Career Leadership Academy

Tuesdays from January 28th - March 5th, 2025 | Online

The only micro-credential for current and aspiring leaders in post-secondary co-op,
experiential learning, and career development.

Learn what it takes to be an outstanding career leader.

Conduct an audit to identify priorities.

Develop a successful DEI strategy.

Find out how process improvements can positively impact productivity.

Discover how to empower your team to succeed.

Learn the best approaches to building impactful relationships on and off campus.

Make strategic decisions about future offerings.

Build Essential Leadership Skills

Whether you’re a new or aspiring leader of co-op, career, or experiential learning, your institution needs you to reach your full potential.

In this program, you’ll learn how to make strategic decisions about what programs and services are most valuable, integrate DEI into your daily work as a leader, build lasting partnerships, inspire and engage your team through change, maximize productivity and impact, and evaluate programs and services to implement change and create capacity.

Fast track your leadership skills and reach your career goals sooner at the Career Leadership Academy.

Join over 70 graduates of the Career Leadership Academy and become an invaluable resource for your campus.

Learn, share best practices, and connect with your peers

6 live and interactive workshops

Collaborative group work and discussions

15 hours of active learning

Dedicated web portal with discussion board

Online educational materials (video recordings, slides, worksheets)

Highly experienced and knowledgeable instructors

Earn Your Career Leadership Academy Micro-Credential

Upon successful completion of this program, graduates will be able to:

Implement a process for evaluating each component of their department’s performance under key success factors critical to clarifying direction, getting buy-in, enhancing programs and services, improving resource management, engaging their teams, and increasing operational efficiency.
Examine top challenges faced by career leaders and tactics for managing change.
Learn how to integrate DEI into their workplace by exploring how to build a diverse team, support an equitable and inclusive work culture, and create/review programs through a DEI lens using a case study.
Describe the benefits of strengths based leadership and identify how to use their strengths to lead a team and achieve their leadership and operational goals.
Describe how processes can impact productivity and identify processes to improve efficiency and productivity in their department/unit.
Discuss what challenges can be met through partnerships, describe how to evaluate potential partnerships, and share examples of effective partnerships.
Identify the specific strengths and weaknesses of their programs and services and create an action plan for improvement.

Expand Learning Outcomes

Presenters

Speakers, Panelists & Facilitators

Additional panelists to be announced soon.

Jan Basso

Wilfrid Laurier University

Assistant Vice-President, Experiential Learning & Career Development

Graham Donald

Brainstorm Strategy Group Inc.

President

Cathy Keates

Queen’s University

Assistant Dean, Student Affairs

Cara Krezek

The Talent Strategy Collective

Chief Purpose Officer & Founder

Blessie Mathew

University of Alberta Career Centre

Director, Career and Experiential Learning

Dedicated Support

Julie Rahmer

Learning, Research & Engagement Lead

As the Career Leadership Academy’s dedicated program support person, I’m committed to ensuring that participants and presenters get the most out of their experiences. I am happy to answer questions and provide information and updates to ensure that you are well equipped for this unique learning opportunity.

Your Action Plan

Register now

Engage in the interactive program

Learn, connect, and discover new ideas.

Elevate your leadership skills

Exceed your career goals with new tactics and strategies.

Program & Schedule

The Career Leadership Academy features six, 2 ½ hour sessions that include workshops, presentations and panel discussions that will be presented live online over a span of 6 weeks. Weekly sessions will include opportunities for participants to reflect on their learning, take part in small and large group discussions, meet with their peers, and complete self-guided learning and research assignments.

In addition to the 2 ½ hour sessions, it is expected that participants will complete 1-2 hours of homework each week. Homework will consist of posting and commenting on discussion board topics, connecting with co-participants, watching video recordings, and/or completing quizzes.

Participants will be supported via a dedicated web portal to access educational materials, connect with peers, post and comment on coursework, discuss hot topics, and share best practices and information over the course of the program.

All 2 ½ hour sessions will be recorded and made available for review for 6 months after the completion of the program.

