Women & Leadership Summit June 18, 19 & 20, 2008 Toronto

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Workshops

Workshops 1:

9:00-noon   -   Influencing at the Senior Levels
Kathy Brooks, Senior Principal, Hay Group

An essential characteristic of a successful leader is the ability to exert influence. Whether to persuade key players inside or outside your company or to promote your organization effectively, senior-level influencers have the ability to drive change and present a more commanding leadership presence. What are the behaviour traits of highly successful influencers? Based on studies and interviews conducted with leading business influencers, the Hay Group has discovered the clear differences between effective women influencers and men influencers. During the workshop, Kathy Brooks will share with you what the Hay Group as learned about gender-based differences between influential leaders, as the group will work through actual case studies of senior individuals who are highly successful influencers with clients and within their own organizations.

-What tone do women influencers set in the workplace? How does it differ from male influencers?
-What do women influencers bring to the table: How is it different? How does it add value?
-Learn how to maximize these qualities to inspire transformation


A Senior Principal at the Hay Group, Kathy Brooks is a writer, speaker, thought leader, coach and consultant specializing in executive assessment and development, leadership, change management and strategic innovation. An expert in leadership and leadership development, prior to joining the Hay Group, Kathy was Managing Director of the Leadership Practice for a major Canadian consulting firm, a Manager at one of the big three international consulting firms and spent ten years in senior management leading various business groups within a Canadian Schedule 1 Bank. A personal coach to executives and senior teams, she assists in development of individual leadership skills and provides guidance on strategic issues requiring new thinking approaches. Her methodology for assisting new executives in successfully transitioning into their new role was featured in the October, 2003 edition of the Canadian HR Reporter. Organizations that she has worked with include: The Globe and Mail, Disney, DuPont, Scotiabank, Astral Media and Astra Zeneca. Kathy studied at the Universities of Guelph and Toronto with post-graduate business studies at York University and Smith College in Massachusetts. She also studied negotiation and conflict resolution with Harvard Law School’s Negotiating Project Team. In addition to her consulting responsibilities, Kathy teaches Crisis Management in Health Care at the Schulich School of Business, York University.


Workshops 2:

1:30-4:30   -   Taking the Stage®: Discovering how to project confident leadership
Judith Humphrey, President, Humphrey Group Inc.

Clear, persuasive communication is vital to a leader’s success. Yet women often shun opportunities to communicate, and when they do speak up in corporate meeting rooms, they often project "minimizing" behaviours that often cause others to discount what they say. To be successful, women must recognize the differences in the way men and women communicate and step up to the challenge of projecting confident leadership. This workshop will provide you with practical strategies and techniques to overcome communication barriers and ensure that your communication skills are a powerful, positive reflection of your talents and abilities. Through a combination of instruction and videotapes that her company has developed, Ms. Humphrey will show you how to:

· Assess your assumptions about how you communicate
· Be assertive without being aggressive
· Take every opportunity to come forward and express your thinking
· Unlock the power of your vocal potential
· Script yourself so that every time you speak, you project clarity and confidence
· Use body language and eye contact that give you a dynamic physical presence


Judith Humphrey, founder of The Humphrey Group, began her career in communications at the University of Rochester, where she received her M.A. in English Literature. After completing course work for her Ph.D., she taught at York University. Judith developed an innovative writing program that reached 2,500 students a year. She went on to become a corporate speechwriter for several major corporations. With this background, Judith launched The Humphrey Group in 1988. Her company became the first Canadian firm to focus on teaching top executives to be effective speakers. Her firm has grown, and the range of courses has broadened, with an increasing emphasis on leadership skills. The Humphrey Group’s Taking the Stage program is offered to women around the world through companies like Scotiabank, Dell, TELUS, IBM, Nortel Networks, SAS Institute, Kraft and Petro-Canada.