Want to be a better boss? If you’re a new or aspiring supervisor, the PASS series is designed to help you improve your skills to help you lead yourself and your team. The PASS series challenges you to explore what you bring to the table as a leader and how you can leverage it to elevate your team. This certificate program is offered at no cost.
What You'll Learn
During 9-weeks of PASS you will learn to:
- Practice and improve emotional intelligence
- Deliver effective feedback
- Manage your time and delegate work
- Interact with and lead differing work styles
What You'll Do
Each week for PASS you will:
- Complete prework activities (~15 minutes)
- Attend the live, virtual class (1-3 hours)
- Submit a short learning assignment (~20 minutes)
Series Requirements
To complete the PASS certificate program:
- Attend 8 of 9 sessions, including the Welcome and Series Wrap-Up
- Complete all learning assignments
How to Apply
To participate in PASS:
- Review the program's core curriculum and requirements
- Talk with your supervisor about participating in the program
- Submit the application
Core Curriculum
Tuesday, February 4, 2025 | 8:30 am - 10:00 am
Instructors: Scott White & Abigail Schaver
The series kickoff outlines expectations and sets the tone for the remaining sessions. In this course, you will learn how to write and document SMART goals that support your career trajectory and align with the University’s and your unit's strategic goals.
Tuesday, February 11, 2025 | 8:30 am - 11:00 am
Instructor: Scott White
What makes great leaders great? What separates a good from a great leader? It’s often how much they know coupled with their level of empathy and understanding that can differentiate a mediocre from good, as well as, from good to great. How do we get to good and how do we get to great? It takes practice and being aware of what you contribute as an individual to and for the team. In this course, we’ll talk through some of the history of emotional intelligence, why it could and should be important to you, and explore the core tenets of emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.
How do each of these components align with your supervisory and leadership expertise? Let’s dive in and explore the answer beginning with this course. This course will then become a building block to other courses within the PASS series as we draw emotional intelligence connections to each course and topic.
Tuesday, February 18, 2025 | 8:30 am - 11:00 am
Instructor: Elissa Douglas
Get ready to embark on a journey of self-discovery and team harmony using the DISC Behavioral Assessment Tool. Decode the mysteries of your work style, as well as better understand the work styles of your colleagues. We'll dive into the four behavioral styles: dominance, influence, steadiness, and conscientiousness in a way that feels more like a dynamic conversation between friends than a workshop. Through engaging activities and by sharing real-world scenarios, you'll learn about your own behavioral tendencies and discover how to use this tool to become a more effective communicator, conflict negotiator, and leader.
Tuesday, February 25, 2025 | 8:30 am - 11:00 am
Instructor: Sean Hesler
If communication is the key to team efforts, then feedback must be the lock that supervisors are working to unlock. In this course participants will actively explore and practice giving and, sometimes the forgotten piece, receiving feedback. It is through effective feedback that supervisors enhance performance, strengthen relationships, supercharge teamwork, and expand active listening skills.
Tuesday, March 4, 2025 | 8:30 am - 11:00 am
Instructor: Glenda Smith
This course is designed to address the impact of respectful behaviors in the workplace. In alliance with UI CORE Values, the course explains what is considered disrespectful behavior in the workplace, in addition to assisting you with identifying and becoming more aware of your own and others' behaviors. Techniques and strategies for successfully addressing disrespectful workplace behavior will be an activity within this course.
Tuesday, March 11, 2025 | 8:30 am - 11:00 am
Instructor:
What does it take to be a successful leader and supervisor? What tips or best practices can help build and maintain a productive team? This course addresses common expectations of leaders and how to do them better: onboarding, role clarity, performance management, leadership styles, aligning to a vision/mission/strategy, and what missteps or fumbles to avoid.
Tuesday, March 25, 2025 | 8:30 am - 11:00 am
Instructor: Scott White
Meetings upon meetings makes it difficult to get the work done. How is a supervisor supposed to juggle all the expectations of themselves, their team, and their piece of the larger division? There usually is no blueprint for time management success when hired into a supervisory role, but here we dive into ways to get the right work done at the right time, setting clear priorities, when and how to handle the massive amounts of email, and being efficient for purposeful delegation.
Tuesday, April 1, 2025 | 8:30 am - 10:30 am
Instructors: Diana Kremzar & Erin Litton
Bouncing back from a real or perceived negative event is how great leaders are made…or not. How do you take lessons, some of them hard lessons, and turn them into positives? In this course, we explore tools to use that will assist you in overcoming challenges, seek out a balanced perspective, and gain or retain footing for long-term success.
Tuesday, April 8, 2025 | 8:30 am - 9:30 am
Instructor: Scott White
What now? How will you implement your new knowledge and skills with your team? This session helps recap and solidify learning while identifying next steps on your path to becoming a great boss.
Please Note: The Spring 2025 PASS courses will all be offered via Zoom.