Do I need to be managing or leading others to take this course?

No. Even if you have no direct reports, you are still influencing others within the workplace, whether it be your manager, peers, clients, or other stakeholders. Or perhaps, your manager wants you to develop into a role where you will be managing others in the future. This course is for anyone leading or influencing others and is beneficial to all levels, genders, and generations. We have had participants who are just starting out in their careers, as well as participants close to retirement. The more diversity in the group, the richer the experience for everyone, as this is a more accurate representation of the workforce and creates a better learning opportunity.

Am I too senior/junior for this course?

The diversity of levels, industries and experience in the room is what contributes to the success of the session. First of all, the focus is on self-awareness and gaining new insights, anyone at any level can benefit from this. Secondly, the more junior people will learn from the experience and knowledge of more senior participants; likewise, the senior participants are thankful to have junior people in the course to gain further insight into their challenges, needs, and interests. The course would not be nearly as effective or interesting if it was filled with a homogeneous group.

Can you provide me with more of a general overview of the Authentic Leadership Course?

A general overview of our “leadership philosophy” at Trillium Teams is that we believe being a “good” leader requires continuous development around self-awareness and emotional intelligence. Over the two day course, participants will get the chance to become more self-aware around the following specific topics:

1) Emotional Intelligence
2) The behavioural model called DISC and how you can use this to gain insights into your leadership style and strengths, as well as use this framework for more effective communication with others.
3) Difficult Conversations – practical tips to continue to build out this leadership skill
4) Narrative Leadership – using storytelling to gain more clarity on your own leadership and how this can be employed as a tool back at the office to gain more buy-in to your ideas and build connections with colleagues.

Ruth and Jill designed and facilitate the course personally. They founded Trillium Teams in 2005 and created this course as a result of what their work with teams and leaders, first hand experience witnessing the results of effective and poor leadership.

My boss wants me to sign up for a leadership course and I've been doing research online and I don't know what type of leadership course I should take.

To help clarify in your mind what you're looking for... If you are looking for a course on specific management topics like decision making, prioritizing, time management, etc, this course would not be a good fit.

However, if you're looking for a leadership course which will help you to gain a deeper understanding, and confidence in the leader you are and how you can connect with other people, which is the most important element of leadership, then we would encourage you to consider this Authentic Leadership Course.

What is DISC and how do you use it in this course?

We use a behavioural assessment tool called DISC as the baseline for discussion in this Authentic Leadership Course. The DISC report helps people articulate their leadership and communication style. This course allows you to understand yourself better, but also learn about the variety of communication styles of others as well as strategies for adapting your style to help improve your communication as a leader.

So often I take courses and I feel like there is nothing tangible to take away - what will I take away from this one?

We've heard from past participants that this course is the first course that leaves them with practical tools for both work and life. You will leave with new ideas and strategies to help you communicate better, a process for preparing for a difficult conversation, a clear leadership goal, and a new network of leaders. Whether it be one new connection or a variety of people you can call upon to help bounce an idea off or help you through a challenging situation. Our focus is to provide you with practical tools that you can use back at the office.

What is "Authentic Leadership" anyways?

We define it as your unique way of how you lead and influence others. You will gain further insight into your strengths and how you can use them to help guide people in a positive direction to get the desired results.

"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken." ~ Oscar Wilde