Elevate Your Communication Skills
Communication skills are some of the most valuable skills you can develop at any stage of your career. This series helps you explore how to build stronger professional relationships, influence others, collaborate more effectively, and move your work forward using thoughtful communication. You'll earn a certificate for completing the full series.
Space is limited; please apply by Friday, September 25, 2026 at 12 p.m.
Facilitating Trust
Monday, October 12, 10 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Leading a class or a project team or a Lab or a department requires some attention paid to a core question- how do you, from the very beginning, build a culture that invites everyone’s best selves and best work? What practices help set the tone for the experience you’ll be leading over months, or years, with students and colleagues? And if you’re not starting fresh, how do you reinvigorate culture so trust can be earned and built upon? In this session, Michael Rohd, Director of the Co-Lab for Civic Imagination, will share some approaches based in listening and curiosity to help you think about how you build, maintain and center relationships in the work you do.
Presenting and Public Speaking
Monday, October 19, 1-2:30 p.m.
Most of us will need to present or speak in front of others at some point in our careers. Why not make it a skill that helps you stand out? This session will help you design presentations with greater purpose and intention. Learn how to consider your audience, clarify your message, organize your ideas, and focus your content so your presentation achieves what you want it to achieve. You’ll practice delivering your message with confidence and presence. Facilitated by Jasmine Laine, former public speaking instructor and Director of Organizational Learning and Development at UM.
Better Ways to Meet
Monday, October 26, 1-2:30 p.m.
Meetings are often how we make decisions, solve problems, collaborate, and move work forward. They also take up a huge part of our workday—and too often, that time isn't used to its full potential. This session explores how to make meetings more purposeful, focused, and productive. Learn how to design meetings that get the right people in the room, create meaningful discussion, and accomplish what you need them to accomplish.
Reaching Your Audience
Monday, November 2, 1-2 p.m.
Having a hard time getting people's attention? Frustrated because your communications aren’t having their intended effects? Investing time on the front end of any communication is the key to your success. In this session, Claudine Cellier, Director of Internal Communications and Employee Engagement, will help participants think strategically about what they want to communicate, who they want to communicate with, and how to increase the likelihood that the message is received and understood.