Critical Success Factors of Leaders

Dates:
July 30, August 6, 13, 20 & 27 | 2:30 PM – 4:30 PM
Place:
MWSU’s Houlne Center for Convergent Technology
4141 Mitchell Avenue
St. Joseph, MO 64507
Cost:
$799 per person for the entire series

This five-part leadership series is designed to engage both new and experienced leaders. Each session is strategically scheduled for two hours to ensure learning objectives are reached before mental fatigue sets in. Additionally, each session is intentionally interactive to both engage participants and allow for application of each leadership concept.

Participants who complete the series will have:

1. A complete understanding of the critical factors that lead to successful leaders
2. The know-how to execute those leadership concepts, and
3. Materials to take back to their workplace to use as resources in their leadership journey

All Sessions are on Wednesdays, beginning July 30, 2025, from 2:30 PM to 4:30 PM, with the last session occurring on August 27, 2025.

SESSION 1

The Why of the Work: The Importance of Compelling Navigation Statements
Learn why asking why is critical to guiding your organization onward and upward towards your goals. We will discuss understanding the purpose, vision, mission, and values of your team’s work, how to update these navigational guides to ensure they align with your strategic objectives, and how to share them with your followers using communication techniques that motivate follow-through actions with emotional appeal and attainability. Samples and templates for compelling statements will be shared in this interactive session. Bring a copy of your current statements to get the most out of this foundational session of the Critical Success Factors of Leaders Workshop Series.

SESSION 2

Modeling What You Want: Your Influence on a Toxic or Transformational Culture
As a leader, your words and actions matter a great deal in shaping the culture of your organization. In this session we will discuss the difference between transactional and transformational leadership characteristics and how what you say and do can contribute to toxic working environments that experience high turnover, high stress, and low productivity versus workplace cultures that enjoy the benefits of low turnover, high loyalty, and greater bottom lines of all kinds. We’ll discuss promising practices for fostering trust, ensuring respect and inclusive consideration in decision-making, and maintaining credibility with your team through consistent behavior even when everything around you constantly changes.

SESSION 3

Solving Problems by Getting to the Root of the Issues’ Emotions, Attitudes, and Behaviors
Finding solutions requires understanding what is causing the problem. We’ll practice uncovering this mystery using the proven tools of the Five Whys exercise and the design thinking process. Both are practical and efficient methods for empowering your team to innovate through intelligent risk-taking, productive friction, failing forward, and creativity. Being comfortable with some discomfort gives you the freedom as a leader to show personal vulnerability and transparency in a way that fosters the freedom of your team to do the same with breakthrough thinking to new ideas. Active listening is a key communication technique that we’ll cover in this session together.

SESSION 4

Motivation, Mentorship, and Meeting Your People Where They Are
Understanding your strengths and helping your team members understand their own, and each other’s strengths, is a critical key to giving everyone individualized consideration while also building collective genius. In this session, we will discuss several tools you can use to know when giving people autonomy is the best choice and when empowering collaboration is the better answer to the challenges and opportunities you and your team are facing. Empowering personal growth and linking individual roles to organizational goals is a high-impact pathway for moving your team forward.

SESSION 5

Leadership Models and Performance Metrics Designed for Reaching Goals
This final session in the workshop series covers the importance of measurement, analysis, and knowledge management of your personal leadership and overall team performance. We will discuss how different leadership models can serve your organization in various circumstances and how systems thinking supports continuous improvement through feedback loops and proactive behavior. While hope is not a strategy, it is a critical success factor for leaders. It can be fostered by regularly looking at both qualitative and quantitative data throughout your journey towards goal attainment.

Cost: $799 per person for the entire series

Refunds for workforce development programs, unless otherwise noted on the specific program page, are available at 100% up to 7 days in advance of the start date of the program. Refund requests received 6 or fewer days before the start date of the program, or any time after the start date of the program, will not be approved.