Week 1

Tuesday, Jan 28th, 2025

1:00 - 3:30 pm

The Career Leaders' Scorecard: Elevating Your Office's Performance

Your work is multifaceted and involves many interests competing for time, funding, and people resources. In this workshop you’ll conduct a brief “audit” of your office and its functions on a wide variety of measures using the Career Leaders' Scorecard. This evaluation process will help you identify priorities for both your energy and your learning as you consider questions such as:

How clear is the focus of your work?
How are student priorities balanced with employer priorities?
How effective is communication within your office?
Do you have clearly documented and easily repeated processes?
Do you have the tools and resources to work effectively?
How do you balance reaching the most students with having greater impacts on individuals?
Are you able to “create space” for new initiatives?
Are you using internal partnerships to increase your reach and get more done?

This “audit” will provide you both a context to work during the program and a helpful perspective as you join in discussions with peers and seek the input of others.

Career Leaders Pro Panel: Challenges in Changing Times

Hear from a panel of experts about the challenges they face as university and college career leaders, and find out:

What are the main challenges that take up time (and probably shouldn’t)?
How do they manage change during these constantly evolving times?
What are the biggest challenges they foresee in the future?

Week 2 - Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Inside and Out

Tuesday, Feb 4th, 2025

1:00 - 3:30 pm

For diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives to be successful, they require organizational commitment, cultural change and time. Ideally DEI should be more than lip service or a last thought. DEI is a process, not a destination and evidence shows that workplaces that genuinely embrace DEI foster increased productivity and innovation as well as higher levels of meaningful engagement by employees and clients. In this workshop, you will learn how to integrate DEI into your daily work as a leader by exploring:

How to build a diverse team that contributes to an inclusive work culture
How you can support an equitable and inclusive work culture
How to create and review programs and services using a DEI lens

Week 3 - Building Partnerships to Support Students and Achieve Your Strategic Objectives

Tuesday, Feb 11th, 2025

1:00 - 3:30 pm

You can’t meet all of your goals on your own. Across your campus, there are potential partners with greater access to students, more influence with administration, bigger budgets, or more people resources than you have. Fortunately, you also have some assets and expertise that are needed by others. This can create great opportunities for mutually beneficial partnerships.

In this workshop, we’ll discuss what challenges can be met through partnerships; how to evaluate potential partnerships against your priorities; and, what outcomes you can look forward to.

You’ll also have the opportunity to discuss your own partnerships – current or anticipated – with peers to gain some objective perspective and ideas.

Week 4 - Leadership in a Time of Disruption: How to Keep your Team Empowered, Engaged and Performing

Tuesday, Feb 18th, 2025

1:00 - 3:30 pm

Leading teams is complex. Your ability to effectively lead, manage, motivate and engage your team will be critical to your success as a leader. There are many strategies to how one can lead a team – but it is important for you to find your leadership style and how you will deal with various situations and stages of team development. Come learn alongside other high potential colleagues about key strategies on leadership and how you can unlock your potential as a leader as you navigate the next steps of your career. You will:

Learn how discovering your strengths empowers you as a leader
Discover why having a mission, vision, values statement and purpose is key to your success as a leader
Find out how to empower and engage your team during times of change

Week 5 - Creating Processes to Maximize Productivity

Tuesday, Feb 25th, 2025

1:00 - 3:30 pm

Whether large or small, growing or not, a career office (and really any office) will always have finite resources. Understanding how to make the most of whatever resources you have will give you greater control over productivity, will free time for strategic projects, and can increase your, and your staff’s, satisfaction and engagement. Learn how to review and improve your processes in order to maximize your productivity and impact. You will:

Leave with a better understanding of how processes impact productivity
Assess challenges and opportunities in your own setting
Leave with two actions for process improvements

Week 6 - Is It Time to Stop? Evaluating Programs and Services to Implement Change and Create Capacity

Tuesday, March 4th, 2025

1:00 - 3:30 pm

Writing a “to do” list is easy, but finding the time and resources to meet your strategic objectives is impossible without a “stop doing” list. One of every leader’s greatest challenges is knowing when to say “no”. Even more difficult than that is the decision to stop doing something that works well to make room for an even higher priority. How do you put an end to a team member’s favourite program? How do you explain to project partners that you’re pulling out?

