Stepping Into Leadership

Stepping Into Leadership

stepping into leadership 2025

What is Stepping Into Leadership?

Over three days, participants will work through 6 modules, delving into the dynamics of effective leadership, mastering crucial skills essential for navigating today’s professional landscape. From supervisors to managers and business owners, individuals seeking to enhance their leadership prowess will find invaluable insights and tools within each session.

Before the course begins, participants will undergo a cutting-edge DISC© assessment, gaining insights into their unique leadership and communication styles. Further sessions will explore self-leadership, team dynamics, employee engagement strategies, coaching methodologies, goal setting techniques, project management best practices, and fostering a culture of excellence within organizations.

What is DiSC© ?

DiSC® is a personal assessment tool used by more than one million people every year to help improve teamwork, communication, and productivity in the workplace. Organizations and facilitators use these profiles as tools to help ignite cultural change, inspiring lasting behavior changes that positively shape their workforce.

What Does DiSC© Mean?

DiSC is an acronym that stands for the four main personality profiles described in the DiSC model: (D)ominance, (i)nfluence, (S)teadiness and (C)onscientiousness.

People with D personalities tend to be confident and place an emphasis on accomplishing bottom-line results.

People with i personalities tend to be more open and place an emphasis on relationships and influencing or persuading others.

People with S personalities tend to be dependable and place an emphasis on cooperation and sincerity.

People with C personalities tend to place an emphasis on quality, accuracy, expertise, and competency.

Everything DiSC also measures priorities (the words around the circle), providing more nuanced and memorable feedback in profiles.

Learn More About DiSC©

Spring 2025 Course Outline

Session 1: Getting to Know Yourself as a Leader

  • Understanding the essence of personal leadership
  • Seeing how much impact you have as a leader navigating life and work.
  • Analyzing the different tasks and mindsets between leadership and management- understanding how to prioritize which and when
  • Finding the way to fit it all in, managing responsibilities on a quadrant of urgency and importance to be more productive in achieving results
  • Recognizing your unique strengths as a leader as well as your blind spots that can trip you up causing unnecessary friction or conflict
  • Clearly recognizing strengths in others who have different styles
  • Building the foundational skills of developing others by better understanding the 4 DISC styles and how to lead/communicate with others
  • Recognizing and avoiding typical mistakes made with customers , the operations of the business and staff alike

Session 2: Developing high performance teams

  • Recognizing the key pieces needed to make a “high performance” team vs a regular team 
  • Knowing what to do when things go sideways and conflict arises before it gets to toxic levels
  • Learning about conflict resolution styles including your own strengths and blindspots in conflict modes
  • Practicing the skills needed to get out of Drama Triangles and prescribed roles that managers typically fall into 

Session 3: Conversations that matter (Employee Engagement)

  • Regulating yourself better so you can communicate more effectively with your colleagues
  • Recognize what drives employee engagement and disengagement in Squamish and beyond
  • Quantifying the hard and soft costs to the business of disengaged staff  
  • How to build on your DISC style to communicate more effectively in ALL situations with employees
  • Understanding examples of the 4 types of ways employees are self motivated 
  • Brainstorming ideas to attract and retain staff in Squamish in 2024
  • Recognizing how to manage effectively on various communication platforms that all differ slightly in tone and formality including text, email, social media, teams/zoom and more 

Session 4: Conversations that matter (Coaching Skills) 

  • Understanding the differences (and when to use) various feedback as a manager from training, corrective action, coaching and more
  • Using a matrix of Skill and Will to identify the types of feedback needed
  • Learning about different types of team meetings used for development including morning huddles, stand up meetings, one on ones and employee reviews 
  • Structuring a 1:1 
  • Using the Roy Group Feedback model in all of the above situations to exchange quality feedback 
  • Identifying and understanding the qualities needed to be a good coach AND a good coachee
  • Understanding how to ask powerful questions to elicit growth feedback 
  • Practicing “level 1” coaching skills using the GROW model 

Session 5: Managing the Work (Operational Excellence) 

