ISD Professional Leadership Workshop

Structure:

Duration: 4-hour sessions (consecutive Saturdays)

Format: Interactive workshop blending teaching, reflection, group dialogue, and applied exercises

Participants: Owners, executives, managers, team leads, and other aspiring leaders in their respective organizations

Facilitation Style: Experiential, psychologically informed, compassionate, and systems-oriented

First Session

February 21st, 2026

Part One — Why Intrinsic Motivation Is the Most Powerful Lever in Leadership (2 hours)

Theme: Context-setting, the science of motivation, and the roadmap for the series

Objectives:

Introduce intrinsic motivation as a leadership superpower.

Explain why external motivation (pay raises, bonuses, pressure) has limits.

Demonstrate how Vision + Communication create meaning, belonging, psychological safety, and alignment.

Establish a shared mental model for all subsequent sessions.

Key Content:

What intrinsic motivation is and how it transforms team performance.

Why clarity of purpose and communication quality matter more than perks.

Overview of the multi-step Vision + Communication framework.

The identity-level dimension: how people internalize meaning in their work.

Interactive Components:

Reflection: Identify a time you felt deeply motivated at work — what made it powerful?

Small group discussion: Where does your organization’s motivation break down?

Systems-mapping: What do you see as the motivational strengths and weaknesses in your organization?

Takeaway Practice:

Participants reflect on their current organizational environment and write a brief analysis of:

The clarity (or lack thereof) of their company’s vision.

Current communication norms, strengths, and breakdown points.

Part Two — Vision: Clarifying, Embodying, and Instilling Purpose Across the Organization (2 hours)

February 21st, 2026

Theme: Building a deeply shared vision that people connect with personally

Objectives:

Teach leaders how to articulate a vision that is clear, grounded, alive, and inspiring.

Ensure leadership at all levels can embody the vision in behavior and decision-making.

Provide tools for helping teams internalize the vision as part of their identity and daily contribution.

Key Content:

Stage 1 — Top Leadership Clarifying the Company Vision

Creating a vision that is both tangible and inspiring.

The difference between a slogan and a lived purpose.

How purpose connects to values, direction, and culture.

Stage 2 — Leadership at All Levels Embodying the Vision

Embodiment as a primary leadership tool.

Behavioral alignment: decision-making, tone, morale-setting, feedback, conflict handling.

How inconsistency erodes trust, motivation, and culture.

Stage 3 — Instilling the Vision in the Team

Helping team members internalize the vision and make it their own.

Creating meaning: connecting roles to contribution and identity.

Strategies for onboarding, storytelling, and everyday reinforcement.

Interactive Components:

Vision Audit: participants review or rework their existing vision using ISD's framework.

Pair Exercise: distilling the company’s purpose into authentic, human language.

Takeaway Practice:

Participants refine or rewrite a core element of their company vision AND talk with 1–2 team members about their current understanding of the company’s purpose.

Second Session

February 28th, 2026

Part One — Communication: Systemic Frameworks, Embodied Leadership, and High-Belonging Environments (2 hours)

Theme: Streamline the implementation of effective communication frameworks

Objectives:

Reframe leadership as service rather than coercion, control, or over-management

Teach systemic communication: structures and norms created at the leadership level.

Train leaders to consistently embody communication tools and emotional intelligence skills.

Equip participants to create relational spaces that build trust, safety, and intrinsic motivation.

Provide practical frameworks leaders can implement immediately.

Systemic Communication Frameworks (Top Leadership’s Role)

Key Content:

What systemic communication looks like: predictable channels, expectations, and norms.

How communication structure affects morale, trust, and execution.

Protocols for updates, feedback, concerns, decision-making, and conflict resolution.

The essential skills:

Active listening

Emotional intelligence in high-stress interactions

Curiosity-driven dialogue

Core elements of non-violent communication

Interactive Component:

Identifying communication friction points in participants’ organizations.

Practice: listening + curiosity-based questioning pairs.

Embodied Communication (Leadership at All Levels)

Key Content:

Modeling the communication framework — “culture follows behavior.”

Tone-setting and psychological safety.

How invisible signals (micro-behaviors, reactions, body language) shape team trust.

Consistency as the foundation of credibility.

Interactive Component:

Scenario role-play: navigating conflict or miscommunication using the framework.

Creating Spaces for Affirmation, Support, and Accountability

Key Content:

Balancing affirmation with accountability.

Creating team rhythms that build long-term engagement and retention.

Designing regular check-ins that build belonging and intrinsic motivation.

Making people feel heard, valued, safe to ask questions and voice concerns, and encouraged to grow

Interactive Component:

Practice designing and running a short, high-impact check-in.

Takeaway Practice:

Participants conduct one structured check-in with a team member using the frameworks, then reflect on what worked and what shifted.

Part Two — Integration, Strategy, and Long-Term Implementation

February 28th, 2026

Theme: Bringing everything together and applying it to real organizational change

Objectives:

Integrate Vision + Communication into a unified model of intrinsic motivation.

Help leaders develop a long-term plan for cultural transformation.

Clarify the tangible business impacts of intrinsic motivation: retention, leadership capacity, productivity, and morale.

Invite deeper engagement through coaching and organizational support.

Key Content:

How intrinsic motivation takes root and becomes culture.

Identity-level motivation: why people become loyal and high-performing when work becomes meaningful.

From compliance → engagement → ownership.

Designing a 30–60–90 day implementation roadmap.

Interactive Components:

Reflection circle: biggest insights and shifts from the series.

Group problem-solving: addressing anticipated implementation challenges.

Peer advisory breakout groups.

Closing Invitation:

Executive or team coaching

Leadership retreats or workshops

Culture redesign consulting

Ongoing implementation support