The success of any nonprofit or government organization is contingent on its mission, vision, governance, ability to run quality programs and most importantly on its ability to raise funds. Organizations with the knowledge, skills and expertise to seek out and successfully win grants are more likely to thrive in this increasingly competitive funding environment. This session will help you better understand how to identify grant opportunities and develop winning proposals. Attendees will have the opportunity to practice grant-writing skills based on practical examples from their organizations or experiences.

What will you learn?

This session will provide vital information about how to approach grant writing in today’s competitive environment. You will gain an understanding of how to research and identify appropriate grant opportunities, develop strategies for approaching the grant writing process, and learn how to develop compelling responses to each component of the proposal. We will use real-life examples to help you practice proposal writing for your organizations so that you will be better prepared to deliver compelling and winning proposals.

Our Introduction to Leadership Development Roundtable (LDR) is not a workshop, it is an experience. An experience designed to encourage you to reflect, refocus and refuel on your leadership journey. Many times, leaders find themselves operating on autopilot in their work towards equity.

This program is a condensed version of our 10-month program that will provide a meaningful opportunity to explore the breadth and depth potential of your impact. The day includes small group discussions, activities and exploration of leadership and equity concepts. Key topics include:

• Self-awareness
• Adaptive Leadership
• Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging (getting to the root)
• Race Equity (micro and macro responsibility)
• How “I” and “We” Lead (spheres of influence and building an impact chain)

Key Themes and Intended Outcomes

• Understanding and practicing adaptive leadership;
• Exploring/identifying how you can lead change;
• Dissecting the importance of race equity and DEIB mindsets; and
• Forging lasting relationships with fellow leaders.

The success of any nonprofit or government organization is contingent on its mission, vision, governance, ability to run quality programs and most importantly on its ability to raise funds. Organizations with the knowledge, skills and expertise to seek out and successfully win grants are more likely to thrive in this increasingly competitive funding environment. This session will help you better understand how to identify grant opportunities and develop winning proposals. Attendees will have the opportunity to practice grant-writing skills based on practical examples from their organizations or experiences.

What will you learn?

This session will provide vital information about how to approach grant writing in today’s competitive environment. You will gain an understanding of how to research and identify appropriate grant opportunities, develop strategies for approaching the grant writing process, and learn how to develop compelling responses to each component of the proposal. We will use real-life examples to help you practice proposal writing for your organizations so that you will be better prepared to deliver compelling and winning proposals.

A challenging and rapidly-changing environment has become the norm -- and with it, the need for resilient leaders and adaptive leadership. Adaptive leadership is a practical and empowering framework to mobilize teams during challenging times. It considers the range of external contexts and conditions that influence an organization and employs principles like emotional intelligence and organizational learning and collaboration to address them. During this interactive seminar, participants will explore the traits and practices of adaptive and resilient leaders, elements of adaptive leadership including distinguishing technical problems from adaptive challenges, outside-in thinking, engaging stakeholders, and fostering psychological safety and a culture of learning to both innovate and address risk.

Setting up and sustaining a performance management systems for organizations in the public and nonprofit sectors can be challenging. To help get a successful result, we will consider among other elements suggest a way to look at audiences for performance management information, offer possible shortcuts to getting to a viable launch of a system and carefully consider the use of the information the is to be generated.

This half-day seminar will offer seven main suggestions for launching and maintaining a performance measurement system:

• Situation assessment
• Identify motivations for the performance management system
• Plan a sequence of steps to establish and expand a performance management system
• Use effective program interventions that are strategically organized
• Use or adapt existing performance management system frameworks
• Partner with residents and other stakeholders to the performance management system
• Leverage advanced information technology tools in the performance management system

The approach will be interactive and participants are invited to bring a current or proposed performance management system for an organization along to the discussion.

The presenter has extensive experience in performance management at state and nonprofit levels, has authored books and chapters on the topic, and has taught a graduate course in the field.

Course Overview

The global pandemic has exposed tremendous shortcomings in the workplace while creating new opportunities for positive transformation. New ways to interact and communicate with internal and external constituencies had to be invented. And as the possibility of returning to a pre-pandemic workplace approached, it became obvious that some of the changes we were forced to institute may have had the unintended consequence of enhancing our organizational cultures.  This workshop will provide an understanding of the foundations for a positive organizational culture. Drawing extensively on the award-winning book The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle, the workshop will focus on “building ownership, providing support, and aligning group energy toward the arduous, error-filled, ultimately fulfilling journey of making something new.”

Who Should Take This Course

Individuals at all levels play a vital role in either creating, sustaining or changing the culture of an organization. If you want to learn more about healthy and vibrant organizational cultures, as well as strategies and best practices to achieve them, this workshop is for you.

