Registration for the August 2025 cohort is now open!
High performing leaders are essential to the success of an organization. A high performing leader has a keen self-awareness, the ability to adapt to an ever-changing environment, and can build, strengthen, and gain optimal performance from teams.
The OSU Leadership Center wants to help you develop the skills needed to be a high performing leader through gaining the Foundational Leadership Certificate.
The Foundational Leadership Certificate allows you the opportunity to further your education, personally develop, create relationships with other industry professionals, and grow as a leader within the workplace. This will express to your employer your dedication to professional development and exhibit your efforts to creating an efficient and productive environment. Throughout the workshops required, one-on-one attention will be given to address your individual strengths and weaknesses in order to create a personalized and effective experience.
The Concept
We believe that the path to be a high performing leader must start with you as an individual and then move into your role in the team/organization. The goals of the Certificate will focus on the:
Individual – Leadership begins within an individual, through gaining self-awareness about one’s strengths/weaknesses, the ability to adapt to change and how one views the world given their personality style.
- We reach these goals by gaining self-awareness from completing assessments, taking sessions and workshops, and learning about one’s perspective.
Team/Organization – After gaining a better understanding of self, an individual can better contribute to their team and their organization.
- We will explore strategies for influencing your team while you make an impactful contribution to your organization.
Experience Includes
The following is included in the Foundational Certificate program:
Intake Meeting We hope to learn more about you and what you hope to gain from this program. This time will also be used to match you with your individual leadership coach. |
Leadership Audit With the help of the audit, we will be able to tailor the program to your specific needs, strengths, and weaknesses. This will include previous education and work history. |
Five Workshops This Certificate requires you to complete a total of five workshops: three with the topic of self-awareness workshops and two discussing teams/ organization. You have the opportunity to select these workshops from a qualifying list. |
Individual Coaching Sessions You will meet with your personal leadership coach twice throughout the program. Here, time will be taken to identify your professional goals, receive feedback, analyze assessment results, learn more about topics covered within workshops, and so much more. |
Personal Leadership Profile The Personal Leadership Profile is an all-encompassing document that holistically analyzes and reviews the following: education highlights, work history, assessment results and implications, potential areas of growth, personal reflections, analysis linking insights, overall strengths and opportunities analysis, leadership development plan. |
Cost
$3250 ($3000 for OSU employees) Prices guaranteed through June 30, 2025.
Registration
In order to register, please CLICK HERE. Then, fill out the following INTAKE DOCUMENT and email it to Jennifer Pettibone pettibone.8@osu.edu
Qualifying Workshops
Participants must complete a total of at least five workshops and complete personal coaching sessions with a Leadership Center team member.
2025 Foundational Certificate Program - Outline of Workshops and Schedule
Leading Oneself - These are required Leadership is more than “doing.” It is also about being self-aware and understanding and developing oneself. |
Leading Others Effective leadership is a mindset of supporting others both as a team member and a team lead. |
Expanding Your Vision Take ownership of the bigger picture, being an active stakeholder in advancing the organization as a whole. |
MBTI
CliftonStrengths
Emotional Intelligence – EQ-i
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Communication and Conflict (TKI)
Problem Solving & Creativity (KAI)
Leading Teams |
Engaging Multiple Voices and Ideas – Effective Facilitation
Leading Change within my Team and Organization
Working with Multiple Generations |
Workshop Descriptions
If you have taken one of the following workshops within the last three years from the OSU Leadership Center, and you do not wish to re-take them, please make our staff aware. This will then be marked as such towards the completion of your Certificate. However, you will not be refunded for this prior credit.
Registration and available workshops can be viewed on our Calendar.
Leading Oneself (Required)
- Applying Your Personality Type to Build Your Leadership Skills (MBTI)
Moving from recognizing and understanding to appreciating and effectively using differences is a challenge because we all have a natural bias. for our own way of seeing things and making decisions. It can be hard to recognize our own biases, especially when they are reinforced by the cultural attitudes within which we live and work. Taking the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) inventory will help you identify your unique gifts. The information enhances understanding of yourself, your motivations, your natural strengths, and your potential areas for growth.
- CliftonStrengths
According to the Gallup Organization, "we spend too much time focusing on our weaknesses, trying to make them stronger rather than recognizing our strengths." When you focus on your weaknesses, you miss out on utilizing what you do best for your organization.
- Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is concerned with understanding yourself and others, in how you relate to others. It addresses the emotional, personal, social, and survival dimensions of intelligence It also helps you to adapt and cope with your immediate surroundings and events. EQ helps to predict success because in a way it measures one’s “common sense” and the ability to get along in the world
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Leading Others
- Communication and Conflict Management (TKI)
How well do you manage conflict? Conflict is a part of our daily lives. How we manage conflict impact has a direct impact on the quality, our work. Effectively dealing with and using conflict as a positive tool is a major component of success in current or future leadership roles.
- Problem-Solving, Creativity and Teamwork for Success (KAI)
Teamwork can be hard! Have you ever been frustrated with a team member and how they approach a task? Why they problem solve differently than you? Why some people think “inside the box” and others can’t even “see the box”? This training will enhance your understanding of team dynamics in problem solving and increase group cohesion, effectiveness, and team building.
- Leading Teams
How Dynamic is Your Team? Dynamic teams are vital to the success of the organization, it signifies that the employees are working towards a shared vision. So many teams struggle to overcome challenges that may keep them from achieving these share goals. Dynamic teams capitalize on the strengths of each member.
Expanding Your Vision
- Effective Meeting Facilitation
Have you ever left a meeting where the group’s decision still didn’t feel right or where everyone still wasn’t on the same page? This training will provide you techniques for helping groups work through thinking and decision making of important ideas and difficult conversations. You will learn how to be effective at facilitating people through processes that provide useful information and data in making decisions and developing ownership over those decisions.
- Leading Multiple Generations
How well are you managing the multi-generational workplace? Each generation has different views of how the workplace should operate, which offers businesses both opportunities and issues. By understanding the historical events that occurred during each generation, employees can gain a better understanding of generational work values and how to work together to achieve the greatest results.
- Leading Change within my Team and Organization
Change, For Better or Worse? Change is both inevitable and frightening, but can also help increase a team’s efficiency if handled correctly. Are you equipped with the necessary tools to effectively handle change within your team?
Coaching
For this certificate, participants are required to complete coaching sessions.
The first session will be utilized to set professional goals, both for the short-term and long-term. In talking with your personal coach, you will be given feedback and suggestions to further tailor this Certificate to your needs.
During the final coaching session, your personal assessment results will be discussed, individual concerns can be addressed, and further action steps identified. Your coach will work with you to set futuristic and realistic goals for your professional development in order to increase the depth of your leadership knowledge. They will also help you apply what you have learned into your team, company, or organization.
More Information
For more information or if you have questions, please feel free to reach out to Jennifer Pettibone (pettibone.8@osu.edu).