Custom Cases & Topics
Explore a comprehensive list of custom topics and cases we've offered to help organisations unleash their potential
Previously Covered Cases
1. Business Competency Development
At every stage in their career, managers and executives will need help to further develop their business skills—from practical abilities to soft skills like communication and attitude. Whether the employee’s team requires a new skill set or the company expects key competencies, perfecting these skills is a big boost to both the employee and their place of work.
Scenario A:
A business unit or team has identified a skill that needs to be developed.
Real Example
A business development team at an international life sciences company requires support in achieving better negotiation outcomes.
Solution
McGill Executive Institute delivers its highly rated negotiating program, but customizes all the scenarios and business cases around the client’s real life issues to make the learning highly contextualized.
Scenario B:
A team needs to be on the same page for a particular process, or develop a shared approach and vocabulary.
Real Example
An HR team at an international manufacturing firm needs to implement changes across the organization following a change in leadership.
Solution
During a weeklong national management meeting, and following consultations with management, we put together and deliver a two-day leadership workshop on implementing change. This is followed up with small group coaching and consulting sessions on implementing a step-by-step plan.
Scenario C:
A top executive requires confidential coaching to improve competency
Real Example
A high-profile executive needs coaching support to enhance his strategic leadership.
Solution
We provide one-on-one coaching support off-site ensuring complete discretion, as confidentiality is part of our service agreement.
2. Succession Planning: High Performers and High Potential
When it comes to key periods of transition, successful companies understand the importance of succession planning and offering support to managers. McGill Executive Institute is highly experienced at fostering the success of employees who need to take the next step from “doing” to “managing” or must hone their business knowledge and vocabulary to make better decisions for the company.
Scenario A:
A company has promoted first-time team leaders/executives with no experience managing others.
Real Example
A resource company regularly promotes field labourers to the position of team leader or supervisor. These employees require practical, hands-on training to help them be successful in their new role.
Solution
We offer a highly customized program that covers such topics as: effectively promoting safety, hiring processes, performance management, coaching, and day-to-day priority management. Following this initial success, the program is now offered across Canada whenever the company promotes a group of supervisors.
Scenario B:
An organization is looking to train and develop employees with high potential.
Real Example
A top telecommunications company has pinpointed a group of employees with high potential and wants to provide them with management training every year as part of their career progression.
Solution
McGill Executive Institute develops and delivers a multi-modular program for these future leaders. The goal is to leverage their ability to think strategically, innovate, and implement change. The program is renewed every year and delivered to various divisions across Canada, evolving along with participants.
Scenario C:
A company wants to train top-calibre talents to work in a competitive environment.
Real Example
A top telecommunications company has pinpointed a group of employees with high potential and wants to provide them with management training every year as part of their career progression.
Solution
McGill Executive Institute develops and delivers a multi-modular program for these future leaders. The goal is to leverage their ability to think strategically, innovate, and implement change. The program is renewed every year and delivered to various divisions across Canada, evolving along with participants.
3. Customized Support for Senior Leadership
McGill Executive Institute provides coaching, consulting, and development solutions to senior leadership, whose positions require an expert approach that’s credible and objective in order to address their company’s unique issues.
Scenario A:
An executive team needs to be on the same page when it comes to developing a future growth strategy.
Real Example
A team of executives at a private technology company requires outside support to align ideas for future growth and come up with a process for mergers and acquisitions.
Solution
We meet with each member of the team, then use the feedback to set up and facilitate a strategic off-site retreat to help align all members involved.
Scenario B:
An organization is looking to provide their top executives with an internationally renowned leadership development experience
Real Example
An executive team of government deputy ministers and advisors attend an intensive leadership seminar at a different world-renowned university every year.
Solution
This year, they select McGill Executive Institute to provide a premium, one-week experience on a range of leadership topics. We welcome the visiting group, from the Middle East, to our Montreal facilities, where we oversee all logistical details, from providing halal meals to setting up activities such as a parliamentary visit to Ottawa. Participant satisfaction ratings place our institute on par with Ivy League universities in the U.S. and top institutions across Europe. As a result, the organization continues to partner with our institute for other projects.
