The ODL team developed this program following a comprehensive listening tour and collaboration with key partners across campus. This program includes relevant competencies and skills that meet the current and unique opportunities in leadership time. This course marries evidence-based frameworks with peer-based learning. The experiences, insights, and feedback from participants, their managers, and key stakeholders directly influenced key considerations of this launched course. If you have any questions regarding this program, please reach out to the Program Manager, Joy Chen at joyfchen@bu.edu. 

While both programs are part of the early leadership development programming, there are distinct differences between the two. 

ATLAS is a role-specific orientation. Eligible managers are assigned the course based on the date of promotion or hire into supervisory roles of BU staff, who are individual contributors. The content covered in the course is designed to prepare new people leaders the tools of success in their new role. 

On the other hand, Essentials for PROGRAM Managers is open to all employees with approval from their manager. The course emphasizes leadership core competencies, with a focus on leading scopes of work without direct reporting authority. 

This program is open to all employees, with approval from their supervisor. This course is most impactful for: 

• Managers/Administrators who are new to leading programs but do not have direct reports. 

• Emerging leaders who do not yet have direct reports, but on a path to leadership. 
• Leaders with the first three years of leading others. 

Click here to register. 

It is OD&L’s policy in programs such as these that you are allowed to miss only one session. This course is designed to be an interactive and dynamic laboratory in which you actively experiment with personalizing key soft skill tools to meet common challenges found in your context. 

Leadership development trainings have a real impact on employee retention, driving strategy execution, increasing success when navigating change. As their manager/supervisor, you play a vital role in supporting their learning and behavior change. Manager support is known to bridge the gap between learning and action by 60%! Here are three ways that managers can support employee training: 

Collaboratively set a goal. Collaboratively setting a goal can help boost motivation, improve focus, provide a metric to measure progress against, and apply learnings to their role. Ask yourselves: 

• What specifically are we looking to achieve from this training? In what ways is this relevant to the work of our unit and/or their new role? 
• Does this goal stretch the participant’s abilities and is attainable? 
• How will we evaluate and measure progress? What does accountability look like? 

• What timeline do we expect to achieve this goal by? 

Co-create a coverage plan. Partner with your direct report to outline your day-to-day responsibilities. Prioritize the employees current and upcoming tasks and projects. Consider opportunities to delegate tasks as developmental opportunities. Communicate the plan with the team, setting expectations, as well as a plan for their out-of-office. During in-session hours, help maintain oversight during the employee’s absence as appropriate. 

Be a partner and mentor in their learning. Incorporating active reflection and application opportunities into your regular 1:1 check-in is a great place to start. Here are some questions we recommend asking to guide and support their learning: 

• What new insights have you gained? What are your discoveries? 
• How might your learning connect to your work and the work of our department? 

• How can I support your mini experiments as you apply your learning?