Cultivating an Engaging Workplace Course

This course offers an in-depth look at strategies for creating and sustaining a positive workplace culture. Participants develop approaches for building trust, influence, and strong relationships, managing organizational conflict, supporting the growth of others, strengthening teams, increasing employee engagement, and fostering a learning-focused organization.

What You Will Learn

• Support a positive workplace culture
• Apply effective strategies to build trust, influence, and strong relationships
• Evaluate approaches for managing organizational conflict
• Develop comprehensive plans to support the growth of others
• Assess methods for building teams and increasing employee engagement
• Examine strategies for creating a learning-focused organization.

Course Outline

Module 1: Promote a Positive Workplace Culture

• Define and assess workplace culture and its links to leadership and management.
• Compare four culture types—Hierarchy/Control, Market/Compete, Clan/Collaborate, Adhocracy/Create—and when each tends to emerge.
• Identify values and day-to-day elements (communication, recognition, work–life balance, trust) that shape culture.
• Use culture assessments, sample survey questions, and recognition practices to strengthen a positive environment.

Module 2: Employ Effective Strategies for Building Trust, Influence, and Relationships

• Explain how trust, influence, and relationships drive organizational success and avoid common trust-destroying pitfalls.
• Practice trust-building behaviors (clarity, compassion, character, competence, commitment, connection, contribution, consistency).
• Apply organization-level trust levers (authentic leadership, ethics, compliance, customer experience, technology and security).
• Model EI-based behaviors—self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship management—especially in hybrid settings.

Module 3: Analyze Strategies for Managing Organizational Conflict

• Define interpersonal and intergroup conflict and diagnose root causes (facts, methods, goals, values).
• Use structured questions and stakeholder analysis to clarify issues and perspectives.
• Differentiate destructive vs. productive conflict and set conditions for healthy disagreement.
• Apply practical strategies (neutral settings, root-cause analysis, clear expectations, accountability; insights from “The Gift of Conflict”).

Module 4: Create Comprehensive Plans for Developing Others

• Build effective employee development via IDPs aligned to mission; identify skill gaps and resources.
• Differentiate mentoring and coaching; design programs (e.g., flash/speed mentoring, formal coaching) with clear agreements.
• Measure program effectiveness (process adherence, pulse checks, mentee progress, organizational outcomes; BASICS for coaching).
• Prepare future leaders and plan succession using OPM’s six-step approach.

Module 5: Analyze Approaches for Guiding Teams and Maximizing Employee Engagement

• Identify hallmarks of high-performing teams (purpose, roles, trust, feedback, recognition).
• Adopt team-building approaches suited to hybrid/co-acting groups (project “big-bang” moments, incentives, dashboards, cross-training).
• Link engagement to strategic goals to accelerate delivery, quality, innovation, and retention.
• Create belonging through culture, leadership behaviors, fair practices, relationships, and shared purpose.

Module 6: Analyzing Strategies for Creating a Learning Organization

• Define learning organizations using Senge’s five disciplines (shared vision, systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, team learning).
• Promote organization-wide learning (after-action reviews, coaching/mentoring, open communication, experimentation, metrics).
• Evaluate ROI of development (productivity, readiness for change, retention) and track outcomes with clear measures.
• Foster continuous improvement and risk-aware experimentation to adapt to change.

This course is available for 30 days. You can choose when to start your access period. Once you activate, you will have 30 days to complete it (access the course materials, quizzes, projects and videos). You may request one extension of seven (7) days. Other extension requests will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Videos are not downloadable.