In-Person 3 Hour Session

Learning Objectives

1. An invitation to a personal examination, identifying what may keep the individual from spending their time on the things that matter most to them
2. How to identify events that reduce their productivity and solutions to prevent those events
3. An understanding about time and strategies to manage it better
4. How to recognize lost time and the opportunities to recover it

This program is ideal for:  anyone who works in an office environment and is responsible to manage the work they do on any given day.

Cost: Free for SLA Members. $250 non-member. $200 nonprofits.

Individuals who are either unemployed or connected with an employer who is unable to pay can request scholarships for any of our programs.

About Our Facilitator

Janet Jackson is passionate about three things: her faith, her family, and helping others find time to pursue their passions, professionally and personally. She started Organization Solutions, LLC, in 2001, because she loves people and hates inefficiency.

Prior to starting Organization Solutions, Janet spent six years with Honda of America Manufacturing where she served as the Purchasing Lead on a corporate-wide software implementation, ensuring business and system processes were efficient and effective. She left Honda in 2000 to start Organization Solutions and to have more time for her biggest priority, being a mom.

Janet attended Taylor University in Upland, Indiana, where she double majored in Business Administration and Psychology. She graduated with honors in 1993. While at Taylor, she continued to grow her desire and ability to serve as a leader, which was cultivated initially by her ten-year involvement with Indiana 4-H.

With Indiana roots, Janet and family are currently planted in Ohio. She speaks regionally and nationally to bring increased organization, productivity, and efficiency to businesses and individuals.

Led by: Eilis Wasserman

Learn how to talk with someone that always seems to be difficult.

Let’s talk through how you move forward, start the conversation, and get work done.

Eastern Indiana Works provides these sessions, in partnership with Shafer Leadership Academy, as a free service to our clients. Workshops are designed to enhance your marketability and improve your skill-set. 
Please register within 24 hours of workshop time.

Led by: Dr. Courtney Jarrett

Why is it sometimes difficult to talk about disabilities?

What words would you use to describe yourself and your identities? In this session, the presenter will share some quick and easy tips for everyday language to use when talking about disabilities and accommodations.

Eastern Indiana Works provides these sessions, in partnership with Shafer Leadership Academy, as a free service to our clients. Workshops are designed to enhance your marketability and improve your skill-set. 
Please register within 24 hours of workshop time.

Sponsored by:

We tend to think that the best decisions are the most rational—full of logic and void of emotion. Yet the research suggests otherwise: those who experience strong emotions actually make better, more effective decisions.

As leaders, you are making decisions all day, every day. These decisions include people, budgets, communication, and strategy. In this workshop, we will explore the business case for bringing more emotion into your decision-making, not less.

Whether you are someone who has been told you are “too emotional” or you are someone who prides yourself on stifling emotions—this session will help you realize the power of bringing emotions into the process, strategies for doing it effectively, and the peril of thinking you can make decisions without emotions.

Learning Objectives

1. Explore foundational brain-based aspects of decision-making
2. Identify the impact of unconscious emotional impact on decision-making
3. Learn about key cognitive biases that inhibit effective decision
4. Develop a personal strategy for integrating emotions into an effective decision process

This program is ideal for:  anyone who is making decisions! New and seasoned leaders can gain insights to experience decision-making breakthroughs.

Cost: Free for SLA Members. $80 non-member. $60 nonprofits.

Individuals who are either unemployed or connected with an employer who is unable to pay can request scholarships for any of our programs.

About Our Facilitator

Adam Bouse is the Manager of Performance Coaching at 15Five and founder of Adam Bouse Coaching. With more than 15 years of management and leadership experience, Adam is a certified Brain-based Coach through the NeuroLeadership Institute and holds an M.A. in Organizational Leadership. His coaching specialties include emotional intelligence, resonant leadership, new managers, difficult conversations, and empathy

We often hear about the need for transparency in leadership. However, many of us don’t understand why it matters or how to do it well. A transparent leader walks the line between being honest and oversharing. They’re vulnerable when the time comes but do so in a composed manner that earns employee buy-in and establishes trust. Join us as we talk about transparency, how and when to display it, and why it’s essential for great leadership.

Learning Objectives

1. Recognize the importance of transparency in leadership.
2. Recognize individual barriers to transparency.
3. Determine how and when to display transparency in leadership.
4. Understand how transparency in leadership promotes buy-in and builds trust.
5. Understand that vulnerability in leadership is a strength, not a weakness.

This program is ideal for: anyone in a leadership position

Cost: Free for SLA Members. $50 non-member. $30 nonprofits.

Individuals who are either unemployed or connected with an employer who is unable to pay can request scholarships for any of our programs.

