MAT offers half-day, one-day, and two-day face-to-face workshops designed to address topics of organizational importance. These workshops are conducted onsite for your agency by MAT staff and/or members of the MAT National Faculty.
In addition to the workshops listed below, many of our webinars can be adapted and delivered in person. We can also customize training or design a suite of offerings tailored to your organization’s specific challenges and goals.
To explore options or schedule an onsite workshop, contact Elena Takaki at etakaki@fishwildlife.org.
Adaptive Leadership
Take a deep dive into practicing the framework of adaptive leadership. Participants experience the theory and concepts of collaborating with people and organizations to step into the unknown.
Specific Learning Objectives Include:- Identify the five principles of Adaptive Leadership.
- Observe, explore and diagnose an issue from multiple perspectives.
- Increase self-awareness and the ability to do things differently to make progress on vital issues.
- Engage and motivate stakeholders with conflicting perspectives to work together with a shared purpose.
- Intervene purposefully and skillfully to advance adaptive work.
Elevating Meetings
This workshop focuses on enhancing participants’ ability todesign, facilitate, and close impactful meetings that foster productivecollaboration, inclusivity, and effective follow-through. Participants willexplore tools and strategies to create meaningful engagement, honor diverseperspectives, and ensure meetings are purposeful and action-oriented.
Specific Learning Objectives Include:
- Identify key components of effective meetings, including preparation, execution, and closure.
- Explore the Meeting Model to structure meetings.
- Integrate principles of engagement to foster inclusivity and purpose.
- Apply tools like the Learning Loop to reflect on and improve meeting outcomes.
- Learn facilitation roles and responsibilities to support group dynamics and guide discussions.
- Plan meetings effectively using the 5Ps framework (Purpose, Participants, Process, Payoff, Preparation).
- Explore tools enhance participant engagement through Liberating Structures and other techniques.
- Practice strategies for meaningful closure and accountability to reinforce learning and commitments.
Participants will leave equipped with practical tools and insights to elevate their meetings, ensuring they are not only productive but also energizing, inclusive, and aligned with organizational goals.
Plain, Simple, and Concise Writing
In this workshop, you will learn how to write your next Federal Aid report, briefing paper, or just about any other document using 25-30% fewer words, in plain English, and without losing any critical content. The hands-on workshop includes numerous exercises to practice the techniques you learn and time to apply what you learn to one of your own documents. You will finally understand how writing in active voice uses fewer words to say what you want to say more directly and concisely.
Problem Solving with the Public
Management of natural resources requires two kinds of work: 1) Technical expertise as biologists, law enforcement, administration, etc. and, 2) Work with publics. Leaders in fish and wildlife typically have years of technical training and experience. This course focuses on the equally important side of the job which is working with publics, structured problem solving techniques, and dealing with politics in an effective and responsible manner.
Specific Learning Objectives Include:- How to work with various publics
- Deadly errors for involving publics
- Techniques for successful public involvement
- The Open House Technique for dealing with controversy
- Setting up the public meeting for success
- Techniques for handling public meeting problems
- A six-step problem solving process for developing solutions to any problem
Storytelling as a Leadership Tool
Bestselling author Brene Brown has said that “Stories are data with a soul.” Leaders use storytelling to connect with people on an emotional level and to influence attitudes, behaviors, and values. Storytelling is effective for leading change, making recommendations, engaging new groups, providing coaching, teaching important lessons, setting a vision, defining culture and values, and more. This workshop covers the process for crafting and delivering effective stories to achieve specific goals. Participants will have the opportunity to create and deliver stories, receive constructive feedback, and retell their stories incorporating that feedback.
Specific Course Learning Objectives:- Exam and identify the sacred myth(s) that define our organizational culture.
- Explain the value of storytelling.
- Describe the process for crafting strategic narratives.
- Identify the elements for turning a good story into a great story.
- List effective behaviors for delivering compelling storytelling presentations.
- Construct and deliver stories following storytelling and presentation guideline