PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Helping teams perform to their potential while teaching managers to be inspiring leaders and mentors to improve internal and external communication and morale.

Our diverse client base and wide array of experience give us the unique skill set to significantly raise the overall performance of an organization by guiding teams to work effectively and efficiently.

A customized approach to motivating staff, training administrators and guiding you in solving issues.

With our varied Leadership Academy professional development training opportunities, we can help team members perform to their potential while teaching managers to be inspiring leaders and mentors. We can help improve morale and internal or external communication.

Our diverse client base and wide array of experience gives us the unique skill set to significantly raise the overall performance of your organization by guiding your team in working effectively and efficiently.

Our areas of expertise include Leadership Training, Crisis Communications, Media Training, Customer Service Training, Appreciology, Branding, and a Guide to Having Difficult Conversations.

Professional Development Topics

Our Professional Development speaking topics offer a dynamic and flexible approach designed to meet your organization’s unique needs.

Aimed at ensuring every participant benefits from our expert-led sessions, training may be offered in-person or virtually to small and large groups with customizable timeframes.

We understand that each organization has distinct goals, which is why we offer the ability to customize speaking topics to align with your specific needs. Our Impact-ful professional development programs are compelling and inspiring. You’ll enjoy the engaging presentations that mix valuable content that is instantly actionable with a fun and creative approach that will charge your leadership batteries.

Appreciology is the intentional and systematic use of sincere appreciation to motivate others. With this session, participants will understand the vital importance of a positive workplace culture and its tremendous benefit on the performance, recruitment, and retention of leaders and staff. All too often, an organization’s culture focuses on the negative aspects of daily interactions and outcomes. But what if our focus on negativity is actually caused by negativity itself? This powerful session will provide the antidote – methods and strategies to drive positivity throughout your organization. A must for those leaders wishing to create a dynamic team and culture of appreciation.

Learning Objectives:

  • Define appreciation
  • Understand how to create a culture of appreciation
  • Develop ways to effectively utilize appreciation to motivate others
  • Realize the power of connection
  • Grasp how to develop clear behavioral expectations
  • Understand how to implement appreciation strategies (what does appreciation look like?)
  • Define best practices for appreciation via electronic mediums
  • Realize how to catch people doing something right

Managers guide people through needed tasks and tactical issues. Leaders, however, inspire people to grow as professionals and as human beings. Leaders set a strategic course and build a team that is self assured and equipped to achieve the collective strategic vision. This session will describe the difference between management and leadership and focus on building advanced leadership skills.

Learning Objectives:

  • Learn how to set a clear strategic direction for your team 
  • Learn how to communicate that clear strategic direction to your team and stakeholders
  • Learn how to motivate staff members at all levels of your organization, including all generations within
    your organization 
  • Learn how to create a great culture that retains high performing leaders  

Learn how to define your brand, describe the type of culture that is currently present in the organization, and identify the needs you have to change or strengthen the current culture. Attendees will learn that their brand is an experience, an interaction, and an emotional connection to their stakeholders. Discover the importance of your employees who interact with others all day as those interactions will build or diminish trust within the community. 

Learning Objectives:

  • Uncover the current priorities in your organization with regard to communications 
  • Determine three major themes that are imperative for their staff, key stakeholders, and the greater community to know and understand 
  • Learn what leaders must do and the plan they must have in place when a crisis occurs 
  • Recall specific strategies to use and deploy when speaking with the media or creating any other type of crisis communication to be shared through various channels

This session is ideal for any organization with a story to tell. Learn how to effectively select and prioritize dynamic social media content that will drive your organization forward. Discover how a social media content calendar can help organize your message and your marketing strategy so that your energy and focus are not wasted. Learn how targeted interaction and communication with the digital audience will propel your organization forward.

