Texas Association of Secondary School Principals
And the Applied EQ Group Presents:

The EQ-uipped Leader: Accessing Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
for Effective and Sustainable Leadership

A Professional Development Series of Online Training Modules  (FREE for TASSP Members!)
With Trainers Dr. Adam L. Sáenz & Dr. Jenny Severson


Emotionally intelligent leadership is not about calming the blowing winds of racial discord, lowering the rising seas of economic disparity, or stopping the heavy rains of disproportionate access to education. Rather, it is about looking within ourselves as leaders to gain increased self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, and interpersonal skills to calm the storm within us. As we increase our capacity for emotional intelligence, we become a secure base to those depending on us to weather the storm. The most effective Tier 1 intervention for every student (and every teacher) on our campuses is a leader who is living out their calling with mindful passion, mastering their own inner world.
These modules will be offered as live online 45-minute sessions with our trainers. They will be recorded and available for later viewing for those who cannot attend the 3:00p sessions. TASSP members will be able to view at no cost, while non-members will be able to purchase training access.

COST DETAILS:

  • FREE for TASSP MEMBERS (Registration required for each session)
  • NON-MEMBER: $55 per person/session or all 8 sessions for $199
  • CAMPUS: $599 for all 8 sessions (provides 6 licenses or individual subscriptions)
  • DISTRICT: $1499 for all 8 sessions (provides 15 licenses or individual subscriptions)
REGISTER NOW

- Will I Be a Leader that Leaves a Mark or a Scar?
Description: Consider the quote by American psychologist Dan Goleman: "If you don't have self-awareness, if you are not able to manage your distressing emotions, if you can't have empathy and have effective relationships, then no matter how smart you are, you are not going to get very far." When we consider the toxicity of leaders who have risen to top of political, corporate, and educational structures, reality tells us that sadly, Dr. Goleman's quote does not represent reality. The question isn't whether we can go far in life without emotional intelligence, the question is how much damage we are at risk of doing along the way. We will begin our series by reflecting on where we've been, where we are, and casting vision for who we would like to become as leaders. We will then explore the nature of emotional intelligence, how it is essential to effective and sustainable leadership, and how we can be leaders that leave a mark and not a scar.
- What is Survival Mode and How Do I Escape?
Description: Each day presents new challenges for educators in the pandemic: student attendance, staff shortages, concerned parents, and the demands of our personal lives can leave us feeling like we're just living to get through the day (or the hour!). It's called "survival mode." While knowing how to live in survival mode is necessary through these times, we do not want it to become our new normal. The good news is that we can make small physical and mental adjustments each day that will keep us from being driven by the chaos of external forces. Participants will learn:
• the neuropsychology that drives survival mode, including the roles of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.
• the negative effects of survival mode, including the loss of the ability to find opportunity.
• practical physical and cognitive strategies that can be used daily to reduce the negative impact of survival mode.
- The Hero’s Journey: A New Way to Understand Stress
Description: Stress is energy our bodies produce when we wonder whether we can deal effectively with a given task (like teaching through a global pandemic!). Believe it or not, though, stress doesn't have to be the enemy. In fact, stress can be a fuel source (adrenaline and cortisol) that powers us to peak performance in all areas of our lives, turning us into life givers instead of life suckers. We'll explore the sources of our stress, the impact it has on our body, and how we can hack that energy to slay the dragons we face as we journey through the forest of the unknown. Participants will learn:
• fight or flight strategies that create tonic (versus toxic), life giving work environments.
• fight or flight strategies that create toxic (versus tonic) life sucking work environments.
• Participants will build their personal Dream Team-those four relationships that any educator must have to stay at top performance.
- The Empathetic and Relationally-Engaged Leader
Description: "It's lonely at the top." King Henry VI. Leadership does not have to be lonely. In fact, empathetic and relationally-engaged leaders find that in contrast, leadership is an endeavor that creates deeper personal and collective community. Empathy and interpersonal skills save the leader from isolation and burnout. Participants will learn:
• the relational dynamics of effective team building, including managing diversity of thought
• the empathy blocks that keep leaders from deeper understanding of their teams' needs
• the impact of communication styles on team dynamics

