Executive Leadership Training Programs

executive leadership DEI training programs

Diversity Builder’s Excellence in Leadership course is part of the offerings in the executive leadership training programs. Great organizations rely on forward-thinking leaders who use a DEI lens and have both industry expertise and solid interpersonal skills. However, it can be difficult to make the transition into executive leadership, which involves being responsible for guiding and supporting numerous employees with different roles, backgrounds, and personalities. This course covers the key skills and strategies to help participants make that leap. It outlines the characteristics of strong leaders, communication strategies, and essential leadership skills such as team motivation and conflict resolution. With a strong focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (or DEI), this training also highlights how leaders can make their organizations welcoming, affirming environments. Participants will come away from this course having gained a foundation in complex but crucial skills that enable them to lead successful, thriving teams. Learners may be COOs, CEOs, CFOs, Board members, and or managers and team leads.

Leadership Training Objectives

Leadership roles, styles, and challenges in today’s workplace climate
Strength based leadership
Motivating today’s workforce
Inclusive communication and strategies to build relationships across difference
Managing conflict and building the capacity for empathy
Leadership techniques that promote empowerment

Executive Leadership

Today, leaders are called on to be visionaries charting their organization’s future as well as effective and empathetic leaders of teams and departments. With major changes in recent years, such as the prevalence of remote work and increased rates of burnout among employees, this is doubly true. Which executive leadership training programs yield the most effective outcomes? Learning Managers and Human Resource/People Leaders do significant research to select the best program for their group whether that be a seminar, workshop, or virtual webinar.

Inquire about Leadership Training

Learning Managers often ask: How can leadership enable others to do their best work while promoting organizational goals? The answer lies in how a leader treats and guides others – or put another way, their social skills and awareness.¹

As Mark Cannon (Vanderbilt University Professor of Management) stated in a recent article, “Part of executive leadership is better enabling employees to lead themselves…It is about leveraging what you can do as a leader by thinking beyond yourself. You maximize what others have to offer and deliver the best outcome.”² As the training emphasizes, leaders need to be adept in communicating effectively, understanding others, and advocating for their employees in order to succeed. This aligns closely with inclusivity, since connecting with employees from different backgrounds is foundational to understanding and addressing issues of exclusion or bias.

What does an executive leadership training program include?

Courses and topics can include the following:

Excellence in Leadership Course (outline available upon request)
Employee Motivation
Conflict Resolution
Having Challenging Conversations
Emotional Intelligence (EI) for Leaders
Cultural Competency for Leadership
Performance Management
Collaboration Across Organizational Boundaries

What does an excellent executive leader look like?

^[1] Center for Creative Leadership. (2023, December 1). 12 characteristics of a good leader. https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/characteristics-good-leader/
^[2] Bachman, K. (2022, December 7). Executive leadership: 6 qualities of a great executive + recruiting tips. https://www.huntclub.com/blog/executive-leadership

4 Most Important Qualities of an Executive Leader

Self-awareness, or understanding one’s strengths, weaknesses, and how others see one
Respectful, valuing the perspectives and contributions of all employees
A strong communicator who can connect with team members at all levels
Ability to influence or motivate others³

The training outlines the qualities and behavior of exemplary leaders as well as the differences between leadership and management. While managers often deal with day-to-day issues or challenges, including short- or mid-term projects and goals, leaders take a broader view. They create organizational vision and goals while planning ahead for future opportunities and challenges.⁴ With these responsibilities, it’s extremely important that leaders have the skills to encourage and motivate employees to build a strong and resilient organization.

Excellent leadership comes in many forms, and participants will learn how to identify and make the best use of their own leadership style. For example, some leaders are steady and firm in their opinions and tend to be more conservative in terms of making changes (“rock leaders”). Others are highly adaptable and open to taking risks, constantly gathering information and trying different approaches (“water leaders”).

Types of leadership methods for motivation and better decision-making

Transformative leadership prioritizes unity and building relationships in an organization
Authoritative leadership assumes that workers will follow a leader who inspires them, with less focus on collaboration with a leader’s direct reports
Participative leadership is highly collaborative, encouraging employees to offer their ideas and to take part in decision-making⁵

Regardless of leadership style, participants will come away from the training with a well-defined sense of the qualities that make a strong leader as well as understanding their own distinctive leadership style.

^[3] Center for Creative Leadership. (2023, December 1). 12 characteristics of a good leader.https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/characteristics-good-leader/
^[4] Gavin, M. (2019, October 31). Leadership vs. management: What’s the difference? Harvard Business School Online. https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/leadership-vs-management
^[5] Bachman, K. (2022, December 7). Executive leadership: 6 qualities of a great executive + recruiting tips. HuntClub. https://www.huntclub.com/blog/executive-leadership

Active Listening and Emotional Intelligence in Leadership

Effective communication and relationship-building are essential for a successful leader. One key part of this is active listening, meaning listening closely to what is being communicated, seeking to understand, and reflecting on the information before responding. Leaders can cultivate active listening by approaching conversations with humility and a collaborative mindset and asking questions to ensure understanding. They also listen for the nuances or deeper meaning behind the words of others – for

example, what has been implied but not said explicitly.⁶ Leaders must also invest the time to get to know their teams and employees, familiarizing themselves with strengths and skill sets. Understanding the challenges and roadblocks facing teams, and listening closely to their ideas and suggestions and responding in a timely fashion, will likewise build connections and allow leaders to leverage their teams effectively.⁷ Just as there are different valid leadership styles, there are also different communication styles; participants will identify theirs and learn to optimize it in their work.

