Description

Relational Leadership: The New Value Proposition for Leaders

Leadership has always been about people, but in today’s workplace, the ability to build strong, trusted relationships has become one of the most important skills a leader can develop. Organizations are navigating changing customer expectations, multigenerational teams, increased competition, and an increasingly digital and AI-enabled business environment. Through all of that change, one thing remains constant: business gets done through relationships.

The Schuylkill Chamber of Commerce is proud to present Relational Leadership, a three-week leadership accelerator designed to help professionals strengthen the relationships that drive performance. The program goes beyond traditional leadership theory to focus on the practical skills leaders need to build trust, create stronger connections, influence others, communicate with purpose, and move important relationships forward.

Led by Ed Wallace, Schuylkill County native, Managing Director at AchieveNEXT, and bestselling author of The Relationship Engine, this highly interactive program brings nationally recognized leadership and business relationship expertise back home to Schuylkill County. Ed has spent nearly two decades helping organizations strengthen customer relationships, develop leaders, and improve team performance. His work centers on the concept of Relational Capital, the value created through relationships built on trust, credibility, authenticity, and a genuine understanding of what matters to others. Elevate Your Leadership Profile

This program was designed specifically for the Schuylkill Chamber and will challenge participants to look closely at the relationships most important to their success. Rather than simply discussing leadership concepts, participants will apply the material to their own customers, team members, colleagues, and key stakeholders. The intended outcomes include stronger collaboration, better cross-functional alignment, deeper customer partnerships, increased trust, clearer communication, and a greater ability to lead through influence at every level of an organization. Elevate Your Leadership Profile

Leading organizations including Dow, Oracle, John Deere, Teleflex, ParetoHealth, Dräger, Titleist and Boar’s Head have turned to AchieveNEXT to help their leaders strengthen relationships, improve collaboration and drive performance. The same relationship-centered approach used with major organizations across industries will now be brought directly to Schuylkill County through this three-week accelerator. 

If your leadership effectiveness depends on your ability to earn trust, influence others, strengthen teams, serve customers, and build relationships that produce results, this program was built for you.

Program Outline

Week 1: Breakthrough Business Relationships Foundational Workshop

November 4 | 4 hours

Participants will begin with a 15-minute RQ® Assessment measuring the strength of their top five business relationships, then explore the fundamentals of Relational Capital and relationship-driven performance.

• Apply proven approaches to building competitor-proof business relationships
• Identify the leadership qualities that strengthen Relational Capital
• Use Relational GPS® to better understand key relationships
• Learn the Relational Ladder® for launching, advancing and sustaining relationships
• Explore the role of Warmth and Competence
• Develop action plans tied to participants’ top five relationships

Week 2: Navigating Relationships Through Influence Workshop

November 11 | 4 hours

Participants will build on their Week 1 action plans while learning how to lead, influence and communicate more effectively.

• Apply the Five Principles of Relational Leadership
• Lead more effective meetings
• Learn the Waterline approach to consensus-based decision making
• Explore when AI adds value and when empathy, judgment and authentic conversation should lead
• Prepare for the capstone through real-world application and case work

Week 3: Capstone – Fluency Workshop

November 18 | 4 hours

The final session brings the program together through reflection, application and commitment.

• Share key before-and-after takeaways
• Participate in the Starbucks team competition
• Connect performance to purpose
• Develop a personal value statement through YOUR DASH
• Commit to applying the new learning
• Establish a clear path forward