LEAD Certificate Program — Leadership Basics

What kind of manager are you? In this kick-off class you will discover your leadership style and strengths through the DiSC® profile. This effective assessment will give you insight about your management style, and it will give you a framework and strategies to work with the other people who have different temperaments, communication and work styles based on their DiSC® profile. Equipped with this knowledge, you will be able to make lasting improvements in your leadership, your team’s effectiveness and both internal and external customer relationships.

• Class Date: Tuesday, February 10, 2026

Facilitator:Lisa Schaefer

Lisa Schaefer is a John Maxwell Certified Coach, trainer, and speaker. Lisa is an expert in behavioral coaching, organizational psychology, and customer service success strategies, and has served as a professor, staff development professional, and counselor. Her experiences include working for Walt Disney World, and hosting on-air radio programs, as well as more than 15 years of education, corporate training, and executive coaching experience. She holds a master’s degree in counseling and bachelor’s degrees in psychology and marketing from the University of Wisconsin.

Her goal is to help participants have fun while learning why we do the things we do. Her biggest passion is asking questions to learn as much as she can from others. Lisa loves to make people laugh and believes if everyone just smiled more, the world would be a better place.

More than ever, leaders must be willing to develop a high emotional acumen in order to lead and understand their team members. People want to be seen and treated as people. Gone are the days that we can simply treat people as things. What we know and have known for many years is that business is done through relationships and relationships require emotions. The key is tapping into the best of our emotions and developing effective strategies to minimize the emotions that hurt our opportunities to perform and influence.

• Class Date: Tuesday, March 10, 2026

Learning Objectives

• Learn to appreciate the need and use of emotions in their business dealings
• Strategize around emotions that our relationships at risk.
• Build and increase trust by being a respectful and high leverage leader of people.

Facilitator: Heather Woody

Heather is a personal and professional success coach, specializing in coaching adult individuals and teams who are dedicated to stretching themselves. Heather works with people who are ready to take action in their lives and become the person they've always dreamed of being. It's the people who want to achieve their goals faster and accomplish more than they ever imagined possible that Heather Woody will be invaluable. Heather currently resides in Iowa City, Iowa, with her husband, son, and daughter.

Effective managers are able to maximize the capabilities and talents within the teams they lead. By managing the performance of your direct reports, you are able to unleash the employees’ strengths and develop strategies to support their limitations. This class will provide you with foundational skills and tools used by successful managers such as goal setting, coaching, and performance evaluations.

• Class Date: Tuesday, April 14, 2026

Learning Objectives

• Set SMART goals that align with company goals.
• Develop a performance plan for your direct reports.
• Develop techniques and strategies to monitor direct reports' performance.
• Practice giving feedback so the person understands the impact of their behavior and what they need to improve.
• Avoid pitfalls when evaluating employee performance.

Facilitator: Sarah Hermanson

As an entrepreneur, farmer, and human resource professional, Sarah has experienced firsthand the challenges of running a business and wearing all the hats. She has over 30 years of experience in human resources and recruiting, working with Iowa businesses. Sarah is a technical expert with an outstanding ability to connect, ascertain needs, and provide creative solutions. She loves utilizing her gifts of discernment and bringing people together to help create meaningful relationships and healthy, thriving organizations.

Change will remain relentless in our communities and across business sectors. This session will focus on change management as a multiple step process that is fueled by vision, while executed by clear steps that are necessary to adjust and adapt to change. Discussion and activities will focus on helping teams understand their connection to the big picture while working through the stages of change response. Steps when a change initiative is already underway and addressing resistance will also be emphasized.

