The Senior Management Program is a two week program consisting of two four-day weeks. Participants address current personal, professional, and organizational issues relevant to senior level executives in government and universities. Course presenters utilize a variety of instructional methods and styles, simulations, discussion, and a confidential, multi-rater leadership skills assessment to facilitate learning. Register by Monday, June 16, 2025, to secure your spot!
When
Week #1: June 24-27, 2025 and Week #2: July 22-25, 2025
Who Should Attend
Senior-level executives in agency organizations who have major program, project and/or people-management responsibilities.
Where
The 2025 Senior Management Program will be held at The Menger Hotel in San Antonio.
Week One: Please make your hotel reservations by Sunday, June 8, 2025, to receive the group rate. Reservations made after this date will be subject to prevailing rates and availability. Reservations may be made by calling 1-800-345-9285 referring to the LBJ School of Public Affairs and Senior Management Program, SMP or by using this link.
Week Two: Please make your hotel reservations by Wednesday, July 9, 2025, to receive the group rate. Reservations made after this date will be subject to prevailing rates and availability. Reservations may be made by calling 1-800-345-9285 referring to the LBJ School of Public Affairs and Senior Management Program, SMP or by using this link.
Tuition
Tuition is $4,250 and includes all program materials, breakfast, breaks, and the 360 Profile Instrument and report. Tuition does NOT include lodging, lunch, dinner, or travel costs.
Topics
Each year, we evaluate the program to ensure the topics are relevant and timely. This year’s offerings include opportunities to build skills in advocacy, executive presentations, performance management, leadership, ethics and data analytics.
Week #1 Learning Objectives and Pre-requisites
Advocacy: The Key Leadership Skill (Dr. John Daly)
- Understand the vital role of advocacy in their professional work
- Grasp specific strategies for communicating their ideas memorably and impactfully
- Know specific ways to successfully influence people in conversations and meetings
- Effectively use narrative as a persuasion technique
Introduction to the 360 Leaders (Pamela Foster Brady)
- To introduce participants to the value of 360 Leadership Assessment
- To provide instructions on successfully distributing and garnering input
Collaborative Leadership: Personality and Performance (Trent Thurman)
- Evaluate how individual personality traits impact job performance, team dynamics, and leadership effectiveness within public sector organizations.
- Interpret results from personality frameworks, e.g., MBTI, Big Five, Dark Triad, to enhance self-awareness and improve collaborative decision-making
- Assess team structure and dynamics to determine when group work enhances or hinders organizational outcomes.
Pre-requisite: Complete the MBTI
Strength Finders (Dr. Alise Cortez)
- Discover your strengths and how leveraging them contributes to your vitality and productivity
- Learn how to activate your own sources of meaning to energize your day and elevate your wellbeing
- Discover your top 10 values to use as guideposts in navigating life and your leadership
Pre-requisite: Complete Strength Finders Assessment
Executive Presentations (Pamela Foster Brady and Trent Thurman)
- Share techniques to address anxiety with public speaking
- Understand the impact of executive presentations skills and providing an approach to planning the presentation by structuring the presentation, providing clarity, credibility and connection
- Share best practices when developing presentations
- Share best practices in facilitating the presentation
- Practice skills introduced in the training
Lessons on Leadership (Roland Luna)
- Concepts to develop effective leadership
- Strategies to promote positive organizational change
Week #2 Learning Objectives and Pre-requisites
Managing for Results: From Plan to Performance (Tara Hesson)
- Establish clear performance expectations with team members using specific, measurable criteria that connect individual goals to organizational outcomes.
- Conduct structured 1-1 conversations using evidence-based frameworks that promote employee development, engagement, and performance improvement.
- Deliver effective feedback to address both positive performance and areas needing improvement in a constructive, relationship-preserving manner.
- Navigate difficult performance conversations to redirect underperforming employees .
Data Analytics and Management for Public Leadership (Dr. Varun Rai)
- Develop a foundational understanding of key principles of data analysis.
- Distinguish between the operational characteristics of traditional machine learning (ML) techniques and generative AI methods.
- Gain a practical understanding of the end-to-end process of leveraging AI tools to build effective decision-support systems.
Ethics Unleashed: Navigating the Human Mind (Karen Landolt, JD)
- Recognize the Vulnerability of Human Moral Judgment
- Apply Structured Ethical Frameworks to Navigate Moral Dilemmas
- Commit to Continuous Ethical Self-Improvement
A Leaders Skill in Listening (Dr. Steven Beebe)
- Identify up to three listening barriers that influence their own listening competency.
- Describe and implement strategies for stopping mental distractions, accurately observing and interpreting nonverbal messages, and linking details of a message with major ideas when listening to others.
- Identify and adapt their personal listening style when listening to others.
Working and Leading in the New Work Paradigm (Dr. Pete DeLisle)
- Examine the key factors determining leader effectiveness in this complex time.
- Enhance the leader’s skills in influencing others.
- Examine management competencies that will improve performance – both their own and that of their organization.
Strategic Leadership: A Plan for Excellence with the 360 Leadership Assessment (Pamela Foster Brady)
Interpret the feedback presented in a multi-rate feedback assessment.
Develop an action plan to incorporate the feedback to be more effective and efficient leader.
Upcoming Courses in the Senior Management Program
Senior Management Program Group Live (in-person) Jun 23, 2026 to Jun 26, 2026 and Jul 21, 2026 to Jul 24, 2026 Register > |