Workshops, Retreats and Keynotes
Whether you need a full-day board or staff retreat, a condensed leadership or professional workshop, or a keynote speech for your big event, our team will work closely with you to customize an engaging, educational and energetic experience that will help you meet your learning needs, work within your timeframe, and achieve concrete outcomes.
Here are a few of our most requested topics for workshops, retreats and keynotes:
CREATING LAY-PROFESSIONAL PARTNERSHIP THAT WORK
When your Professionals, Board Members or Lay Leaders hear the term “Lay-Pro Relations”, do they get a warm, fuzzy feeling – or a knot in their stomachs? If you identified with the latter, then this session is for your organization. Effective, respectful and fulfilling Lay-Pro partnerships are the hallmark of successful Jewish organizations. To articulate a clear and common understanding of where the organization is going and how it will get there, both professional and lay partners need to develop and exhibit key collaboration skills and shared expectations. This interactive session will provide a framework for fostering relationships built from cooperation, joint planning and implementation, effective communication and shared personal and Jewish values.
FINDING YOUR MEANING OF LEADERSHIP AND LEADING WITH MEANING
If you search for “Leadership Books” at Amazon.com, and you’ll have more than 18,600 titles to choose from. If you were to write your own book about leadership to compete with – or complement – the masses, what would be in it? What traits, behaviors and Jewish values would you include in your discussion? Are you currently modeling your own definition of leadership – or someone else’s? In this session, lay leaders and board members will explore various leadership theories from business, organizational psychology, and social science, while building their own personal and communal leadership model and action plan to help them better serve their Jewish community.
MAXIMIZING YOUR STRENGTHS AS A SUPERVISOR WHILE MANAGING UP
The strengths of a supervisor can be a terrific benefit for the people who work for them. And of course, their limitations can trickle down to create frustration, confusion or even paralysis for those they manage. Because they have this effect on others, managers have a responsibility to know themselves. This session give Professionals with supervisory responsibilities a safe, fun way to understand and organize the strengths and challenges that they bring to the table. They gain a greater appreciation for the impact that their behavior has on others, and they discover how their personal style is read and filtered by difference co-workers, and even lay leaders. As a result, participants learn to maximize their strengths, both making themselves and the people they manage (up, down and across) more effective in the process.
FROM ABRAHAM'S TENT TO THE WORLD'S LEADING LUXURY HOTEL BRAND: SHIFTING CUSTOMER SERVICE TO CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
What is legendary customer service? And how does providing legendary customer service bring in more donors and members AND keep employees engaged and excited? Even though Abraham was the patriarch of hospitality, we haven’t always passed down the best practices in being welcoming, meeting needs, being proactive, seeing complaints as opportunities to improve, evaluating our service, etc. In this program, we will look at what one of the world’s leading luxury hotel brands is doing differently from its competition by engaging employees and customers in a unique way. Join us to find out how your staff and volunteers can create legendary service in your organization by working from the inside out.
SOLICITATION WITHOUT THE TSURIS
Fundraising Guru Bill Sturtevant writes that “the gift is tangible evidence of an emotional event”. But if the primary emotions that your professional, board and lay fundraisers evoke from donors, prospects and themselves are fear and resentment, the gifts will reflect those feelings. No one who is raising money on behalf of your Jewish organization should feel – or act– like fundraising is a chore; it can be, in fact, be an overwhelmingly positive and potentially life-altering experience for both the donor and solicitor. This session gives participants the knowledge, skills, confidence and motivation they need to raise money and lower anxiety for both themselves and donors.
SHIFTING YOUR ORGANIZATION’S FOCUS FROM PROBLEMS TO POSSIBILITIES USING APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY
Does your staff, lay leadership and organizational culture focus on what’s wrong, what’s broken, and what’s not working? If so, then you need an attitude adjustment that can drive powerful, positive change. Appreciative Inquiry, a framework developed by the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve, helps groups identify what is working well – and how to get more of it – rather than trying (again!) to identify and overcome obstacles or threats. You pick the goal (such as “Embracing Collaboration,” “Delighting Our Donors or Customers,” “Celebrating Change,” etc.) and see how the Appreciative Inquiry process can shift problem thinking into positive and practical possibilities.
