Online Course: Effective Coaching, Team Work, and Case Review: Helping Defender Leaders Help Clients

Online Course: Effective Coaching, Team Work, and Case Review: Helping Defender Leaders Help Clients –
Online Weekly February 12 – March 25, 2024
This course has sold out in previous sessions – register soon to guarantee your spot

Registration Deadline Feb 1
Need help with this registration process?  Watch this video.  

Audience – Defender Chiefs, Deputies, Leadership Team Members, Supervisors
This is a course for lawyer and nonlawyer supervisors and team leaders at all levels in both full-time and managed assigned counsel programs about growth and development of staff to help clients even better and comply with ethical responsibilities of supervision.

Expanding our capacity as a coach and the capacity of our staff to take effective action for clients is a primary responsibility of a defender supervisor-leader. Quality performance for clients is the primary responsibility of public defense programs. With quality representation as a defender core value, active coaching is not an optional undertaking. Supervision is an ethical obligation. The objective of supervision is to assure that all defense services provided by lawyers and staff are effective in accordance with the prevailing professional public defense standards and competency within the meaning of the rules of professional conduct.

Through the course, you will create a comprehensive coaching and communication strategy, performance agreements, and evaluations, as well as ways to provide strengths-based developmental feedback. This course will build on your coaching strengths. You will be applying the information in the presentations to the actual situations that you face now.

You will learn:
•  A theory of successful, dynamic coaching
•  Offering effective feedback
•  Engaging employees
•  Using a 3-step performance process
•  Managing, creating, and leading interdisciplinary teams
•  Promoting productive conflict
•  Leading the case-review process
•  Conducting file reviews
•  Creating performance agreements
•  Conducting progressive discipline for unsatisfactory performance or misconduct
•  Leading staff meetings and having key coaching conversations
•  Communicating and framing your coaching process to staff
•  Learning about ways to thrive for the long haul as a hardy coach

There are a total of seven Sections over seven consecutive weeks. Each Section has video presentations and other materials to review at your convenience. Each Section has an assignment based on the work unit situation you bring to the course and you as a coach. The videos, materials and assignments will be discussed in a weekly 90 minute Zoom small group with a structured discussion. These weekly Zoom discussions will be on the same day and at the same time every week.

In taking this online course, you agree to keep conversations in the small group confidential. Time expectations for this course per week are:
• Watching course videos – about 1 – 2  hours
• Weekly assignment – about 1 – 2 hours
• Weekly small groups – 1.5 hours

Course weekly small group meeting times will be set by a poll of registrants to make sure it works with your schedule. When indicating times you can meet, indicate all times you can meet. Because of the number of registrants, we are highly unlikely to be able to accommodate a registrant that can only meet at one of the available times.

Ed Monahan, Ernie Lewis, Hilary Potashner, Stephanne Thornton and Twyla Carter will facilitate the small group discussions. These coaches have many years of experience supervising public defenders.

“In the simplest, day-in, day-out terms, masterful coaching involves expanding people’s capacity to take effective action. It often comes down to making it possible for people to succeed in areas where they are most stuck or ineffective.” – Robert Hargrove

Price: $600 for NAPD Members.  $750 for Non-Members.

Live Orientation for All Registrants: Thursday, February 8th at 4:00 pm ET | 3:00 pm CT | 2:00 pm MT | 1:00 pm PT. A recording of orientation will be available for those unable to attend the live presentation.
Registration Deadline – February 1 AT NOON EASTERN

Small Group Meeting Times: Participants will select the options that work best for their schedule at registration; participants must select all times that they can meet; being able to meet only at one time is highly unlikely to be able to be accommodated

Monday 5:00 p.m. ET | 4:00 pm CT | 3:00 pm MT | 2:00 pm PT    (this is the only time block for the other defense professionals (not attorneys) 
Wednesday 10:30 am ET | 9:30 am CT | 8:30 am MT | 7:30 am PT
Wednesday 11 am ET | 10 am CT | 9 am MT | 8 am PT
Thursday 11 am ET | 10 am CT | 9 am MT | 8 am PT
Friday at 11 am ET | 10 am CT | 9 am MT | 8 am PT
Friday at 1 pm ET | 12 pm CT | 11 am MT | 10 am PT
Friday at 3 pm ET | 2 pm CT | 1 pm MT | 12 pm PT

“The videos were awesome but the breakout sessions were the best. Meeting fellow leaders and knowing that I’m not alone in my leadership struggles. “

“I loved the materials. I worked hard on my assignments and I have some really great things to implement in my office. I loved meeting fellow Defenders who are coaching in different places and facing different struggles.”

“I really liked the small group discussions. It really forces people to open up about the challenges they face in a productive way, instead of these challenges silently weighing on people or being the topic of more toxic discussions within their offices.”