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Learn to Lead Program

Learn to Lead Program

A young woman sits in a classroom setting on a laptop.

Learn to Lead Program

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Elevate your leadership skills with Learn to Lead!

This free program provides you with an opportunity to gain a wealth of knowledge that will help you become a truly effective leader.

Learn to Lead can help you:

  • Build confidence and take initiative and agency over your skill development.
  • Cultivate a growth mindset and seek continuous development and growth.
  • Establish a community of learning with like-minded peers and network with others across faculties and programs
  • Prepare for the future & learn the transferable skills sought out by employers that aren't taught in classrooms.

Learn to Lead's curriculum consists of 8-10 workshops offered four times per year at full-day "Summit" conferences. Summits take place online twice each term (Fall: September & November, Winter: January & March). You can stay for the entire Summit, or just for a few workshops - build your own adventure by selecting the workshops you're most interested in attending.

Western champions a strengths-based approach. Learn to Lead is infused with CliftonStrengths and helps you leverage your unique talents. This program is a part of Student Experience and is supported by the Transition, Leadership & Enrichment team.

The next Learn to Lead Summit is Sept 25, 10:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.


Registration Information

You must register in order to attend the Learn to Lead Summits:

  1. Log in to connect.uwo.ca
  2. Click on Event Calendars
  3. Click on Learn to Lead tab
  4. Register for your workshop(s) of choice

Leadership Certificates

Learn to Lead is a certificate program, with students who complete 4 workshops earning the Learn to Lead Leadership Certificate. Students who complete 8 workshops will earn the Learn to Lead Advanced Leadership Certificate*.

* Students who also complete the CliftonStrengths Assessment and the accompanying Feedback & Reflection component may have the Advanced Leadership Certificate recognition on Western's Co-Curricular Record.

Western Scholars and Scholar's Electives students are eligible to earn the Learn to Lead Scholars Leadership Certificate (eligible to be added to Western's Co-Curricular Record) by completing the following:

  • Learn to Lead Leadership Certificate - Consists of 4.0 workshops from the regular Learn to Lead series
  • Learn to Lead Scholars Series - Completion of 3.0 workshops from the Scholars Learn to Lead series
  • Learn to Lead Elective - Completion of 1.0 additional workshop from either the regular OR Scholars Learn to Lead series

Workshop Library

Please note, not every workshop is available for each summit.

Anxiety is a natural response, but when it becomes overwhelming it can interfere with daily life. This workshop explores the function of anxiety and the brain-body connection behind it, helping participants understand why anxiety shows up and how it affects us. Attendees will learn practical coping strategies and evidence-based skills to manage anxiety more effectively and build resilience.
Land acknowledgements shouldn’t be recited, but instead, should be rooted in your own story and a personal connection to the land. In this interactive workshop, you'll learn how to craft a land acknowledgement that reflects your strengths, values, and experience through guided activities and discussion.
This Learn to Lead workshop will explore best practices in intercultural communication. We live in a very diverse country and global world and knowing how to effectively communicate with people from different cultural backgrounds is a key skill in leading multicultural teams. In this workshop we'll explore how culture affects the way we communicate, how we listen and understand each other and why understanding these differences will improve your communication and leadership skills in the future.

** Formerly the Intercultural Communication Best Practices workshop.
This interactive workshop explores how cultural values influence the way we speak, listen, and lead; from direct vs. indirect communication to emotional expression and power dynamics. Through engaging activities and reflection, you'll learn practical strategies on how to navigate cultural differences, build trust across cultures, and lead with empathy.

CliftonStrengths themes will be woven throughout to help you better understand your own leadership and communication style and how it shows up in diverse settings.

Whether you're leading diverse teams or simply curious about cultural dynamics, this session will help you grow as a more inclusive and effective communicator.
This workshop uses Life Design principles to help you create a clear, confident plan for your life and career - generating more ideas, sparking creativity, easing future-related stress, and aligning your choices with what matters most to you. Based on Bill Burnett and Dave Evans' framework and the principles of design thinking, you'll explore concepts such as prototyping, odyssey planning, and developing a personal world view and work view. Through these tools, you'll learn to approach life's "wicked" challenges with curiosity and creativity, and map your next steps at Western and beyond.

