Program Syllabus

Driving Workplace Performance: Trust, Collaboration, and Applied AI

Building Trust, Collaboration and Productivity

An applied program that equips managers with the collaboration, communication, problem-solving, prioritization, coaching, and AI skills they need to work effectively across teams, resolve issues at the right level, and lift team productivity.

Program overview

This applied workplace program equips managers to strengthen collaboration across teams, resolve workplace issues at the appropriate level, adapt to new systems and workflows, and use practical digital and AI tools to improve team productivity. Participants develop skills in cross-functional coordination, structured problem solving, effective workplace conversations, prioritization, coaching for accountability, and the responsible use of AI to support everyday management. Learning is applied to current workplace challenges to ensure immediate transfer to the job.

Program goal

To equip managers to collaborate across teams, resolve issues at the right level, coach their teams to accountability, and apply practical AI to everyday management, so the organization performs with greater consistency, trust, and clarity.

On completion of the program, participants will be able to:

  • Coordinate work across teams, build peer trust, and resolve routine issues at the appropriate level, reducing unnecessary escalation.

  • Conduct structured workplace conversations, including feedback and conflict, using recognized models.

  • Apply a structured method to frame problems and make sound decisions under ambiguity.

  • Coach team members to resolve issues and own outcomes.

  • Prioritize competing demands, create clarity, and sustain productivity while adapting to new systems and workflows.

  • Use practical AI and digital tools responsibly to support everyday management.

Program-level learning outcomes

The program follows recognized adult-learning design. Each module runs the full experiential cycle (experience, reflect, conceptualize, apply, per Kolb), and the design is weighted to the 70-20-10 principle: the sessions are the formal 10 percent, the peer coaching circles are the social 20 percent, and applied work on real tasks is the on-the-job 70 percent where most capability is built. Following constructive alignment, every module outcome is tied to both an activity and an assessment.

Learning approach

Program structure at a glance

Trust and Cross-Functional Collaboration

Module 01

Effective Workplace Conversations

Module 02

Resolving at the Right Level: Problem-Solving and Decisions

Module 03

Coaching for Accountability

Module 04

Prioritization, Productivity, and Adapting to Change

Module 05

Applied AI for Everyday Management

Module 06

Module detail

  • For managers: builds the peer trust and cross-team coordination that let work move sideways across the organization rather than escalate upward.

    Learning outcomes (participants will be able to):

    • Assess a key working relationship against the Trust Formula (Credibility, Character, Connection) and act on the weakest dimension.

    • Coordinate a shared cross-team workflow and assign handoffs using RACI.

    • Create the conditions for their team to resolve and coordinate work sideways.

    Topics covered:

    • Trust and how it breaks down across teams

    • The three dimensions of trust

    • Working sideways versus routing upward

    • Coordinating handoffs across departments

    • Setting team norms for lateral work

    Key frameworks: Trust Formula (Credibility x Character x Connection); RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed)

    Key takeaways:

    • Trust is built deliberately, not assumed

    • Work moves sideways when managers model and expect it

    • Clear handoffs reduce unnecessary escalation

    Practical application:

    • In session: Map a real cross-team relationship and workflow using the Trust Formula and RACI; agree one action.

    • On the job: Strengthen one cross-team relationship or handoff before the next module.

    • Peer coaching circle: Each member reports the relationship or handoff they worked on and what shifted.

    • Assessment: A trust-and-collaboration action plan and short reflection.

  • Builds the manager's skill to hold direct conversations early, resolve conflict, and give and receive feedback.

    Learning outcomes (participants will be able to):

    • Conduct a structured feedback conversation using the SBI model.

    • Identify their default conflict style and choose a more effective approach for a situation.

    • Hold one real workplace conversation they have been avoiding.

    Topics covered:

    • The cost of avoidance

    • A structure for a direct conversation

    • SBI feedback

    • Conflict styles

    • Resolving a live conflict

    Key frameworks: SBI feedback (Situation-Behavior-Impact); the three conversations (Stone and Heen); Thomas-Kilmann conflict modes

    Key takeaways:

    • Address issues while they are small

    • Separate impact from intent

    • Match the approach to the situation

    Practical application:

    • In session: Role-play real workplace conversations at increasing difficulty, with structured feedback.

    • On the job: Hold one real conversation before the next module; debrief it.

    • Peer coaching circle: Rehearse an upcoming conversation, or debrief one just held.

    • Assessment: A conversation plan and a post-conversation reflection.

  • Gives managers a clear rule for when to resolve and when to escalate, and a repeatable method for problems and decisions.

    Learning outcomes (participants will be able to):

    • Apply an escalate-or-resolve rule to decide the level at which an issue should be settled.

    • Apply a structured problem-solving cycle to a real workplace issue.

    • Make and own a decision when the situation is not black and white.

    Topics covered:

    • The escalation trap

    • A repeatable problem-solving method

    • Deciding in ambiguity

    • Owning and closing out a decision

    Key frameworks: Escalate-versus-resolve rule; structured problem-solving cycle (define, analyze, options, decide, act, review)

    Key takeaways:

    • Most issues can be resolved one level down

    • A method beats reacting

    • A decision is not done until it is owned and closed

    Practical application:

    • In session: Work a real, unresolved issue through the method and decide the level at which it should be settled.

    • On the job: Resolve one issue at the right level that would previously have escalated.

    • Peer coaching circle: Bring a live issue; apply the method together.

    • Assessment: The worked problem and a decision or close-out note.

  • Equips managers to coach their team members to resolve issues and own outcomes, rather than absorbing the work or sending it up.

    Learning outcomes (participants will be able to):

    • Run a coaching conversation using the GROW model.

    • Guide a team member to their own solution instead of solving it for them.