About Our Facilitator

E. Jake Gamble is an executive coach, thought leader, writer, leadership/performance advisor, and underdog advocate. Jake’s candor, passion, sense of humor, and real-world approach to business and life make him a favorite coach, trainer, speaker, and mentor to many. Mr. Gamble established Leadership Support Services in 2009. His passion is leadership with an emphasis character development, authenticity, and transparency. Jake is an accomplished guitarist and vocalist who enjoys performing at small clubs and venues in the Fort Wayne, IN. regional area. In his spare time, he loves to spend time with his 5 yr. old French Bulldog, Frankie!

Led by: Dillon Waggoner

Securing the best fit job can be an overwhelming and draining process that affects our inner confidence and our own self-perception.

How do we keep looking when the going gets tough? Together we will discuss how to hone a confident mindset in the face of setbacks and obstacles. We will also share specific job search strategies that will set us up for success in our job search.

NOTE: This event may be attended in-person or virtually via Zoom.

Eastern Indiana Works provides these sessions, in partnership with Shafer Leadership Academy, as a free service to our clients. Workshops are designed to enhance your marketability and improve your skill-set. 
Please register within 24 hours of workshop time.

Sponsored by:

As human beings, we look for patterns and similarities and often connect with people similar to us. While this was helpful for survival long ago, today it runs counter to the diversity of experience and ideas organizations need on their teams to succeed. To counter “affinity bias,” the tendency of humans to gravitate to people similar to themselves, participants will view and discuss art and photographs to experience, describe, analyze, and interpret subjects that promote flexible, critical, and creative thinking.

The facilitator will use stimulating images with the museum-developed teaching method of Visual Thinking Strategies to promote open discussion. Research shows that “our preference for the safety of the familiar can curb creativity, undermine collaboration, and close our minds to novel ideas and new perspectives.” (Davis, 2020) By offering this training to organizational groups of 2 – 3 members, the goal is to demonstrate how ideas can be generated through neutral and open-ended questions using a new kind of team-building experience. Team members will build affinity through their shared experiences while building awareness of “in-group” and “out-group” tendencies.

Davis, Jeffrey. The Bias Against Difference. Psychology Today. June 25, 2020

Learning Objectives

1. Describe effectively new experiences through selected images
2. Build on the ideas of others
3. Use open-ended questions to generate more ideas
4. Facilitate related conversations
5. Learn how unfamiliar authentic materials generate creative and critical thinking

This program is ideal for:  individuals or groups of 2 – 3 from the same organization (staff, board members, volunteers)

Cost: Free for SLA Members. $80 non-member. $60 nonprofits.

Individuals who are either unemployed or connected with an employer who is unable to pay can request scholarships for any of our programs.

About Our Facilitator

Tania Said, an independent nonprofit professional, worked in museums for over 30 years and continues to consult with museums across the country. Tania’s educational philosophy relies on authentic materials, deep listening, and social learning based on decades of working to improve access to museums and education. She previously worked for the Smithsonian Institution, Ball State University, Bead Museum, Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the American Alliance of Museums. Tania serves her community through board service and volunteering with the Ross Community Center, Minnetrista, and Muncie Arts and Culture Council.

She is also the principal and owner of Tania Said Consulting, a firm that offers organizational and program development services to nonprofits and museums. She is an immigrant and new American who was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and educated in Bloomington and Muncie, Indiana; Washington, DC; Bournemouth, England; and Msida, Malta. She is proud to be an alum of Ball State University and The George Washington University. Tania lives in Muncie with her husband and son, and their two dogs. Her interests include yoga, running, reading, museums, art, and meeting new people.

“Business is problems.” This nugget of wisdom acknowledges the reality that our best laid plans, ideas, and strategies rarely carry on without hitting obstacles, challenges, and dead ends.

And of course there are pandemics, recessions, social unrest, and environmental disasters that are entirely out of our direct control. Whatever your organization is working on, there will be problems.

So how do we build teams that can endure the ups and downs, the pivots, the shifting priorities, the unwelcome interruptions? It’s not enough to say “power through” or to simply grin and bear it—that’s the old model of “toughness,” one that is a perfect recipe for frustration, burnout, and turnover.

To build truly resilient people and teams, we need to equip them with next generation skills: intrinsic motivation, emotional regulation, mindfulness, maximum sustainable performance, strategic adaptation, and more. In this workshop, we will talk neuroscience, practical application, and give you the chance to practice before you start applying the principles of next generation resiliency.

Learning Objectives

1. Establish a science-backed understanding of resiliency
2. Identifying individual practices and skills to increase resiliency
3. Explore environmental and structural aspects that impact resiliency
4. Create a 90-day action plan for you and your team to develop more resiliency

This program is ideal for:  everyone!

Cost: Free for SLA Members. $50 non-member. $30 nonprofits.

Individuals who are either unemployed or connected with an employer who is unable to pay can request scholarships for any of our programs.

