The Great Engagement: Engage and Mobilize Employees Program

Why is employee engagement important
for your business?
The lack of employee engagement is a billion-dollar problem. According to Canada Human Resources Centre, unhappy workers cost the North American business economy over $350 billion per year in lost productivity.
In fact, research has shown that 60% of employees are not engaged, and 15% are actively disengaged at work and only 25% are actively engaged.
A study by the Queen’s School of Business and Gallup, showed that disengaged workers logged
- 37% higher absenteeism
- 49% more accidents
- 60% more errors and defects than engaged employees
- 18% lower productivity
So how much is this disengagement costing you and your organization? According to Forbes, the costs of a disengaged employee is equivalent to 34% of their annual salary, or $3,400 for every $10,000 of income.
If we applied this to the average Canadian salary of $55,800 a year, the costs of a single disengaged employee to the business is going to be $18,972 annually.
While there is no quick fix, there are simple leadership practices that can produce immediate improvements in engagement.
Program Information Quick Links
Your organization may be eligible for funding up to $100,000 to help train your employees.
Listen to the program leaders share
an overview of the program
The Great Engagement: Engage and Mobilize Employees
Training Program Details
The Great Engagement: Engage and Mobilize Employees training program is designed to:
- Increase your emerging leader’s leadership ability by developing key managerial knowledge and skills,
- Provide proven tools to effectively engage employees, and
- Prepare new managers to lead and engage with employees to build a strong business environment, including leading through employer-driven change and challenges created due to the COVID pandemic
In the 26 hour interactive workshop series, participants will work in a small virtual group of like-minded individuals who want a better understanding of how to increase their employee engagement capacity.
I recently took the Engage and Mobilize Employees course and would highly recommend. The facilitators were professional, well organized and knowledgeable. The materials were great and I am now incorporating all my learning into our organization. Thank you.
– Rachel Sutherland, Program Manager,
Children’s and Family Literacy, READ Saskatoon
This program is for:
- Emerging leaders, new and current department or program managers and team leaders who want to:
- engage their employees so they feel valued & respected
- increase employee motivation
- enhance productivity and morale
- support employees to work efficiently and effectively
- improve interactions and relationships with their new team members
- Employees who have been assigned as a project team lead or change leader who need to:
- lead previous co-workers
- solicit improvement ideas from their employees
- engage staff to be effective in completing quality work
The Training Program includes:
- One orientation and kickoff group webinar (1 hour)
- Five virtual group training modules (3 hours each)
- One implementation session (2 hours)
- Two individual skill building and learning sessions with a facilitator (two 90-minute or three 60-minute sessions)
- Development of a 90-day action plan / strategy
- One individual action plan review meeting with a facilitator (1 hour)
- One problem-solving group session (1.5 hours)
- Building Success Strategy Session (1.5 hours)
- Assignments after each module
- Assessments after each module
- Participant manual consisting of assessments, worksheets, tips, and tools in PDF format
Total hours: 25 hours with instructors plus additional hours to complete the assignments.
Program Benefits
Being able to effectively engage employees, businesses can expect to see potential for greater profitability, smoother organizational change, and more motivated employees with:
- Increase in commitment to quality work
- Discretionary effort applied to projects
- Less absenteeism
- More collaboration
- Increase productivity
- Decrease in destructive conflict
- More attention resulting in fewer accidents and errors and
- Improved customer service
Program Learning Outcomes
Participants will:
- Understand the program including expectations for assessment and completion; and become familiar with technology
- Understand the drivers of employee engagement
- Understand how employee engagement impacts business outcomes
- Describe how your organization may benefit from employee engagement
- Identify what personal motivators engage their employees
- Identify barriers to employee engagement in your organization
- Create a vision for their ideal work environment for engaged employees
- Identify your personal role and leadership approach to employee engagement, including psychological safety and key leader attitudes
- Learn & practice a tool & a process to know your employees as individuals
- Apply a tool to identify strategies to develop employees for the future
- Learn six principles for giving feedback to employees
- Understand the importance of employee acknowledgement and recognition
- Identify strategies to acknowledge and recognize your employees
- Learn effective ways to manage unproductive conflict to increase productivity, collaboration and morale and decrease costs to the organization.
- Differentiate between personal transition and workplace change;
- Create strategies to support employees through transition
- Understand how to communicate to build employee commitment
- Prepare themselves and others to successfully transition
- Understand a variety of approaches that are effective in different workplaces
- Identify workplace challenges to implementing employee engagement strategies
- Understand and build a multi-faceted engagement strategy to enhance employee engagement in your workplace
- Apply practical methods to accelerate engagement process
- Apply a tool to identify strategies to develop employees for the future
- Develop strategic actions from key concepts
- Discover and enhance personal skills & abilities required to effectively apply concepts and implement strategies for employee engagement
- Incorporate elements to integrate and manage their plan into the workplace, including communication with their manager and staff, plan for debrief sessions to capture their learning, and regular reviews.
