Foundations of Leadership: Leading Teams, Change, and Public Impact
May 4, 2026
About the Series
This five-session series helps public professionals build stronger, more effective, and more rewarding ways of working with others in complex environments. Across the sessions, participants will explore practical strategies for strengthening collaboration, building trust, improving coordination, and navigating the interpersonal and organizational dynamics that shape team performance and public impact.
Led by Anita M. McGahan, internationally recognized expert in management and organization and Senior Research Scientist at the Burnes Center for Social Change.
Foundations of Leadership: Leading Teams, Cha…Enabling great performance
This session examines how organizations can adapt over time in ways that preserve core values while evolving their structures, practices, and priorities to support strong performance in changing conditions.
Foundations of Leadership: Leading Teams, Cha…Giving and receiving feedback
This session explores how to make performance feedback more constructive, useful, and actionable for both the person receiving it and the person delivering it.
Foundations of Leadership: Leading Teams, Cha…Understanding personal strengths
This session helps participants identify their strengths, reflect on the conditions that allow them to do their best work, and develop a more grounded approach to personal growth and contribution.
Foundations of Leadership: Leading Teams, Cha…Building a team
This session explores what distinguishes high-performing teams from low-performing ones and how to decide when a team is the right approach, who should be involved, and what the team should be set up to achieve.
Foundations of Leadership: Leading Teams, Cha…Creating psychological safety
Psychological safety is essential to strong team performance, and this session examines how to create the conditions for candid communication, better judgment, and more effective outcomes.