Scenario C:
A multinational organization is searching for an executive learning experience for presidents and CEOs.
Real Example
A global bank headquartered in Europe brings its international executives together annually to prepare them for future CEO responsibilities.
Solution
We deliver a customized development initiative, hosting delegates from all over the world at our downtown Montreal facility. All logistical details—from company visits to guest speakers, activities, and networking events—are put together by the Institute. The initiative is renewed every year in different worldwide locations.
Previously covered topics
Lead by the world's best
Accounting and Finance for Non-Financial Managers
Master the tools for making smart financial decisions
- Train your team to read and analyze financial reports for business insights.
- Apply break-even analysis to guide smarter investment decisions.
- Focus on maximizing shareholder value through strategic financial planning.
- Develop financing strategies that align with organizational goals.
- Introduce activity-based costing and other cost management principles.
- Enable them to prepare and present persuasive business cases.
- Leverage critical numbers to create high-performing teams.
Average course duration: 2 to 4 days
Coaching for High Performance
Build your coaching muscle and generate greater engagement and performance
- Introduce the core principles of effective coaching within your team.
- Cultivate a coaching mindset that boosts engagement and performance.
- Train them in using a proven coaching model and techniques.
- Facilitate powerful coaching conversations for growth.
- Build feedback mechanisms to inspire motivation and trust.
- Develop personalized coaching styles to match different scenarios.
- Equip teams to spark motivation and engagement in their peers.
Average course duration: 2 days
Communicating Effectively
Relate to diverse social styles and personalities at work
- Teach your team to connect across diverse workplace styles and personalities.
- Strengthen the quality of professional relationships.
- Master difficult conversations with grace and efficacy.
- Develop a positive and influential workplace presence.
- Control and use non-verbal communication effectively.
- Listen actively and offer meaningful feedback.
- Explore strategies to create a respectful and inclusive workplace.
Average course duration: 2 days
Effective Leadership
Key competencies for leadership challenges
- Guide leaders to create engagement-driven organizational cultures.
- Build leadership resilience through actionable toolkits.
- Develop skills to drive motivation, recognition, and team connection.
- Highlight the contrast between managing and leading for effectiveness.
- Foster psychological safety and build strong, trust-based relationships.
- Encourage leaders to shape their vision and personal leadership strengths.
- Emphasize adapting to change and leveraging team feedback for growth.
Average course duration: 2 to 3 days
Employee Engagement and Retention Strategies
Strategies to build a positive work culture and stop the revolving door
- Understand and leverage engagement drivers to boost team morale.
- Foster authentic recognition and appreciation within the organization.
- Create growth-oriented learning and career development opportunities.
- Equip leaders to communicate effectively and foster meaningful relationships.
- Manage stress and emotions for positive team impact and engagement.
Average course duration: 2 days
Essential Management Skills
Enable your transition to a management role
- Strengthen managerial concepts and decision-making capabilities.
- Practice management skills through hands-on exercises.
- Motivate and engage team members using proven techniques.
- Equip managers to manage performance expectations.
- Build collaboration and manage difficult conversations effectively.
Average course duration: 2 to 4 days
Influence and Assertiveness
Elevate your power and impact to build cooperation and get results
- Apply advanced persuasion techniques to inspire cooperation.
- Distinguish between assertiveness and aggressiveness for influence.
- Adapt communication approaches to different organizational levels.
- Encourage proactive influence without relying solely on authority.
- Provide tools to enhance team and personal influence quickly.
Average course duration: 2 days
McGill Change Management Leader
Leading transformation and managing change
- Define and promote effective organizational change.
- Align change management with strategy and readiness goals.
- Develop comprehensive change plans and stakeholder engagement strategies.
- Teach resistance assessment and mitigation tactics.
- Implement methods to evaluate and refine change initiatives.
Average course duration: 2 to 3 days
McGill Micro-MBA for New Managers
Equipping young managers with key business acumen competencies
- Provide clarity on business and management essentials.
- Build a broad organizational view to enhance team engagement.
- Introduce key management skills and business acumen.
- Equip young managers with the vocabulary to lead and influence.
- Lay the foundation for effective business conversations and decision-making.