** Formerly the Career Design workshop.
Empathy has been identified as one of the most important leadership skills in all industries. It has also become more important during the challenging times of the pandemic, where those we engage with are experiencing multiple kinds of stress and have experienced great personal or professional disruptions. Join us to understand what empathy is, how to utilize it when working with others, and how you may lead with empathy.
Explore the Japanese concept of Ikigai—your reason for being—as a powerful framework for enhancing your life and career. We will connect five areas of wellbeing—Career/Purpose, Social, Financial, Physical, and Community—to the four dimensions of Ikigai: what you love, what you are good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. Develop a personal Ikigai map linking the five areas of wellbeing.
Did you know that approximately 90% of companies use LinkedIn for recruiting? LinkedIn is a powerful job search tool if used right. Learn how to set up and optimize your profile, so that you can build your professional network most effectively and make LinkedIn a valuable asset in your job search.
Effective leaders know self-care and personal wellness are important tools to achieving individual and team goals! Time management, being assertive, recognizing and managing stress, and staying motivated are all personal development skills explored in this workshop. Participants will learn about the sources of stress, strategies and methods to ensure their own needs are met while being a productive and supportive member of any team.

Character can be visualized as the root system of a tree, supporting the growth and extension of the branches – our strengths, skills, and competencies. The branches are important for what we do day-to-day, but when a storm comes, it is a strong root system that will keep us steady. Today’s emerging leaders face unprecedented challenges requiring strength of character and clarity of judgment to mobilize personal strengths and competencies.

In this session, we will explore the Leader Character Framework developed by researchers at Ivey Business School, and we will consider the relationship between character dimensions and the Clifton Strengths. Participants will also learn about opportunities to further explore character development at Western as undergraduate or graduate students.

Following this workshop, participants will:

  • Describe 11 dimensions of character identified in Ivey's Leader Character Framework
  • Reflect on how character development can leverage and mobilize the Clifton Strengths
  • Identify avenues for further exploration of character-based leadership at the undergraduate and/or graduate level
In this workshop, students are introduced to the CliftonStrengths approach and explore their potential talent areas using Gallup’s “5 Clues to Talent” reflective exercise - no prior assessment required. Through guided activities, participants learn the core principles of strengths-based development, increase their self-awareness, and identify how their natural patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving can support academic success, leadership, and career planning.
Communicating with others is a crucial leadership skill. In this workshop, we'll explore how to communicate with clarity, confidence, and connection by using key verbal and non-verbal techniques to start, maintain, and end conversations effectively.
This Learn to Lead workshop explores Experiential Learning at Western while asking students to consider the kinds of leaders they want to be. After identifying some values and skills, students will then be introduced to the merits of reflection and coached through the development of actionable strategies to get the most out of their experiences and start working toward their leadership goals.

Effective communication starts with intentional listening. In this workshop, we’ll explore how to use your natural strengths to build genuine understanding and stronger connections with others. You’ll learn strategies to improve your active listening skills while managing distractions. Whether in team settings, friendships, or professional conversations, you’ll discover how intentional listening can enhance your impact as a leader and help others feel truly heard.

** Formerly the Listening to People workshop.

Learning how to effectively manage conflict can lead to less stress. This Learn to Lead workshop will help you to understand collaborative methods for resolving conflict and solving interest-based problems as well as identify which strategies are appropriate in various situations.
This workshop supports students in developing a clear and authentic personal brand using storytelling techniques. Participants learn how to communicate their strengths, experiences, and values in ways that enhance resumes, interviews, and networking conversations. The session builds students’ confidence and equips them with practical tools to craft narratives that effectively represent who they are and how they contribute in academic, workplace, and community settings.
Presentation skills do not come naturally to most people. In this workshop, we'll explore practical strategies for engaging an audience of any size, managing nerves, and using your strengths to share your message effectively.
In this Learn to Lead workshop, participants will have the opportunity to consider the difference between equality and equity, how they see equity (or inequity) show up in their lives, their approach to various scenarios, and a plan moving forward with equity top of mind.

