On October 1, the Laspa Center for Leadership will host a new, interactive Zoom workshop on creative approaches to building student teams while leading remotely. The workshop will be led by Hilary Grosskopf, who has conducted previous leadership development trainings for Laspa, and will focus on team building strategies that explore methods beyond coming together via computer screens.
鈥淲e鈥檝e had to reimagine the whole idea of 鈥榯eams鈥� and how to build them, now that there鈥檚 this impersonal digital divide between leaders and the people they鈥檙e leading,鈥� said Gretchen Maldonado, the assistant director of the Laspa Center. 鈥淗ilary was the first person we thought of for this session, because her approach comes from a perspective of mindfulness and a culture of positivity. She鈥檒l help our student leaders deconstruct what they鈥檝e been doing and ask whether those methods are still the best ways to get information across to their team members.鈥�
鈥淚 really appreciate Hilary鈥檚 ability to engage different learning styles,鈥� added Stephanie Johnson, the Laspa Center鈥檚 administrative assistant, who鈥檚 worked with Grosskopf during her previous trainings. 鈥淗er exercises are creative, unique, and interactive, and she conveys information in an accessible way.鈥�
The workshop is an extension of this year鈥檚 virtual Student Leadership Institute (SLI), which was held prior to the start of the fall semester and featured sessions on resilient leadership, conflict management, and self care. Traditionally, SLI has been a three-day program on campus, with returning student leaders participating in full-day sessions to prepare for leading their clubs, organizations, or other campus groups during the school year. While the COVID-19 pandemic has prohibited on-campus gathering this fall, Laspa staff is using online tools and programs to expand SLI offerings, including an earlier session on virtual event accessibility. 鈥淲e weren鈥檛 able to fit all of our programming into the allotted time this year, so the extension was the logical next step,鈥� said Maldonado. 鈥淲e鈥檙e taking the learning from SLI and continuing it into the fall, because we want to provide students with additional perspectives on ways to do this remote work that we鈥檙e all being asked to do.鈥�
The interactive Zoom workshop will take place at 5:00 p.m. PST and is open to any 61传媒students who are interested in leadership. 鈥淎ll 61传媒students are potential leaders,鈥� Maldonado said. 鈥淥ur job is to help our students refine and channel different ways to use their leadership energies and talents.鈥