Program Structure
Structure Overview
- Orientation and Kickoff Introductory Session (1 hour)
- Module 1 – Know your situation (3 hours)
- Module 2 – Know yourself (3 hours)
- Action Implementation Session – Design Your Employee Engagement Strategy (2 hours)
- Module 3 – Know Your Employees (3 hours)
- Module 4 – Work With Others (3 hours)
- Module 5 – Lead and Engage Employees Through Change (3 hours)
- Design Your Employee Engagement Strategy (Field Work)
- Action Learning Session – Review Designed Action Plan (1 hour)
- Individual Skill Building & Learning Sessions (3 hours)
- Employee Engagement Hackathon (1.5 hours)
- Building Long-term Success (1.5 hours)
Session Topics, Outcomes and Objectives
In this highly interactive workshop, through a combination of facilitator-led discussions, individual and group exercises, participants will cover the following topics:
Orientation and Kickoff Introductory Session
Learning outcome: Clear understanding of the program including expectations for assessment and completion; and become familiar with technology
- Learn the elements and expectations of the training program
- Identify learning goals you want to achieve
- Identify specific skills you want to learn
- Complete required pre-work including an Employee Engagement Assessment
Module 1 – Know your situation
Learning outcomes: Understand the drivers of employee engagement and how employee engagement impacts business outcomes; describe how your organization may benefit from employee engagement; identify what personal motivators engage your employees; identify barriers to employee engagement in your organization
Participants will:
- Identify opportunities presented within your individual Employee Engagement Assessment results
- Identify how your organization currently supports employee engagement
- Understand the value of an engaged workforce and areas for improvement
- Understand your impact as manager on the engagement of your employees
- Identify the barriers to employee engagement
- Understand the costs of a disengaged workforce
- Develop an action plan
- Complete post-workshop assignments
Module 2 – Know yourself
Learning outcomes: Create a vision for your ideal work environment with engaged employees; identify your personal role and leadership approach to employee engagement, including psychological safety and key leader attitudes
Participants will:
- Learn three key concepts about the leader’s personal approach for engagement
- Develop an inspiring vision for an engaged workforce
- Understand your role to create the ideal engaging environment
- Learn how to enhance psychological safety
- Learn the key leader attitudes of engaging leaders
- How to generate an effective attitude for engaging employees
- Develop an action plan
- Complete post-workshop assignments
Module 3 – Know Your Employees
Learning outcomes: Learn & practice a tool & a process to know your employees as individuals; and apply a tool to identify strategies to develop employees for the future; learn 6 Principles for giving feedback to your employees.
Participants will:
- Learn four strategies to address your employees’ unique mix of engagement motivators
- Set consistent practices to build engagement
- Learn how to strengthen work relationships
- Discover the Feedback for Improvement cycle
- Learn the 4 P Method to give powerful employee feedback
- Discover and apply templates to effectively give employee feedback
- Practice having an employee conversation
- Create your Manager Dashboard to identify strategies to develop your self and your employees for the future
- Develop an action plan
- Complete post-workshop assignment
Module 4 – Work With Others
Learning Outcomes: Understand the importance of employee acknowledgement and recognition; identify strategies to acknowledge and recognize your employees; learn effective ways to manage unproductive conflict to increase productivity, collaboration and morale and decrease costs to the organization.
Participants will:
- Understand the difference between the different types of rewards and motivators
- Identify and plan 4 ways to recognize and acknowledge your employees
- Understand the difference between productive and unproductive conflict
- Explore the costs of conflict to the organization, team, relationships
- Identify what becomes possible if the conflict is resolved
- Learn effective strategies to address unproductive conflicts
- Develop an action plan
- Complete post-workshop assignment
Module 5 – Lead and Engage Employees Through Change
Learning Outcomes: Differentiate between personal transition and workplace change; create strategies to support employees through transition; understand how to communicate to build commitment; preparing yourself and others to successfully transition.
Participants will:
- Understand difference between personal transition and workplace change
- Understand the neurochemistry of change
- Learn and apply strategies to care for yourself and employees during change
- Explore and apply the 4 P’s of communicating during change
- Learn how to equip employees to succeed
- Develop an action plan
- Complete post-workshop assignment
Marielle and Kathleen were very welcoming and provided some really useful information and strategies. There was lots of time for discussion and sharing, and I appreciated that this course put some important planning and reflection on the front burner for me. They also made sure to follow up after the course, which provided some accountability for actually putting the ideas into practice. I would recommend this course to anyone new to managing employees, or managers who have never had any formal professional development in this area.
– Sheri Porrelli, Program Manager,
Adult and Financial Literacy, READ Saskatoon
Action Implementation Session – Design Your Employee Engagement Strategy
Learning Outcomes: Understand and build a multi-faceted engagement strategy to enhance employee engagement in your workplace; apply practical methods to accelerate engagement process; and apply a tool to identify strategies to develop employees for the future.