This workshop examines the many dimensions of professionalism, why it matters to individuals, teams, and the broader community, and how its meaning can vary across industries and cultures. You'll explore core attributes—such as competence, integrity, respect, and effective communication—and how they build trust, credibility, and strong relationships. Through engaging case studies, you'll put professionalism into practice, developing the skills and mindset to make a positive impression, strengthen your reputation, and advance in today's competitive job market.

** Formerly the Professionalism workshop.

Join us for this one-hour workshop designed to provide student leaders with reflective opportunities to better understand how identity, lived experiences, and socialization impact the intersectional ways that we experience and engage with rejection. Then, participants will utilize CliftonStrengths to develop a personalized plan for improving their rejection resilience that can be applied within both leadership and interpersonal contexts.

Learning Outcomes: By the end of this workshop, participants will:

  • Reflect on how the intersectional aspects of their identity bear down on how they navigate rejection.
  • Learn to apply cognitive reframing, compassionate self-advocacy, and their own CliftonStrengths to navigate professional setbacks, relational challenges, and leadership roles with resilience and integrity.
  • Develop a personalized action plan for supporting themselves and others in overcoming setbacks within diverse campus communities.
Knowing what your needs are is the first step to communicating them. In this workshop, you'll explore how to identify your wants and needs, uncover what might get in the way of expressing them, and use your strengths to communicate your needs with compassion and confidence.
In this interactive session, you'll explore what self-compassion is, why it's a powerful leadership skill, and how it can strengthen your personal and professional relationships. Through a discussion of tangible strategies, you'll apply self-compassion to your unique strengths.

This workshop explores why building and maintaining friendships can be challenging and how your unique talents can help. We'll dive into practical strategies for developing strong connections and maintaining them. You'll learn how your Top 5 CliftonStrengths influence the way you connect with others, giving you the self-awareness and tools to build a supportive and awesome network of friends.

** Formerly the Making Friends Using Your CliftonStrengths workshop.

This session will help you understand how to manage your time by incorporating and prioritizing rest and boundaries into your schedule. We will address how we can be our most effective selves and avoid burnout by setting these boundaries when balancing our work, personal, and academic lives.

Frequently Asked Questions

If your question isn't answered below, please feel free to contact us at learntolead@uwo.ca.

You will be sent an access link prior to the Summit, this will include instructions and a code.
All Learn to Lead Summit workshops will be infused with CliftonStrengths, so we highly recommend that you complete the assessment prior to your first workshop. However, students will be able to take the assessment until a week after our last Summit of the academic year.

You can view your results on the Gallup Portal. You will login with your Western credentials.

No, if you have already completed the assessment at Western, you do not have to take the assessment again, nor will you be able to.
Students can attend Learn to Lead Summits and work towards the Learn to Lead certificates throughout the duration of their degree.
Workshops are 50-minutes in length (facilitated by Western faculty and staff) and attendees must attend 40 minutes for the workshop to be eligible towards a Learn to Lead certificate.
No. In order to be eligible for the certificate, you need to participate and attend 4 different workshops (or 8 different workshops for the Advanced Leadership Certificate). Students will not receive additional credit for attending a renamed workshop.
Late attendees will not be admitted into a workshop once 10 minutes have passed. You are welcome to register for another session at future Summits.
No, participants may only attend one session at once. Multiple workshops attended at once will be ineligible towards any Learn to Lead certificate.
  1. Log in to connect.uwo.ca
  2. Select the Programs tab
  3. Select the Learn to Lead tab
  4. Select the "Certificate Tracking" option
  5. Review your progress and select Completed Certificate
  6. Select the round black button on the bottom right of the page
  7. Select "Print" to download your certificate
Summit attendance is updated the week following each Summit.
For Learn to Lead workshops with breakout room components, participants who do not join and engage in the breakout activity will be removed from the workshop and unable to rejoin.

Learn to Lead Outreach

Are you interested in bringing a Learn to Lead workshop to your classroom or student/staff training? Submit a request for Learn to Lead outreach!
Outreach Form