2026 Staff Leadership Summit Program

Alderson at 10:00

Do Sweat the Small Stuff: Making an Impact and Sparking Possibility

• Addison Keegan-Harris
• It is natural to feel disempowered and resigned to inaction. In this session, we will explore small, everyday actions that can make a difference. Together, we will reorient to our values to help us stay engaged even in the face of challenges and uncertainty. Learn about the micro-actions that hurt and heal; identify actionable choices you will make to create a positive impact in your work environment.

Big 12 at 10:00

Rethinking Mistakes: Finding Possibility in Unexpected Outcomes

• Carrie Poe, Kristina Edwards, and Will Katz
• When plans go sideways, it's easy to get stuck asking, "What went wrong?" But what if that question is only the beginning? Drawing from hundreds of conversations with entrepreneurs and small business owners, Kansas SBDC advisors will lead an interactive discussion on how people can reframe setbacks, decisions, and unexpected outcomes as opportunities for learning, growth, and new possibilities. Participants will reflect on people and organizations they admire, explore real-world stories of adaptation and resilience, and practice a simple framework for moving from disappointment to action. Rather than focusing on failure itself, this session examines how our assumptions and emotions can shape the way we view experiences. Through guided discussion and reflection, participants will consider questions such as: What did I know at the time? What have I learned since? What is possible now? What can I do next? Attendees will leave with practical tools and questions they can use to navigate challenges, identify opportunities, and move forward when things don't go according to plan.

Centennial at 10:00

Creating Possibility Through Powerful Questions

Emily Vietti and Jenny Mehmedovic

• Difficult decisions in our life sometimes seem like a choice between two less-than-ideal options. But what if we could train our brains to open up new, more exciting future possibilities through the use of powerful questions? This session will focus on understanding how our brains operate in times of indecision and how powerful, open-ended questions can help us coach our brains to see spectrums of possibility, rather than menus of predetermined options.

English at 10:00

Project Management That Delivers: Principles for Effective Results

• Angela Quick, Carolyn Vivian, and Eliza Hodes
• This session will provide an overview and application of project management tools to achieve a common goal. 

Kansas at 10:00

But We Are Like A Family Here : Breaking Toxic Supervision Patterns

• Jen Brockman
• As professionals we spend thousands of hours establishing ourselves and perfecting our tangible skills; however, when it comes to supervision, we often just wing it. This training addresses the pervasive issue of toxic supervision in the workplace. It will provide attendees with evidence-based strategies to recognize, mitigate, and ultimately replace harmful supervisory behaviors with positive leadership practices. Attendees will leave with a deeper understanding of the generational impacts of failed supervision on individuals and organizations, along with practical tools for fostering healthier environments that support employee retention.

Malott at 10:00

Picture Power: Innovating & Connecting through Visual Tools 

• Courtney Foat
• Possibility is an abstract realm -- often fuzzy and slow to navigate -- but image-based techniques can lend speed and clarity as you and your teams think beyond. Visual tools allow us to explore complex ideas in multiple dimensions, enhance group understanding, map complex processes or challenges, foster divergent thinking, and identify unforeseen patterns. Participants will explore both tangible and digital visual tools that can strengthen team engagement while enriching and expediting innovative thinking processes.

Woodruff at 10:00 

ThanKU! - How We Can Change the Culture of Recognition and Appreciation at KU

• Craig Alexander, Derek Zomer, Katie Williams, Megan Maresh, and Sam Deming
• The 2026 Staff Fellows invite you to engage in their ThanKU initiative, helping to build a strong Jayhawk community through appreciation and recognition. Through this session, you will learn about key areas of the Staff Fellows' project and explore ways you can make an impact today!

Alderson at 11:00

Neurodiversity in Multigenerational Workplaces

• Julie Myer
• KU employees represent five generations, and Gen Alpha is coming soon. Each successive generational cohort brings more recognized neurodiversity. With increasing generations and neurodiversity, understanding how these differences impact communication, expectations, and collaboration is essential for all of us to shape KU into the kind of workplace we continue to want to be part of. Intended for all employment roles, generations, and neurotypes, this session will cover the scientific and historical foundations of neurodiversity and generational cohorts that shape workplace norms and expectations, analyze common friction points, and identify actionable strategies to implement immediately in our own teams. 

Big 12 at 11:00

Designing the University of Kansas Strategic Framework Together

• Corinne Bannon
• In early 2026, KU launched a collaborative, institution-wide strategic planning process to develop a unified strategic framework. The draft framework is intended to establish common mission priorities and identify the internal support areas that will help drive implementation and measure progress across all campuses, schools, and units. This session provides an opportunity to learn more about the draft KU strategic framework and share feedback before it is finalized. Participants will be introduced to the proposed mission priority areas, internal mission support areas, and the implementation approach that will be used to develop strategies, establish targets, and monitor progress across the university. The session will begin with an introduction to the new university-wide framework, followed by ample time for participants to share feedback and ideas that will help guide decision-making across all campuses, units, and disciplines. Your participation is vital to ensure the final strategic framework is shaped by the people who make up KU. Please bring your questions and ideas. 

