Events

Format: Online keynote and panel

As we live longer, retirement is evolving from a period of rest and relaxation into an opportunity for continued growth and fulfillment. This shift calls for a more holistic approach to retirement planning, one that includes the often-overlooked non-financial aspects. How will you spend this new chapter of life meaningfully? How will you integrate purpose, connection, and personal growth into your retirement plan?

Join Waterloo alumni Simon Chan (BA ‘98) and Kyra Jones (BSc ‘09, PhD ‘14), both featured recently in Waterloo Magazine, along with special guest retirees including Mike Drak, Canadian best-selling author on the non-financial aspects of retirement, and Waterloo Retiree and former OHD Director, Katrina Di Gravio, on Tuesday, October 29, 2024, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. for a thought-provoking webinar on reimagining retirement. Listen to retirees share their experiences, learn about the non-financial considerations that are crucial for a fulfilling retirement, and participate in a live Q&A.

Open to all Waterloo staff interested in learning about retirement for themselves or supporting others to reframe their retirement planning.

Format: In-person workshop

Do you want to know how you can be more mindful of how social inequities and the marginalization of equity-deserving groups plays out in your daily meetings, discussions, presentations, and workshops? Are you seeking to learn how you can intentionally embed tools and practices within your facilitation style which will help address these harmful dynamics and ensure deeper inclusivity? Then you should enroll in this workshop! – especially if you are a leader or manager and/or someone responsible for holding space during educational or training opportunities. 

Format: Online course

Emotional intelligence encompasses the personal, emotional, and social abilities and skills which allow us to succeed in coping with environmental demands and pressures. Those with high emotional intelligence readily recognize their feelings, manage their reactions, and build positive interactions with others. In this guided asynchronous course, we will unpack what emotional intelligence is. Then, we’ll learn to develop our emotional intelligence to improve our personal resilience and performance, and learn to apply the appropriate emotions skillfully at the appropriate time.

Format: Online workshop

We often hear people say “take care of yourself.” What does this really mean? This one-hour virtual session will increase participants’ awareness and understanding of self-care and highlight the factors that can promote and preserve their health and well-being – now and always. Participants will gain practical tools and resources to activate their own personal self-care practice. 

Format: In-person workshop

Are you looking to improve your facilitation skills - either for the presentations you do or for the meetings you lead? This workshop is ideal for those already facilitating and those looking to hone their skills while preparing to facilitate more.  

Through demonstration and experiential opportunities, tangible tips for tailoring facilitation to your specific audiences, increasing participation and discussion, and for addressing potential challenging behaviours will be provided via a hands-on, supportive workshop. 

Format: Online workshop

Join us for a 45-minute LinkedIn Learning (LiL) Lunch and Learn session designed to help you unlock the full potential of LinkedIn Learning. Whether you're new to the platform or looking to deepen your knowledge, this workshop will provide you with practical tips and strategies to make the most of your learning journey. 

Format: In-person workshop

In a work environment as big as University of Waterloo, we want to offer intentional space for employees in non-supervisory roles to come together to collectively think through how broader university culture and direction impacts them. Leadership Lab: Personal Leadership aims to bring individual contributors together to explore how they can lead themselves, and others by example, all while receiving and providing each other with compassionate care. 

Format: In-person workshop

Leadership Lab: People Leadership offers comfortable and supportive space for managers, supervisors, and folks leading people at the University to co-create an informal peer community. Using the Circles of Influence Framework to guide the conversation, participants will reflect on their leadership style and practices, identify where their control and influences lies with respect to a pre-selected issue, and learn from each other about how to approach challenges arising.  

Format: Online workshop

What is purpose? How do our purpose and values affect how we live, work, and interact with others? In this workshop, we will explore the concept of purpose by mapping out our accomplishments, interests and values using the Japanese concept of Ikigai, which means "a reason for being." We will then gain practical tips for finding and discovering our purpose using our personal aspirations. At the end of this workshop, we will develop a personal “Purpose-for-Now” statement that aligns with and reflects our values and goals. 

Format: In-person workshop

When we experience perceived opposing goals, viewpoints, or interests with others around us, we stall in our ability to solve problems. Understanding what conflict is and how it shows up in our lives is an important first step in resolving it. In this workshop, you will complete the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Model Instrument to gain insight into five different conflict-handling behaviours, and whether you might be overusing or underusing one or more of them. Based on a mix of individual reflection, small and large group discussion, we will explore what conflict is, how it appears at work, and introduce strategies and tools to begin addressing it productively.