PeopleAK Training Program
The PeopleAK Leadership Practice
We develop the managers you already promoted.
An in-person development pathway of 3 to 12 courses for emerging and mid-level managers. Gallup-based, strengths-focused, and delivered by a team that knows Alaska’s workforce because it is Alaska’s workforce.
Promoted, not developed.
You know the story because you’ve lived it. Someone was great at the job, so you gave them the team. Nobody gave them the skills. A lot of that happened fast during COVID, and those managers are still leading people today with whatever they picked up on their own.
It’s not their fault, and it’s not a small problem. Your managers decide how your people feel about work, and whether they stay.
70%
Managers account for at least 70% of the variance in team engagement. Source: Gallup, State of the American Manager (US study).
1 in 2
About half of US employees have left a job at some point to get away from a manager. Source: Gallup, State of the American Manager (US study).
A practice, not a day of slides.
The Leadership Practice is a pathway of three-hour courses, in person, that build on each other. Join an open cohort in Anchorage and your managers learn alongside managers from other Alaska organizations, with the same facilitators start to finish. Bring your own team and we build the pathway around you. Either way, nobody sits through a one-off workshop and forgets it by Friday.
Their strengths, named
Add the Gallup CliftonStrengths assessment, and each manager learns to lead from their own strengths. They get a debrief with a certified coach, and they learn how to manage people who lead differently.
Real situations, in the room
Every course is three hours of instruction, scheduled as a 3.5- to 5-hour session depending on breaks and activities. Each one is built around the conversations managers are actually avoiding. Feedback, accountability, conflict, change. They practice it with people who’ll tell them the truth.
The same team, start to finish
Facilitators know your managers by name by the second course. Between courses, they’re a phone call away. That’s the difference between a training and a program.
What changes.
They stop avoiding the hard conversation and start having it early. They give feedback people can use. They know what their team needs from them, and what they need from you. They hold people accountable without hovering. They handle change without losing the room.
And they stay. Managers who feel developed don’t go looking for the organization that will.
The return shows up on your books.
Replacing an employee costs one-half to two times their annual salary, and that’s before you count the people who leave because the manager did. A manager who can keep a team engaged is the cheapest retention program you’ll ever buy.
Strengths-based teams also outperform. Gallup finds organizations that build around strengths see up to 72% lower turnover and 23% higher engagement, and that’s exactly the method the Leadership Practice is built on.
0.5x to 2x
Replacement cost per employee, as a share of annual salary. Source: Gallup, This Fixable Problem Costs U.S. Businesses $1 Trillion (US).
Up to 72%
Lower turnover in organizations that take a strengths-based approach. Source: Gallup, CliftonStrengths for Teams and Organizations.
Two ways to build your pathway
The Leadership Practice offers an 18-course menu, including the PeopleAK Transformational Leadership Program, plus custom courses built for your team. Choose a pathway of 3, 6, 9 or 12 courses. The more courses you take, the less each one costs. Request our program guide for full details.
Choose from the menu
Mix and match from 18 standard courses. The full menu is below, including the ten-course PeopleAK Transformational Leadership Program.
Customize for your team
Tell us the challenges your team faces. We build a course around them, with your goals, your language and your situations. A custom course counts toward your pathway like any other.
Join an open cohort
Open cohorts run in Anchorage on a published schedule and follow a set pathway of courses. One manager or five, they move through it with peers from other Alaska organizations and the same facilitators start to finish. Good for smaller teams and for testing the program before you commit a whole group.
Build a private cohort
Ten or more managers from one organization and we run it for you alone. Choose your own pathway of 3, 6, 9 or 12 courses from the menu, custom courses or both, scheduled on your calendar, at your site or in our Anchorage training room.
The Leadership Exchange
A two-day retreat for your senior leadership team, once a year. Two days away from the office to work on the questions a weekly meeting never gets to. The format is collaborative, confidential and engaged. We host it at unique locations across Alaska and in Austin, Texas.