In this workshop, the focus will be on developing objective ways to measure your programs and services and evaluate them against your strategic priorities. You’ll discuss ways to engage your team in the process to support change management. Participants will also benefit from discussions with peers who face similar challenges or have managed similar changes.

Testimonials

"The opportunity to participate in the Career Leadership Academy came at the perfect time for me. I have been exploring my own leadership and management style and who I want to be in this space during a time of transition at my institution. The Career Leadership program offered a framework to my learning and development and offered a program with excellent material, resources and talented leaders that was easy to access, engage and network with others. I've been able to grow my toolbox and my network and be reflective of what direction I want to take my career. Much appreciation to all facilitators and fellow participants!"

Joanne Foxton

Manager, #ChangeTheNow, Georgian College

"The CLA was a great learning experience and provided me with practical tools to think about how we can move our department forward. There is opportunity to learn from industry experts, share with colleagues, and reflect on your own leadership practice and program. The most helpful aspect was the ability to set goals and to carve out dedicated time to think critically through learning different perspectives. It helped build confidence to step into my new role."

Danielle Johnsrude

Director, Centre for Experiential Learning & Student Engagement, Vancouver Island University

"This is an excellent program that provides many opportunities to go beyond acquiring knowledge. It is delivered by leaders and professionals in the trenches, doing the work - in other words, it is applied learning. It was also a wonderful opportunity to connect with peers in the field. I feel this experience has elevated my potential as a leader and I now have a robust roadmap to implement the many valuable things I learned."

Linda Folster

Curriculum and Instructional Designer, Vancouver Community College

"The Career Leadership Academy provided an inclusive and collaborative forum for like-minded career leaders to share best practices, learn from industry leaders, connect with others and set tangible action plans. The diverse discussion topics and speakers were fantastic and I looked forward to learning from them each week."

Kara Renaud

Manager, Career Education, Brock University

"The Career Leadership Academy was a fantastic learning experience. The sessions were practical, theory-based, and full of immediately useful learning. I thoroughly enjoyed this program and highly recommend it to other emerging or experienced professionals in the field."

Dawn White

Director, International Affairs, Algoma University

FAQs

Frequently asked questions

Is this local, national, global or what?

Professionals in the field from all countries are welcome and will benefit from this program.

The skills learned at the Career Leadership Academy are universal. While the Faculty are all Canada-based, they are also all engaged in partnerships, associations, and activities internationally and particularly with institutions in the USA.

What is the schedule and time commitment?

The core of the program is six, 2 ½ hour sessions held over 6 weeks (Tuesdays from 1 - 3:30 pm EST beginning Jan. 28, 2025). In addition to the 2 ½ hour sessions, it is expected that participants will complete 1-2 hours of homework each week consisting of posting and commenting on discussion board topics, connecting with co-participants, watching video recordings, and/or completing quizzes.

All sessions will be recorded so that participants can access any sessions that conflict with their personal schedules.

Will there be recordings available?

Yes, all sessions will be recorded and available exclusively to program participants on the dedicated web portal for 6 months after the completion of the program.

What happens if I miss a session?

There’s a good chance that a session or two may conflict with your other commitments. Recordings of sessions will be posted on the web portal along with educational materials within 24 hours of each workshop, so you’ll have plenty of opportunity to catch up.

Who should participate?

If you are a new or aspiring leader in career services, co-op, and/or experiential learning on campus, then the Career Leadership Academy is designed for you.

Can you help me convince my boss to invest in this?

Absolutely. Please send an email to Julie Rahmer at julie@brainstorm.ca and I will send you an email template.

What will I learn during this program?

After completing the Career Leadership Academy program, you'll achieve a number of learning outcomes.

Registration Rates

Individual

$2,100

per person

Group of 3 or more

$1,575

per person

No refunds will be provided within three weeks of the program. Cancellations three weeks or more before the event date will be refunded less a $100 administration fee.

Substitutions from the same organization are welcome at no cost up to three weeks before the event date.

Leading employers, universities and colleges rely on Brainstorm for strategic advice, informative insights, and practical professional development.