As conversations surrounding psychological safety continue to grow, a leader’s role takes on even greater significance in fostering that culture of trust. Research indicates that the most impactful style of trust is socio-emotional trust, or relational trust – I trust you because of the relationship we have, and the emotional intelligence that’s brought to the conversation. In this session, leaders review the psychological safety communication strategies of high-performing teams to allow for new ideas to succeed, diversity + inclusion initiatives to prosper, and the important, vulnerable conversations to happen effectively.
Development Training
Leaders Aren’t Born – They’re Made.
We deliver strategic team + leadership development experiences that surpass standard training programs. We engage with insurance teams to strengthen cross-functional collaboration, cultivate lasting trust, and develop decisive leaders who thrive through industry innovation, client relationship growth, and digital transformation opportunities. From teams of underwriters and claims adjusters to agency managers, risk assessors, and advancing insurance professionals, our results-focused, meticulously-tailored process ensures practical relevance and immediate implementation.
Suggested Leadership Workshops: Insurance
The Art + Science of Psychological Safety
Designing A Culture of High Trust & Emotional Agility
Learning Objectives:
- Define the concepts of EMOTIONAL AGILITY and PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY, and explore the building blocks that allow this to prosper in an individual level and within a team environment
- Explore the five common “THINKING TRAPS” that get people stuck, and practice five communication and trust-based “ESCAPE ROUTE” strategies to help yourself and others break free
- Empower team members to speak their minds, and encourage emotional openness from others
Key Themes & Leadership Behaviors:
- Psychological Safety
- Building Trust
- Effective Communication
Learning Objectives:
- Differentiate between the concepts of COACHING and MENTORING in our leadership style
- Experiment with coaching methodologies to enhance our skill set, and determine the strategic questions that inspire others to feel empowered to act
- Develop an action + implementation plan for positive, long-term behavior change
Key Themes & Leadership Behaviors:
- Coaching for Empowerment
- Asking Strategic Questions + Active Listening
- Talent Development
Coaching to Full Potential
Empowering Others through Coaching Conversations
In making the transition from individual contributor to leader, we rely on a new skill set that focuses on inspiring and motivating the people we work with. In this series, participants will focus on people and project leadership skills, specifically as it relates to the topics of coaching and motivating to inspire those we work with to take action. Through knowledge-sharing and discussion based learning, and an opportunity to directly experiment with coaching methodologies, participants will have the opportunity to learn from and alongside each other, and connect these practices to specific action plans to retain and grow their top talent.
Building The Dream Team
Adjusting Styles To Enhance Relationships & Build Trust
In this workshop, participants will discover the elements of their working style and communication preferences within four key dimensions: how we like to communicate, how we take in and process information, how we make decisions, and how we organize our lives. Through group learning, individual reflection, and group discussion, participants will walk away from this workshop with an increased confidence in their ability to articulate their needs to others, and heightened ability to adjust their styles to meet the preferences of others. This session takes a humorous and informative look at how we operate, providing us with the tools to adjust our styles to work effectively with anyone.
Learning Objectives:
- Clarify leadership and communication preferences, and develop a “user’s manual” to articulate our findings
- Discover the attributes, behaviors and common blind-spots of natural preferences, and explore and understand the same attributes and behaviors of opposing types
- Highlight specific actions we can take when working with someone who leverages opposing preferences, and develop a plan to adjust our styles with at least one current colleague
Key Themes & Leadership Behaviors:
- Effective Communication
- Collaboration + Trust
- Openness + Awareness
Learning Objectives:
- Identify current decision making practices, both on an individual and team level
- Discover The Four Phases of Team Development, overlaying the model to spark dialogue on the current state of team dynamics
- Measure individual and team-based decision making success, and develop an action and implementation plan of new leadership competencies
Key Themes & Leadership Behaviors:
- Data-Based Decision Making
- Consensus Building
- Effective Communication
Survival Simulation
An Experiment with Team Effectiveness & Decision Making
During this interactive and experience-based simulation, the playing fields are evened and participants are tasked with a specific objective to ensure survival. Leveraging their decisions, teams are able to measure their individual and group effectiveness, and walk away with a deeper understanding of the four stages of team development, and experiment with tools to enhance their approaches to decision making on their own and as a team.
Why Choose Us for Insurance Leadership Training
Looking to elevate communication, partnership, and performance within your insurance organization? The Leadership Laboratory delivers team + leadership development workshops that are fun, grounded in research, and built to reflect your organization's unique culture. Our data-driven workshops are carefully designed and hands-on – elevating your team and leaders to the next level.
Insurance professionals possess specialized knowledge and skills, and we're committed to maximizing those talents for greater impact. Whether your team includes claims managers, policy specialists, actuaries, or insurance executives, The Leadership Laboratory creates targeted, workshops that build on existing capabilities, strengthen leadership confidence, and drive enhanced collaboration, client service, and organizational results. Based on positive psychology principles, our approach focuses on growth, not gaps, to facilitate sustainable, meaningful change across your company. Our data-driven insurance leadership workshops utilize proven frameworks developed specifically for insurance professionals to inspire long-term, positive behavior change.
The Leadership Laboratory operates nationwide with both in-person and virtual healthcare leadership development workshops. We proudly serve healthcare organizations around the world and throughout the United States across the country, including Chicago, New York, Phoenix, and San Diego.
Building tomorrow's leaders today.
The Leadership Laboratory works across multiple industries - including start-up and established technology firms, non-profit and government agencies, finance companies, healthcare organizations and more. We are proud to collaborate with individuals and teams of all sizes.
Contact us and say hello! We're excited to get to know you and share our ideas on learning + leadership development.
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Collaborating Partners
“I laughed harder than I have in a while!”
Our workshop was engaging, informative, rejuvenating and pure fun. I laughed harder than I have in a while! This was a phenomenal way to get more comfortable as a team.
— Director of People, SpotHero
“You made this easy to apply and implement”
You listened to our needs and adapted on the spot to incorporate leadership lessons. Every element was backed up by research, and you made this easy to apply and implement.
— VP / HEAD OF PEOPLE, WARBY PARKER
Meet Jacob Goldstein
Jacob Goldstein is the founder of The Leadership Laboratory, and leverages his experiences in education, the performing arts, and corporate learning & leadership development to his work. As a performer, Jacob has sung as a backup vocalist for musical artists such as Josh Groban, Idina Menzel, and Patti LuPone, as a recording artist for Netflix series Sense8, and at venues including The United Center, The Chicago Theater, and Chicago Symphony Center. In the education space, Jacob has served as an educator for high school, undergraduate and graduate students, and has been a Guest Lecturer at Northwestern University since 2016. As a Learning & Leadership Development Consultant, Jacob has worked as a one-on-one coach and group workshop facilitator to organizations ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies in diverse industries, including technology, healthcare, non-profit, and fashion/apparel. Jacob holds a Bachelor’s degree from The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a Master’s of Science in Communication from Northwestern University.