The Grounded Leader

Influencing through Agility and Authenticity

Leaders, even experienced ones, can sometimes act impulsively under pressure. This can cause their team to feel anxious when they need guidance the most. This three-hour learning experience is designed to help leaders become more aware of their stress signals and communication “tells” when the heat is on. Using the Alliance@work EQ tools and techniques, leaders can correct their unhelpful responses and use centering tactics and motivating language to rally their team around priorities. The result is improved empathy, responsiveness, and focused communication to put people first.

Outcomes

Following the session, the team will be able to...

Actively listen to build trust and credibility.
Stay curious and genuinely connected to clients and colleagues on a personal level.
Rapidly analyze situations to determine the most effective communication approach to motivate teams that are working under pressure.
Interpret both verbal and nonverbal cues to adapt vocabulary and phrasing to meet the other person’s present needs.
Show open and relaxed body language and tone when tensions escalate to stabilize the environment.

What it could look like

Here is a suggested agenda for this session. It can be customized to align with the team’s specific needs including learning outcomes, session duration, and job scenarios to ensure effectiveness.

Setting the Stage

45 minutes

The session will start with a warm-up and focus exercise, for example:

Leadership Listening Challenge

In pairs, the team shares their workplace frustrations (in one minute) while the other person actively listens and paraphrases the details and emotions to highlight what the speaker may not be aware they revealed.

Building the Tool Kit

90 minutes

Next, the team will learn through interactive activities that focus on these specific skills aligned to on-the-job situations.

Active listening
Asking strategic questions
Aligning body language, tone, and word choice
Applying emotionally intelligent tactic to when communicating with the team
Pivoting in the moment based on feedback from the team

Putting into Practice

75 minutes

Then the team will show their work.

Leadership Lab Fishbowl

The leadership team will learn how to motivate and influence their team in various scenarios using session tools and techniques. They will receive peer and coach feedback on their language, nonverbals, and motivational impact during an observational “fishbowl” scenario, for example, communicating budget overhauls, pivoting priorities midway through projects, informing the team about losing lead talent unexpectedly, and presenting under pressure.

Moving Forward

15 minutes

The session ends with time to reflect on what has been learned.

Our Implementation Plan

The team will identify strategies to apply what they’ve learned to their job-specific goals.

SELECT CLIENTS

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Your investment in Alliance@work goes directly back into the community, with all proceeds going to support advancing literacy in Georgia classrooms.