Understanding team dynamics and human behavior are the first steps to refining your leadership skills. These five leadership truths will help you get started. Master these concepts, and you'll be on your way to creating an environment where people are engaged, productive, and happy to come to work.

1. Team culture centers on you, the leader. Everything you do or say creates an experience for others. 
2. The experience you create instills a belief system that drives engagement and productivity. In other words, the culture that comes from you influences the way people feel about themselves, the team, and the organization. Create a decent experience, and engagement and productivity will follow. 
3. There is a cost and benefit tied to every leadership decision. Be intentional about where you focus your time and energy. 
4. Clarity is key. Providing clear, transparent communication is one of the most important things you can do for your team. When your team knows how their efforts contribute to your mission, their work becomes more meaningful and they feel more motivated.
5. Humans are wired to resist change. There are leadership actions you can take to help your team move through the emotions of change quicker and make progress toward important goals.  

These leadership truths will be put into practice in a new line-up of online workshops delivered by Brian Bullock, director of worldwide learning and professional development at ICMA. With over a decade of facilitation, instructional design, and consulting experience, Bullock brings impactful learning approaches designed for the unique needs and challenges of local government professionals.

As part of ICMA's expanded professional development offerings designed to promote self-discovery and personal growth, these live events will bring your peers together in a cohort learning experience that is engaging, interactive, and easy to fit into your schedule. The workshops are designed so that they may be experienced individually or as a series.  These will be live only, and not recorded, so that participants may have a safe space to be open and discuss real-life leadership challenges.

Schedule: All workshops will run from 1 to 4:15 pm (Eastern) via Zoom. 

April 21: Leading a Culture of Engagement and Productivity

May 19: Leading with Inspiration and Influence

May 26: Leading Through Change

June 2: Leading Team Problem Solving

June 16: Leading with Dialogue: Turn Challenging Discussions into Productive Conversations

June 30: Leading Across Generations