    • Set a clear accountability and follow-up.

    Topics covered:

    • Why coaching beats solving

    • The GROW coaching model

    • Asking questions that surface a solution

    • Setting accountability and follow-up

    Key frameworks: GROW coaching model (Goal, Reality, Options, Will); accountability practices

    Key takeaways:

    • Coaching builds capacity; solving builds dependence

    • The best help is often a good question

    • Accountability needs a named next step

    Practical application:

    • In session: Role-play a coaching conversation using a real team situation.

    • On the job: Coach one team member through an issue instead of solving it for them.

    • Peer coaching circle: Share a coaching conversation and what the team member owned.

    • Assessment: A coaching conversation plan and a reflection on the outcome.

  • Builds the manager's skill to manage competing demands, create clarity, and absorb new systems and workflows with resilience.

    Learning outcomes (participants will be able to):

    • Sort a real workload using a do-delegate-defer-drop method.

    • Create clarity and reset one overcommitment, for themselves and their team.

    • Apply one practice for adapting to a new system or workflow with less stress.

    Topics covered:

    • Competing demands and the cost of unclear priorities

    • A prioritization method

    • Creating clarity in ambiguity

    • Adapting to new systems and workflows

    • Practical resilience

    Key frameworks: Eisenhower matrix / do-delegate-defer-drop; a lightweight adaptation and resilience practice

    Key takeaways:

    • Prioritizing is deciding what not to do

    • Managers create clarity for their teams

    • Change is absorbed in small steps

    Practical application:

    • In session: Prioritize a real current workload against the method; reset one overcommitment.

    • On the job: Run the week against the method; report the change.

    • Peer coaching circle: Share priorities and one reset made.

    • Assessment: The prioritized workload and the outcome of the reset.

  • Builds the skill to use AI and digital tools responsibly to support everyday management and lift team productivity, and integrates the full program.

    Learning outcomes (participants will be able to):

    • Apply an AI tool to a routine management task and verify the output.

    • Redesign one team workflow to remove steps using AI or digital support.

    • Apply responsible-use principles (judgment, verification, privacy) to AI use.

    Topics covered:

    • Where AI helps management, and where it does not

    • Applying AI to routine management tasks

    • Designing a simpler team workflow

    • Responsible use

    • Integration on a live project

    Key frameworks: Responsible-AI-use principles (verify, judge, protect); workflow redesign (map, remove, automate)

    Key takeaways:

    • AI is for routine work, not judgment

    • Always verify the output

    • Protect confidential information

    Practical application:

    • In session: Apply an AI tool to a routine management task; check the output for accuracy.

    • On the job: Keep the improved workflow in use; capture the time saved for the Skills Audit.

    • Peer coaching circle: Share the workflow improvement and the time saved.

    • Assessment: The improved workflow, a time-saved note, and a short program-integration reflection.

Assessment is aligned to the program outcomes and mapped to the four levels of the Kirkpatrick evaluation model, moving from learning gain through on-the-job application to workforce impact. It has four components and a clear completion standard.

Assessment and evaluation

1. Pre- and post-program Skills Audit (Kirkpatrick Level 2: learning)

A Skills Audit customized to your organization is completed at intake and at completion. Each participant rates and evidences their capability against the same competencies, drawn directly from the program outcomes. The pre-audit baselines the cohort and tailors delivery; the post-audit demonstrates gain against baseline.

2. Applied assignments during the program (Level 3: behavior)

Between modules, participants complete one assignment applied to their own role, aligned to that module's outcomes. These are the assessable evidence that each module's outcomes were met.

3. On-the-job application through formal peer learning circles (Level 3: transfer)

Participants join a standing peer learning circle of four to six people that meets on a set cadence between modules. Each member brings a real application of the module's skills, following a simple reflect-and-adjust structure (e.g., what I tried, what happened, what I will change). Because roughly 70 percent of on-the-job behavior change depends on reinforcement rather than training alone, the circles are paired with manager check-ins at 30 to 90 days.

4. Completion criteria and certificate

A certificate of completion is issued through Certifier, with a unique verification link, on meeting all three criteria:

  • Attendance at a minimum of five of the six modules

  • All between-module applied assignments completed

  • The post-program Skills Audit completed, demonstrating gain

The certificate reflects completed applied work and assessment, not attendance alone.

Facilitation

This program was designed by Dr. Tatiana Astray. She facilitates it herself, alongside PhD-level and industry experts who have deep subject-matter knowledge and extensive experience in workplace-skills and applied AI training. Delivery is customized to teams, tools, and workflows.

Lead facilitator: Dr. Tatiana Astray, PhD

Dr. Astray holds a PhD in Organization Studies with a minor in Social Psychology from the Schulich School of Business, York University, an MSc from the University of Guelph, and an Honours BSc in Psychology from Trent University. She also holds a certificate in Applied Data Science from MIT Professional Education covering machine learning and generative AI in business settings, which underpins the applied AI components of this program.

Since 2019, she has facilitated programs at the Schulich Executive Education Centre , York University, spanning workplace negotiation, stakeholder management, team dynamics, trust, persuasion, and difficult conversations, delivered to client organizations across media, technology, financial services, government, mining, and the non-profit sector, with content and delivery ratings consistently above 90 percent.

She has also held an appointment at the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University, as Assistant Professor; the Conrad School at the University of Waterloo, where she was recognized for teaching excellence; and lectured at the Schulich School of Business and the Ivey Business School.

Her doctoral research examined how trust is built and broken between professional counterparts, and how relationship quality and emotional expression shape cooperation, conflict, and the willingness to work together again. That work is the evidence base for the trust, collaboration, and difficult-conversation content in this program. She has published peer-reviewed work in the Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences and presented at the International Association for Conflict Management.