Average course duration: 4 to 6 days
McGill Executive Leadership Experience
A fresh look at your leadership transformation
- Redefine your leadership approach with innovative perspectives.
- Focus on empathy, strategy, and driving change.
- Encourage innovative problem-solving and adaptability.
- Develop a forward-looking leadership mindset.
Average course duration: 3 to 5 days
Women Entrepreneurs and Leadership Program
Empower – Accelerate – Disrupt
- Foster innovative thinking and inclusive leadership.
- Equip leaders with sustainability and governance practices.
- Influence and negotiate across generational divides.
- Build strategies for creating and sustaining organizational value.
Average course duration: 4 to 6 days
Organizational Resilience and Growth Strategies
Rethinking your business model for the new era of work
- Evaluate your current business model and test the addition of new components using proven business modelling techniques.
- Help build organizational focus around your new growth strategy and business model
- Define the next best business growth opportunities for your organization
- Learn how to build and leverage your economically sustainable competitive advantages
- Create renewed focus, alignment, and engagement in your business strategy execution
- Create market leading value for your key stakeholders.
Average course duration: 2 to 4 days
Innovating through Design Thinking
Apply the power of design thinking for business growth
- Discover design thinking and the types of problems it helps solve
- Develop an empathetic mindset to understand problems from the user’s perspective
- Generate insights to reframe your understanding of a problem
- Apply ideation – rapid generation and refinement of concepts for solutions
- Move from concepts to potential solutions by prototyping
- Learn to test and validate solutions through the design thinking process
Average course duration: 2 to 3 days
McGill C-Suite Series for HR and Learning Executives
Build Resilience, Manage Change, and Drive Innovation through Deliberate HR and EDI Strategies
- Understand your employees’ new relationships with work
- Discover the latest best practices in human resources
- Strategize for the new reality of developing organization structures
- Effectively compare pre & post-covid HR best practices
- Consider the new and enhanced roles that corporate learning/training can fulfil in your organization
- Engage with current research and data on post-COVID-19 models of work
Average course duration: 4 days
Negotiating for Success
Conclude win-win agreements with collaborative negotiations
- Gather information and plan negotiations that succeed
- Adapt your negotiation style to any situation
- Know when an agreement can be reached and when to walk away
- Negotiate one-on-one, in teams, and with multiple partners and issues
- Use your negotiating ability to influence others
- Improve your decision-making skills
- Apply the negotiation situation analysis tool to your own negotiations
Average course duration: 2 to 3 days
AI Essentials
Create value with Artificial Intelligence
- Demystify AI technologies – distinguish what is hype and what is real
- Review real-life examples of AI integration creating competitive advantages
- Build a business case that introduces AI, based on your needs and your particular context
- Examine infrastructural and organizational changes required to make AI initiatives successful
- Understand how AI readiness calls for changes in processes, capabilities, and culture
- Learn tangible ways to implement AI integration and pitfalls to avoid
Average course duration: 2 days
Analytics for Decision Making
Leveraging data for business value
- Think critically about data
- Differentiate between good and bad data
- Avoid data collection biases
- Apply descriptive, predictive or prescriptive analytics
- Understand different applications of business analytics across industries and sectors
- Identify opportunities for creating value using business analytics
- Properly structure data for your organization
Average course duration: 2 days
Breakthrough Selling
Comfortable, easy to use and logical “step by step” method of selling that works for your team's individual styles
- Master every stage of the sales process, from prospecting to retention.
- Equip sales teams with methods that blend comfort and proven tactics.
- Build lasting client relationships and cultivate referrals.
- Develop high-impact sales strategies tailored to team strengths.
Average course duration: 2 days
Strategies for Digital Transformation
Enhance the customer experience
- Understand options to better harness digital technology in the way you do business
- Create more value and improve the experience of those who use your products or services
- Examine your organization’s strategic intent, priorities and risk tolerance for digital change
- Explore whether digital initiatives should be handled in-house or through external partnerships
- Overcome roadblocks to digital readiness
- Build a personal action plan to define and prioritize your digital transformation journey
Average course duration: 2 to 3 days
Strategic Planning and Execution
Turn strategy into action and results
- Understand options to better harness digital technology in the way you do business
- Create more value and improve the experience of those who use your products or services
- Examine your organization’s strategic intent, priorities and risk tolerance for digital change
- Explore whether digital initiatives should be handled in-house or through external partnerships
- Overcome roadblocks to digital readiness
- Build a personal action plan to define and prioritize your digital transformation journey
Average course duration: 2 to 4 days
Project Management
Boost project performance and results
- Train project teams to excel with planning, risk management, and execution.