• Class Date: Tuesday, May 12, 2026

Learning Objectives

• Differentiate among a variety of change management models
• Examine evidence-based practices on sustaining successful change management initiatives
• Assess types of change to evaluate individual and leadership's best response
• Formulate options to address change and needs of various stakeholders in their own setting

Facilitator: Molly Mackey

Molly J. Mackey is an author, speaker and trainer of leaders. She believes that by intentionally intersecting the ongoing journeys of leadership and learning we can create better leaders and Better Leaders = Better Lives ™

Molly is the founder and chief learning officer of the LEAdeRNship Institute. She also serves as the Director of Knowledge Acquisition and Transfer at Optimae LifeServices. Molly has over 17 years of business and speaking experience. Molly holds an MBA from the University of Iowa and a Certification of Professional of Talent Development (CPTD) from the Association of Talent Development. She has a passion for business, strategy, leadership and learning. She has taught business classes at a collegiate level since 2009 and currently partners with community colleges offering continuing education to businesses.

Her books include: “52 Powerful Reflection Questions for Leaders” and “52 Powerful Reflection Questions for Emotionally Intelligent Leaders".

Solving problems is critical to the success of any leader. This course teaches proven methodologies and approaches for problem solving by giving participants a standard to follow. These standards help determine expectations, consequences, and involvement of others.

• Class Date: Tuesday, June 9, 2026

Learning Objectives

• Identify and discuss the four-step problem solving process.
• Explain why we naturally don't follow it.
• Identify what 'disguised solutions" are and how they inhibit the process.
• Discuss who and how many to involve in problem solving.
• Participate in problem solving scenarios in a group setting.

Facilitator: Don McKee

Don McKee, performance consultant, has been in education and training for the past 20 years, including 5 years as training director for Iowa Select Farms in Iowa Falls, Iowa, and a training consultant for Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge, Iowa. He currently operates his own consulting and training business and is a certified Zenger Miller Leadership Trainer, Life Orientations Behavioral Trainer, and LEAN 101 Facilitator. Don has facilitated leadership training for more than 100 manufacturers, hospitals, banks, and municipalities throughout Iowa and Illinois. His approach to training is exemplified in his business slogan “Making Common Sense, Common Practice”. Don utilizes tools and strategies designed to pick up where traditional “theory” training drops off. He currently resides in Webster City, Iowa, with his wife and four daughters.

Motivating and engaging your employees is key to your success as a leader. Good managers are able to help people feel confident, motivated and valued. This session will focus on the key strategies that will help you lead your team to higher productivity, lower turnover, innovation and improved business results.

• Class Date: Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Learning Objectives

• Identify the role and importance of motivating employees to the success of your department and organization.
• Learn what drives employee engagement.
• Identify what leads to staff de-motivation and lack of engagement.
• Identify and develop strategies to help you motivate your staff to higher levels of productivity and workplace engagement.
• Develop and implement a plan to build employee engagement for your staff.

Facilitator: Marcie Van Note

Marcie Van Note retired in May 2023 as the Program Director of the Business and Leadership Graduate Programs at Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and soon after founded Van Note Consulting. She brings more than 25 years of leadership experience in the human capital field, holding senior roles in human resources and training across both nonprofit and for-profit organizations.

Marcie has presented at local and national conferences, sharing expertise in areas such as talent development, leadership, change management, coaching, train-the-trainer, positive culture building, employee engagement, and motivation. Known for her engaging and original style, she creates learning experiences that are interactive, practical, and inspiring—drawing on humor, real-life stories, and genuine passion.

Her personal philosophy is simple yet powerful: learning is an ongoing journey—never, ever stop learning.

You can make a lot of mistakes in business, especially as a new leader or supervisor, but none more detrimental to the company than a lawsuit. Join us for this interactive session about some of the biggest areas to watch and biggest mistakes to avoid. Leave with some key tips on how to protect yourself, as well as your employer and employees from the huge losses that these legal issues can cost your organization.

• Class Date: Tuesday, September 15, 2026

Learning Objectives

• Explain and apply the legal concepts regarding race, religion, national origin, gender (including sexual harassment, pregnancy discrimination, and the Equal Pay Act), color, age, and disability discrimination.
• Explain and apply the legal concepts regarding the Fair Labor Standards Act and The Family and Medical Leave Act.
• Define the legal concepts of disparate treatment and disparate impact in discrimination claims.
• Outline the complexity of biases and prejudices and how they interact with employment decisions.
• Define the doctrine of 'employment at will' and the exceptions thereto including Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN), violations of public policy, whistle-blowing, and breach of implied contract.
• Identify possible legal implications regarding performance appraisals and disciplinary actions. Identify the types of questions that must be asked and answered before an adverse employment action is taken against an employee.

