Training

Many of us have a love-hate relationship with performance reviews. As the feedback giver, you want to strike a good balance between recognizing strengths and weaknesses, yet you sometimes struggle to get it right. As the recipient, you want to know how you’re doing but don’t always walk away feeling fully seen or clear on your next steps.

Fortunately, there are proven strategies you can use to get the most out of your next feedback session. In this one-hour keynote or two-hour interactive session, you will learn best practices for not only successfully communicating praise and constructive criticism but also responding well during these tricky conversations.

Participants will be able to: (a) identify the individual and organizational benefits of high-quality feedback; (b) articulate four operating principles that lay the groundwork for giving and receiving meaningful feedback; (c) utilize an evidence-based approach to deliver positive and negative feedback; and (d) respond to feedback in a way that maximizes understanding, empowerment, and career growth.

Empowered Relief™ is a skills-based, single-session class developed at Stanford University and taught exclusively by certified instructors. This 2 ½-hour training rapidly equips attendees with pain management skills to address persistent pain that interferes with your quality of life.

Participants will learn about the neuroscience behind pain, discover pain relief skills that you can immediately apply, receive a binaural relaxation audio file, and create a personal plan for pain relief.

Research shows that attendees experience lasting benefits from Empowered Relief™, including reduced pain intensity, better sleep, and lower stress.

To sign-up for my next Empowered Relief™ session, click here. If you are interested in a class just for your employees or patients, please reach out to me here.

Your boss’s approach to a high-stakes project could not be more different than yours. A colleague drops off a call in a huff. You and your teammates are feeling anxious about an upcoming reorganization. No matter how attuned and savvy you might be, work life all too often presents new opportunities to grow your emotional intelligence.

During this insight-packed training, you will be introduced to the latest strategies for better understanding your own reactions to workplace dynamics, taking the emotional temperature of your team, and communicating with coworkers in a way that builds camaraderie and trust. Armed with a validated people skills playbook, you will walk away from this session feeling capable, composed, and connected – the hallmarks of a high performer.

Participants will be able to: (a) describe the four components of emotional intelligence (EQ); (b) make a strong business case for the role of EQ in the workplace; (c) use proven methods to increase emotional fluency; (d) determine when and how to engage with colleagues when emotions run high; and (e) communicate with greater intellectual humility, empathy, and authenticity.

Giving thanks pays big dividends as a buffer against workplace burnout, a physical and mental health booster, and a relationship strengthener. If you’ve had trouble feeling appreciative lately, join this one-hour workshop to discover multiple science-backed hacks for growing your gratitude fast. You will leave this session with a reawakened appreciation for the people and experiences in your life as well as a game plan for putting your renewed gratefulness into action.

Participants will be able to: (a) describe the positive impact of giving thanks on individuals and organizations; (b) implement four evidence-based strategies to tap into your gratitude; (c) develop a sustainable gratitude writing practice that works; and (d) deliver meaningful thank yous that deepen your professional and personal relationships.

Research has shown us that hope is one of the strongest predictors of job performance, outpacing intelligence, talent, and engagement. It’s also worth a full day per week of productivity, meaning that someone with high hope can knock out the same workload in four days that will take their lower-hope colleague five. In this one-hour workshop, you will learn the formula for hope (it’s not just positive thinking!) and then apply this blueprint to your own goals to optimize your success.

Participants will be able to: (a) articulate the three key elements of hope; (b) make a case for the role of hope in the workplace; and (c) devise an individualized hope-building plan that boosts motivation and follow-through.

What can you as a people leader do to create a cohesive, highly effective team in a hybrid environment? While hybrid isn’t necessarily harder to manage, it does require a fresh approach to everything from orienting new hires to meeting facilitation. During this two-hour training, you will discover the latest communication, connection, and collaboration practices that support successful teams who may sometimes be remote, but certainly aren’t distant.

Participants will be able to: (a) identify the primary upsides and challenges of hybrid work; (b) enact four culture building strategies that promote team trust and shared vision; (c) minimize the effects of proximity bias within a hybrid setting; and (d) incorporate proven processes into remote onboarding and virtual meetings to boost belonging and knowledge sharing.

Perhaps you’ve heard how helpful mindfulness is, but can’t fit yet another thing into your schedule. Or you’ve tried meditation and found yourself feeling antsy at the three-minute mark, ready to tackle your to-do list instead of sitting still. Amidst the frenzy of work life, it can be difficult to pause long enough to catch your breath, let alone block off time to focus on it!

This one-hour workshop will introduce you to several easy ways to incorporate mindfulness into your day, allowing you to pick and choose which techniques work best for you. You will walk away with an understanding of what mindfulness really is, its remarkable impact on your well-being, and a personal plan for integrating gentle, intentional presence into your everyday activities.

