Generation gaps, sexual harassment, mentoring and boundaries discussed at breakout sessions of Impact Leadership Conference
VISALIA – Navigating the workplace can be difficult for managers and co-workers. Today’s workforce is filled with different generations with different motivations. Training isn’t just about doing your job better, it’s about treating your co-workers better. Young workers need mentors but how closely should they work and what are the boundaries that should be established? In a world of employees publicly posting their private views, smart phones with stupid auto corrects, and text that lacks context in messaging apps, it seems as if crisis for a business is always a click away.
These are some of the issues the Visalia Chamber of Commerce will be tackling during its 2019 Impact Leadership Conference this month. In addition to keynote speakers Fresno State great David Carr and leadership guru Justin Patton, the 2019 Impact Leadership Conference will include a full day of breakout sessions covering topics from Healthy Boundaries for Teams to Generational Diversity and Mentoring. Each breakout session will be presented by local industry experts.
Healthy Boundaries for Teams: To build a successful team you must have well defined roles and boundaries, but boundaries can be a touchy topic for some leaders. The panelists in this session will tackle questions including: How to create healthy boundaries within a team, how to enforce boundaries in the workplace and how to hold people accountable to professional boundaries. In addition, the session will explore how personal life boundaries affect the workplace. Attendees will be provided resources with applicable strategies and suggestions to help leaders build a healthy team. This panel will be moderated by Rachel Ingram, (TechCare360) with panelists: Michael Zurek, (Associate MFT, Trinity Ministries), Karen Gross, (Owner, State Farm Insurance), and Danielle Duran (LMFT, Duran Counseling).
Generational Diversity: Gen X, Millennial, Baby Boomer, Gen Z and Traditionalists, in today’s workplace leaders must know how to work with, communicate and motivate employees from many different generations. In this breakout session attendees will learn why generational diversity can be difficult for leaders and will identify challenges and strengths that each generation can bring to a team. The session will examine historical events and how they have shaped each generation’s values and behaviors, and introduce techniques to help leaders communicate and motivate team members from each generation. This session will be led by Health Bixler, COS Training Resource Center.
Making Mentoring Work: Every great leader needs a great mentor, someone to confide in, someone to learn from, but in order to benefit from a mentoring relationship, the mentee must take the lead. Mentoring works best when the protégé takes the lead role in the relationship, it is particularly helpful when they have a strong idea of where they want to go and what help they are looking for the mentor to provide. This session will address how to effectively communicate expectations to avoid common mentoring pitfalls, by helping attendees think ahead and create a stronger dialogue between the mentor and protégé. This session will be led by Jason Hopper, Author of “Modern Mentor: How to Find a Mentor and Make it Work”.
Changing Workforce in the Face of #metoo: Sexual harassment in the workplace is one of the most common concerns for employers. Awareness of sexual harassment has been heightened with the recent #metoo movement. This session will examine the changing workplace landscape in the context of #metoo and identify essential current legal issues and mandates regarding workplace sexual harassment in California and the impact on employer liability and employee safety. Attendees will learn best practices and policies for creating a culture of safety and respect in the workplace. This session will be led by Caity Meader (Executive Director, Family Services of Tulare County) and Faith Driscoll (Associate Attorney, Barsamian & Moody)
Crisis Communication: Is your organization prepared for a crisis? Do you know how to effectively communicate the right message when something negative ends up on the news, in the newspaper or on social media? This breakout session will pull from the collective knowledge of the panelist to discuss practical examples of what to do and not to do when it comes to crisis communication. Panelists include: Kevin Mizner, (Campus Police Chief, College of the Sequoias), Ashely Richie, (Media Supervisor, Tulare County Sheriff’s Office), Reggie Ellis (President & Publishers, The Sun-Gazette Newspaper) Moderated by: Colby Wells, (Public Affairs Manager, SoCalGas).
The 2019 Impact Leadership Conference will be held Thursday, March 21, 2019 at the Visalia Convention Center. The conference is hosted by the Visalia Chamber of Commerce with sponsorship support from The Groppetti Automotive Family, Workforce Investment Board of Tulare County, Paloma Development and Gateway Financial Group.
For more information or to purchase tickets go to www.visaliachamber.org/impact or call the Visalia Chamber of Commerce at 559-734-5876.