Facilitator: Laura Folkerts

Laura Folkerts is an attorney at Shuttleworth & Ingersoll, P.L.C. practicing primarily in the area of labor and employment law, including employee benefits and employment-related litigation. Laura provides guidance to employers on a wide range of employment matters, including deferred compensation and employee benefits. She additionally assists with training, policy review, and investigations and complaints, both internal and before civil rights commissions. Before joining Shuttleworth & Ingersoll, Laura worked at a law firm in Waterloo, Iowa, where she maintained a general practice with an emphasis on labor and employment.

Managing performance is critical to organizational success. Leaders at all levels must set clear expectations, provide the resources and support as well as the feedback to help employees perform. When employees present difficult behaviors it can be time consuming and frustrating. This session will focus on strategies that will help identify triggers, prepare for tough conversations, and focus on the words to say.

• Class Date: Tuesday, October 13, 2026

Learning Objectives

• Identify negative behavior demonstrated by an employee and its impact on the performance of the team, coworkers, and customer.
• Recognize factors may contribute to the negative behavior.
• Evaluate options for addressing the behavior or performance concerns.
• Practice techniques to establish and communicate feedback to change an employee's difficult behavior.

Facilitator: Dr. Celina Peerman

Dr. Celina Peerman serves as an organizational psychologist with over 25 years of experience from front line to senior level positions, in a wide range of industries and organizations. She is passionate about engaging our human resources in innovative ways to achieve even better organizational results.

While she does some traveling for nationally and internationally, Celina is focused on helping Iowa first. Making sure we are well prepared to recruit and keep the best people and companies right here is priority. Celina’s passion is for how people behave at work; the good, the bad and the worst. Her style has been described as dynamic noting the ability to draw in even the most resistant attendees through real life examples and humor.

Celina lives in Waverly with her husband David of 27 years and two teenage daughters, and a really needy dog.

When asked, most team members feel they are performing well in their jobs and don’t see any problems with their performance. Imagine the surprise when the leader doesn’t see their performance the same way? We will discuss why there is often a difference of opinion between leaders and their direct reports regarding how they work and what gets accomplished. In addition, we will review solutions to the ten areas of “disconnect” between leaders and their team members.

• Class Date: Tuesday, November 10, 2026

Learning Objectives

• Identify the top ten things team members want you to know about them.
• Understand why there can be a disconnect between leaders and team members.
• Identify solutions to build stronger relationships with team members.

Facilitator: Terry Whitson

Terry Whitson is an independent training and development consultant with more than 25 years of experience in corporate training. She earned a master's degree in training and development from Drake University and an undergraduate degree in business with a marketing emphasis from the University of Iowa. Terry has been an adjunct faculty member at Kirkwood Community College since 1988 and Mount Mercy University since 2010. She has worked as a training manager and corporate trainer for several large companies. She also gained valuable insight into customer communications from her early work experience as a customer service manager.

Learn ways to motivate, influence, and inspire the people within your team in order to keep them engaged, fulfilled, and enthused about the work they are doing on a daily basis. These key intangibles are important in reducing turnover and increasing overall job satisfaction.

• Class Date: Tuesday, December 8, 2026

Learning Objectives

• Learn how to capitalize on your own strengths.
• Identify and learn strategies that will empower and engage you in your workplace and life.
• Explore how to coach yourself and others to greatness.

Facilitator: Heather Woody

Heather is a personal and professional success coach, specializing in coaching adult individuals and teams who are dedicated to stretching themselves. Heather works with people who are ready to take action in their lives and become the person they've always dreamed of being. It's the people who want to achieve their goals faster and accomplish more than they ever imagined possible that Heather Woody will be invaluable. Heather currently resides in Iowa City, Iowa, with her husband, son, and daughter.