About Our Facilitator

Adam Bouse is the Manager of Performance Coaching at 15Five and founder of Adam Bouse Coaching. With more than 15 years of management and leadership experience, Adam is a certified Brain-based Coach through the NeuroLeadership Institute and holds an M.A. in Organizational Leadership. His coaching specialties include emotional intelligence, resonant leadership, new managers, difficult conversations, and empathy

Sponsored by:

What is neuroleadership and what makes it so awesome? By understanding our brains and the way they function, we can learn how to work with our physiology, not fight it. We’ll use neuroscience as a lens through which we can look at ourselves, our direct reports, our co-workers, and our organization to understand what motivates us, inhibits us, and how we can create environments that maximize our brains to help us perform at our best.

This workshop is designed to give you a basic understanding of neuroleadership and how it can be applied to the modern workplace to accomplish today’s most challenging tasks, such as developing effective leaders, enhancing creativity, increasing organizational trust, improving teamwork, understanding and overcoming cognitive biases, deepening employee engagement, and more.

Learning Objectives

1. Identify the five social drivers that leaders should be aware of to improve their efficacy and performance as a leader.
2. Gain clarity about how neuroscience can be applied to leadership and organizational development to develop brain-friendly approaches that increase productivity and enhance employee engagement.
3. Develop a feeling of reassurance and peace. In this workshop, people will feel seen. Our brains are hardwired to behave in certain ways and by applying neuroscience to the workplace, we can begin to see our reactions and emotions at work as the result of “normal” brain responses.
4. Explore several practical tools that can be applied right away to work with physiology and not against it. Every single attendee will walk away from the workshop with a few small actions that can make a significant difference.

This program is ideal for:  mid to senior-level managers, HR professionals, and emerging leaders

Cost: Free for SLA Members. $80 non-member. $60 nonprofits.

Individuals who are either unemployed or connected with an employer who is unable to pay can request scholarships for any of our programs.

About Our Facilitator

Shelby Schuh is a leadership consultant and owner of Ideation Coaching and Consulting. Her consulting specialties include neuroleadership, organizational development, executive coaching, and team and group coaching. Shelby’s inspirational and empowering leadership style is rooted in a belief that we are never fully done growing and becoming, personally or professionally. She is passionate about helping others to reach their highest potential and approaches all aspects of work and life with a natural enthusiasm that inspires, energizes, and engages.

In addition to her consulting work, Shelby has over 11 years of experience leading marketing strategy, executive communications, internal branding, and creative direction at organizations spanning the financial, non-profit, and political sectors. In her “spare time” she enjoys spending time with her family, acting in local theatre, and volunteering for various non-profit boards.

Shelby graduated from DePauw University in 2004 with a BA in Creative Writing and minors in Philosophy and Women’s Studies. In 2020, she obtained her graduate certificate in Executive and Professional Coaching through the University of Texas at Dallas and achieved her ACC certification in Executive Coaching. She graduated from the University of Texas at Dallas in 2021 with an MSLOD (Master of Science in Leadership and Organizational Development).

The COVID-19 pandemic has undeniably impacted countless lives and left a mark on our society since its first appearance.

Although the United States is no longer under a national emergency, the long-lasting effects of COVID-19 persist, with current research focusing not only on the physical challenges post-COVID, but also on the trends in mental wellbeing among many individuals. As we learn to adapt to the decline in mental wellbeing during this new ‘normal’, let us use our influence as leaders to be understanding, compassionate, and mindful of individuals from all walks of life. Together, we can empower ourselves as advocates for mental wellbeing and share resources helpful for everyone in need.

Learning Objectives

1. Establish an understanding of trends in mental wellbeing following the Covid-19 pandemic
2. Learn the importance of being mindful of mental wellbeing in others and yourself as a leader
3. Learn about the many resources available and useful for those who need help with their mental wellbeing

This program is ideal for:  everyone!

Cost: Free for SLA Members. $50 non-member. $30 nonprofits.

Individuals who are either unemployed or connected with an employer who is unable to pay can request scholarships for any of our programs.

About Our Facilitator

Alicia Van Duyn is a Muncie local and a senior at Ball State University studying psychology with a minor in neuroscience. She was a graduate of Muncie Central in 2022, earning both her high school diploma and her associate degree from Ivy Tech through the high school’s dual credit program, transferring 63 college credits to Ball State. At the university, she has worked in different labs within the psychological science department, including Dr. Nardi’s Space and Time lab and Dr. Luttrell’s Attitude and Behavior lab, and has served as a teaching assistant for Prof. Mathieu-Frasier’s cognitive psychology class.

She first learned about Shafer Leadership Academy during her freshman year at Muncie Central High School as a student in the first group to go through The Muncie Youth Leadership Program in 2018-2019. Since then, she has worked to empower and lead others her age in and outside of the classroom, and she took up an internship for Shafer Leadership Academy this past summer. She has a passion for psychology and mental health with plans to someday earn her doctorate in clinical psychology, and a passion for social activism.