Leadership
Essentials Program

Program Overview

This transformative leadership development program is designed to cultivate a profound sense of leadership identity among participants. Moving beyond traditional skills, it embeds leadership into the very core of an individual’s being. Participants will explore and define their unique leadership style, purpose, and impact, culminating in creating a personal leadership manifesto. The curriculum includes practical strategies for building strong relationships, enhancing communication, fostering trust, and ensuring team psychological safety. Additionally, it addresses the challenges of leading in a VUCAH world, enhancing adaptability, and promoting a coaching culture that sparks innovation and critical thinking. This holistic approach ensures that leaders excel in their current roles and evolve to meet future challenges effectively.

Smiling executive leans forward to seal a deal with a handshake in a modern office.

Learning Outcomes

During Our Program You Will:

Professional Development Shifts

Program Details

Structure and hours

Instructor

Marderé Birkill, MBL, CEC, PCC. Marderé has over 3,000 hours of professional leadership coaching
and is an experienced adult educator and learning facilitator.

Schedule and Curriculum Details

Unit
Topics
Leadership Identity
Moving from leadership is a job I do to leadership is part of who I am.
– My unique leadership identity, purpose & brand.
– My intended impact on the world.
– My leadership manifesto.
Centeredness
Learn the ropes of leading and managing the most difficult person you will ever lead – yourself.
– Self-management, motivation, and grounding.
– Effectiveness & Productivity
– Emotional regulation
Relationships
Based on my leadership manifesto and the context of my current role and organization, the skills and commitment to build positive relationships with and within my team:
– Leadership communication and influence, managing different personality styles.
– The anatomy of trust and psychological safety – build, foster, and protect it.
– Situational leadership – appropriate communication approaches for various situations.
– Navigating conflict from two perspectives: from the sideline and being in conflict.
Adaptability
Flexing my adaptability muscles to lead effectively in a VUCAH world:
– Creating clarity and direction
– Productive meetings
– Change management
– Innovation, Creativity, and Critical thinking in grey areas
Coaching Culture
Foundations of building sustainable high-value teams.
– Delegation and accountability
– Coaching and mentoring
– Basic Coaching skills to Engage, empower, and build capacity.

Additional Information

This program is eligible for the Canada Alberta Job Grant or other provincial equivalent in Canada. The program supports “soft-skill” development costs and will refund 2/3 of the program cost.

We understand that leadership practices must be compatible with the organization’s purpose, values / desired culture. Therefore, we spend time with you beforehand to adapt and adjust our content to support your desired culture.

Many companies have a well-defined leadership skill structure. If your company has such a structure, we will incorporate that into our prework to support the development of your emerging leaders toward that structure or in line with the leadership skillset you desire. 

Sage & Summit would like to follow the actualization of the participants’ new and improved skills as they grow. We will follow up with the participants and their relevant supervisors at strategic touch points during the program and 3 and 6 months afterward to gain insights into what changes and leading practices continued to impact your leaders and teams.

Our training always includes a leadership style/communication style assessment. If your organization currently uses an assessment and we may access your insights, we can replace that component with a different value-added element for the participants. Alternatively, you can choose from a menu of assessments for the program. 

This program is adaptable and customizable. We developed the core content focusing on preparing managers to become effective leaders in a VUCAH world. If you believe any additional leadership and management aspects would benefit your team, please do not hesitate to discuss them. We love talking about leadership!

Ready to Elevate Your Leadership?

Take the next step with our Emotional Intelligence at Work program. Build essential skills to lead with empathy, clarity, and impact in today’s dynamic workplace.