Workshops For Professional Service Firms
Empower Your Team’s Journey Towards Sustained Success
Your professional service firm can thrive by leveraging the expertise of Dr. Špela Trefalt, a globally acclaimed authority on work-life balance, organizational change, and leadership coaching. Our workshops give your leaders and teams practical tools and insights to achieve balance and excel in high-pressure environments.
Rated 4.9/5.0 by hundreds of professional service practitioners and firms, Spela’s interactive sessions inspire, challenge, and empower. Whether fostering effective leadership, attaining sustainable work-life balance, or enhancing networking skills, our workshops deliver evidence-based strategies to drive your firm’s success.
Partner with Spela to bring transformative change to your organization. Explore our workshop offerings below and take the first step toward unlocking your team’s full potential.
Key Benefits
Workshops Tailored Specifically for Professional Service Firms
Enhanced Talent Retention and Satisfaction
Addressing the demand for work-life balance will help you avoid losing top talent and ensure that your best employees stay engaged and committed.
Improved Diversity and Inclusion
Satisfy clients by showcasing a diverse, dynamic team that reflects contemporary values and perspectives.
Optimized Leadership and Promotion Processes
Supporting individuals who feel overwhelmed can increase success rates in the promotion process, ensuring that capable employees thrive and advance.
Sustain engaged and motivated employees and partners who understand and enjoy their roles, leading to higher performance and job satisfaction.
Number of Attendees
Workshops Delivered
Average Participant Evaluation
Transform Your Firm
Explore Our Impactful Workshops
Workshop
Beyond The Billable Hour
Making Elusive Work-Life Balance a Reality in High-Pressure Environments
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION
In the demanding world of legal and professional services, the concept of work-life balance often seems unattainable. Many professionals, especially lawyers, face long hours and intense workloads, with firms that bill by the hour, making time a scarce and precious resource. This workshop acknowledges these challenges and helps professionals in high-pressure environments to divide time and attention between work and personal life, while still feeling satisfied with the outcomes.
Clients will still be demanding, and competition will remain fierce after this workshop, but participants will learn evidence-based approaches to setting boundaries and prioritizing their attention. Attendees will discover what they can do to achieve their own sense of balance and learn to create a supportive environment where others can do the same. Work-life balance doesn’t mean a 50-50 split; it’s about making day-to-day decisions that fulfill a sense of purpose. By infusing meaning into each aspect of life, participants will learn to find their own version of balance.
WORKSHOP Benefits/Results
- Learn evidence-based strategies for setting boundaries and prioritizing attention to achieve a better work-life balance.
- Understand how work-life balance supports professional excellence and increases retention.
- Gain practical tools to implement balance in your own life and create a supportive environment for people who work for you.
Who It's For:
Managing partner, senior partners, Practice leaders and Partners
Delivery and Format
Duration: 2-hour and 3-hour versions available
Format: Virtual or In-Person
Participation Limit: Unlimited
Workshop
Navigating Change Without Authority
Proven Techniques for Professional Services Leaders
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION
In the fast-paced world of professional services, leading organizational change can be challenging, especially when formal authority is limited. This workshop equips participants with the psychological insights and practical tools needed to navigate and lead successful change initiatives.
Discover why change is difficult and how to overcome resistance, all while learning to inspire and engage your team in the process. Participants will leave with actionable strategies to apply to their own change projects, ready to drive transformation with renewed energy.
WORKSHOP Benefits/Results
- Gain a deep understanding of the psychological aspects of organizational change and why it is challenging.
- Acquire proven tools and strategies to effectively lead change initiatives without relying on formal authority.
- Develop a specific action plan to overcome resistance and move your change project forward with renewed energy.
Who It's For:
Managing Partners, Senior Partners, Practice Leaders and Partners
Delivery and Format
Duration: 2-hour and 3-hour versions available
Format: Virtual or In-Person
Participant Limit: Unlimited
Workshop
Networking Without the Ick
Building Meaningful Connections for Success
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION
Tired of feeling uncomfortable while networking? This workshop is designed to help participants build a powerful network of relationships that align with their professional goals without awkwardness. In this engaging session, we’ll explore the key structural properties of effective networks and critically assess participant’s current relationships. We’ll determine how well their network supports goals like increasing visibility, establishing themselves as a subject matter expert, securing exciting projects, and developing a book of business.
The 3-hour version includes a unique virtual simulation to deepen understanding, while the 1.5-hour version provides concise, impactful strategies. Participants will leave with a personalized plan based on the latest research, ready to elevate their professional relationships.
WORKSHOP Benefits/Results
- Create a detailed map and assessment of your current network to identify strengths and gaps.
- Learn the latest research-backed strategies for building a network that enhances your visibility and opportunities.
- Develop a personalized plan with actionable steps to improve and expand your professional relationships effectively.
Who It's For:
Newly-minted Associates
Delivery and Format
Duration: 1.5-hour and 3-hour versions available
Format: Virtual or In-Person
Minimum Participants: 7 for the 3-hour version with the virtual simulation
Workshop
Vision to Reality
Crafting Your Future Path
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION
In this workshop, participants will articulate their vision for the future and devise a plan to achieve it. They’ll reflect on their personal values and passions to define a compelling vision and then create a detailed “vision ladder” with actionable steps. Whether participants are considering fast-paced growth on their career path, an alternative career path, or are aiming for personal growth, this workshop will equip the audience with the tools to turn their dreams into reality.
WORKSHOP Benefits/Results
- Develop a clear and compelling personal vision statement encompassing your professional and personal aspirations.
