Emerging Leaders Workshops
This suite of Leadership Development Workshops will support developing your leadership capacities now as a McGill student! By attending two (2) mandatory workshops (Exploring Leadership and Citizenship & Culture) and choosing and attending three (3) additional workshop topics from the other six workshops offered(Being a Change Agent, Communication, Conflict Management, Ethics, Motivation and Power) you can complete the requirements for the Emerging Leaders Path (great to add to your CV!). More info about the Emerging Leaders Program here.
Find all our Emerging Leaders workshops here: https://www.mcgill.ca/caps/events
Exploring Leadership
By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
- Challenge conventional understandings of leadership
- Recognize essential elements of leadership
- Differentiate between well-known theories and models of leadership
- Develop their personal philosophy and approach to leadership
Description: In this session, students explore the definition of leadership and consider important aspects of leadership. Different models and theories are also considered, and students begin to develop their personal philosophy of leadership.
Winter 2025 Workshop dates:
Citizenship and Culture
By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
• Understand similarities and differences between leadership and citizenship
• Recognize how culture is related to leadership
• Consider how students can move forward in their leadership development
Description: This session challenges students to relate leadership to citizenship, and to consider how these ideas could be practiced while at university. Then, leadership and citizenship are both related to culture to help students appreciate the importance of context. Finally, the session concludes with a reflection piece so students self-analyze and determine how they can develop their leadership.
Winter 2025 Workshop dates:
Being A Change Agent
By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
• Understand how each individual has capacities to act as a change agent
• Examine how modeling, inspiration, and persistence help create change
• Explore how to influence change in daily actions
Description: Students participating in this workshop will begin by playing a game to explore themes related to individual influence, personal interpretations, communication, and change. The workshop will also help students consider the impact people have to inspire other and how they, as individuals, can harness the power of their passions to influence positive change in their communities.
Winter 2026 Workshop dates - not offered in Jan/Feb
Communication
By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
• Understand the definition of effective communication
• Learn about the communication process using conceptual models (Sender-Receiver Model and the Transactional model).
• Explore the importance of active listening in communication.
Description: In this session, students learn about effective methods for communication and challenge themselves to consider potential obstacles when communicating cross-culturally. Students will leave this session with a toolkit of useful communication strategies, including methods for active listening.
Winter 2025 Workshop dates:
Conflict Management: Navigating Awkward Conversations
By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
• Practice conflict management skills in a negotiation simulation
• Identify different conflict management styles
• Consider how conflict management skills can be used and developed
Description: Through this highly interactive workshop, students will work across potential disputes to balance their positionality and needs with the potentially conflicting desires of others. Students will further learn about conflict management styles by reflecting both individually and with peers so they can better understand themselves and how they can collaborate more effectively with other people.
Winter 2025 Workshop dates:
Ethics
By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
• Develop an understanding of ethics and different approaches to ethical issues
• Apply ethical thinking to a well-known thought exercise
• Critically consider the link between ethics and leadership
Description: To analyze and discover how ethics and leadership intertwine, students in this workshop will examine different ethical standards and be challenged to apply those standards to a classic ethical dilemma. By critically reflecting upon their own beliefs and those of their peers, students will actively engage in debate on making moral decisions. The session concludes by exploring the application of ethics to leadership.
Winter 2025 Workshop dates - not offered in Jan/Feb
Motivation
By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
• Explore different meanings of motivation
• Learn a theory of motivation and how it relates to students
• Consider what motivation methods work and when to use them
Description: Opening with an energizing activity, this workshop will challenge students to examine their perceptions and definitions of motivation. Common themes will be explored as students discuss and discover how to find inspiration in daily life. The workshop concludes with an overview of techniques for cultivating motivation and a consideration of students’ individual needs in regards to motivation.
Winter 2025 Workshop dates:
Power & Leadership
By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
• Understand positional power
• Consider social influence according to social identities
• Explore how we can use our power in everyday situations
Description: This workshop helps students explore positional power and social influence, particularly as it relates to their individual identities. It encourages students to critically reflect on the power they may have and how to leverage it in everyday situations. The workshop also examines power struggles and encourages students to link power to everyday leadership.
Winter 2025 Workshop date:
Please use our Emerging Leaders Workshop Interest form if you want us to notify you by email when registration opens for these workshops.