The inaugural SLO Summit Series workshop, “Managing Up,” will feature best-selling author and leadership consultant Mary Abbajay offering strategies and techniques that can help participants develop highly effective relationships with their supervisors.
The workshop is scheduled for Friday, February 7, 2020, at Lighthouse Suites in Avila Beach. Onsite registration begins at 8 a.m. and the workshop is set to run from 8:30 to noon. Registration is now open at www.etnainteractive.com/slosummit.
Abbajay is the author of the best-selling Managing Up: How to Move Up, Win at Work, and Succeed with Any Type of Boss, and is recognized nationally for her expertise in creating dynamic and productive workplaces that foster both professional and personal excellence and growth. She is president of Careerstone Group, LLC, an organizational and leadership development consultancy, and is a contributor to Forbes.com.
“We’ve worked hard to develop this resource, and we’re excited to bring highly credentialed influencers from across the country to our local business community through the SLO Summit Series,” said Ryan Miller, founder and president of Etna Interactive in San Luis Obispo.
Etna Interactive, a healthcare marketing agency that is sponsoring the workshop, has spearheaded the development of the SLO Summit Series.
Miller described the SLO Summit Series as a collaborative effort that will bring to the Central Coast top-notch speakers who can inspire, educate, and challenge area business leaders and employees on relevant soft skills topics.
February’s workshop is based on Abbajay’s book and is designed for individuals seeking to establish productive working relationships with their higher-ups in a company or organization. This is a widely relevant topic, since most people in a work environment or professional organization spend most of their time and energy reporting to people above them, according to Abbajay.
Enhancing working relationships is the single most effective way of accelerating a person’s success, Abbajay advises, whether someone reports to a supervisor, middle manager, vice-president, top executive, or a board of directors. Workshop attendees will learn techniques and skills to help them:
- Understand what managers REALLY want from their staff
- Recognize leadership styles and utilize strategies for communicating with each
- Understand and manage the personality differences that impact relationships
- Increase organizational trust with their supervisors and peers
- Develop effective strategies for working with their supervisors
- Manage one’s own professional success
- Receive feedback in a way that they can hear and use the feedback
In addition to her role as a Forbes.com contributor, her work and advice have appeared in the New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Forbes, The Financial Times, Money, Southwest Airlines Magazine, and on Monster and the BBC. In 2010, Mary was named as one of Washington Business Journal’s Women Who Mean Business and was a Smart CEO Brava Award recipient in 2017.