Course Content
Program Structure
This blended learning course will feature a mix of asynchronous activities and seven live monthly sessions. Each month will focus on expanding your leadership skills in one or more of the CASE Competencies:
The Reflective Leader: Exploring Models and Mindsets for Advancement Leadership
Explore leadership models and frameworks relevant to advancement, and explore your own leadership style. In this session, you will:
- Engage with thought-provoking questions and exercises designed to foster honest self-assessment and personal leadership growth.
- Identify your own leadership strengths, blind spots, and areas for development.
- Identify key principles and behaviors that signal you're on the right path as a leader.
- Apply leadership principles to real-world advancement challenges.
- Strengthen your capacity to lead with authenticity, purpose, and strategic intent across teams and departments.
Leave with renewed clarity and actionable steps to lead with purpose, integrity, and professionalism.
Vision in Action: Strategic Thinking for Advancement Leadership
Unlock the power of strategic thinking to fuel your leadership and career growth. In this high-impact session, you will:
- Learn to make decisions with broader context, greater nuance, and long-term vision.
- Analyze data and information with a wider, deeper, and more insightful lens.
- Break down silos and foster cross-functional alignment.
- Drive innovation, creativity, and collaboration within your team or organization.
- Reduce workplace conflict and experience less stress and more enjoyment.
- Gain practical tools in an experiential learning format designed for immediate application.
Set the foundation for smarter strategy and stronger leadership in this energizing kickoff session.
Strategic Empathy: Elevating Advancement Through Emotional Intelligence, Collaboration, and Relationship Building
Strengthen your leadership impact by developing emotional intelligence — a learnable and essential skill in advancement work. After this session, you will:
- Gain a clear, research-based understanding of Emotional Intelligence and its foundations in brain and behavioral science.
- Explore how EI shows up in real-world advancement roles across fundraising, alumni relations, communications, and more.
- Hear personal insights from Academy faculty on how EI has shaped their leadership journeys.
- Discover how to grow your emotional intelligence — regardless of your starting point — to enhance workplace relationships and performance.
- Learn strategies for proactively building and sustaining strategic partnerships.
- Explore how to lead beyond your department by influencing institutional goals through collaboration.
Walk away with actionable strategies to lead with empathy, awareness, and resilience.
Leading with Industry Expertise, Business Acumen, and Strategic Foresight
Build the knowledge and credibility you need to lead with confidence in today’s evolving advancement landscape. In this forward-thinking session, you will:
- Understand the key facts, financial trends, and institutional narratives shaping advancement today.
- Learn how to authentically communicate your institution’s financial and strategic story to build trust across campus and with donors.
- Explore the impact of AI on the future of advancement — and how to adapt effectively.
- Gain strategies to stay informed on industry shifts while cutting through the noise to focus on what matters.
- Strengthen your business acumen to enhance strategic decision-making and team leadership.
Walk away with the tools and insights to position yourself — and your team — as informed, credible, and future-ready leaders.
Leadership Lessons for Managing Polarization and Conflict
Strengthen your leadership by learning to navigate division and cultural differences with confidence and empathy. In this timely and interactive session, you will:
- Explore practical strategies for addressing polarization and conflict in both internal teams and external stakeholder relationships.
- Develop effective communication techniques to lead through tension and uncertainty.
- Practice active listening and empathy-building skills to foster mutual understanding.
- Apply leadership tools that promote collaboration, resilience, and a healthier organizational culture.
Leave equipped to lead calmly and constructively — even in challenging, divided environments.
Leading with Integrity: Professionalism and Purpose in Advancement
In this session, you will:
- Recognize key values, principles, and behaviors that reflect ethical and professional leadership.
- Explore personal leadership identity, values, and areas for growth.
- Apply practical strategies to align daily actions and decisions with core professional and ethical standards.
- Develop a personal framework for sustained growth, accountability, and integrity in leadership.
Leave with renewed clarity and actionable steps to lead with authenticity, professionalism, and purpose.
Next Steps in Your Career Journey
In this final CASE Academy session, you’ll take time to reflect on your growth, celebrate your progress, and chart a path forward for continued leadership development.
- Reflect on the key leadership competencies and insights you’ve gained over the past seven months.
- Design a personal leadership roadmap to carry forward the lessons, momentum, and vision shaped by your Academy experience.
- Strengthen your peer network and identify meaningful ways to support and be supported by others in your professional journey.
Each monthly session will comprise:
Asynchronous (on-demand) pre-work activity
Asynchronous plenary presentation
Live Q&A with the plenary presenter (30 minutes)
Cohort discussion (1 hour)