The Washburn Supervisor Essentials Program is a series of workshops which address topics considered essential to any employee in a supervisory role, regardless of area or level. This series is designed for Washburn University supervisors to acquire the knowledge necessary to effectively administer the policies, procedures and guidelines relative to their department or unit. This program will also address the supervisor's role and responsibilities in the development of their teams as individual contributors to the future of Washburn University.

Welcome to Washburn Leadership

Join President Mazachek as she walks new supervisors through the importance of leadership at Washburn University, including what we stand for and how your role, as a supervisor or leader, is critical to ensure the University upholds its Mission, Vision and Core Values.  

This event took place October 24, 2023. 


Communicating with Impact

This course provides supervisors with a powerful set of interaction skills that enables them to communicate more effectively with colleagues and customers and, in the process, build trust, strengthen partnerships, and achieve desired results.

Helps individuals:

  • Recognize the impact they can have on their success and the success of others by enhancing interpersonal relationships in the workplace.
  • Relate to colleagues and customers in a way that meets their personal needs while also meeting the practical need of accomplishing objectives.
  • Use a set of interaction process skills that enable them to conduct more successful discussions that achieve results.
  • Use a technique for providing specific, meaningful feedback that helps people improve their performance and increase productivity.

This workshop is facilitated by Lacey Roberts, Associate Director, Human Resources - Talent Engagement & Development.

This event took place March 20, 2024.

Human Resources Essentials for Supervisors

This workshop ensures that supervisors receive knowledge and skills for effective day-to-day decision making and action. The goal is to safeguard that laws and university policies are uniformly applied across departments and units. While promoting positive employee relations, supervisors will prevent or limit risk to the University.

This session includes information regarding the following areas:

  • ADA
  • FMLA and HIPAA
  • FLSA
  • Worker's Compensation

This workshop is facilitated by Teresa Lee, Director, Human Resources.

This event took place Thursday, April 4, 2024.

The Art of Behavioral Interviewing

This workshop is a deeper dive into how to create a successful candidate experience and ensure we are hiring the right people for our open positions.

Learning objectives for this course includes:

  • Create a positive candidate experience
  • Utilize behavioral based interview questions to uncover job-related skills and actions and minimize bias during the interview
  • Utilize candidates past behavior to predict future workplace behavior
  • Determine the candidates motivation for the job and organization.

This workshop is facilitated by Lacey Roberts, Associate Director, Human Resources - Talent Engagement & Development.

This event took place Tuesday, April 16, 2024.



Engaging and Retaining Your Team

Decades of research shows that engaged employees positively impact teams, and produce better business outcomes. But, a one-size-fits all strategy to retaining talent isn’t suitable. Leaders need to take a proactive and personalized approach. This means conducting frequent conversations to learn what is uniquely important to each person’s job satisfaction, spotting the early warning signs of disengagement, and taking action to maximize opportunities for engagement at work. This course empowers leaders to use simple, practical behaviors to engage individuals, everyday whilst keeping an eye on early warning signs of disengagement. Leaders learn to apply a three factor model and initiate conversations to drive higher levels of engagement and retention.

Helps leaders:

  • Recognize the positive business impact of engaged employees.
  • Understand the leader’s critical role in engaging and retaining talent.
  • Discover practical leadership behaviors that can influence engagement every day.
  • Determine how to apply three factors that drive higher levels of engagement and retention.
  • Recognize early warning signs of disengagement.
  • Conduct conversations to learn how well their job and environment address what matters most to them at work.
  • Initiate retention conversations and take proactive steps to retain valuable talent.

This workshop is facilitated by Lacey Roberts, Associate Director, Human Resources - Talent Engagement & Development.

This event took place Thursday, May 16, 2024.

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