Being a Leader at U of T

Leading people

Leading people is a significant milestone in a person’s career.

It’s a rich experience, but also a challenging one.

The LLC has developed a suite of leadership programs for every stage in the leadership journey.

Self Leadership: Leadership is not a job title, it’s a set of behaviours that every employee can engage in to demonstrate self-leadership.

Employee Lifecycle and People Leadership: Leading a team of people involves both guiding them through the employee lifecycle, from hire to retire, and critically, building trust and strong reciprocal relationships so that everyone feels included, valued and that they belong.

Strategic Leadership: Taking on a senior leadership role means taking a more strategic and nuanced view of the landscape that the University operates in, with its size, complexity and role in the world. The combined suite of programs described below will help you reach you leadership potential.

Self-Leadership Courses

Leadership starts with self. Everyone in every role at the University can be a leader – it’s a set of behaviours, not just a title. It’s about accountability, self-awareness and continuous learning. How can you lead others if you can’t lead yourself?

These foundational skills, behaviours and attitudes can be developed through a variety of offerings:

Linkedin Learning, School of Continuing Studies, outside professional development, job shadowing, mentoring, and on-the-job experience.

Self-Leadership Commitments

Employee Lifecycle Leadership Program

There are two essential components to being a people leader. First, and foundational, is the requirement to be a Talent Developer and support your team members through the employee lifecycle at the University. It’s important to understand how to administer the processes that are part of every employee's time at the University.

The ELLP is a hybrid learning program that includes in-person, virtual, and self-directed learning. The total time commitment is 20 hours spread over five weeks and is offered twice a year (Fall and Spring) for new Staff-Appointed, Professional Managerial, Advancement Professional, and Librarian managers. Eligible participants will be contacted by the LLC for registration prior to each program.

Talent Developer Commitments

People Leadership Program

For those who aspire to people leadership, it means leading yourself, coaching, nurturing, and developing your team’s talent. People leaders are authentic, make their employees feel valued and are aware of the impact of their own behaviours on others. Most importantly, they create inclusive workplaces, where everyone feels they have a voice.

These are the behaviours that are at the core of being a people leader. It means, in both great times and stressful times, we are behaving in ways that builds trust, collaboration, engagement, and most importantly, inclusivity.

We run two cohorts every year:

PM6-PM11 & AP2 from January to December

PM4-PM6 & AP1 from September to May

Eligible participants will be contacted by the LLC for registration prior to each program.

People Leadership Commitments

Strategic Leadership Program

For those who aspire to strategic higher education leadership, it means having strong self and people leadership skills AND the ability to engage in strategic thinking, planning, as well as a more sophisticated and nuanced level of relationship skills (e.g. negotiating, influencing, etc.), along with deep knowledge of the higher education sector.

Developing this program is part of the long-term plan of the LLC. We anticipate partnering with several internal and external experts to create a program that meets the needs of future senior leaders for our unique institution.

Leadership Suite

Download Leadership Suite [PDF]

You may download the pdf of the Leadership Suite for your reference.