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Executive Education

Essentials in Supervisory Skills

Inspiring frontline leaders to drive results

Today’s frontline leaders must position themselves as leaders, coaches, mentors, motivators, psychologists, administrators, negotiators and advocates for the goals of every stakeholder—all while managing the most diverse talent pool of employees in history. 

This program arms you with a powerful set of strategies and skills for managing the issues faced by frontline leaders. Ramp up your emotional intelligence, productivity and problem-solving acumen. Lead people and their performance with confidence. Adjust to the changing expectations of your boss, peers and those you supervise. Act as a valued intermediary who can communicate smoothly between all levels, ensuring that objectives get heard, tasks get acted on, and everyone gets the support they need.  

Sign up now to get on board for greater job satisfaction and career success! 

How you will learn

This program is highly experiential with an active, hands-on learning format that ensures practical relevance. Engage in small group exercises and cases as a vehicle for learning, and apply the content to real-world problems. Leave with a set of practical tools you can start using right away back at work.

 

Who is this for? 

  • Mid-level supervisors, front-line managers and team leaders 
  • Individuals who have recently transitioned into a supervisory role
  • High-potential employees who aspire to a leadership position
  • Those seeking to refresh their supervisory skillset 

 

The impact

With a focus on comprehensive skill development, this program aims to achieve impactful outcomes including:

Put your own mask on first:

  • Be present and self-aware
  • Remain open and receptive to trying new things
  • Display confidence and a positive attitude

Ace key skills:

  • Grow your ability to manage upwards, downwards and across
  • Create trust and a sense of psychological safety
  • Drive problem-solving from within your team

Get stuff done:

  • Stop doing “no value” activities
  • Organize your priorities to deliver higher-value results
  • Delegate to multiply your productivity

Help your team flourish:

  • Adapt your style to respond to the different needs of your people
  • Set clear goals and monitor performance
  • Engage, motivate, support and reward appropriately

Do tough things:

  • Manage emotional “hot buttons”—yours’ and others’
  • Groove with ambiguity and lead constant change
  • Shape culture from the front lines, not from behind your desk
  • Identify your personal leadership style and areas for self-development
  • Grow your emotional intelligence to engage in more meaningful conversations with every stakeholder
  • Boost your critical thinking approach to make better, solution-oriented decisions
  • Manage your time and priorities to reduce stress and get more things that matter done
  • Set goals for behaviour, performance and deadlines to ensure organizational objectives are being met
  • Fearlessly navigate uncomfortable situations, poor attitudes and difficult conversations
  • Lead with values, purpose and clarity so that team members will want to go with you on the journey of organizational growth
  • Improve your value to the organization by working more effectively with all levels of management
  • Develop the managerial skills of key staff members, preparing them to take on more senior leadership positions  
  • Empower frontline leaders to break down barriers and enhance teamwork and productivity
  • Improve the flow of information and ideas throughout the organization
  • Strengthen relationships with customers and other external stakeholders, leading to better bottom-line results 
  • Foster an inclusive workplace culture of excellence and growth 

The Role of the Supervisor

  • Responsibilities and demands you face as a supervisor
  • The impact of organizational change and how it affects your role

Situational Leadership

  • Different leadership styles and their application to team members based on their level of competence, confidence and commitment
  • Building a personal plan to become a more effective supervisor 

Essential Supervisory Leadership Skills

  • Emotional intelligence
  • Performance management of team members
  • Dealing with difficult issues: conducting challenging conversations, disciplining firmly and fairly without creating resentment

Workload Management

  • Strategies for organizing and managing multiple priorities
  • Setting goals for yourself and your team
  • Learning to let go: delegating tasks to others

People Management

  • Delivering a stellar onboarding experience and preparing people for their roles
  • Building trust, engagement and accountability
  • Monitoring and reporting staff performance

Communicating Across the Organization 

  • Communicating upwards: making yourself heard and increasing your influence with various levels of management 
  • Communicating downwards: translating organizational objectives and expectations back down the lines
  • Communicating across: working collaboratively with peers in other business units

Nurturing an EPIC Culture

  • The psychology of purpose: understanding how people think can empower them to deliver better engagement and results
  • Motivating front-line staff to commit to and act on organizational objectives
  • Supporting the integrity of the company culture

Change and Transition

  • Why is change so hard, and why doesn’t it stick?
  • The drivers of change and the change process
  • Becoming an effective agent of change

Robert Murray

Robert Murray

Associate

Robert is a Vancouver-based strategy, culture and leadership consultant. Bringing more than four decades of expertise to UBC Sauder Executive Education, he empowers executives to build high-performance, thriving workplaces where teams can reach their full potential. 

Renowned for his transformational leadership approach, Robert has led projects in over 25 countries for organizations like TELUS, Vodafone, Heineken, Coca Cola, AstraZeneca, Deloitte, Ledcor and Westjet. During his career, his roles have evolved from frontline middle management to VP sales, marketing, and operations, and to C-Suite positions as CCOO, CMO, COO and CEO. His extensive industry experience allows him to bring invaluable insights to clients and executive education professionals.

Robert is the recipient of two New York Festival Awards and one Summit Award (in Portland, Oregon) for Marketing Innovation Excellence. Additionally, he was awarded the ’Speaker of the Year’ recognition from TEC Canada. He is also the Amazon #1 Best Selling Author of two critically acclaimed books on leadership, business and strategy entitled; It’s Already Inside and Unlocked.

Robert holds a degree in Marketing from BCIT, Advanced Services Marketing from Babson College in Boston and Executive Finance from Queens University as well as a Master Trainer designation from BCIT.

[Executive Education Programs] Essentials in Supervisory Skills

Upcoming sessions

calendar Program dates
price_tag Fees and Taxes
notebook Format
filled_point Location
Mar 25 - 26, 2025
$2390.00 + tax (5%)

In-person

UBC Robson Square
Jun 24 - 25, 2025
$2390.00 + tax (5%)

In-person

UBC Robson Square
Nov 6 - 7, 2025
$2390.00 + tax (5%)

In-person

UBC Robson Square
Mar 30 - 31, 2026
$2390.00 + tax (5%)

In-person

UBC Robson Square

Why UBC Sauder Executive Education?

Elevate your career and organization with UBC Sauder. Recognized as a global leader in executive education by the Financial Times, our programs deliver a transformative learning experience, resulting in tangible impact.

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