Course Highlights
This in-person leadership development workshop for individual contributors will:
- Define the behaviors and attributes strong leaders share, regardless of title.
- Challenge common leadership myths that limit initiative and influence.
- Explain multiple forms of power and how to apply them responsibly.
- Strengthen credibility through eight practical areas where contributors can take action.
- Improve influence through deliberate language choices and strong question habits.
- Provide a structured method for expressing gratitude and sharing credit using the CUDO model.
- Support a more constructive outlook that helps participants steady themselves and others during setbacks and change.
Course Overview
Leadership is not reserved for people with titles. Individual contributors influence outcomes every day through initiative, follow-through, problem-solving, relationship conduct, and the language they choose when work gets complicated.
Follow Me! is a one-day onsite workshop that builds practical leadership skill for contributors who want to have more impact without formal authority. Participants examine what strong leadership looks like as behavior, identify common myths that interfere with good judgment, and learn how different forms of power show up at work.
The session also focuses on credibility-building action in eight areas, relationship practices that strengthen trust, communication models for difficult moments, and structured appreciation through the CUDO model. The day closes with practical strategies for promoting a more constructive outlook that supports influence and steadier performance.
The following outline highlights some of the course’s learning points. As part of your training program, we will modify content as needed to meet your business objectives. Upon request, we will provide you with a copy of the participant materials prior to the session(s).
Program Objectives
At this program’s conclusion, participants should be able to:
- Define the attributes strong leaders share.
- Identify common leadership myths and describe how those myths affect behavior at work.
- Explain different types of power and how they can be leveraged to influence others.
- Describe eight areas where they can take action to build their leadership skills and credibility.
- Explain how language choices affect the extent to which a message influences others.
- Apply the CUDO model for expressing gratitude and sharing credit.
- Develop a plan for staying upbeat and adopting a positive outlook for the purpose of influencing others.
Workshop Modules
Walk This Way: Understanding What Makes a Leader
The day opens by defining leadership as observable behavior rather than position. Participants will review a set of leadership traits and identify where they already show strength and where they want to develop. The group will connect those traits to daily actions that increase influence without authority.
Myth Busting: Debunking Junk and Confirming Tasks
This module addresses common myths about leadership that limit initiative and credibility. Learners will rank myths based on prevalence and damage, then replace each myth with a practical, work-ready interpretation. Participants will select one myth-driven habit they want to stop and one behavior they want to reinforce.
Managers Versus Leaders: Influence Without a Title
Participants examine the difference between management work and leadership behavior at the contributor level. Attendees will identify where they can build relationships, support others’ growth, and influence direction inside their current role. The group will name specific actions that help contributors lead without stepping outside their lane.
Legitimate Influence: Understanding Power
This module breaks down several types of power and how each affects workplace dynamics. Learners will identify real situations where power showed up—helpfully or poorly—and analyze effects on motivation, trust, and outcomes. Participants will decide which forms of power they can strengthen through better choices and steadier conduct.
Building Blocks: A Leader’s Material
The workshop then moves to the eight action areas that build credibility over time. Participants will work through structured reflection and discussion on self-confidence, competence, self-knowledge, drive, vision, risk-taking, response to failure, and change mastery. Each person will choose specific behaviors to apply in one near-term situation.
Relationship Building: Earning Trust and Strengthening Collaboration
This module focuses on relationship behaviors that make influence possible. Participants will assess strengths and gaps across listening, support, transparency, collaboration, conflict handling, empathy, and advocacy. The group will identify one relationship move to start, one to stop, and one to continue.
Minding Ps and Qs: Choosing Language for Leading
Participants work with communication models for opening dialogues, framing conversations, giving feedback, handling criticism, and disagreeing constructively. Learners will practice rewriting common unproductive phrases into language that keeps conversations usable. The group will also practice shifting from statements to questions to reduce defensiveness and improve problem-solving.
Appreciation: Private and Public Thanks
This module builds practical skill in expressing gratitude in a way that strengthens credibility and trust. Using the CUDO model, participants will draft recognition messages that name the action, explain its utility, describe the difference it made, and include an offer of support. Attendees will refine messages so they sound professional and authentic.
Promoting the Positive: Looking for Lemonade
The course closes with optimism as a workplace influence behavior. Participants will identify how outlook affects credibility and momentum, then select practical ways to stay solution-focused, reinforce progress, and encourage resilience during setbacks. Each learner will leave with a personal plan for maintaining a more constructive stance at work.
Target Audience
This workshop is designed for groups that want to:
- Build leadership skill in employees who do not have supervisory responsibility.
- Strengthen influence, credibility, and initiative at the contributor level.
- Improve communication, relationship conduct, and peer-to-peer leadership.
- Reinforce practical appreciation and more constructive outlook habits.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can someone lead if they are not a manager?
Yes. People lead through behavior long before they have a title. Initiative, judgment, follow-through, credibility, helpful communication, and steady conduct all influence how work gets done.
What leadership myths does this course challenge?
The course challenges ideas such as “leaders have to be in charge,” “influence requires authority,” “good work speaks for itself,” and “leadership means having all the answers.” Participants replace those myths with practical behaviors they can use in their current roles.
Why teach power to people without formal authority?
Because power shows up in more ways than position. Contributors may have expertise, relationships, information, consistency, reputation, or the ability to connect people and ideas. The course helps participants recognize those sources of influence and use them responsibly.
How does the course build credibility?
Participants work through eight action areas: self-confidence, competence, self-knowledge, drive, vision, risk-taking, response to failure, and change mastery. The focus is on visible behavior, not slogans about leadership potential.
Does this workshop help quiet or less assertive employees?
Yes. The program does not assume leadership has to be loud. It gives participants ways to lead through preparation, thoughtful questions, reliability, relationship building, useful language, and steady follow-through.
Will this course turn contributors into unofficial supervisors?
No. The course is about influence without overstepping. Participants learn how to support direction, strengthen collaboration, raise concerns, ask better questions, and contribute more fully while staying inside their role.
How does language affect leadership at the contributor level?
Language can either invite problem-solving or create resistance. Participants practice replacing blunt, vague, or reactive statements with wording that is clearer, more useful, and easier for others to act on.
Why include appreciation in a leadership course?
Giving credit well is a leadership behavior. The CUDO model helps participants express thanks in a way that is specific, credible, and connected to the work, rather than generic praise that disappears quickly.
Does the course address setbacks and negativity?
Yes. The closing module focuses on outlook as an influence behavior. Participants practice ways to stay constructive during frustration, change, and disappointment without pretending problems are not real.
What should participants be able to do differently after the workshop?
Participants should be ready to lead more visibly through initiative, stronger relationships, better questions, responsible influence, professional appreciation, clearer language, and a steadier response when work becomes difficult.