STRATEGIC STORYTELLING TO RECRUIT AND INSPIRE DONORS, MEMBERS AND VOLUNTEERS
Stories are a rich part of our Jewish tradition – personally and organizationally – and are an adaptable, universal, and economical resource. Stories support Jewish organizational fundraising, marketing, branding and community building. And when it comes to finding deep, powerful, mission-driven stories, Jewish organizations have the corporate world beat! When it comes to telling these stories strategically, however, Jewish professionals and volunteers struggle with the same issues as those in the corporate world – how to cull the key points you need to make an impact, how to balance facts and emotion, and how to incorporate the critical call-to-action. In this session for Professionals, Lay Leaders, and Board Members, participants will learn the key elements of an effective story, how to link stories to organizational values, mission and vision, and how to design and deliver their stories using 5 key steps that yield results.
For a more complete list of topics our team has facilitated, CLICK HERE
ADAPTING TO DIFFERENT COMMUNICATION STYLES
How many times has someone gotten upset with you because they misunderstood your intentions? How many times have people misread your mood, your tone or your approach? Was there a small change that you could have made that would have prevented all the confusion? Too often, that insight comes a little too late. In this session, professionals and volunteers will learn how to grasp that insight before those misunderstandings occur, not after. Participants learn to see their own unique behavioral style and preferences, and will recognize how behaviors – their own and others – are likely to be misread. By learning how to adjust their communication style to meet the needs and styles of those around them, relationships flourish and more work gets done.
CREATING A CULTURE OF ACCOUNTABILITY
From the reception desk to accounting to the mail room, everyone has an impact on the reputation – and the success – of the Jewish organization in the eyes of donors, members, beneficiaries, prospects, vendors, the media and the community. But when staff on the front line or in the back room feel like their attitudes and behaviors don’t matter because they are “behind the scenes”, the organization is put at risk. In this session, Professionals of all levels will understand how their job is truly mission-critical, and learn how and why to be accountable and customer-focused in both reactive and proactive scenarios. (Note: a separate session is offered for those in supervisory roles who want to create, reinforce and model a culture of accountability)
CREATING LAY-PROFESSIONAL PARTNERSHIP THAT WORK
When your Professionals, Board Members or Lay Leaders hear the term “Lay-Pro Relations”, do they get a warm, fuzzy feeling – or a knot in their stomachs? If you identified with the latter, then this session is for your organization. Effective, respectful and fulfilling Lay-Pro partnerships are the hallmark of successful Jewish organizations. To articulate a clear and common understanding of where the organization is going and how it will get there, both professional and lay partners need to develop and exhibit key collaboration skills and shared expectations. This interactive session will provide a framework for fostering relationships built from cooperation, joint planning and implementation, effective communication and shared personal and Jewish values.
EIGHT STEPS TO BUILDING A BETTER BOARD
Board building is often seen as a one-time event rather than an on-going continuous improvement process. However, board building is critical to breathing new life into the organization – and the Jewish community — while honoring its history, and maintaining the integrity of its mission, vision and activities. This session will give Professionals, current Board Members and Lay leaders who seek board positions the eight critical steps of building a strong, vibrant and diverse board that can get the work of the organization done in a personally and Jewishly fulfilling way.
FINDING YOUR MEANING OF LEADERSHIP AND LEADING WITH MEANING
If you search for “Leadership Books” at Amazon.com, and you’ll have more than 18,600 titles to choose from. If you were to write your own book about leadership to compete with – or complement – the masses, what would be in it? What traits, behaviors and Jewish values would you include in your discussion? Are you currently modeling your own definition of leadership – or someone else’s? In this session, lay leaders and board members will explore various leadership theories from business, organizational psychology, and social science, while building their own personal and communal leadership model and action plan to help them better serve their Jewish community.
FROM ABRAHAM’S TENT TO THE WORLD’S LEADING LUXURY HOTEL BRAND: SHIFTING CUSTOMER SERVICE TO CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
What is legendary customer service? And how does providing legendary customer service bring in more donors and members AND keep employees engaged and excited? Even though Abraham was the patriarch of hospitality, we haven’t always passed down the best practices in being welcoming, meeting needs, being proactive, seeing complaints as opportunities to improve, evaluating our service, etc. In this program, we will look at what one of the world’s leading luxury hotel brands is doing differently from its competition by engaging employees and customers in a unique way. Join us to find out how your staff and volunteers can create legendary service in your organization by working from the inside out.