The course menu
Eighteen courses in two groups. The first ten are the PeopleAK Transformational Leadership Program, our core curriculum. The other eight are the skill courses clients ask for most. Pick the ones your managers need, in any combination.
The PeopleAK Transformational Leadership Program
Our ten-course core curriculum: four Core Leadership courses and six Manager Essentials courses.
- Leadership 101: Getting the Most of Your Team
Turn vision into daily action, build trust and confidence in your people, and lead from their strengths. - Beyond Teamwork
Build trust-based collaboration that moves your team from working side by side to working together. - Communicate to Lead
Lead with credibility: listening, nonverbal cues, the right words, and adapting to how others take in a message. - Leadership by Design: Architecting Teams Based on Gallup Strengths
Build well-rounded teams by design. Requires the Gallup CliftonStrengths assessment.
- Emotional Intelligence for Managers
Build self-awareness, empathy and emotional regulation to lead teams more effectively. - Strategic Thinking & Organizational Initiatives
Think beyond day-to-day operations and align decisions with your organization’s broader strategic initiatives. - Training & Mentoring Staff
Build confidence and practical tools for developing, coaching and mentoring staff. - Handling Difficult Conversations & Conflict
Address performance, behavior and sensitive topics, diagnose team friction, and resolve conflict, from opening the conversation to clear next steps. - Leading Change
Lead your team through change: plan it, communicate it, and keep people engaged when priorities, systems or funding shift. - Safe, Inclusive & Sustainable Teams
Build psychological safety, lead inclusively, spot your own bias, and catch burnout early so good people do well and stay.
Most Requested Skill Courses
Eight stand-alone courses. Add any of them to your pathway.
- Coaching & Performance Management
Set clear expectations, give feedback that sticks, and address underperformance early. - Transitioning from Peer to Leader
Handle the shift from teammate to team lead: your new role, new boundaries, and earning authority with former peers. - Managing Up: The Power of Becoming Indispensable
Build credibility with your own leaders: anticipate needs, communicate upward and become the person they rely on. - Employee Motivation & Recognition
Raise engagement and productivity by learning what drives each person and recognizing it well. - Time Management & Prioritization
Balance competing tasks and responsibilities, protect your focus and run tighter meetings. - Problem-Solving & Decision-Making
Make sound decisions under pressure by framing problems, weighing options and following through. - Recruitment & Onboarding
Understand the hiring manager’s role and build a consistent workflow from offer to first day. - Compliance in Practice
Understand basic labor frameworks, track timesheets and overtime correctly, and turn organizational policy into fair everyday practice.
Every course includes current Gallup research on managing through strengths. Don’t see what you need? We’ll build a custom course around your team’s goals.
Alaska’s workforce, teaching Alaska’s managers.
The people who run the Leadership Practice have hired, managed and coached in this state for decades. Both are certified Gallup Strengths Coaches. Both have sat where your managers are sitting.
Paula Bradison
CEO and Senior Consultant
Fourth-generation Alaskan. Twenty-plus years leading teams, and the reason PeopleAK exists. Certified Gallup Strengths Coach.
Brooke Kuempel
Executive Consultant
Leads program design and facilitation. Certified Gallup Strengths Coach, working across Alaska and Texas.
Don’t take our word for it.
Cordova Electric Cooperative
Strengths Workshop Participant
We thoroughly enjoyed the workshop and I have had positive feedback from many of our employees. Personally, I gained valuable insights from the training.
Healthcare Resource Group, Inc.
Workflow Development Workshop Participant
In a very short time, the team at PeopleAK has facilitated building relationships between departments and dissolved the barriers keeping us from achieving best practices results within the revenue cycle.
You already promoted them. Let’s develop them.
Tell us how many managers you have and what’s getting in their way. We’ll tell you straight what the Leadership Practice would look like for your organization, and what it would cost.
Or call 907-276-5707.