Search results
S.O.S – Strategic Opportunities Series for Managers in the UN: People and Performance
The Strategic Opportunities Series (S.O.S.) offers UN managers a clinic-style intervention that addresses the most acute needs of the UN system and its people. It provides curated learning experiences that respond to the pressing “how-to” questions managers face in the most fragile moments of their work, when priorities shift, budgets are restricted, or programmes are suspended.
In periods when managers are asked to do more with less, leading stretched teams, managing dispersed colleagues, and adapting to reshaped structures and expectations, the S.O.S. series helps leaders refocus on what truly matters: their people, the resources that sustain their work, and the organisation’s visibility and credibility in a constantly evolving environment.
It also offers managers a space to pause, reflect, and realign, supported by peers who share similar challenges and experiences, helping to strengthen leadership resilience and foster collective learning across the UN system.
Through curated and tailored learning interventions, managers explore how to:
- Lead teams with empathy, clarity, and purpose;
- Sustain motivation and performance amid shifting demands;
- Mobilise resources through partnerships, private donors, and philanthropy;
- Strengthen the organisation’s recognition and trust through strategic communication, advocacy, and positioning.
Track 1: S.O.S. People and Performance supports leaders navigating uncertainty, high stakes, and resource-constrained contexts. Across three focused blocks, the programme develops practical skills to stabilise team climate, strengthen trust and communication, hold developmental performance conversations, and prioritise work in a way that sustains both team wellbeing and organisational results.
By the end of the programme, participants will be able to:
- Build a climate of trust and psychological safety where team members feel safe to share ideas, raise concerns, and perform confidently in uncertain conditions.
- Reduce survival mode responses within their teams and apply leadership behaviours that enhance team climate.
- Strengthen communication by shifting from transactional exchanges to meaningful, high quality conversations in hybrid and multi location teams.
- Diagnose performance challenges using root cause analysis and lead timely, constructive conversations that support development and accountability.
- Conduct performance conversations that are timely, respectful, and focused on growth rather than stress.
- Prioritise effectively in resource constrained contexts using methods such as Stop, Start, Continue and align team priorities with organisational direction.
- Manage workload expectations with teams, delegate in ways that develop capability, and prevent burnout loops in overstretched teams.
Online (or in person on demand)
Block 1: Managing people in times of uncertainty, high stakes, and pressure
This block focuses on strengthening trust, psychological safety, and communication within dispersed or stretched teams. Participants explore how to reduce survival-mode responses, rebuild connection in hybrid or multi-location settings, and apply small everyday leadership behaviours that positively influence team climate.
Block 2: Performance conversations that work
This block develops confidence and skill in holding performance conversations that are timely, constructive, and growth-focused. Participants learn to diagnose performance challenges using root-cause analysis, shift from evaluation to developmental partnership, hold supportive yet firm accountability conversations, and manage defensiveness effectively.
Block 3: Prioritising work and managing workload in resource-constrained contexts
This block helps leaders and managers sustain performance when resources are limited. Participants learn to align team priorities with organisational direction, use simple prioritisation tools such as Stop, Start, Continue, manage workload expectations up and down, delegate to build capacity, and prevent burnout loops in overstretched teams.
The programme targets UN staff members with managerial functions who are responsible for leading teams, managing performance, mobilizing resources, and representing their offices or divisions. Participants typically include P4 - P5 level managers, though enrolment may extend to other levels depending on organizational context and managerial responsibilities.
$ 1,500