Centennial at 11:00

Boxed-In: How Constraints Can Improve Our Work

• Luke Mancillas
• In today’s modern workplace, people are inundated with more tools and options than ever before. It’s a common belief that less restrictions on our work leads to better work. In this session, we talk about why sometimes the opposite is true.  We’ll explore why a workplace without constraints can, ironically, be limiting, and how setting constraints on yourself can help you get stuff done.

English at 11:00

Central Bank: Building Your Emergency Fund: Practical Money Tips for a Secure Future

• Erin Albert and Lyn Arce
• Life is unpredictable, but smart financial habits can help you feel more prepared, reduce stress, and improve your overall quality of life. Learn practical strategies for budgeting your monthly income, managing expenses, and living within your means. This workshop will show you how to build an emergency fund with 3 to 6 months of living expenses, create healthy saving habits, and reduce financial stress while preparing for life's unexpected challenges. Whether you're looking to gain control of your finances, or start planning for the future, this session will provide simple, actionable strategies to help you achieve greater financial stability, confidence, and peace of mind.

Kansas at 11:00

The Shift to Possible: Using Curiosity to Navigate the Tough Stuff

• Gail Tiemann
• Have you ever had an experiment fail, a supply order get delayed, or received a brief message from your supervisor and assumed the worst?  When workplace stress hits, it’s easy to fall into automatic patterns of anxiety, frustration, or self-doubt. In this session, we’ll explore how to navigate everyday workplace challenges and create new possibilities when the pressure is on. The key is bringing curiosity into “the gap,” the space between what happens and how we react. Together, we’ll practice shifting from stress to curiosity through real-world scenarios from across campus, whether you work at a lab bench, in facilities, remotely, or in a traditional office. You’ll leave with open-ended questions and strategies you can use right away to navigate the tough stuff in your own unit.

Malott at 11:00

Exploring The Possibility Within

• Ben Wilson, Maya Ozery, and Samantha Palomino
• Join us for an interactive session exploring how identity and self-awareness can ground us as we navigate change, embrace growth, and open ourselves to new possibilities. Together, we’ll create space to better understand who we are, recognize our capabilities, and own the strengths we bring to the table. By becoming more grounded in ourselves, we can build a stronger foundation for continued growth and explore the art of what’s possible.

Woodruff at 11:00

Remote, Hybrid, and Human: Designing Work Practices That Support Well-Being

• Jennifer Keeton
• What does the research say about healthy remote and hybrid work, and how does it compare to the experiences of those living it every day? In this interactive session, participants will explore current findings on well-being, performance, connection, and workplace flexibility while discovering what real people teach us about making remote and hybrid work sustainable and successful. Participants will share experiences, learn from one another, identify strategies that work, and leave with one or two actionable commitments to improve their own work experience and well-being. Mobile device or laptop will aid full participation but not required.

Alderson at 1:00

You Are the Most Influential Person You Know

• Bart Swartz and Justin Leonard
• The most effective leadership tools cost nothing, and you can activate them today. Leadership isn't a title, authority, or big decisions. Everyday actions that build trust, strengthen relationships, and help others feel valued are the true key to being a leader. In this session, you'll discover how to create meaningful connections, communicate with intention, and make a lasting impact through everyday interactions. You'll also leave with five practical actions to strengthen relationships, shape workplace culture, and inspire the people around you.

Big 12 at 1:00

From Strangers to Symphony: Building High-Performing Teams in Record Time

• Melissa Sawyer
• How do you transform a group of strangers into a cohesive, high performing team in just a matter of days? Drawing from the unique world of collegiate marching band, this interactive session explores practical strategies for building trust, creating a shared purpose, fostering belonging, and developing a culture of excellence. Participants will leave with actionable ideas they can apply to strengthen collaboration and build more connected, effective teams.

Centennial at 1:00

The Art of Possibility

• Josh Wexler
• Possibility is a practice and a skill. Most of the day is spent solving what's already in front of us, and we don't stop to ask what we'd actually want. This session is a chance to practice the art of possibility together. Through a series of collaborative and interactive exercises, we'll generate possibilities, determine our next best action to make them a reality, and commit.

Kansas at 1:00

Using AI to Multiply Your Impact

• Ben Lizak and Craig Alexander
• Artificial Intelligence is rapidly transforming how we work, communicate, and solve problems. But successful AI adoption is not about becoming a technology expert. It is about developing the curiosity and confidence to explore new possibilities. In this highly practical and engaging session, you'll discover how AI can help reduce time spent on routine tasks, improve productivity, enhance decision-making, and create more capacity for the work that matters most. The session explores a simple AI adoption journey from fear and uncertainty to curiosity, experimentation, confidence, and transformation. Participants will learn why mindset is often the biggest factor in successful AI adoption and how a willingness to learn, test new approaches, and share lessons learned can unlock meaningful improvements in both individual and organizational effectiveness. Whether you're brand new to AI or already experimenting with tools like Copilot, you'll leave with practical guidance, proven prompting techniques, lessons learned from real successes and failures, and ideas you can immediately apply in your role. Join us to discover how AI can help you work smarter, create greater value for KU, and multiply your impact every day. AI was used to create this summary.

