Led by workplace communication coach and leadership alchemist Susan Giacobazzi, this isn’t your typical stuffy corporate training. It’s a refreshingly real, high-level experience designed for people who’ve built their own success—and are ready to lead with more intention, clarity, and impact.
This 8-month series is for leaders who care deeply about growth—not just their own, but their team’s too. Whether you’re a business owner or in upper management, if you believe your people are your organization’s greatest asset, you’re in the right place.
This is exactly why Next Level Leadership exists.
Feeling like there’s never a good time to hit pause and actually think about your team, your leadership, and where you’re headed next?
Bonus points: It’s in-person (woohoo!) and in Truckee, CA!
Truckee Town Hall - 10183 Truckee Airport Rd, Truckee, CA 96161
September 16, 2025
October 7, 2025
October 21, 2025
November 4, 2025
November 18, 2025
TRUCKEE LOCATION & DATES
December 2, 2025
January 6, 2026
February 3, 2026
March 3, 2026
April 7, 2026
- Clarify what kind of leader you want to be
- Consider your current culture & determine its strengths and weaknesses
- Learn tools to be an attentive & compassionate leader while providing clarity and boundaries for your team
- Get to know your cohort of fellow leaders
- Explore your CliftonStrengths results to see what makes your leadership style uniquely you
- Spot how your personality traits show up in real-life team dynamics
- Identify the blind spots and risks that come with your strengths (yep, even superpowers have fine print)
- Learn how to lead with more intention, clarity, and confidence
- Celebrate the awesome human you already are—and sharpen what’s already working
- Discuss why trust really matters—and what happens when it’s missing
- Learn the basics about the neuroscience of trust
- Discover which trust-building behaviors come naturally to you—and which ones might be tripping you up
- Learn practical ways to create a culture of psychological safety, starting with how you show up as a leader
- Strengthen your team’s ability to speak up, take risks, and support one another (without the drama)
- Understand how you, as the leader, directly influence engagement—and whether people stick around
- Learn how to spot the difference between someone’s hardwiring and habits that can shift so you can decide who should stay
- Gain tips on how to hire intentionally, give meaningful performance feedback, and make tough calls with clarity and care
- Build your skills for leading 1:1s that actually matter (no more awkward check-ins or calendar fillers)
- Create a team culture that makes the right people want to grow—and stay
- Explore the real connection between wellbeing and job performance (hint: they’re very linked)
- Figure out when an employee’s personal challenges are relevant to your role—and when to step in with care
- Learn how to lead through those “life is life-ing” moments without losing compassion or accountability
- Pick up practical tools for managing stress, anxiety, and burnout—for both your team and yourself
- Gain insight into supporting neurodiverse team members with curiosity, not assumptions
- Build a healthier, more human-centered team culture (without turning into everyone’s therapist)
- Identify which of your habits get in the way of being a truly effective listener
- Learn how to communicate clearly across Email, Text, and Teams
- Add practical tools to your leadership toolkit that help your employees feel genuinely heard
- Find the sweet spot between authority and approachability—all while staying true to your authentic self
- Strengthen your presence so people lean in when you speak (instead of checking their phones)
- Learn how to spot the difference between conflict that fuels progress vs. conflict that derails it
- Gain tools to shift your colleagues’ mindset when tensions are high (without playing referee)
- Build your confidence in facilitating disagreements that are honest, respectful, and bridge-building
- Learn to work effectively with the “difficult” personality—and how to manage with empathy and clarity
- Develop practical strategies to reduce tension that honor your communication style
- Diagnose where and why siloing is happening—and what it’s costing your team
- Learn habits that spark real collaboration across individuals, departments, and teams
- Equip your team to give and receive constructive criticism without defensiveness or drama
- Shift your culture from “us vs. them” to “let’s figure this out together”
- Help your people show up with curiosity, humility, and a willingness to co-create (not compete)
- Explore what meetings should be doing—beyond one-way info sharing
- Audit your team’s current meeting load and define what “just enough” looks like
- Create a game plan for crafting realistic, focused agendas that actually fit into your workday
- Learn how to bring back the spark—so meetings feel collaborative, not soul-sucking
- Turn your meetings into time well spent (instead of time you’ll never get back)
- Shift from being the go-to doer to becoming a trusted coach and mentor
- Learn how to support your star performers in building the careers where they’ll thrive
- Develop your personal “high impact plan” for the legacy you want to leave behind
- Reflect on your leadership journey and celebrate how far you’ve come
- Wrap up with your cohort of Next Level Leaders
Outcomes you can expect:
Impact Your Bottom Line
Strong leadership drives employee engagement. Engagement drives productivity. Productivity drives the bottom line.
Win Back Your Time
Invest your own time where you’ll gain the most returns. Minimize wasted hours on refereeing unproductive interpersonal conflicts, so you and your employees can get back to work!
Reduce Stress, Improve Health
Learn techniques to reduce stress and create a healthier, happier work environment for yourself and your team. By fostering a culture of well-being, you'll see improvements not only in morale but also in productivity and overall performance.
Understand Yourself First
Get to know yourself and your work style. By building healthy communication skills and leaning into your strengths, you’ll shape a work culture that fits you and your team.
Strengthen Relationships
Whether at home or in the office, relationships matter. This seminar gives you tools to strengthen connections, grow talent, improve communication, and create a culture of success.
Reduce Stress, Improve Health
Build a culture that thrives without you. When employees feel empowered to perform and stay, your legacy becomes a workplace people are proud to carry forward.
“This course has assisted me with diving deeper into the nuances of leadership and management using my personal strengths. As a new manager I have learned skills and techniques to lead more effectively because I can match these skills to my own strengths. I also have learned to identify where I need more development and support without thinking of them as weaknesses.”
“Taking this course and learning more about my strengths as well as those around me has helped to make me a better leader and able to better collaborate with knowing where to bring in certain tools, be more patient, communicate differently, etc. I found it very valuable as someone who is constantly working on collaborative projects with many teams.”
Meet your trainer
Susan Giacobazzi
Meet Susan Giacobazzi—your facilitator for this training and a coach who knows how to speak leader. As the founder of Work Well Co and a Certified CliftonStrengths & Workplace Communication Coach, Susan helps leaders crack the code on their own wiring so they can lead with more clarity, connection, and (let’s be honest) less stress.
Based in North Lake Tahoe, CA, Susan works with high-performing leaders and their teams turn insight into action. Her specialty? Guiding leaders through the sticky stuff—difficult conversations, team dynamics, and those “okay, now what?” leadership moments.
Her coaching style blends creativity and intuition with proven, research-backed tools—so leaders walk away not just inspired, but ready to lead with purpose. She’s known for energizing workshops that help leaders build culture, boost collaboration, and lead with strengths—without the corporate snooze vibes.
With a Master’s from the University of Washington and a Bachelor’s from the University of Nevada, Reno, Susan brings both academic chops and intuitive wisdom. She’s also a dynamic public speaker and a respected voice in her community.
If you’re ready to level up how you lead, communicate, and connect—Susan’s the one to help make that happen.
The Next Level Leadership program is presented in partnership with the Truckee Chamber of Commerce. The Truckee Chamber helps great businesses and people who love to live and work in the mountains connect.