Workshop Topics
Humans are emotional creatures. It’s not touchy-feely, it’s just a fact. Workplaces become more productive when leaders develop excellent self-management skills and relationship skills. Emotional intelligence helps leaders lead well in real life, not just in theory.
Conflict isn't just normal. It's essential! When team members know how to engage in conflict respectfully and productively, collaboration becomes possible. It's not easy. Disagreement can be persistent as teams seek a path forward. But learning to lead forward through conflict and collaboration allows us to put our collective best foot forward.
The best teams are made up of people who know their strengths individually and collectively and leverage those strengths for success. This workshop is introduces strengths based leadership and how a strengths based perspective can help individuals and teams to do their best work. This workshop can stand on its own or be paired with the CliftonStrengths assessment.
Listening, soliciting feedback, receiving feedback, and giving feedback are among the most essential skills for success. That's true for both our personal and professional success, individually and collectively. Because these skills are so essential, this workshop is customizable for all skill levels. Whether this is your first rodeo or your tenth, there's always something each of us can learn to improve our interpersonal communication.
Psychological safety isn't about eliminating emotional discomfort. It's about creating a culture where people feel a strong sense of permission and responsibility to engage in that which IS uncomfortable. When there is psychological safety on a team, people aren't just "not punished" for speaking up or disagreeing. They're thanked. This workshop helps leaders learn what they need to do in order to create psychological safety on the teams they lead.
Part of a leader's job is to coach and help those they lead to be at their best. The connotations of performance management are too often negative, where leaders make sure that everyone is "up to snuff." Yes, critical feedback is an essential component. But performance management is also about motivation, learning what makes each person tick, and teaching people the best things about themselves through positive feedback. Instead of just the same old tools of enforcement, this workshop teaches the tools that help people enroll in being part of the team.
Change. It's ever present! We're either trying to create it or navigate it. This workshop covers key skills and processes for leading others successfully through change so everyone can get the benfits on the other side.
Communication and collaboration are consistent and persistent challenges for many organizations. This workshop explores perspective taking, intergroup dynamics, and other empathy centered elements that help us collaborate across differences.
Resilience is a hot topic for most leaders and organizations. In a world filled with challenges and things we can't control, resilient teams and individuals stay ahead of the curve. This workshop includes a blend of theory and skills that help teams and individuals to be resilient.
Are you deciding? Am I deciding? Or are we deciding together? This workshop helps leaders learn how to set clear expectations and parameters in decision making, how to effectively solicit input from others, and how to facilitate decisions made as a team.
Trust is a big word. Sometimes it means reliability. Sometimes it means honesty. Sometimes it just means good intentions. And sometimes, it means a lot of things all at once. This workshop delves into the many ways we trust (or don't trust) others and the skills needed to become a leader who is truly both trustworthy and credible.
Everything is connected, and the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Utilizing the Waterline Model and other practical tools, this workshop explores the tools needed to become a systems thinker and culture engineer.
Mia Fehl, CEO of Munchen Haus
"Andy's style helps break down barriers and opens the conversation by providing real-world examples and effective relationship practices. I whole-heartedly recommend Andy to other organizations who are intent on building a rockstar and superstar culture"
Tobin Booth, CEO, OneEnergy Inc
Executive Coaching
When leaders and professionals seek one on one coaching for themselves or someone in their organization, it’s nearly always for one of two reasons:
1. They’re experiencing change
2. They want to create change
The right coach at the right time makes all the difference.
Andy has worked as a coach and leadership development consultant for nearly a decade with executives, managers, and professionals.
Andy's background as a licensed family therapist gives him deep insight into the psychology of relationships, conflict, emotion, motivation, and change. He helps his clients to develop emotional intelligence and leadership skills in a variety of industries including healthcare, manufacturing, government, utilities, technology, food and beverage, and more.
Andy is low-pressure, engaging, and disarming. He loves helping leaders develop their strengths, and also has a knack for helping leaders navigate difficult situations in realistic ways. He meets clients where they are without judgment.
Andy doesn't just tell people what to do, but rather helps them explore their options and work out a course of action that helps them get where they want to go. He believes that each client is that expert on their own experience, and that the role of a coach is to help develop relevant skills and awareness, not to make decisions for them.
