organization excellence
- Clarify why the manager is the primary contributor toward employee engagement in well-being
- Name and practice three strategies that can be employed to build a pocket of excellence
Return to August 2, 3:45 Sessions
August 3, 9:00-10:00am Session Descriptions
Sessions to come — check back soon!
August 3, 10:15-11:15am Session Descriptions
Lead track session Keys to Attracting the Right Talent
Presented by Michael Yates & Steven Wiseman
Hiring people is one of the most critical activities for a manager, if not the most important. The right people are the those who help take your unit/department and organization to the next level. These are the people you want on your team. Unfortunately, many managers, due the time and effort it can take to hire and/or lack of a strategy find themselves settling for less. This breakout session will focus on providing managers with tips and strategies to hire the right talent for their teams.
Return to August 3, 10:15 Sessions
Grow track session Increase Your Personal Effectiveness: Self-Coaching for Managers
Presented by Anna Rodrigues
Self-coaching is a technique used to monitor personal effectiveness and bring about a higher self-awareness. It is used best in monitoring negative thoughts, which can greatly effect one’s emotions, actions and ultimately the bottom line. Participants will learn how to effectively self-coach, create an individual growth plan and gain tips to effectively set and monitor goals.
Return to August 3, 10:15 Sessions
Grow track session Mindfulness @ Work – Thrive in the Midst of Overload
Presented by Pierre Khawand
Mindfulness has been proven to bring a broad range of benefits to people', and most recently our research has shown that mindfulness practices are even more critical in the workplace to help manage stress, increase self-awareness and awareness of others, and instill a culture of accomplishment and fulfillment. Session participants will gain:
- A better understanding of mindfulness and how mindfulness at work can help you be calmer, feel less stressed, happier and more fulfilled than ever before
- An in-depth knowledge of The Perfect 15-Minute Day Method and how to use the accompanying journal to easily practice the method and turn it into a habit
- The ability to focus and get amazing results, and when needed, multi-task and manage competing demands with ease
- Becoming aware of how you spend your time, how long things take, and what time wasters are getting in your way
Return to August 3, 10:15 Sessions
Lead track session Managing in a Unionized Environment
Presented by Peter Chester
Maximizing employee performance and ensuring that employees feel empowered to do their best is difficult enough but a manager confronts special challenges when those employees are represented by a union that has its own ideas about effective people management. Our breakout session is designed to help participants understand the constraints imposed by a unionized workforce so they can help their unionized employees reach their potential and still comply with contractual and statutory limitations.
Return to August 3, 10:15 Sessions
August 3, 1:30-2:30pm Session Descriptions
Lead track session CORO Participants and Graduates Only Leadership Ready: Organizational Readiness and Succession Planning
Presented by Kevin Phillips
Statistics continue to show that upwards of 35% of our current workforce over 50, including many senior leaders, will retire in the next 5-10 years. To retain institutional knowledge and to continue to our legacy of leading excellence in public higher education and healthcare, we need to engage in preparing the next generation of leaders, and invest in developing our staff for future roles. This session will introduce the methodology and tools to conduct organizational readiness activities. At this session, participants will:
- Gain an understanding of the importance and sense of urgency regarding organizational readiness planning
- Learn how to conduct Organizational Readiness activities and Succession Planning at the leadership levels of your organization, through an Organizational Readiness Model and following an actual UC case study
- Introduced to, and practice, specific tools, including a 9 Box Activity and a Retention and Criticality Matrix
Return to August 3, 1:30 Sessions
Lead track session To Lead is to Serve
Presented by Reg Randles
Lead is to Serve: Leadership is the ability to move a group of people, cohesively, toward a common goal or objective for goal fruition. This leadership paradigm has a foundation of trust and a backward/forward continuum of shared-power. Session participants will:
- Identify the difference of being a leader and a boss
- Examine factors of a flexible leadership style and the results achieved
- Learn techniques and behaviors of situational leadership
Return to August 3, 1:30 Sessions
Empower track session Nourish to Flourish
Presented by Staci Richards & Caroline Adams
Research shows that most managers and supervisors are reluctant to give their staff feedback; however, direct reports crave this information. Critical feedback is often given only when a problem gets to a boiling point, and positive feedback is perceived to be insufficient by staff. This session focuses on the benefits of continuous positive feedback and coaching, and why it is critical to not only improving performance, but also maximizing the engagement of the employee.
Return to August 3, 1:30 Sessions
Empower track session COaching for Success with the GROW Model
Presented by Helen Ojeda & Bekcy Clockel
In this interactive session, participants will:
- Understand the importance and value of performance coaching
- Distinguish between the roles of manager and coach
- Understand the process for coaching sessions
- Gather information and prepare
- Conduct the performance discussion
- Facilitate a plan of action
- Conduct follow-up sessions
- Apply the GROW performance coaching model
- Demonstrate the ability to conduct an effective coaching session
Return to August 3, 1:30 Sessions