Leadership Development Academy

Leadership Development Academy

Learn What it Takes to Lead.

The Leadership Development Academy is a cohort of new and emerging leaders from the business community that meets to develop and grow their understanding and application of leadership skills.

Take a deep dive into eight leadership topics with dedicated time to collaborate, and develop action items to implement in the workplace.

Craft your own personalized leadership development plan to craft tangible goals that align with your career progression.

Starting Date: January 19, 2027

Time: 8 a.m. - Noon

Location: Kirkwood Continuing Education Training Center, 101 50th Ave. SW, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Registration coming soon.

Program Price: $2,799 per person

Tuition Assistance covering up to 50% of the training cost is available upon eligibility. Call 319-398-5623 to learn more.

Showcase your verified knowledge of leadership skills with a digital badge from Kirkwood Community College, instantly shareable with employers and professional networks.

Topics and Speakers

Many of the most successful people in the workplace have leadership coaches because they understand the value in having someone who is dedicated to helping them continue to grow and develop as a leader. Importantly, coaching should not be limited only to executives and senior managers. We’ll discuss tips and techniques for ways to lead by coaching with an emphasis on improving communication, setting and achieving goals, increasing accountability, building teams, and solving problems.

For organizations to thrive in today’s environment, leaders need to build strong teams and model how to interact with customers, co-workers, and leadership in a professional manner. We’ll look at ways we work best together and communicate every day as well as increase our understanding of our own personality and behavior and those of others. With the use of real-life examples and support from the applicable research and tools, our discussions will center on actions you can apply immediately back out on the job.

There are basically three sources or types of conflicts, and each type has a unique solution path. Unfortunately, these distinctions are rarely taught in conflict workshops. Without a proper diagnosis, we diminish our chances of successful conflict management. You will use your own workplace conflict to learn to diagnose your conflict and gain valuable and effective tools to manage your conflict with more confidence, less stress, and more success.

Step into your leadership potential with a session designed to equip busy leaders with practical strategies and tools to work smarter. We’ll explore focused execution through practical concepts, tools, and tactics centered on time management, purposeful performance, and strategic prioritization. By the end of this course, you will be able to overcome “busyness” and turn your ambition into sustainable achievement.

In times of crisis or uncertainty, the leader’s character shines through. Have you found yourself wanting more skills to manage stress and overcome the fear of change? Let’s explore the steps to be resilient when setbacks or stress increase, focusing on an eight-step process to coach yourself and others in the areas of choice management, delegation, stress management, and creating a culture of caring.

Today’s organization must respond to dramatic shifting forces, and a leading professional’s ability to think through complex and changing situations is critical to future success. Practice how to scan the external environment so it improves judgment and decision making internally. You’ll further expand your perspective, use tools that support strategic thinking, and learn ways to engage in new methods daily.

Collaboration is one of the top soft skills that employers are looking for in candidates. There is very little that happens in a business of any size that would not benefit from an improved ability for individuals to work together as a high-performing, collaborative team. You will explore outstanding examples of collaborative teams from multiple industries, and then work in sub-teams to collaborate and reach a solution to a “problem.”

Engagement and navigating change do not happen by chance. Leaders need to build and maintain strong relationships as well as create an environment where employees can connect more deeply to their work, which includes feeling connected to and positively impacting the team and organization. We will explore strategies and techniques to strengthen employee engagement, lead employees into the newness that change brings, and engage employees in enacting change.