Join leaders from across SFU to participate in leadership-related learning and development opportunities. Not only will this enhance your own professional development, and be a chance to connect with colleagues, it will also contribute to a positive learning culture for your team. 

The Fall 2024 workshops for leaders are included below.  Please also visit our list of online resources on a number of foundational and transferable skills.

Leader’s Mini-Series

Join us for another Leader’s Mini-Series starting in the middle of November. The mini-series provides practical tools and information to support and strengthen our leadership community at SFU. The series has been designed by SFU leaders for SFU leaders and aims to be timely, relevant, and responsive.  The series sessions are an opportunity to hear from, discuss with, and stay connected to other leaders.

All virtual sessions run on Wednesdays for 1 hour. We encourage you to attend all sessions in the series however, they are designed as stand-alone and can be taken independently.  Please register in advance if you can; day-of registration is also welcomed.

Workshops

Teams and Workload Management Workshop (Half day) 

A leader’s ability to maintain a strong sense of teamwork during times of competing constraints and shifting priorities is critical in reducing team stress and optimizing performance. This workshop is designed to provide leaders with skills to think critically in collaboration with their team in evaluating team opportunities to achieve a desired future state in consideration of current challenges. Participants will learn and practice a practical method to facilitate a team meeting that helps teams re-focus on how to work together to perform at their best.

The objectives of this workshop are to:

• Provide tools to manage team workloads and realities
• Re-focus on what teams can control during times of limited resources and competing priorities
• Create a dialogue based on critical thinking skills on how to best work together as a team to achieve results

There are two offerings of the same workshop. Please join us by registering for one of the following dates: 

• Wednesday, November 27th from 9am to 1230pm, virtual
• Thursday, December 12th from 9am to 1230pm, virtual

Hosted by Kwela: Leadership and Team Management. About Kwela: 

• Kwela Leadership and Talent Management is a Vancouver-based consulting company that specializes in Leadership Programs and Team and Organizational Development for businesses of all sizes. Kwela is a Southern African word that means ‘Get Up’.  Our mission is to take your organization “up” to the next level. Our approach is straightforward and pragmatic, and our consultants are business savvy professionals who know how to execute well. We view leadership as a process and we base our programs on a rigorous methodology that delivers measurable results every time.

Workshop host: 

• Joanne Spalton, Associate Senior Consultant: Joanne is an experienced leadership development consultant, facilitator and coach, with over 20 years experience working with organizations to ensure leaders know how to engage, coach and build accountability, as well as understand their role in the co-creation of meaningful culture.  She has built a strong track record within industry, having most recently served as the Chief People Officer for WhiteWater West Industries. In this corporate role, Joanne was a member of the senior leadership team, leading people operations in the USA, Middle East, Europe and China. Some of the key outcomes of her work are strategy development, key contributions to communication improvements and governance, a peer recognition plan, succession planning programs and the development and delivery of leadership programs. Her prior consulting experience includes work across a range of industries—high tech, government, legal, construction, manufacturing, engineering—with a range of structure as well:  not-for-profit, private, public and cooperative. Value and impact are always the hallmarks of her work.

Teams and Workload Management Workshop (Full day) 

Save the date! Further to the half-day workshops listed above, there will be a full day deep-dive workshop offered on Wednesday, January 15, 2025 (in-person, Burnaby campus). The morning will look very similar to the half-day workshop, but in the afternoon participants will have the opportunity to develop an action-plan for their teams. Stay tuned for registration and more details.