- Equip leaders to handle scope, stakeholder expectations, and conflicts.
- Develop motivated, collaborative project teams for superior results.
Average course duration: 2 to 3 days
New Marketing Practices
Experiential and internet marketing to drive success
- Provide tools to leverage evolving marketing trends effectively.
- Connect with consumers through meaningful and innovative experiences.
- Develop budget-friendly marketing strategies for high impact.
- Enhance customer loyalty and brand engagement.
Average course duration: 2 days
Building and Selling a Winning Business Case
Tools to move ideas forward
- Understand options to better harness digital technology in the way you do business
- Create more value and improve the experience of those who use your products or services
- Examine your organization’s strategic intent, priorities and risk tolerance for digital change
- Explore whether digital initiatives should be handled in-house or through external partnerships
- Overcome roadblocks to digital readiness
- Build a personal action plan to define and prioritize your digital transformation journey
Average course duration: 2 days
Business Development Strategies
Gain the insights, tools and techniques to generate new business for your products and services
- Target high-value client opportunities with precision.
- Build lasting partnerships and client trust.
- Craft value-driven proposals and solutions to close deals.
Average course duration: 2 days
Customer Service Excellence
Best practices for an outstanding customer service
- Foster outstanding customer service as a competitive advantage.
- Build lasting customer loyalty and referral networks.
- Train teams to adapt and excel across diverse client interactions.
Average course duration: 2 days
Managing Across Generations
Motivate employees with what matters to them
- Embrace generational diversity and understand why some people react the way they do
- Build stronger working relationships among Generation Z, Millennials, Generation X, and Baby Boomers
- Turn negative stereotypes into positive performance and relationships
- Successfully manage varying work habits, communication styles, and motivators
- Develop greater personal influence and impact on the generations before or after yours
- Establish a common approach for a collaborative workplace
Average course duration: 2 days
Managing Priorities and Productivity
Optimize your time to achieve your goals
- Clarify priorities and critical goals
- Understand how your mind can work for you rather than against you
- Understand the multitasking trap
- Build resilience and simplify your life
- Increase productivity at work
- Meet deadlines and assess what’s important
- Take control of your priorities and learning how to say “no”
- Achieve a healthier work/life balance
- Understand your resistance to changing your habits
Average course duration: 2 days
Strategic Problem Solving
Critical skills for organizational success
- Understand how to overcome the cognitive biases and pitfalls of problem solving
- Develop the discipline and confidence to tackle difficult problems outside your expertise
- Define problems using the TOSCA framework
- Learn how to structure a problem
- Solve problems deductively using an analytic approach
- Discover design thinking through an overview
- Develop a persuasive report or presentation to sell the solution
Average course duration: 2 to 3 days
Virtual Teams
Teaming for innovation and growth
- Discover best practices to successfully lead remote teams
- Explore intercultural challenges – relationship to power/authority, challenging others, raising issues
- Understand how sharing leadership is a powerful tool in managing remote teams
- Identify strategies and actions to overcome these challenges, in their own contexts
Average course duration: 2 days
Workplace Culture
Building organizations that thrive
- Understand the importance of aligning culture and strategy
- Understand what organizational culture is and why it matters
- Discover how culture is formed and maintained
- Identify the disruptive forces of culture
- Differentiate perceived culture vs. aspirational culture
- Recognize the different levels of culture in an organization
- Discover different cultural models
Average course duration: 2 days
Managing Conflicts & Difficult Situations
Develop practical skills to deal effectively with conflicts
- Train leaders to handle conflicts with emotional intelligence.
- Develop strategies for mediation and conflict resolution.
- Foster a respectful culture through collaborative communication.
Average course duration: 2 days