Emotional Intelligence and Neuroscience develops a leader’s ability to understand and leverage their emotions, influence individuals and teams dealing with complex issues and dynamics, and sustain mutually beneficial relationships with a wide range of stakeholders. In addition, Nonprofit leaders have complex stakeholder groups to collaborate with and navigate their work. Understanding oneself and others becomes critical tools to move agendas, build great functioning teams, and develop the kind of trust-based relationships that grow great organizations. Leaders will:

• Complete the EQi – Emotional Quotient Inventory (one of the most highly used EI assessment instruments available) prior to the program and receive their results at the event.
•  Learn cutting edge neuroscience ideas that can be immediately implemented in group and workplace settings
• Apply EI concepts to self -management, restraint, emotional agility and constructive engagement with team members and boards.
• Build an action plan to proactively address EI development needs.

Learn techniques to engage any type of team and how to structure team processes for maximum team performance. At times, even the most talented teams slip into a funk or seem to “stall” on their performance level.  Whether your team is your peer leadership team, your direct reports or your board of directors, you will be called upon to steer your team back on track.  In fact, 80% of leaders experience some type of team failure and 74% believe their team’s operational excellence is the most important factor to meet organizational goals.  Leaders will:

• Complete Team Assessment prior to attending this session
• Receive results of a team assessment completed prior to attending
• Learn to identify dysfunction and pin-point the cause
• Identify essential components of well-functioning teams and explore strategies to intervene and re-build the team for higher performance
• Work with strategies to instill trust and foster collaborative goal setting

One of the most powerful leadership postures is the ability hold on to the essential elements of an organization’s values and history, be in the present to address the current issues of the day and to dream for a better future.  Strategic thinking and planning give both content and structure to   diagnostic, dreaming and execution processes.  Learning how and when to mobilize stakeholders in this process is critical and all change efforts must be a shared responsibility to ensure success.  Strategic thinking and planning help institutionalize continuous learning and reflection and allow leaders and organization develop agility, adaption skills and greater capacity to experiment to reach new goals.  Leaders will:

• Investigate the definition of and interconnected nature of strategic thinking and planning
• Explore and play with a number of strategic thinking exercises with a focused goal
• Learn and experiment with a 7- step model of strategic planning which includes: Aspiration: Goal Setting, Continuity: Core Values of Organization, Logistics: Who, How, When, Data Mining: Collection & Analysis, Focus: Prioritizing Needs, Design: Action Planning and Sustaining: Re-invest to Eclipse the Current with the New
• Begin to identity a potential aspiration for strategic work within their organizations

This half-day session, led by Julie Clark,  BVU’s Vice President, Nonprofit Engagement, is designed as an interactive workshop that addresses the role of board and staff leaders in guiding and shaping a board to advance the organization to achieve full potential.  Topics typically covered include:

• The role of the board
• Best practices in governance (statement of expectations, accountability, board succession plan)
• Meeting management — what makes a good board and committee meeting; bad meeting
• Board communications – dashboards & consent agenda
• Succession Plan for Board Chair & board leaders