Malott at 1:00

Shake Like a Toothache: Tumult & Opportunity as Skill and Value Identification

• Dan McCarthy
• In this interactive session, we will explore how unforeseen change creates a praxis, clarifying the things you do best and the environments where you do those things. Using tools developed in a JMC 505: Professional Development course, we will examine how to navigate a turbulent environment.

Spencer Art Museum Tour at 1:00

Possibilities with Art 

• Arial Kim, Celka Straughn, and Kristina Walker
• Gather at the Mississippi Street entrance to the Union. Look for volunteers waving yellow flags.
• Join Spencer Museum of Art colleagues to explore a variety of possibilities that artworks can inspire. In addition to selected works in our collection galleries, we’ll spend time in our special exhibitions to share ways that art experiences spark creativity in education across Kansas as well as consider how they invite us to envision other worlds. 

Woodruff at 1:00

The Art of Showing Up: Using Your Values and Strengths to Rethink How You Work

• Becky Achen
• We all have parts of our jobs that come naturally and others we would gladly hand off to someone else. Those tasks may receive less attention or make us dread our work. But what if we could reframe how we approach our work? In this interactive session, we’ll explore how our values, strengths, and skills can help us make more intentional choices about how we work, where we invest our time, and the ways we collaborate with colleagues. Participants will consider how they want to show up at work, identify opportunities to bring more of their strengths and values into everyday tasks, and rethink the work they may have labeled as something they are simply “not good at” or “don’t want to do.”

Alderson at 2:15

Navigating Ambiguity: Is It Fear or Just Fog?

• Ross Stone
• Ambiguity can feel uncomfortable, creating doubt, anxiety, and a fear of getting it wrong. But what if the obstacle isn't actual risk, but simply limited visibility? This session explores how to move forward when the path isn't fully clear, build confidence without having all the answers, and avoid letting uncertainty keep you stuck. Participants will gain practical strategies for navigating uncertainty, making progress amid ambiguity, and distinguishing between genuine risk and perceived fear.

Big 12 at 2:15

A Different Frame: How Perspective Shapes Possibility

• Dannah Hartley, Jasmine Moore, Preston Braun, and Renee Denton
• The Art of Possibility invites us to approach our work with curiosity, creativity, and a broader perspective, but perspective doesn’t develop overnight. It is shaped through experience, relationships, challenges, and the lessons we learn along the way. Join us to hear from leaders across KU as they share the experiences that influenced their leadership journeys and the strategies they use today to balance competing priorities while staying focused on what matters most. Through personal stories and practical insights, this conversation will explore how reframing challenges and opportunities can expand our capacity to lead, create meaning in our work, and paint new possibilities for ourselves and our organizations.

Centennial at 2:15

Mini Books, Major Potential: Two Simple Handmade Books to Spark Creativity

• Angela Andres and Kaitlin McGrath
• Limited to 20 participants
• What offers more possibilities than a blank page? In this session participants will learn how to make two small, simple blank books that can serve as the starting point for endless creative projects. 

English at 2:15

Moving from Uncertainty to Possibility

• Sonya Gaither
• This session focuses on how to stay effective and grounded when organizational changes create uncertainty. We will explore how to shift our mindset from "what are we losing?" to "what could we create?" and gain insight to help us navigate unclear roles, shifting responsibilities, and new report relationships all while maintaining clarity, communication, trust, and being open to exploring what new possibilities emerge. The session will encourage you to see change not only as an ending, but as an opportunity to create something stronger, more innovative, and better aligned for the future.  

Kansas at 2:15

Hopeful, Not Harmful: Building Possibility Without Toxic Positivity

• Jordan Atkinson
• Possibility is important in the workplace, but hope becomes less helpful when it minimizes real challenges or pressures people to “just stay positive.” In this session, participants will explore how to communicate with optimism, honesty, and care. We will discuss how staff can validate others’ experiences, build rapport with coworkers and teams, reframe challenges in constructive ways, and create more supportive workplace conversations without falling into toxic positivity.

Malott at 2:15

Love in Practice

• Sam Meier
• bell hooks defined love as a practice rooted in care, commitment, knowledge, responsibility, respect, and trust. This interactive session explores how these principles can become intentional habits that support personal growth, strengthen relationships, and shape our engagement with others. Participants will identify ways to make space for love in their everyday lives and leave with practical tools for turning loving intentions into meaningful actions.

Woodruff at 2:15

The Story I’m Telling Myself: How Internal Narratives Shape Courage, Creativity, and Team Culture

• Chris Corbett
• The stories we tell ourselves influence far more than our own confidence. They shape how we respond to challenges, whether we share new ideas, and the cultures we create around us. In this interactive session, participants will explore how internal narratives can either fuel curiosity, experimentation, and growth or reinforce hesitation, self-doubt, and fear of failure. Drawing on the work of Brené Brown, Adam Grant, and Aiko Bethea, we'll examine how to recognize limiting assumptions, challenge the stories that may be holding us back, and choose responses that are aligned with our values and goals. Participants will leave with practical tools for reframing self-talk, navigating uncertainty with greater confidence, and creating environments where learning, innovation, and new possibilities can thrive.