Learning Objectives:

  • Identify quality content and the seasonality of quality content
  • Understand your audience’s relationship to your page’s content
  • Discover how to put all created content to good use

​​It’s not a matter of if; it’s a matter of when. Are you ready? Any threat to your trust or reputation is a crisis. This workshop is paramount for those wishing to understand the intricate facets and critical components of managing a crisis while maintaining clarity and composure. This session will allow you and your team to work towards a culture of transparency and trust before, during, and after a crisis event.  

Learning Objectives:

  • Learn how to deal with the media during a high-pressure situation 
  • Understand how to frame a response
  • Know why you should never say “no comment” and what you should say instead 
  • Learn how to keep your staff and stakeholders calm and composed 
  • Define how and when to heal from a crisis

Leaders have COURAGE! Courage, for the vast majority of us, is not something you are simply born with. Courage is a trait that is slowly and intentionally cultivated over time through repeated acts that force us out of our comfort zones. Comfort zones are death zones for leaders! Have you ever felt like you are stuck in your comfort zone, unable to push yourself to fully embrace the vibrant life you desire? The invisible barriers that keep you from breaking through and achieving your fullest potential can be daunting. This session, titled “Earn the Dawn: Effective Strategies to Enhance Your Life,” is designed to help you face these fears head-on and equip you with practical strategies to enhance your life.

Learning Objectives:

  • Understand the concept of breaking comfort zones
  • Identify strategies for embracing a fuller life
  • Learn how to implement these strategies to become a more vibrant version of yourself
  • Create a personalized action plan
  • Develop a step-by-step plan tailored to your personal growth journey
  • Learn how to maintain motivation and track your progress towards embracing life fully

This session is ideal for organizations that are being hindered by communication issues large and small. Topics will include intergenerational dynamics, how to effectively communicate in an electronic age, how to present your ideas in public, understanding and communicating to diverse workplace personalities, and the impact of body language and tone.

Learning Objectives:

  • Learn how to communicate with employees of all generations and levels of responsibility
  • Learn how to understand your audience and their need for electronic conversation versus face-to-face 
  • Learn how to have self-awareness as it relates to effective communication 

Conflict resolution and management is an essential skill of any leader. For an organization to grow and thrive, diverse opinions and thoughts must be welcomed and encouraged. These diverse opinions and thoughts will often result in conflict. Will this conflict propel your organization forward or bring it down?  

Learning Objectives:

  • Learn tactics and methods that promote and support healthy and productive conflict
  • Learn the HEAT method to turn down the temperature of difficult situations
  • Learn the DESC method of how to how someone accountable in under three minutes
  • Learn how to be aware of your body language, tone and overall presence so you may cultivate “Cowboy Energy” 
  • Learn how to create effective communication expectations where your staff feels safe to say what is on their minds in a respectful manner, while recognizing that difficult discussions are an essential part of any healthy organization

Attendees will discover the defining characteristics of different age groups, master effective communication strategies tailored to each, and learn motivational techniques that transcend generational divides. This session promises to dismantle age stereotypes, fostering enhanced team collaboration and cooperation in a fun, interactive setting.

Learning Objectives:

  • Dismantle age-centered stereotypes
  • Enhance team collaboration
  • Improve communication between generations

Discover the enduring wisdom of Stoic philosophy tailored for contemporary leadership in this seminar. Learn why being present, measured, just, and even-tempered, along with the ability to navigate through difficult challenges, are not just admirable traits but essential underpinnings of Stoic thought for effective leadership. This session will equip you with the foundational principles of Stoicism to enhance your resilience and decision-making in any leadership role. 

Learning Objectives:

  • How to lead with the four primary pillars of stoicism: wisdom, justice, temperance, and courage  
  • Begin each day with power and power and purchase 
  • Control your emotions, don’t let them control you
  • Rewire negative thinking
  • Understand “The Flow”
  • Learn the Power of Self-Reflection 

This session will provide the administrative/management team with a general overview of leadership concepts that impact all elements of the workplace. Topics include supervision of classified and certified staff, dealing with generational dynamics, motivational strategies, enhancing communication, and conflict resolution. 