What You’ll Get

During this workshop, you will understand:

• The importance of having a healthy organizational culture.
• Definitions and assessments about organizational culture.
• The dimensions of workplace ”safety.”
• Trust-building and its importance in workplace relationships
• Procedures to ensure the continuity and long-term success of an organization's culture.

What You’ll Do

Drawing on Daniel Coyle’s award-winning book, The Culture Code, the workshop identifies the key elements of successful organizational cultures:

• Build safety; people feel they belong and are valued
• Share vulnerability: shared risk builds trust and drives collaboration
• Establish purpose: embrace shared goals and values

Through interactive and experiential group activities and conversations, self and organizational assessments, participants will expand their understanding of how to influence positive change within their organizations.

Your organization's data can guide you toward better outcomes for the people you serve or give you a competitive edge in funding applications. It can also be a tempting target for cyber criminals looking to ransom your systems or steal sensitive information. Managers don't need deep technical backgrounds to be good stewards of their data, but they do need to understand how it's generated, stored, and best protected.

Data management in the modern organization is no longer an exclusive IT or research function. Front-line staff, marketing and development teams, executives, finance and administrative staff are all essentially managing data on a daily basis and they need to be responsible for its safety and efficacy. The challenge for managers is that the landscape of software and terminology is rapidly evolving, making it difficult for non-technical staff to keep up with the growing list of tools they need to effectively leverage data in their day-to-day jobs. Luckily, the fundamental concepts and technologies used to manage data aren't complex and don't require highly specialized training to understand.

This course is for everyone from the accidental data and program managers at small nonprofits, to the department heads at large agencies. This is not a database administration or cyber security course. You will learn how to map data flows in your organization and how data is generated through operational processes, how to communicate with technical staff and consultants by speaking their language, and how to identify potential security risks among your staff. The primary objective is to help maximize the value you extract from your data by introducing aspects of data management that you didn't know you needed to know.

The success of any nonprofit or government organization is contingent on its mission, vision, governance, ability to run quality programs and most importantly on its ability to raise funds. Organizations with the knowledge, skills and expertise to seek out and successfully win grants are more likely to thrive in this increasingly competitive funding environment. This session will help you better understand how to identify grant opportunities and develop winning proposals. Attendees will have the opportunity to practice grant-writing skills based on practical examples from their organizations or experiences.

What will you learn?

This session will provide vital information about how to approach grant writing in today’s competitive environment. You will gain an understanding of how to research and identify appropriate grant opportunities, develop strategies for approaching the grant writing process, and learn how to develop compelling responses to each component of the proposal. We will use real-life examples to help you practice proposal writing for your organizations so that you will be better prepared to deliver compelling and winning proposals.

Overview

Connecticut is demographically one of the oldest states in the country.  Many public and nonprofit organizations are facing “brain drain” challenges related to the loss of senior executives, including their knowledge and expertise, as more “baby boomers” continue to retire.  In some cases, these organizations do not have well developed succession plans and are not properly enhancing existing and developing new required management and leadership skills/competencies of their mid-level executives, which would allow them to more effectively transition into senior executive level positions.  In addition, the current pandemic has caused much disruption and uncertainty, requiring many organization’s management teams to both pivot and adapt to their new normal.  It is therefore critical for both sectors to develop these individuals and their skills more proactively and aggressively, to ensure their organizations stay competitive, effectively serve their customers, and achieve long term sustainability.

Description

This half-day workshop includes six essential Learning Modules (LM) that cover a variety of important and timely management and leadership related topics. Each participant will be required to take the Top 5 CliftonStrengths assessment survey in advance of the workshop with the results collectively shared and discussed. This tool allows you to identify and play to your top 5 strengths at work and in your personal life. There is a cost of $19.99 to purchase and take the survey. The assessment tool should be purchased online by participants and completed no later than a week before the workshop, so you have time to review the results. The assessment can be purchased using the following link: https://store.gallup.com/p/en-us/10265/cliftonstrengths-for-students-top-5.

The workshop is also designed to be interactive through group exercises and collective dialogue, as much can also be learned from the participants.

The following are the list of Learning Modules that will be presented:

1. Top 5 CliftonStrengths Assessment Survey Results
2. Developing Critical Leadership Skills
3. Organization/Individual Core Values
4. Importance of Innovation
5. Convener Skills
6. Facilitation Skills

Outcome

Participants will enhance their existing and learn new management and leadership skills through both the LM sessions/ exercises and collective dialogue, which will help prepare them to more effectively assume higher senior executive roles and responsibilities in support of their organization’s mission and brand.

Who Should Attend?

Senior/mid-level managers being identified/cultivated by your organization or those individuals aspiring to higher level executive leadership career positions. Also helpful for current senior executives interested in honing their existing management and leadership skill sets.