“Leadership Skills for Success,” a workshop set for March 24-25 in the Stocking Hall Conference Center, promises to help participants develop the critical communication and supervisory skills needed to build and lead their teams.

The program is open to anyone, on or off campus, but is limited to the first 25 registrants. The workshop costs $850; payments must be received by March 10. Visit the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences website to register.

The workshop is a joint venture of the Cornell University Dairy Foods Extension team and the School of Industrial and Labor Relations’ Executive Education program, which has been presenting the course in New York City for the last five years.

Lisa Csencsits, associate director of ILR Executive Education, will lead the workshop in Ithaca.

“The feedback has been outstanding, and we have received many requests from individual participants to deliver the program to their organizations,” said Janet Rizzuto, executive director of ILR Executive Education.

Workshop participants will explore their strengths and weaknesses, develop their communication and listening skills, and complete a leadership assessment to understand different approaches for supervising their teams more effectively.

Like many business trades, the dairy industry has a shortage of experienced managers and often promotes workers from within their plants.

“They may be good workers, but don’t know how to supervise people well or have the necessary leadership skills,” said Kimberly Bukowski, dairy foods extension specialist in the Department of Food Science.

“What’s key about this workshop, and what we asked ILR to emphasize, is that it’s for people who have gotten promoted from within who may not have management or supervisory skills, but who all of a sudden may have to supervise their friends and co-workers,” Bukowski said.

The workshop aims to help participants align the work of employees with organizational goals, navigate a new leadership role among peers and manage difficult conversations to balance positive rapport with assertive communication skills.

For more information, call (607) 255-7098.

Jim Catalano is a freelance writer for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.