Participants will be able to: (a) identify the personal and professional benefits of mindfulness; (b) practice six simple ways to bring mindful moments into your workday; and (c) create your own mindfulness action plan.

Whether you’re an early career professional settling into your first individual contributor role or an established people leader interested in figuring out your next steps, we all benefit from periodically taking stock of our career present to shape our career future in a way that excites us.

During this two-hour training, you will have the opportunity to first conduct a vocational meaning and satisfaction audit before creating a robust development plan that helps you have more say over how your career unfolds. Drawing upon cutting-edge research, you will learn how to engage in a dual feedback process, set bulletproof goals, and integrate resilience skills into your daily work life to help you design a fulfilling path forward and make your ultimate career vision a reality.

Participants will be able to (a) describe how alignment of values, skills, interests, and purpose is the bedrock on which a meaningful career is built; (b) Assess career satisfaction using the three principles of self-determination; (c) understand why frequent self-feedback and feedback from others are conduits to professional success; (d) articulate the benefits of learning versus performance goals; (e) navigate growth opportunities with mindfulness and intention; and (f) draft an individualized career development plan.

Maybe you have found yourself saying yes and later regretting it as you grow increasingly resentful, overstretched, and depleted. Perhaps you’ve bumbled your way through saying no, leaving yourself wondering how others do it with such grace. It turns out that there is an art to setting boundaries. In this one-hour keynote or two-hour workshop, you will learn why, when, and how to say no to avoid burnout and keep yourself moving toward your goals.

Participants will be able to: (a) describe the reasons why setting boundaries is a critical skill for flourishing personally and professionally; (b) identify four roadblocks to effective boundary-setting; (c) use a simple decision-making framework to determine whether to say yes or no to an opportunity; (d) apply at least two different techniques to successfully say no; and (e) utilize strategies to reduce pre- and post-no nerves.

If you’d like to take a deeper dive, you can add on a second two-hour work session where attendees refresh their skills, share their successes fielding requests with more intentionality, reflect on any lingering challenges when saying no, and learn additional strategies to navigate the thorniest boundary-setting situations.

If you’ve been scratching your head about how to empower your team to participate, initiate, and innovate without risking burnout, then join this two-hour training to expand your understanding of what motivates us in our careers and how we can leverage this knowledge to best support our people. You will learn quick, high-impact strategies that you can immediately implement to help your team members bring their strengths to work, develop new habits, and feel a greater sense of professional purpose and connection.

Participants will be able to: (a) articulate three key drivers of motivation; (b) describe the relationship between motivation and burnout; (c) ask a series of open-ended questions to facilitate positive behavioral change; and (d) apply a science-backed framework for making micro-changes that promote growth, belonging, and helpful workplace habits.

While you’ve probably heard the statement “mindset matters,” have you ever paused to think about what it really means? In this hands-on session, you will discover how adopting a growth mindset can supercharge your capacity to learn, your well-being, and your career. Drawing upon the latest brain and behavioral science, you will have the opportunity to experiment with simple shifts that open the door to developing new skills, taking smart risks, and responding well when things don’t go according to plan.

Participants will be able to: (a) differentiate between growth and fixed mindsets; (b) discuss the ways in which growth mindset contributes to individual and organizational success; (c) employ research-backed strategies for self-talk that fosters compassion, flexibility, and lifelong learning; and (d) follow a three-step process to recover from setbacks.

This training can be customized to run anywhere from one to two hours, depending on your desired level of interactivity.

What is the backbone of every successful team? Trust. In its absence, we often become stingy with our time, resources, ideas, and goodwill toward colleagues. But when trust takes hold, engagement and performance soar.

This training breaks down the ins and outs of trust, offering a roadmap for nurturing trust at work. You will have the chance to explore which daily actions you can take to facilitate trust within a new or existing team, preserve trust in varied work environments, and right the ship when trust is shaken.

Participants will be able to: (a) describe the “teeter-totter” of trust; (b) summarize the benefits of prioritizing trust within your team and organization; (c) identify six trustworthiness indicators and evaluate their impact on your work; and (d) employ targeted strategies to grow trust, recover from lapses, and strengthen team interdependence.

Does the thought of giving a presentation make your brain kick into overdrive, your heart race, or your mouth go dry? Do you avoid opportunities because they require you to stand up in front of an audience or take the lead at meetings? In this two-hour session, you will not only learn why public speaking triggers your stress response but also discover how to employ multiple research-backed strategies to turn those nerves into excitement about delivering your next talk.

Participants will be able to: (a) distinguish between the two primary sources of public speaking anxiety; (b) explain the personal and professional advantages gained by growing your confidence as a presenter; (c) counter the self-critical thoughts that often accompany public speaking jitters; (d) utilize evidence-based skills before, during, and after a public speaking opportunity to optimize performance; and (e) develop a personalized plan for increasing your comfort and success as a presenter.