Date: March 31, April 7, 14, 21 & 28, 1-2:15 PM ET
Cost: $100 (Zoom Meeting)
*Please note, all registrants will be provided with a link to the recording and presentation slides following the sessions. The recording will be available for 60 days.
The Practical Leadership Skills Series will include five interactive workshops.
Each workshop will last 75 minutes and include both presentation and interactive group exercises. Participants will leave the workshop with a practical skill that they can take back to their workplace and use immediately.
The five topics that will be covered in the series:
1. Building trust in the workplace: A practical guide for nonprofit managers
2. How to conduct effective one-on-one meetings
3. Practical coaching and mentoring for non profit leaders
4. Collaborative Feedback and Goal Setting for non profit leaders
5. Practical team building for nonprofit leaders
Workshop 1: Building trust in the workplace: A practical guide for nonprofit managers
March 31
Trust is the foundation of all good leadership and management. But, as managers, how do we build trust in the workplace? How do we rebuild trust when it’s been broken?
In this interactive workshop you will learn a four-factor model of trust that you can use to diagnose and solve trust issues. You will take part in exercises to build your skills. You will learn about the common mistakes mangers make that destroy trust in the workplace. By the end of the session, you will have practical skills you can take back to your workplace.
Workshop 2: How to conduct effective one-on-one meetings
April 7
Do you meet regularly with your staff? Do you find these meetings frustrating and a waste of time? While regular one-on-one meetings with staff can be the most effective way to build employee engagement, team morale, and improve performance they often devolve into ineffective “update” meetings.
In this interactive workshop participants will learn the five practices that drive effective one-on-ones. Participants will take part in exercises to develop their skills. Finally, they will learn how to avoid the four common pitfalls that
derail one-on-ones. By the end of the session, you will have practical skills you can take back to your workplace.
Workshop 3: Practical coaching and mentoring for nonprofit leaders
April 14
Effective coaching and mentoring are critical to driving employee engagement and organizational performance. But as a nonprofit leader, coaching and mentoring can often seem to be a daunting and esoteric practice.
In this interactive workshop participants will learn the four practices that drive effective coaching and mentoring
in the workplace. Participants will take part in exercises to develop their skills. Finally, they will learn how to identify situations when coaching and mentoring are not appropriate. By the end of the session, you will have practical skills you can take back to your workplace.
Workshop 4: Collaborative Feedback and Goal Setting for non profit leaders
April 21
Setting goals and delivering feedback are core manager responsibilities. But, how do we do set goals and deliver feedback that motivates and empowers staff? How do we set goals in collaboration with our staff? How do we deliver feedback in a way that grows and develops our staff?
In this interactive workshop participants will learn the the best practices for setting goals and delivering feedback in the workplace. Participants will take part in exercises to develop their skills. Finally, they will learn the common mistakes that managers make and how to avoid them. By the end of the session, you will have
practical skills you can take back to your workplace.
Workshop 5: Practical team building for nonprofit leaders
April 28
In a world of remote work and quiet quitting, building effective teams is one of the greatest challenges that nonprofit leaders face. But, to be successful, it is a challenge that nonprofit leaders must overcome.
In this interactive workshop participants will learn the twelve characteristics of the most successful teams, and how to build them in your workplace. Participants will take part in exercises to develop their skills. Finally, they will learn how to avoid the common pitfalls that undermine teams and team building. By the end of the session, you will have practical skills you can take back to your workplace.
Our Presenter
Having worked in the arts, health, social service, and education sectors, Mikhael Bornstein has more than twenty years of experience as a professional fundraiser and nonprofit leader. Mikhael is an AFP Master Trainer and a frequent speaker at conferences across North America. He teaches at George Brown College, Fleming College Toronto, and Toronto Metropolitan University. Mikhael has a Master in Arts in Leadership Studies from Royal Roads University.
To learn more about Mikhael and his work, please visit his website www.thephilanthropicleader.com.
The DEFNP workshop series will offer tailored programming designed to match ENGOs on their decolonial (un)learning journeys. In Spring 2026 members of the ENGO sector will be able to choose one of three workshop tracks: Introduction to Decolonization in the ENGO Sector, Advanced Decolonial Theory and Application or For Indigenous Ears Only - A Space for Reflection and Action. Each series consists of four three-hour sessions.
Collectively, Decolonizing ENGO-First Nation Partnerships fosters:
Awareness of settler colonialism and the ways it potentially harnesses civil society;
Understanding about how Canadian law such as the Indian Act and the Income Tax Act has suppressed Indigenous governance systems;
Awareness that Indigenous peoples have unique inherent political and legal systems, with which ENGOs may want to form partnerships;
A better understanding about how to navigate partnerships with Indigenous communities that promote decolonial environmentalism;
A stronger sense about how to identify and explain individual and organization social locations (i.e. positionalities) as part of ethical partnership development;
Promoting the resurgence of Indigenous self-determination in the Canadian ENGO sector.
Cost: $100 (Register 2 spots, get the 3rd free)
70 participants max.
All registrants will be provided with a link to access the recordings and presentation slides for 60 days following each session.
Session 1: Settler Colonialism 101
Introduce ENGO representatives to the fact that colonization is a structure and not an event. Identifies key ways that colonialism moves through individuals and organizations.
Session 2: Positionality
ENGO representatives learn how to articulate their social location within a settler colonial state, and in relation to potential Indigenous partners.
Session 3: Inherent Indigenous Governance 101
Introduce the fact that Indigenous nations have their own sources of political authority that they can (and do) draw on when addressing environmental issues. Examples provided.
Session 4: Building Better Relations
ENGO representatives will road test ways they can implement previous workshop key points to re-imagine partnerships with Indigenous nations.
Cost: $100 (Register 2 spots, get the 3rd free)
All registrants will be provided with a link to access the recordings and presentation slides for 60 days following each session.
Session 1: Diagnosing Settler Colonialism in the Enviro Sector
Participants will be asked to share ways in which they have diagnosed and traced power in social justice movements and/or in the ENGO sector. This workshop will make space for discomfort as part of promoting decolonization.
Session 2: Inherent Indigenous Governance
A mix of advanced and introductory theory, this workshop delves into legal and political pluralism, naming the fact that Indigenous nations have their own sources of political authority that they can (and do) draw on when addressing environmental issues.
Session 3: The Nonprofit Industrial Complex
ENGO participants are introduced to theories and examples describing the Nonprofit Industrial Complex and the “Shadow State.” Purpose is to show how settler colonialism structures civil society.
Session 4: Decolonizing ENGO-First Nation Partnerships
This workshop delves deep into how ENGOs can partner with Indigenous nations beyond the Nonprofit Industrial Complex while promoting deference to inherent Indigenous political leaders.
Cost: Free
The Indigenous only space will be collaborative in nature but critical in approach. This track is a space for Indigenous folks within the ENGO sector to come together to discuss their experiences and work, with an eye to taking a position on what the sector might need to do in order to promote decolonization. Participants will use the first session to define our goals for the remaining three meetings. Therefore, session topics named here are proposals only.
Session 1: Naming the Cannibal: Settler Colonialism in the ENGO Sector
Session 2: Proposed topic: Reflections on working in the ENGO Sector
Session 3: Proposed topic: Centering Indigenous Thought in the ENGO Sector
Session 4: Proposed topic: Visioning a Decolonial Environmental Sector
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