Happy Workplace Leadership Programme

The learning will be through a combination of 12 x 2 hour workshops, self-guided assignments and complete access to the Happy social learning platform with online resources throughout and beyond. 

The 12 Zoom sessions will be held fortnightly and you will be working with the same facilitator throughout. Alongside this you will have complete access to all course materials and further learning through our social learning platform Fuse. This enables us to really focus on experience, discussion and application in the Zoom sessions while using the online resources will enable you to explore the theory, examples, and videos in your own time and at your own pace. 

We encourage you (and your team — if you book the programme for your organisation) to set aside the same time every week to work on your development during the programme. One week will be a workshop with your facilitator and the alternate weeks self-study. We encourage you to buddy up with another person and in your self-study weeks you can work in pairs (or larger groups) to continue your learning and collaborate with one another online. 

We believe this bite-sized learning over a longer period of time creates deep learning, lasting impact through sustained behaviour change, and the chance for long term mutually supportive relationships to be created within the group.  Please refer to the end of this document for guidance on what you need to participate in programme remotely.

Key themes covered over the programme

Pre-programme preparation

• Complete an online self-reflection questionnaire around your confidence to lead, and your leadership style

Workshop 1: Introducing Leadership

• The core of an effective culture: why put people at the heart of what you do?
• Identify who you are as a leader and your leadership attitudes and skills
• Find a buddy to work with, to support and to hold to account for actions through the programme

Self-Study

• Reflection and application (individually, with buddies, or with wider cohort if applicable)
• Setting your intent
• Online questionnaire to identify your communication style

Workshop Two: Communication Styles

• Understand your communication style, how you may be perceived by others and how to adapt it to work successfully with others
• The core of an effective culture: why put people at the heart of what you do?

Self-Study

• Reflection and application (individually, with buddies, or with wider cohort if applicable)
• Be Productive, Not Busy: Discover how to be more productive and less 'busy' by identifying and changing your reflection, prioritising, email and meeting habits.

Workshop 3: Psychological Safety

• Create Psychological Safety at work to enable high performance
• Build trust and credibility within your organisation

Self-Study

• Reflection and application (individually, with buddies, or with wider cohort if applicable)
• Understanding your brain: Introducing your inner chimp

Workshop 4: Emotional Intelligence

• Develop your Emotional Intelligence through understanding how your brain works

Self-Study

• Reflection and application (individually, with buddies, or with wider cohort if applicable)
• Working adult to adult — understanding transactional analysis and the effect it has on your relationships and within the workplace
• How good is your listening?

Workshop 5: Introduction to Coaching

• Listening to understand rather than be understood: how to do this mindfully with the aim of valuing the other person
• The core of great leadership: coaching your team to success by empowering them to discover their own solutions
• Your role as coach and understanding what works and what doesn’t
• Why, and how, to use TED invitations to develop your coaching skills
• Practice coaching and being coached

Self-Study

• Reflection and application (individually, with buddies, or with wider cohort if applicable)
• Case study: one-to-one's in practice
• The secret to giving great feedback

Workshop 6: One-to-Ones and Feedback

• Effective 1 to 1's – what are they, why do them, who sets the agenda, what should you discuss
• Holding team meetings that get everyone to contribute and be heard
• The benefits and steps to providing positive feedback
• How to prepare, behave and present yourself assertively when giving feedback

Self-Study

• Reflection and application (individually, with buddies, or with wider cohort if applicable)
• Introducing conversations that matter

Workshop 7: Conversations That Matter

• Practise a proven technique to prepare for important situations
• Transform anger and hurt feelings into powerful dialogue
• Make it safe to talk about almost anything
• Be persuasive, not abrasive
• Improve your professional working relationships through your conversations

Self-Study:

• Reflection and application (individually, with buddies, or with wider cohort if applicable)
• Complete management behaviour questionnaire
• Identify the truth about what motivates us
• Discover the power of Purpose

Workshop 8: Becoming a Multiplier

• Learn the skills to become a multiplier of your people’s talents and potential

Self-Study:

• Reflection and application (individually, with buddies, or with wider cohort if applicable)
• Discover your top five strengths through a robust on-line questionnaire developed by Gallup & Clifton Strengths
• Understand your strengths and how well you are currently using them in your role
• Discover the four domains of leadership strength
• Review how well you know your team's strengths and how much they are using them in their roles

Workshop 9: Autonomy

• Who makes the decisions currently and what might you change about this?
• Enable trust and autonomy, within clear guidelines to create true job ownership
• Be open and transparent in the information you share — what is off limits to staff?
• Discover the difference between accountability and responsibility
• Review your delegation habits and understand the key steps to delegating successfully
• Identify what stops you delegating and challenge these behaviours
• Pre-approval — what is it, what are the benefits of it and how to implement it?

Self-Study:

• Reflection & application (individually, with buddies, or with wider cohort if applicable)
• Generate ideas to make your recruitment processes more inclusive

Workshop 10: Recruitment & Induction

• Discover the key to recruiting the right team members and ensuring their induction is a motivating experience

Self-Study

• Reflection & application (individually, with buddies, or with wider cohort if applicable)
• Leading from afar: discover the benefits and risks of a remote team, tools to help you make connection at a distance and real life examples to inspire you.

Workshop 11: Creating Resilient Teams

• Build and nurture the resilience of your team
• Recap on all the elements from the programme that can set your team up for strengths and success
• Understand the five ways to wellbeing and the practical steps we can take in each area

Self-Study:

• Reflection & application (individually, with buddies, or with wider cohort if applicable)
• Prepare a 2 minute presentation on what you have learnt and your personal leadership purpose
• Complete a second online self-reflection questionnaire around your confidence to lead, and your leadership style now

Workshop 12: Leadership Purpose

• Identify your leadership purpose and vision for yourself and your team
• Draw up a personal, practical action plan beyond the programme