Executive Leadership Development Program

Sunday, July 13: 6:00 pm

Reception

NAFSA will welcome you to the Executive Leadership Development Program with an informal reception at the University of Minnesota. Meet the other members of the program and acquaint yourself with the Carlson School facilities.

Monday, July 14: 8:00 am – 5:00 pm

Orientation to the Week

Influencing Systems

This is a highly interactive session about leading people, teams and organizations from a systems view. During this session, participants will participate in class simulations and then be asked to make specific application of the ideas and approaches to their own influence challenges. Clear distinctions between issues in interpersonal influence and organizational influence will be discussed. Highlights include:

• Examining how effective leaders impact people, teams and the organization
• Exploring the meaning of influencing a human system and the impact of a systems view in general
• Reviewing principles of adaptive leadership styles
• Examining the variables which impact performance outcomes at every level

Faculty: Peter Krembs is a Fellow at the Carlson Executive Development Center at the University of Minnesota. He is also a Managing Partner with Consulting Partners, Inc. He has over 30 years of experience as a consultant to major U.S. and international corporations. Peter specializes in leadership development both as an executive coach and as a seminar leader on leadership skills. He is on the faculty of the Institute for Management Studies based in San Francisco, as well as a number of the University of Minnesota executive development programs through the Carlson School of Management.

Tuesday, July 15: 8:00 am – 7:30 pm

Strategy & Strategic Thinking

The broad purpose of Strategy and Strategic Thinking is to define key concepts in the definition and implementation of Strategy. This session will focus on the attributes of high reliability organizations, the fundamental questions for strategic thinking, and the challenges and rewards to working with partners. It will also present a framework to enhance partnerships. Highlights include:

• Creating an awareness of "the tragedy of the commons" and how it applies to participants
• Creating an awareness of the four futures facing their operation
• Developing an understanding of the eight skills of the prepared mind

Faculty: Bill Welter is a Fellow at the Carlson Executive Development Center at the University of Minnesota and a principal of Adaptive Strategies, Inc. Bill brings over 30 years of varied business, consulting, and teaching experience to the program. Adaptive Strategies, Inc. is a firm focused on bringing about business performance improvement through learning and purposeful change. Through teaching and facilitation, Bill works with clients to improve their thinking about the future of their organizations and the impact of change on the people within those organizations.

Light Dinner

Best Practices Session

Wednesday, July 16: 8:00 am – 5:00 pm

Change and Conflict

Due to the ever-changing academic environment and the conflict that can arise due these adjustments, this session will provide new insights and tools to deal effectively with constant change. Highlights include:

• Leveraging new skills and competencies for managing change
• Using effective listening skills to resolve conflict
• Managing conflict in a way to encourage creative problem solving while maintaining valuable relationships
• Developing a personal action plan to manage change and conflict

Faculty: Louellen Essex is a Fellow at the Carlson Executive Development Center at the University of Minnesota. She is also a training and organizational development consultant specializing in communication, team building, and conflict management. She is an adjunct faculty member at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, MN, and teaches at the University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management's Executive Development Center.

Thursday, July 17: 8:00 am – 8:00 pm

Decision-making & Risk-taking

This session will examine the idea that the goal of decision making (whether strategic or operational) is relatively simple: Align behind the alternative that delivers the most of what you want given what you believe. However, in practice, achieving this goal is seldom easy. Therefore, this session focuses on ways to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of decision making in an organization. Highlights include:

• Improving the capability to identify and deliver full value from decisions and to better understand, communicate, and deal with uncertainty
• Discussing tools for improved decision making
• Applying the tools and concepts to your own decisions

Faculty: Leo Hopf is a Fellow at the Carlson Executive Development Center at the University of Minnesota and president of Teamhopf. Leo specializes in working with organizations to improve the quality of their decision making, strategy development and strategy execution. He teachs "Strategy & Decision Making" at Stanford University and leads numerous training and decision-making sessions for clients each year.

Light Dinner

Decision Making

Friday, July 18: 8:00 am – 1:30 pm

Leadership

This final session is the capstone event. Participants will take the skills developed during the week and learn how to incorporate them into their leadership style. The key objectives for this session include:

• Understanding the need for authentic leadership today
• Understanding the impact of authentic leadership on engagement
• Applying a clear understanding of strengths and purpose to the practice of leadership
• Creating a final action plan focused on content from the entire course that will enable the participant to lead his/her area successfully

Faculty: Harvey Robbins is a Fellow at the Carlson Executive Development Center at the University of Minnesota and president of Robbins & Robbins, and has been a practicing business psychologist since 1974. Drawing on his broad experience, he provides clients with workshops and consulting service in the areas of team development; change management; collaboration, organization, and leadership effectiveness; and interpersonal influence.

Program Closing & Luncheon