"Andy has a unique ability to expore the nuances of leadership while not only building up a person or team, but also driving them forward. The support and guidance I have received from Andy in my role as CEO has truly empowered me to thrive and grow, both personally and professionally"
Mia Fehl, CEO, Munchen Haus
Organizational Development
Are you looking to bring leadership skills and emotional intelligence development to your team retreat? Would your team benefit from facilitated planning or decision-making? Contact Lead Forward Co. to see how Andy can help make your team’s next retreat a success!
Whether your team is looking to invest in continued growth and development or facing a specific challenge, facilitated team building can help. Team building engagements are tailored to meet your team’s specific needs and can include leadership skills, interpersonal communication skills, resolving conflict, improving collaboration, and building shared commitment. Contact Lead Forward Co. to see how Andy can help your team be the best it can be!
Mission, vision, and values statements are an integral part of an organization’s culture. They are also deceptively hard to get right. Most often, writing or re- writing these statements devolves into tedious wordsmithing and people agreeing to go along with something that they don’t love in exchange for being "finished.” But it doesn’t have to be that way! Mission, vision, and values statements are an opportunity for organizations to articulate what matters most and to make commitments that make these ideas come to life in the organization’s culture. Contact Lead Forward Co. to find out how we can make your mission,
vision, and values statements meaningful and impactful!
Has your organization done mounds of leadership training over the years, but been less successful than you'd like at making leadership stick as part of your culture? Are you tired of spending too much money for too little impact? Does everyone roll their eyes at the prospect of starting over with new programs or consultants?
What if there was a framework that helped you establish a vision for your organization's leadership culture and bring all your past, present, and future leadership development efforts together without "starting over"?
The Lead Forward Co Leadership Development Framework isn't just another training program. It's a framework for continuous leadership development that doesn't depend on one source of education and keeps the focus on the unique needs of your organization. Ready to learn more? Click the button below to set up a no cost consultation to see if your organization is ready to build its own comprehensive leadership development framework.
“Andy worked with our Senior Leadership Team pre-pandemic and during the pandemic when our healthcare system was stressed and emotions were high. Andy has a common sense approach to workplace culture that connected with our team. We are not a touchy-feely group and his recommendations and insight were presented in a way that was not intimating or interpreted as 'unachievable'. I highly recommend Andy if you've tried different approaches to achieve high functioning teams and have been unsuccessful in the past.”
-Melissa Strong, CNO, Mason General Hospital
Executive Coaching
When leaders and professionals seek one on one coaching for themselves or someone in their organization, it’s nearly always for one of two reasons:
1. They’re experiencing change
2. They want to create change
Whether you want help with change for yourself, your team, or your organization, the right coach at the right time makes all the difference. Without a doubt, the most important thing when choosing the right coach for you and your situation is “fit”. There are two factors to consider:
Andy has worked with executives, managers, and professionals for nearly a decade as a coach and leadership development consultant. Prior to this, he worked in behavioral health/integrative medicine at a pain management clinic and in private practice as a licensed family therapist. The combined training and experience in leadership development and family therapy gives Andy a unique depth in human psychology, relationships, conflict, emotion, motivation, and change. Andy has a special interest and expertise in helping others develop emotional intelligence and leadership skills, especially at times when they are confronted with difficult challenges such as change, challenging workplace relationship dynamics, critical feedback, and managing difficult situations. Andy has experience in a variety of industries, including healthcare, city governments, utilities, electric cooperatives, technology, food and beverage, manufacturing, and more.
Andy’s approach to coaching is low pressure but engaged. While Andy is approachable and easy to talk to, he isn’t shy about asking tough, relevant questions to keep the conversations productive and moving toward accomplishing coaching goals. Pursuing well-roundedness is a path to mediocrity. Your strengths and your weaknesses are two sides of the same coin. Learning to lean into your strengths and navigate your weaknesses and their impact effectively (rather than trying to eliminate them) leads to growth and your best work. Andy often uses the CliftonStrengths assessment to help coaching clients recognize their talents and strengths-based growth opportunities.
There really isn’t any such thing as completely separating your personal life from your professional life. You take your self with you everywhere you go, and working on your relationship with yourself, your work, and your emotions is always a great investment.