21st Century Manager Series – Core Skills for The New Millennium (online)

Course content

Session 1 – Authentic Leadership for Managers

This course is designed to provide a unique foundation for you to build self-awareness and understand how to apply Authentic Leadership theory and skills. Authentic leaders demonstrate a passion for their purpose, practice their values consistently, lead with their hearts as well as their heads and invest in their personal and professional growth. The course presents the latest in emotional intelligence research and tools for you to build your EQ.

Session 2 – Managing Wellbeing

Learn to understand mental health and mental illness and how to plan and have conversations with staff that meet ethical and legal manager obligations. Develop your understanding of the term “mental health”, learn the behavioural warning signs and refine practical skills in how to discuss mental health in a work context from a performance point of view. You will also explore the concepts of stress and resilience at the individual, team and organisational levels and formulate a practical plan with a COVID-19 lens that includes strategies for supporting remote working and unique challenges to mental health posed by the pandemic. 

Session 3 – Managing Different Personalities

Learn to understand different personality traits and behaviours as well as individual emotional reactions to challenging behaviours. You will be given the skills to deal with challenging employee behaviours that meet legal, ethical and professional obligations. You will also explore best-practice performance management and the Dark Triad of personality tendencies (psychopathy, narcissism and Machiavellianism). This is an interactive session that draws on group experience and de-identified Public Sector case studies to embed learning.

Session 4 – Ethics in Action – Leadership Practices for the Public Sector

Understand the terms “bullying and harassment” from both a legislative and behavioural perspective and develop an appreciation of what is and what is not bullying and harassment conduct and what is reasonable in terms of managerial action. Examine the Public Sector Code of Conduct and Code of Ethics and the attributes of an ethical organisation and leader and explore a framework and process for promoting integrity and civility in the workplace.

Session 5 – Leadership Communication Skills

Learn the facets of excellent communication skills and techniques (verbal and non-verbal) required by good leaders, including conflict resolution, effective coaching and feedback, the barriers to communication, defining your personal leadership brand, assertiveness skills, and self-knowledge tools to understand the impact of personality on communication style and have courageous conversations.

Session 6 – Positive Psychology PERMA+

Examine the 5 key principles of the PERMA model of Positive Psychology, which is an area of psychological theory that focuses on strengths and resilience. You will look at how managers can implement Positive Psychology principles personally, in their teams and across the wider organisation. You will also cover the concept of resilience and develop practical strategies for building team resilience and change readiness.

Outcomes

• Understand Authentic Leadership theory and how to apply it to your role.
• Understand Emotional Intelligence and assess your own EQ and identify areas for improvement.
• Understand the common experience of mental health concerns and understand managerial obligations in managing mental health.
• Feel confident in running a meeting to discuss mental health concerns.
• Develop an individual action plan to manage stress.
• Understand Personality Disorders and the difference between annoying behaviour and disordered behaviour.
• Implement improved performance management and coaching skills.
• Understand the Public Sector Code of Conduct.
• Identify the differences between bullying, harassment, and reasonable workplace action.
• Understand the principles of effective communication.
• Identify your own communication strengths and areas for improvement.
• Improve your assertiveness, confidence and presentation skills.
• Understand the principles of Positive Psychology and the science of wellbeing.
• Understand resilience and how to build personal, team and organisational capacity.
• Understand the theory of effective organisational change and how to be change ready.

On completion of this series you will receive a certificate of participation, signed by IPAA SA President and Commissioner for Public Sector Employment, Erma Ranieri, for your CV.

This series is also available face-to-face.