Emotional intelligence is also helpful in enabling senior management to relate to their teams. Emotional intelligence is “the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions.”⁸ In other words, leaders need to be aware of, and able to manage, their own emotions as well as being sensitive to the emotions of others. While this includes verbal and written communication, picking up on body language and nonverbal behavior is also crucial to understanding and guiding others.⁹ Because managers with a high degree of emotional intelligence are more likely to retain their employees, this has a direct impact on organizational well-being.¹⁰ Relatedly, leaders should understand that employee norms and behavior might differ depending on background, generation, culture, or other factors. Working through real-world examples and exercises will help participants navigate conflicting approaches or workstyles in a constructive way.

Both effective communication and emotional intelligence are essential attributes to building a diverse and equitable workplace. Employees from underrepresented backgrounds are often misunderstood, underestimated, or excluded, so it’s important that leaders take the time to consider and understand their perspectives to advocate for them. Moreover, it’s key for leaders to hold space for the critiques and perspectives of diverse employees. While it can be difficult to hear that an organization has issues around inequity, leaders must be able to take this feedback openly in order to retain and support marginalized employees. Finally, it is still common for BIPOC and other marginalized employees to be held back in their careers because they are left out of opportunities for socializing, mentoring, and professional development. If leaders take the time to build relationships with diverse employees, it will help level the playing field for these individuals.

^[6] Expert Panel Forbes Council Member. (2022, November 14). 15 ways leaders can hone active listening skills. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2022/11/14/15-ways-leaders-can-hone-active-listening-skills-and-why-they-should/?sh=7e1b9fe5b7cd
^[7] Finn, L. (2023, July 11). Emotionally intelligent leadership and employee retention. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2023/07/11/emotionally-intelligent-leadership-and-employee-retention/?sh=616f56ed40f2
^[8] Salovey and Mayer, Emotional Intelligence, p. 189
^[9] Expert Panel Forbes Council Member. (2022, November 14). 15 ways leaders can hone active listening skills. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2022/11/14/15-ways-leaders-can-hone-active-listening-skills-and-why-they-should/?sh=7e1b9fe5b7cd
^[10] Finn, L. (2023, July 11). Emotionally intelligent leadership and employee retention. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2023/07/11/emotionally-intelligent-leadership-and-employee-retention/?sh=616f56ed40f2

Leadership Strategies: Motivation and Conflict Resolution

Knowing how to motivate teams is key to increasing productivity and reaching goals. Ideally, leaders think of this in terms of incentives, seeking to excite and inspire their teams instead of micromanaging or controlling them. Poor communication and direction undermine motivation, leading to divisions between leaders and their teams. However, if goals, boundaries, and feedback are clear and expected between employees and their managers, this promotes a safe environment in which employees are inspired to work hard and take risks.

Giving employees ownership of their projects is a fantastic motivator, allowing them to take pride in their work and to shape the direction of the organization. Showing appreciation for the hard work and ideas of employees and teams builds trust in leaders and incentivizes people to excel. Leaders who implement ways to improve their workers’ experiences, such as removing redundancies and finding opportunities for additional training and professional development, are rewarded with highly loyal and motivated reports.¹¹

Because disagreements are expected even in the best workplaces, knowing how to handle conflict resolution is vital for leaders. Many individuals will avoid conflict or address it in counterproductive ways – for example, always accommodating the unhappy party or competing with them. This workshop covers productive ways to de-escalate disagreements and to ensure respect even in tense situations.

^[11] Bachman, K. (2022, December 7). Executive leadership: 6 qualities of a great executive + recruiting tips. HuntClub. https://www.huntclub.com/blog/executive-leadership

Facilitating a Leadership Assessment

While all leaders want to grow in their roles, it can be difficult for an individual to gauge their own strengths and weaknesses. However, leadership assessments objectively evaluate management skills, communication abilities, and leadership style. Many leadership assessments ask participants to answer questions measuring attributes like emotional intelligence, problem solving skills, and more.¹² Some also gather data from other employees or managers in order to gain a complete profile of the subject. In that case, it’s important that the information is gathered anonymously to guarantee candid responses. Once the subject has this information, they should review it, seriously consider any areas for growth, and identify concrete steps for improvement. Because a realistic self-perception is foundational to building relationships and cultivating emotional intelligence, this information is invaluable to developing leadership skills.

Depending on organizational goals, an assessment could be narrow in focus (addressing one aspect of leadership or challenge) or broad (for a general overview). Be sure to ask unambiguous and specific questions, for example “Does the manager give clear instructions?” instead of “How does the manager tend to communicate their expectations?”¹³ Consider customizing the surveys for different groups (fellow executive leaders versus direct reports). Finally, craft the assessment to focus on objective facts or results instead of subjective opinions or feelings. This will guarantee more useful responses as well as reducing the chance of answers being affected by bias or discrimination (which would disproportionately affect employees from underrepresented backgrounds or protected classes).