GET YOUR BOARD TO GOVERN MORE AND MANAGE LESS
Whose job is it to update the strategic plan — and then stick to it? How about linking the current agenda to the strategic agenda? Who is supposed to monitor the success of your organization’s initiatives? Both the Board and Professionals have separate and distinct roles in keeping the Jewish organization viable and running smoothly. In addition, both share areas of mutual support and responsibility. In this session, participants will learn how to maximize their individual and collective impact from strategic thinking to human and financial resource development and more. Note: It is highly recommended that Professionals and Board members participate in this workshop together for maximum impact.
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Emotions play a critical role in all of our relationships, and professionals and lay leaders who understand how to read and use them effectively have an advantage. Even when business is done in a rational, logical manner, it requires the buy-in from human beings who operate on an emotional basis as well. This session offers a provocative and practical look at emotions in interpersonal work situations and how they can be used as a tool for personal and professional growth.
HOW TO RUN A MEETING (THAT PEOPLE WANT TO ATTEND)
More schmoozing than strategic thinking? More opinions than outcomes? More food than facilitation? It must be a Jewish meeting! Every time you hold a meeting for professionals and/or volunteers, you have an opportunity to re-engage participants in the vital work of the organization, plan and accomplish mission-critical tasks, build ownership, retain talented professional and volunteer leadership, reinforce supportive personal and professional relationships, and demonstrate that this organization knows how to get things done. How many of these opportunities are you missing? If your meetings are unproductive, unfocused or unpopular – this session is for you. Participants will learn how to consistently meet the three criteria for productive meetings, how to build an outcome-based agenda that drives the entire meeting, how to use the meeting to reinforce Jewish values, and eight other miraculous meeting makeovers.
JEWISH COACHING ACADEMY
Coaching skills have been identified by leading business and non-profit experts as critical for building and sustaining strong and effective professional and volunteer leadership. The Jewish Coaching Academy is designed for professional and volunteer leaders to quickly and easily acquire those skills to increase board, member and professional engagement, improve communication, reduce conflict, build teams and foster deeper relationships across the organization and the community. It draws from the most advanced knowledge base in the coaching field and is translated into a simple, intuitive and highly transferable framework for busy leaders, while infusing the learning with the Jewish values that are the foundation of our work and lives.
(click here for more information on this program)
KLAL YISRAEL: TEAM-BUILDING WHEN WE ARE ALL RESPONSIBLE FOR EACH OTHER
Our professional and lay teams rely on both individual and group talent. Each person needs to know how to let their strengths shine, while the group need to know how to work as a unit. Team differences are inevitable, and sometimes those differences are easily accepted, laughed about and may even complement each other. But too frequently teams find those differences can also cause confusion, stagnation or frustration. Only when people have a framework to make sense of those differences can they learn what to expect from others and the best way to get what the team needs. In these sessions, Professionals, Board Members and Lay Leaders who work in teams or committees will learn to address three of the most common challenges that teams face: motivation, conflict and communication. Participants learn simple, intuitive ways to make lasting improvements in a team’s effectiveness.
MANAGING CONFLICT AMONG PASSIONATE PEOPLE
Conflict resolution is an integral part of daily life and working with passionate people. In order to maximize your chances of getting and keeping the support of others (especially when others may have different agendas than yours) you need to strengthen your skills in addressing issues before they affect performance or damage a relationship –whether the problems are within the team or with clients, customers, and stakeholders. Professional and volunteer leaders are called upon to resolve conflicts, not only within their teams but also with other stakeholders. This session will also cover constructive and destructive conflicts, discover ways to get to the root cause of a conflict, and ensure long term resolution and healthy relationships.
MINI-MBA FOR BUSY JEWISH PROFESSIONALS
What does the Harvard Business Review have to do with working in a Jewish organization? More than you know! If you’re too busy with daily work to keep up with the business of ongoing professional development, then this session is for you. With four key goals – Get to Know Yourself, Get Along Better with Others, Get a New Perspective and Get More Done – you will learn what the world’s leading thinkers in supervision, interpersonal communication, time management and self-awareness can teach us as Jewish professionals, leaders, and human beings. Using lessons from authors such as Chip and Dan Heath, Daniel Pink, Suzy Welch, Susan Scott, Dan Ariely, and more, you’ll leave this session with a mini-MBA that yields maximum results. Each Mini-MBA course is completely customized to meet the goals of your particular organization and group of professionals.