Learning Objectives:

  • How to set clear expectations 
  • How to run an “impactful” meeting 
  • How to motivate your staff 
  • How to communicate effectively
  • How to have difficult accountability discussions
  • How to have successful conflict resolution
  • Understand your own leadership beliefs/style

Many of us go through our lives thinking of time as an inexhaustible well when in reality, each of us will eventually experience the last five minutes of our lives. Yikes! You mean we are going to die?! We are, but that truth does not have to be morbid or depressing. In fact, reflecting on our last five minutes can have a profound impact on how we choose to use our time now. In this inspirational session, we explore lessons from those who have gone before us about how to live a life well-lived, reflect on our most important priorities, and take the time to align our current actions with our “last 5-minute priorities.”

Learning Objectives:

  • Understand the inevitability of our mortality and use this awareness as a motivator to live more intentionally and fully in the present.
  • Reflect on and identify the most important priorities in your life, ensuring they align with what truly matters to you.
  • Gain insights and wisdom from those who have faced their final moments, applying their lessons to enrich your own life.
  • Develop practical strategies to align your daily actions and decisions with your core values and end-of-life priorities, leading to a more meaningful and fulfilling life.

Have you ever wondered what that invisible force is that sometimes holds you or your organization back from doing the things that you really need to do? It has a name! It’s called “Resistance!” 

Learning Objectives:

  • Learn what resistance is 
  • Identify strategies for identifying resistance in your life 
  • Identify strategies to overcome resistance
  • Learn how to develop a plan to achieve what you hope to achieve

Remember “blue light specials?” Well, no younger staff members do! This insightful presentation explores what worked and what didn’t, offering powerful strategies for building a brand that stands the test of time. Learn essential branding techniques that every organization needs to thrive and endure.

Learning Objectives:

  • Why is a brand important? 
  • How to establish a powerful brand
  • How to protect a powerful brand 

In turbulent times, strategic plans provide guidance. In thriving times, they keep an organization grounded and focused on priorities. At all times, they offer leaders a transparent point of reference for decision-making, actions, and engagements. A solid strategic plan should include rich community engagement, clear and actionable goals, and detailed steps to achieve them. Gain valuable insights into strategic planning and learn how to create a roadmap for success.

Learning Objectives:

  • Learn how to engage an organization’s leadership team in visioning and SWOT analysis
  • Learn how to foster community engagement through focus groups, surveys, and phone interviews
  • Learn how to write actionable and time bound goals and objectives

Have an identity crisis and are struggling to tell your organization’s story? You are not alone. Organizations all across Ohio are constantly searching for their true identity and the most effective way to share the positive stories in their community. Your employees represent who you are and they become your brand. Telling your unique stories will help cultivate and build positive relationships in your community. This session will provide any leader with the essential skills necessary to effectively communicate the positive events happening within their organization. They will also learn how to identify, promote, and share the most important information regarding their organization and its most valuable assets.

Learning Objectives:

  • Learn how to identify primary communication priorities and platforms for their organizations 
  • Learn how to develop communication objectives and strategies to successfully share the positive events and people within their organizations 
  • How to identify the emotion they are trying to convey in their messages and how to capitalize on the multiple platforms that are available to them
  • Learn the 3-30-3 messaging strategy and be given examples of how they might be able to use that in their own organizations 

Developed for organizations that require institutional cohesion to achieve their mission, vision, and strategic goals, DISC is perfect for any organization that demands collaboration, cooperation, and team-centered critical thinking. DISC is a personal assessment tool designed to improve teamwork, communication, and productivity in the workplace. The DISC model provides a common language that helps people better understand themselves and those they interact with, using this knowledge to reduce conflict and improve working relationships. *Individual assessments are available at an additional cost.