Participants will:
- Explore growth mindset and ways to use it in the workplace
- Understand how to develop SMART goals and monitor progress
- Review strategies and tools to build a foundation for employee engagement
- Understand and apply a template to develop an employee engagement plan
- Develop a 90-Day Employee Engagement Action Plan
Action Learning Session – Review Designed Action Plan
Learning Outcomes: Incorporate elements to integrate and manage their plan into the workplace, including communication with their manager and staff, plan for debrief sessions to capture their learning, and regular reviews.
Participants will:
- Meet individually with facilitators for review, critique and enhance their 90-Day Action Plan. Participants will revise as needed.
Employee Engagement Hackathon
Learning Outcomes: Participants will creatively solve their biggest challenges around employee engagement.
Participants will:
- Learn and apply new idea creation tools
- Discuss potential solutions for real workplace challenges
- Build collaborative relationships with peers
Individual Skill Building & Learning Sessions
Learning Outcomes: Develop strategic actions from key concepts; discover and enhance personal skills & abilities required to effectively apply concepts and implement strategies for employee engagement.
Participants will:
- Set consistent practices to build engagement and accountability
- Reflect on and learn from your experiences to create new approaches
- Discover your personal leadership approach in action
- Identify skill gaps
Building Long-term Success
Learning Outcomes: Understand a variety of approaches that are effective in different workplaces; identify workplace challenges to implementing employee engagement strategies
Participants will:
- Share ideas they have been implementing
- Assess what’s working well
- Identify current and ongoing challenges to engage employees
- Potential strategies to overcome challenges
How Learning Will be Assessed
In order to receive a Certificate of Completion participants must:
- Complete a knowledge check after each workshop, and
- Provide a 90-day action plan within two weeks of the final workshop
Program Delivery
The program will be delivered virtually via ZOOM. Participants must have access to internet, Zoom, sound and video capabilities.
Workbooks
Participants will receive PDF versions of the Participant Workbooks and all other printed materials.
Investment
The cost of the program is $2995 plus $149.75 GST
Program Capacity
The maximum number of participants per class is 15 people.
Program Dates
- Orientation and Kick-Off Intro Session – September 27, 2023, 1:30 – 2:30 pm
- Module 1 – Wednesday, October 4, 2023, 1:30 pm – 4:30 pm
- Module 2 – Wednesday, October 18, 2023, 1:30 – 4:30 pm
- Action Implementation Session – Build Your Employee Engagement Strategy – Wednesday, November 1, 2023, 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm
- Module 3 – Wednesday, November 15, 2023, 1:30 – 4:30 pm
- Module 4 – Wednesday, November 29, 2023, 1:30 pm – 4:30 pm
- Module 5 – Wednesday, January 10, 2024, 1:30 pm – 4:30 pm
- 90-day Action plan to be provided to the instructors – Friday, January 19, 2024
- Action Plan Learning Review Session – the one-to-one meeting with a facilitator to review the action plan will be scheduled with each participant (1 hour)
- Employee Engagement Hackathon – Group session – Wednesday, February 7, 2024, 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm
- Individual Skill Building and Learning Sessions 2 x 1.5-hour sessions
- Building Long-term Success – Wednesday, February 28, 2024, 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm
Program end date is March 15, 2024.
Sign up today to receive the
Employee Engagement Self-Assessment
for Instant Insights!
Meet Your Facilitators

Kathleen Ozmun partners with change leaders and their teams to increase the value that they create for their stakeholders. Kathleen is the owner of Crossing Point Coaching and Consulting.
She has 20+ years of experience in developing leadership abilities, leading technical and organizational change, engaging stakeholders, resolving conflict, and planning strategy in business, government, community and ‘for-benefit’ sectors.
Kathleen has certifications in Prosci Change Management, Energy Leadership Index, Human Synergistics, and MBTI. She is an Associate Certified Coach with the International Coach Federation and has an Individual Team Coach Accreditation from the European Mentoring and Coaching Council.

Marielle Gauthier, owner of Redworks Communications and Coaching, works with leaders of small to medium-sized organizations to make improvements in individual and team performance and achieve business goals quicker; and with individuals to help them achieve their personal goals and live their extraordinary life.
She provides coaching, consulting, training and facilitation in the areas of succession planning, retirement planning, career success, building better relationships, effective communication, overwhelm and time management, change management, and engaging and mobilizing employees.
Marielle is a certified professional Results executive and personal coach, a Conversational Intelligence coach, an Associate Certified Coach (ACC) with the International Coach Federation, and an Accredited Business Communicator (ABC) with the International Association of Business Communicators.
Leader Transition is Risky Business

Leader Transition is Risky Business Lunch and Learn
This workshop identifies potential risks your business may face when leaders transition and what you will need to manage. During this workshop you will identify:
- Magnitude of the risks for your business
- Level of urgency for you to address these risks
- Barriers may get in your way when managing your risks
- Actions you can take immediately
You will receive a free Leader Transition Readiness Assessment to apply to your business.