PERFORMANCE FEEDBACK AND COACHING FOR SUPERVISORS
Professional talent is tough to retain in Jewish organizations – do your managers have the skills they need to keep their direct reports interested, challenged, developed, rewarded, and recognized? In this session, professional staff with supervisory responsibilities will learn to establish performance goals, design performance plans, give (and receive) constructive and positive feedback, prevent and manage performance issues, coach for performance improvement – and get their own work done, too!
PUBLIC SPEAKING
You speak volumes – even before you’ve said a single word. From the way you use your hands, eyes and mouth to the way you give pause, pace and pitch to your voice, you are constantly broadcasting how you really feel – as well as how your audience should feel about you and your organization. How confident are you about the messages you’re sending? This session prepares professionals and board Members who publically represent their organizations – at meetings, major events, to the media or even internally — to manage their anxiety, their delivery and the audience while delivering a compelling and memorable message about the organization.
SALES SKILLS AND STEWARDSHIP FOR POWERFUL DONOR DEVELOPMENT
In a Jewish organization, it’s easy to forget how much diversity there is! While our donors may be (primarily) Jewish, they still have vastly different preferences in how they like to be approached, be asked to give, have their concerns addressed, be recognized, and be stewarded. Too often, we get so busy with the overwhelming task of fundraising and donor development that we rely too much on a single, well-worn approach. This session reminds professional and volunteer fundraisers how different our donors truly are. Participants learn to read the “buying” needs of different people, and adjust the development conversation accordingly. They gain insights into why certain prospects and donors are difficult for them to work with, and practice better ways to respond in those situations.
SHIFTING YOUR ORGANIZATION’S FOCUS FROM PROBLEMS TO POSSIBILITIES USING APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY
Does your staff, lay leadership and organizational culture focus on what’s wrong, what’s broken, and what’s not working? If so, then you need an attitude adjustment that can drive powerful, positive change. Appreciative Inquiry, a framework developed by the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve, helps groups identify what is working well – and how to get more of it – rather than trying (again!) to identify and overcome obstacles or threats. You pick the goal (such as “Embracing Collaboration,” “Delighting Our Donors or Customers,” “Celebrating Change,” etc.) and see how the Appreciative Inquiry process can shift problem thinking into positive and practical possibilities.
SOLICITATION WITHOUT THE TSURIS
Fundraising Guru Bill Sturtevant writes that “the gift is tangible evidence of an emotional event”. But if the primary emotions that your professional, board and lay fundraisers evoke from donors, prospects and themselves are fear and resentment, the gifts will reflect those feelings. No one who is raising money on behalf of your Jewish organization should feel – or act– like fundraising is a chore; it can be, in fact, be an overwhelmingly positive and potentially life-altering experience for both the donor and solicitor. This session gives participants the knowledge, skills, confidence and motivation they need to raise money and lower anxiety for both themselves and donors.
STRATEGIC STORYTELLING TO RECRUIT AND INSPIRE DONORS, MEMBERS AND VOLUNTEERS
Stories are a rich part of our Jewish tradition – personally and organizationally – and are an adaptable, universal, and economical resource. Stories support Jewish organizational fundraising, marketing, branding and community building. And when it comes to finding deep, powerful, mission-driven stories, Jewish organizations have the corporate world beat! When it comes to telling these stories strategically, however, Jewish professionals and volunteers struggle with the same issues as those in the corporate world – how to cull the key points you need to make an impact, how to balance facts and emotion, and how to incorporate the critical call-to-action. In this session for Professionals, Lay Leaders, and Board Members, participants will learn the key elements of an effective story, how to link stories to organizational values, mission and vision, and how to design and deliver their stories using 5 key steps that yield results.
TIME AND STRESS MANAGEMENT
With an ever-increasing range of people, projects and technologies competing for our attention, every single one of us needs to manage our energy, time, tasks and stress levels in order to get anything done successfully. This session offers an opportunity to reflect on your deepest beliefs and values that support or undermine your personal effectiveness, and to earn how to develop a plan to maximize your own potential and minimize distractions and interruptions.
Don’t see what you’re looking for? If we’re experts in it, we’ll create it for you, and if we’re not, we’ll help you find someone who is! (click to email)