- Love Your Three-Pound Universe
Description: The EQ Advantage has many layers. Understanding the core of neuroplasticity; how the brain changes fast in response to types of stimulus is essential for adults (and students). Can your brain change rapidly? Simply thinking (focused and daily) evokes action potentials in your brain and activates immediate response genes (IRG) for physiological change. This process can happen with quality mental rehearsals for a skill. This session will unpack specific strategies so that you can make EQ work for your IQ starting today. Participants will identify and experience:
• The path of learning and memory (thalamus, hippocampus, amygdala)
• How to get the amygdala to back off, now!
• Create more calm in your life and leadership
• Claim and name the difference you can make to your brain today
• Love your 3-pound universe, every day in every way with an (IRG) immediate response genes
• Participants walk away refreshed, energized, and empowered by the content and experience of learning.
- The Post Pandemic Educator 101: Awareness, Acceptance, Action
Description: Do you have certain phrases that have given you energy, awareness and shifted your thinking? Two of mine are: "Where the attention goes, the energy flows," and "You are either green and growing or ripe and rotting." These are mantras I've lived by for 30 years. What do these mantras look like, sound like and feel like in the classroom? In leadership? At home? In my inner life? Let's engage in these ideas through 3 compelling experiences that connect us all in our humanity and catapult us forward with new energy. Leaming outcomes include the following:
• Define what it means to be living above the line (energizing) and also living below the line (draining)
• Key emphasis will be on self-talk and knowing your triggers and habits to bounce or "trampoline" back up?
• Participants will: Identify negative spirals and how to stop them using mind-mapping sequence.
• Participants will: Complete values clarification activity. Why? Demoralization is the erosion of your values not matching up over time; it creates burnout; getting clear is kind, unclear is unkind.
• Participants will: walk away refreshed, energized and empowered.
- Dare to Lead
Description: We define leadership as anyone who takes responsibility for finding the potential in people and processes and has the courage to develop that potential. Leadership is not about the title, position, or corner office. It's actually about the willingness to step up, put yourself out there and learn, leaning into courage. The world is desperate for brave leaders. Especially in schools. Explore your story as an educator and mark key moments that shifted your life. Courage is contagious and sharing your signature story is part of the Dare To Lead process. Jenny has been trained in 32 hours of workshops by Dr. Brené Brown known world-wide for her Ted Talk, podcast Unlocking Us and the global conversation she emerged on shame resilience. Participants will explore:
• What is vulnerability and what are boundaries that empower it.
• Living Your Values (Rather Than Simply Professing Them)
• The Speed of Trust
• Learning To Rise (how to keep suiting up and showing up).
- The Educator Assessment of Social and Emotional Learning (EASEL): Leveraging Personality to Maximize Strengths and Grow Weaknesses
Description: The EASEL is a powerful tool that increases emotional intelligence and resilience in educators by helping them focusing on self-awareness and self-regulation. The EASEL is an online assessment, developed by Dr. Adam Saenz and his colleagues in the College of Education at Texas A&M University, can be used to for leadership development by bringing awareness of how our unique personality impacts the decisions we make in the big school setting, with our teams, with our parents and with our students. Based on my personality style, what are my relational strengths? My weaknesses? Which faculty/staff will be easiest and most difficult for me to connect with? What biases might I be bringing onto my campus? The EASEL also creates common language that can create a campus culture of emotional literacy. Learning outcomes include the following:
• Participants will complete the EASEL online and receive an electronic report containing all results and recommendations for growth.
• Participants will identify their strengths and weaknesses based on personality styles


About our Trainers:

Adam L. Sáenz
Dr. Adam Sáenz earned his Ph.D. in School Psychology from Texas A&M University as a United States Department of Education doctoral fellow. He completed his predoctoral clinical training under a fellowship appointment to Harvard Medical School, and he has a post-doctorate in clinical psychology from the Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Dr. Saenz also earned a Doctorate of Ministry in Pastoral Counseling from Graduate Theological Foundation with residency at Christ Church college of Oxford University.
He currently serves as the Executive Director of the Applied EQ Group, the counseling and assessment clinic he founded in 2003. He also serves as a consulting psychologist to the Texas A&M Department of Athletics and to the Texas A&M Medical School. Dr. Saenz has authored multiple titles, including the best-selling, The Power of a Teacher and Relationships That Work. His most recent release, The EQ Intervention, was an Amazon bestseller that won the Independent Publisher Association gold medal in psychology.
Dr. Sáenz and his wife, Kim, have been married 26 years, and they have four grown children: Alisa, Mya, Isaiah, and Andrew.
Dr. Jenny Severson
Dr. Jenny Severson earned her Doctorate at Loyola University in Chicago. An award-winning teacher in the state of Illinois, Jenny was selected to become principal of the (K-5) school at the age of 26. Her leadership, energy for connection and passion for serving are evident as an educational consultant. Jenny’s training sessions catapult schools and organizations forward faster. She's known for creating, facilitating experiences that result in amazing team dynamics which leads to improved quality, data and results.
She has worked with hundreds of educational institutions over the past 26 years which have spawned a myriad of best practices in the application of neuroscience, neurolinguistics to teaching and learning with deep roots in neurobiology, human development, cognition, and psychology. Jenny's corporate clients include L'Oreal, Target Corporation, Lifetouch Pictures, Jostens, and a variety of non-profit agencies, churches, and school boards.
Jenny is the current Director of Training at the Applied EQ Group which serves a broad range of CEO's, professional and collegiate athletes, businesses and institutions whose primary aim is to work at peak performance applying the EQ advantage to integrate their best life. Her niche is building leaders: teachers, principals and superintendents.
Dr. Jenny Severson has two publications beyond her dissertation which are: Thrive and The Educator's 180-Day Gratitude Turnaround which exemplify her passion for voicing one’s story and how gratitude heals and transforms habits.
Jenny lives in Minnesota with her husband, Todd Johnson of 16 years and their three growing children, Lucy, Zoey and Henry.