Respectfully and Confidently Engage in Difficult Conversations: A Dialogue Workshop Series for Advancement Professionals  

As an advancement professional, you engage with alumni, volunteers, donors, and colleagues from different backgrounds, lived experiences, and perspectives. At times, you may receive unsolicited or angry opinions about institutional decisions, or inquiries about national and global news or events as they unfold. These comments or questions can sometimes be polarizing and catch you off guard. For some of us, our natural tendency in these situations is to shut down, disengage, and become defensive. However, a critical requirement of the relationship cultivation process with internal and external constituents is staying present in these challenging moments and allowing the conversation to continue despite political, religious, or social differences. It is also just as critical to know when to exit these conversations safely and professionally, depending on the intensity of the situation and/or other factors.  Join us for this four-part online workshop series, where you’ll learn how to respond professionally to difficult conversations with alumni, volunteers, donors, and colleagues. In community with other Advancement professionals across the nation, you will learn simple yet powerful techniques and practices to help you to stay present in difficult dialogues. The workshop series will also give you an opportunity to practice having difficult conversations through a variety of […]

Actualize Your Purpose, Part 2: Everyday Strategies for Staying Connected to Your Well-Being

Working in higher education now requires navigating remote, hybrid environments and supporting overextended students and colleagues while navigating institutional complexity and resource precarity. To show up for this kind of work, you must intentionally center your well-being to thrive in this ever-changing environment.  In Part 1 of this workshop series, you assessed your well-being, identified your values, and crafted your own definition of success. In Part 2, you will spend time exploring strategies to stay connected to your larger purpose in your everyday work. Jennifer will show you time-based and mindset strategies such as: creating a model calendar, time tracking, thinking medium- and long-range, and more. 

Actualize Your Purpose, Part 1: Connecting Your Well-Being to Your Work

Working in higher education now requires navigating remote, hybrid environments and supporting overextended students and colleagues while navigating institutional complexity and resource precarity. To show up for this kind of work, you must intentionally center your well-being to thrive in this ever-changing environment.  Join us for Part 1 of our interactive workshop series, Actualize Your Purpose. In Part 1, you will assess the current state of your well-being and reflect on the factors that most contribute to it. You’ll then explore how inherited norms shape your definition of success, so that you can create your own definition based on your values and the impact you want to have in the world. Finally, you’ll start documenting a practical and tangible plan that outlines the goals and tasks you’ll need to craft the meaningful life and career you desire. 

Actualize Your Purpose, Part 2: Everyday Strategies for Staying Connected to Your Well-Being

Working in higher education now requires navigating remote, hybrid environments and supporting overextended students and colleagues while navigating institutional complexity and resource precarity. To show up for this kind of work, you must intentionally center your well-being to thrive in this ever-changing environment.  In Part 1 of this workshop series, you assessed your well-being, identified your values, and crafted your own definition of success. In Part 2, you will spend time exploring strategies to stay connected to your larger purpose in your everyday work. Jennifer will show you time-based and mindset strategies such as: creating a model calendar, time tracking, thinking medium- and long-range, and more. 

Actualize Your Purpose, Part 1: Connecting Your Well-Being to Your Work  

Working in higher education now requires navigating remote, hybrid environments and supporting overextended students and colleagues while navigating institutional complexity and resource precarity. To show up for this kind of work, you must intentionally center your well-being to thrive in this ever-changing environment.  Join us for Part 1 of our interactive workshop series, Actualize Your Purpose. In Part 1, you will assess the current state of your well-being and reflect on the factors that most contribute to it. You’ll then explore how inherited norms shape your definition of success, so that you can create your own definition based on your values and the impact you want to have in the world. Finally, you’ll start documenting a practical and tangible plan that outlines the goals and tasks you’ll need to craft the meaningful life and career you desire. 

Cultivating an Inclusive Academic Environment – Leading in the Classroom Live Sessions (CSU Sacramento)

As a leader in professional development for higher education leaders across the world, Academic Impressions prides itself on delivering quality content that is data informed and rooted in practical application. Over the past year we have had a number of conversations with member institutions who have been seeking out inclusive leadership training for their team but have found that very few workshops speak directly to a faculty audience. In response to requests from our members we have embarked on the development of a training program that will speak directly to our faculty audience, but rather than build it in a vacuum, we have worked with campus leaders from across the country to identify key topics and develop a program structure. This next phase is our attempt to determine if what we built truly does achieve our intended outcomes.

Cultivating an Inclusive Academic Environment – Leading in the Classroom Live Sessions

As a leader in professional development for higher education leaders across the world, Academic Impressions prides itself on delivering quality content that is data informed and rooted in practical application. Over the past year we have had a number of conversations with member institutions who have been seeking out inclusive leadership training for their team but have found that very few workshops speak directly to a faculty audience. In response to requests from our members we have embarked on the development of a training program that will speak directly to our faculty audience, but rather than build it in a vacuum, we have worked with campus leaders from across the country to identify key topics and develop a program structure. This next phase is our attempt to determine if what we built truly does achieve our intended outcomes.

Between Shame and Supremacy: A Model for Healthy White Identity Development 

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts have provoked a tidal wave of fury from a broad swath of Americans, especially some White Americans, who believe such efforts paint all White people as “bad people.” Until we develop a more nuanced understanding of the White racial identity development process that decenters shame and guilt and recenters the damaging effects of structural racism on all of us, we will continue to elicit sharp resistance that stymies social justice struggles.  In this interactive workshop, you will have a chance to further your own self-awareness and understanding by engaging with concepts around the history of Whiteness, White socialization, and the psychology of White racial development in the U.S. today. You will leave the event with: 

Success Managing a Hybrid Workforce  

While many supervisors ‘got by’ in managing a hybrid workforce when the pandemic necessitated it, it is now a strategic recruitment and retention tool for many institutions, and frankly, it is here to stay.  Despite this, training on how to manage hybrid teams successfully is woefully lacking. If we fail to learn how to best supervise our hybrid teams, we risk a lack of productivity, retention issues, and disengagement.   Join our expert facilitator and your peers from across the country to share lessons learned, common challenges, and proven solutions.   This virtual training will provide you with: 

Strategies & Mindsets for Actualizing Your Purpose: A Discussion

Connecting your everyday work with your life’s purpose to find greater well-being contributes to improved professional satisfaction and productivity, but it requires continued reflection and iteration. Join us for a 1-hour discussion where we will further explore themes from Actualize Your Purpose: A Workshop on Improving Your Well-Being.