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Managing Up & Across: Communicating for Influence & Alignment

Learn and practice the leadership presence and communications skills required to maintain strong, productive relationships that can endure challenging times and fast-paced work environments.

Program Overview:

In the fast-paced environment that we find in most education and nonprofit settings, it’s essential for folks to possess communication skills that they can use to be both clear and direct without coming across as demanding, and to be transparent about boundaries without coming across as dismissive. 

In this program, participants will tap into two core IE models: 1) the PRES Model for Leadership Presence and 2) the Empathic Assertiveness Model for Leadership Communication, to explore how to effectively manage up with their managers/supervisors and manage across with their other colleagues.

Plan This Program

Core Objectives:

  • Explore IE’s Empathic Assertiveness (EA) framework to improve ability to manage up and across in your role.

  • Strengthen ability to communicate and collaborate with greater spontaneity and expressiveness.

  • Explore approaches to listening designed to build and deepen relationships. Practice assertive communication aimed at encouraging cooperation and mutual

  • respect among team members.

  • Learn how to set boundaries and establish limits clearly—while maintaining positive relationships with colleagues.

  • Practice applying EA to real-life scenarios, increasing your readiness to respond to common challenges.

    • Understanding the empathic assertiveness framework

    • Reflecting on strengths and challenges with managing up and across

    • Exploring when and how to apply EA skills in common scenarios

    • Practicing the application of EA skills and receiving feedback

    • Being present and flexible

    • Group Size: Small (Max 10) or Large (Max 40 in person, Max 25 virtually)

    • Duration: 4 hours (presented as a half day program, both in person and virtually)

  • Non-instructional / operations leaders and staff

    Any staff and mid-level leaders navigating relationships with supervisors and peers

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What Past Participants Are Saying:

  • “Incredibly introspective, but also accessible and easy to understand. Transformational experience.”

  • “Going forward, I will be able to effectively communicate with anyone with assertiveness and confidence. I will also be able to delegate work to my team in an appropriate way that doesn't sound like a demand.”

  • “I would recommend this program because people need an extra push to understand their strengths and weaknesses. Self-reflection is hard while working under pressure. This program helped me open up and reflect on me.”

  • “The role play exercises helped me see how I would respond to certain situations but also learn how others would respond. I appreciated the opportunity to actually practice with different situations we all go through & how to solve it.”

  • “I feel like a better communicator, more connected and more empowered after this session & would definitely recommend it. It’s an amazing way for new or experienced professionals to reflect on best practices on managing up and across. So insightful and fun!”

  • “The program reminded me that I have the power to say ‘no’ when I am not capable/have a lot on my plate. It was a reminder to validate who I am and what I can do.”