Learning Objectives:

  • Have an in-depth understanding of your personal behavioral assessment results
  • Improve self-awareness through your assessment results 
  • Build a greater understanding of colleagues and team members utilizing the behavioral assessment

Kind Words

Building Lasting Relationships

“I am grateful for the partnership we’ve experienced with The Impact Group. Despite the physical distance of our offices, their integration with our team and knowledge of our district has been remarkable. Their strategic communications model has kept us focused on our big ideas and easily intertwined into our planning meetings and communication efforts. Working with their team feels like a partnership. Impact Group members are lifesavers!”

Dr. Laura Blessing, Miamisburg City Schools

“Our partnership and collaboration with the Impact Group has been invaluable in sharing our District’s story.  Whether positively promoting the district, effectively navigating and communicating change, or leading through a crisis, the Impact Group does a fantastic job of walking alongside the District to proactively and transparently communicate with our District and community.”

Nathan Stutz, Superintendent , Perry Local Schools

“Finally, a strategic planning process that was painless and resulted in meaningful goals and objectives.  I have never experienced this level of employee involvement with a strategic plan.  The Impact Group can be credited for a professional and straightforward approach, gathering valuable information, filtering out useless data, and getting people excited.”

Mike Pelcic, Superintendent, Pickaway County Board of DD

“The Impact Group is one of the best resources a local government can have regarding communication, messaging, and strategic thinking.  The strategic thinktank Tom and his team create is invaluable and I frequently find myself consulting with them for ideas beyond messaging and communication.

Their understanding of growing and strengthening an organization’s culture is commendable.”

Rob Schommer, City Manager, City of Bellbrook

“Working with The Impact Group to create our strategic plan was effortless! They took the time to meet with many facets of our school community and stakeholders to develop goals and objectives that will now guide the work we do over the next three years. I highly recommend using their team of educational experts to guide the work you do as the instructional leader of your district. You will be glad you did!”

Mike Cook, Superintendent, Sheffield-Sheffield Lake City Schools
“The Impact Group has been a trusted communications resource for me for many years. Their expertise regarding school district communications, strategic planning, crisis communication and staff development have helped me, help the districts I have served. I would certainly recommend The Impact Group to any school district.”
Rob Gress, Alliance City Schools

“The Impact Group’s expertise regarding the communication of complex topics to a community in a manner that is honest, approachable and understandable, is considerable. I’d recommend them to anyone!”

Nathan Schindewolf, Triway Local School District

“The Impact Group has a fantastic, high energy, creative staff who are a pleasure to work with. They are responsive and truly care about their clients. The work they have done for my organization has truly been invaluable and I highly recommend them.”

Amy Jordan, President, Hudson Community Foundation
“The Impact Group is a great resource for public relations, strategic planning and crisis communication. The Impact Group employs a cadre of professionals skilled in all aspects of public relations.”
Ed Stark, Superintendent, Trumbull County Board of Developmental Disabilities

“The Impact Group took our ideas and created an amazing brand for our business. They continue to come up with great ideas all the time. Would recommend their services to anyone!”

Amber Mohrman, Owner, Mohr Stamping

“Locking arms with the staff at The Impact Group who want to do the same and have fun doing it was nothing but advantageous for our organization in our strategic planning process. The Impact Group delivered a sophisticated report, yet, simple for staff to create, share and implement.”

Jeannie Turner, Director of Community Services, Greene County Board of Developmental Disabilities

Let’s Connect

We’d love to schedule a conversation.

Strategic Planning

Strategic plans provide guidance, focus on priorities, and afford leaders a transparent point of reference in their decision-making, actions, and engagements.

Professional Development

Helping teams perform to their potential while teaching managers to be inspiring leaders and mentors to improve internal and external communication and morale.

Strategic Communication

Our model helps you identify strategic communication priorities, target audiences, and the platforms and methods to deliver consistent messages.

Crisis Communication

Support for crisis events with proactive planning, message development, and media preparation, as well as training and resources to equip you for the inevitable.