  • How to set SMART goals and objectives
  • Basic Project management and Change Management understanding 
  • Identifying what IS and ISN’T a project that moves the operation
  • Practicing using a project charter to begin a project 
  • Creating Key Result areas and delegating responsibility 
  • Wrap up reflection and follow up coaching on sessions to date

Session 6- Putting it all together 

  • One of the most powerful sessions, participants have the opportunity to reflect on everything learned to date and will craft a short presentation on a topic given that has been covered
  • Participants must present that topic making connections between what they learned and how they will integrate it into THEIR day to day, explaining it in a way that their peers will understand it operationally
  • Each participant will receive live feedback on their content, presentation style and what others got out of it 
  • Think of it as a live, interactive “exam” 

Ready to learn more about your personality type and take your leadership skills to the next level?

HOLD MY SPOT!

Frequently Asked Questions:

Who is This Program For?

We have had emerging leaders new to supervisory skills, seasoned veteran leaders, general managers, sales managers, senior managers, owners and everyone in between get something out of the program. Everyone comes with different lenses but often, similar challenges when it comes to leadership and developing teams

I want to send a few people from my team. Is it best to spread it out?

We would highly encourage you to send MORE than one person from your team to the sessions together, for the following benefits:

  • Having a peer or a few peers in the program creates deeper ties within your team going through a training together

  • Having multiple people from your team there ensures a higher ROI on your training investment as there is more momentum when more leaders learn the skills and are excited to implement them 

  • Your leaders can practice together

  • Your brand and company gets to connect with more of the community as over the 6 sessions your leaders will be interacting in various groups- more leaders, more chance to interact with various other business leaders
Should business owners or senior managers attend with their team

We absolutely see the value when the senior leader or business owner attends with their team. It builds credibility, camaraderie and loyalty to the company- and the senior leader gets as much out of it as the staff do- getting to know their team leads "outside" of day to day work. 

What if I miss a session?

There are 6 modules. They all build on each other so you don't get your certificate unless you attend all 6. In the event that you miss one half day or full day, you can sign up to complete that half or full day the next round

- you will need to sign up the next round (for a fee) if not you will have to retake the whole series to get your certificate of completion 

- after too much time has passed, it is too difficult to connect the dots and it's better to retake it all 

- the DISC session (#1) is the one session that absolutely can't be missed

What if I've already completed a DISC profile?

If you already have a DISC report, you will need to bring it with you but don't have to pay to do another one. 

Some leaders who took their DISC more than 3 years ago like to retake it so it's current especially if their role has changed but it's not necessary

The dates don't work for my team but I would really like to do this program

If the dates we have for 2024 don't work for you, we have the option of Christine coming to facilitate the program with your team and these dates and costs can be discussed with the Chamber team to ensure the optimum result for you 

Some of my team members did this a while back - is it worth re-doing?

We have had several team members take Stepping into Leadership a second time and in all cases they have got SO many different things the second time around. We would recommend if your team member took it before 2022 that it would be highly beneficial to retake. The learning exponentially resonates as the material is already familiar and they have practiced the skills. We are happy to connect you with leaders who have taken it multiple times for testimonials

Are there additional supports you offer after the course

We are just building this part out but we are looking at offering one on one coaching or group follow-up with our facilitator 2 weeks after the course, 2 months and/or monthly if needed

Who do I contact, if I have further questions?

Please feel free to send an email at [email protected] 

Learn More About Christine McLeod

Christine McLeod helped us design this series 7 years ago and has been its facilitator since then. With over 200 Squamish leaders having graduated from the program, everyone agrees that Christine’s passion for Leadership development and the community of Squamish are a winning formula. 

Christine brings a career of facilitation, coaching, leadership development and facilitation to the program. She is a passionate volunteer and community builder in Squamish, an experienced senior operational leader and above all, a connector and service-minded leader.

When Christine is not facilitating programs with us, she is working with local and regional businesses in the area of leadership and team development, as well as developing leadership skills in our community youth demographic. You can connect with her on instagram at @everydayleaders

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