Critical Success Factors of Leaders
Dates:
Three Fridays starting October 30 – November 13.
Time:
8:00am to 12:00pm with breaks throughout.
Place:
MWSU’s Houlne Center for Convergent Technology
4141 Mitchell Avenue
St. Joseph, MO 64507
Cost:
$799 per person for the entire series
This three-part leadership series is designed to engage both new and mid-level leaders who want to strengthen their impact, improve team performance, and grow into higher levels of responsibility. Across three interactive, four-hour sessions, participants will clarify their leadership purpose, build skills to shape a healthy team culture, and learn to align everyday work with organizational goals and measurable results.
Participants who complete the series will have:
- A complete understanding of the critical factors that lead to successful leaders
- The know-how to execute those leadership concepts, and
- Materials to take back to their workplace to use as resources in their leadership journey
Next session begins in the fall of 2026 on October 30th!
SESSION 1
The Why of the Work: How Navigating with Purpose, Vision, Mission, and Values Can Lead to Success
In this foundational session, emerging leaders will learn why “starting with why” is essential for guiding teams and organizations toward meaningful, measurable outcomes. Participants will clarify the purpose, vision, mission, and values that drive their work, then assess how well these navigational statements align
with their organization’s current strategy and community needs. Practical examples and templates for compelling, clear, motivating, and realistic statements will be shared. The session also introduces universal principles of transformation and explores how toxic attitudes and behaviors become roadblocks to performance. Leaders will identify root-level opportunities to shift mindsets, strengthen team cohesion, and create conditions for people to do their best work. Participant note: Bring your current purpose, vision, mission, and values statements (or any strategic plan language) if available to you to get the most out of this session.
SESSION 2
Modeling What You Want: Building a Culture that Motivates Everyone to Excel
Leaders set the tone. What you say and how you show up—especially under pressure—shapes culture, retention, and results. This session focuses on the concrete leadership behaviors that create lower turnover, less stress, higher productivity, and a stronger “bottom line” for both people and performance. Participants will practice ways to build trust, show respect for multiple perspectives, and leverage individual strengths in decisions and day-to-day work. We will explore how to maintain credibility through consistent behavior, even when everything around you is changing. Using simple tools such as the Five Whys exercise and an introduction to design thinking, leaders will learn practical methods for uncovering root causes, navigating productive friction, and “failing forward” toward better solutions. By the end of the session, participants will leave with specific actions they can model immediately to positively influence their team’s culture.
SESSION 3
Reaching Goals Together: Leadership Models, Metrics, and Systems for Continuous Improvement
Empowering personal growth and linking individual roles to organizational goals are high-impact pathways to goal attainment. This capstone session covers the importance of measuring, analyzing, and managing your personal leadership and the overall performance of your team. Participants will explore how different leadership models can influence workplace culture, team effectiveness, and efficiency in real-world situations. We will introduce systems thinking to identify how processes, people, and policies interact and must be considered to achieve real, sustained change beyond quick fixes. While hope is not a strategy, a positive outlook grounded in both looking back and looking ahead is a critical success factor that can be fostered. Finally, participants will examine how inspiration and communication are linked to motivation and growth.
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.