- Create a detailed “vision ladder” with specific, actionable steps to achieve your vision.
- Gain tools and techniques to overcome obstacles and stay on track, ensuring continuous progress toward your goals.
Who It's For:
- Professionals seeking promotion
- Recently promoted professionals unsure of their next steps
- Established professionals feeling stuck or uninspired
Delivery and Format
Duration: 1.5-hour and 3-hour versions available
Format: Virtual or In-Person
Participant Limit: Unlimited
Workshop
Leadership Mastery
From Individual Contributor to Team Leader
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION
Many professionals become leaders because they excel as individual contributors. They are smart, hardworking, diligent, capable, and committed. However, most receive little to no training on how to lead people. This workshop is designed to close that gap. Over three sessions, participants will learn the basics of organizational behavior, team dynamics, and leading teams to success. Attendees will gain a better understanding of the specific challenges of leading other professionals and acquire tools to lead effectively.
By the end of this workshop, participants and their teams will be able to deliver better service, enjoy the process more, and deepen their professional relationships. They will no longer struggle to staff their teams and will have a clear plan for managing teams from start to finish.
WORKSHOP Benefits/Results
- Participants will gain a clear and concise plan for managing teams from the beginning to the end of a project.
- Attendees will learn tools to support work-life balance in ways that enhance excellent service.
- Participants will acquire techniques for motivating and managing the performance of their team members, ensuring better service delivery and stronger team relationships.
Who It's For:
- Rising senior associates and junior partners in law firms
- Rising team leaders in consulting, architectural, engineering, and other professional services firms
Delivery and Format
Duration: 3 sessions of 3 hours each
Format: Virtual or In-Person
Participant Limit: Unlimited
With Spela’s help in each session, and sometimes with her tough love, I get clarity and move into a state in which I realize that I have the freedom to choose my path forward. Spela is a skilled coach who has been a guiding beacon for me, illuminating the path toward my self-awareness and personal growth.
Rosaria Meek, PhD
Dr. Trefalt joined us at our annual Senior Leadership Team retreat and conducted an outstanding workshop on Leading Organizational Change. Her dynamic and engaging presentation style, coupled with informative and actionable content, left a lasting impact.
Steve Amendo, CMO,
Martin's Point Health Care
My attitude about my career and myself has shifted 180 degrees in the positive. Spela is transformative in a subtle yet profound way that really sticks. Spela combined her extensive and cutting-edge academic knowledge with unmatched professional experience and blended these to help me craft pragmatic plans to really reach my future career and life vision.
Ashleigh Dueker, Associate Director of Products, PA Consulting
Working with Spela has profoundly impacted my personal and professional life. Her coaching instilled confidence in me and reinforced my commitment to my core values. With her guidance, I navigated crucial career decisions, advanced in my job, and enrolled in a master’s degree program.
Magda Carr, Director of SNAP-Ed at the YMCA Greater of Boston
Spela helped me tap into my own energy and existing passion for my craft and team to explore pathways for me to grow into an authentic leader. Our sessions were built on the trust she built from the beginning and led by her patience and dedication to offering new skills and methods based on my own personal goals. I feel sincere in my approach to daily activities and more confident when I face challenges in my role from the mindset and tools we worked on together.
Lisa Fowler, Partner, PA Consulting
One of the unique strengths Spela brings is a deep understanding of the ways, workings, and demands of professional and corporate work. This experience is a critical skill to helping me navigate both my career and personal challenges and successes. She’s been a key reason my career has gone up, up, up.
Jennifer Johnston Canfield, EVP Growth & Strategy, emtelligent
Spela’s coaching was exceptional! Spela guided me through difficult career considerations, ensuring not only me staying with my firm but also retaining my senior position. Financially, this was incredibly important for my family and me, and I am extremely grateful to Spela for this.
Alexandra Rodina, Kennedys, Partner
I started working with Spela shortly after returning to my job in management consulting after my maternity leave. I was in a period of massive transition, reprioritization and deep thinking about what I want from my career, and how that had changed. Spela provided structure and space for me to set my goals and make a plan to work toward them. I continue to revisit her guidance and coaching months later!
Jenna Phillips, Managing Consultant, PA Consulting
Transitioning from early career to the new responsibilities that presented themselves in mid-career was a daunting journey for me, but with Spela/Dr. Trefalt as my professional coach, it became an empowering and enlightening experience. Spela’s approach was not about dictating steps, but rather about guiding me to discover my own path. She helped me leverage my background as a psychologist and academic to navigate entry into the entrepreneurial world.
Allison Wilkerson, PhD, DBSM, Clinical Director, Dept of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina
Coaching with Dr. Trefalt was an unprecedented opportunity to deeply look inside myself and understand the root of my insecurities. Her insightful questions helped me navigate daily challenges, build confidence, and achieve meaningful progress in both personal and professional realms. My lab has grown significantly, I’ve secured additional funding, and I’m learning to lead with empathy and self-trust.
Silvia Guglietta,
PhD, Assistant Professor of Mucosal Immunology,
Medical University of South Carolina
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Frequently Asked Questions
Got some queries? Let’s answer them!
What seniority level do you usually work with?
The topics I focus on are highly relevant for professionals at all levels of seniority. Whether participants are individual contributors gearing up for their first management role, senior partners at a large law firm, or leaders in various organizations, I tailor my workshops to suit your needs.
For that reason, it’s crucial for me to know ahead of time who the workshop participants will be so I can customize the content to address the specific challenges the attendees face.
How interactive are these workshops? Will people actually do work or mostly listen to information?
I find that engaging with my participants is the only way to make workshops effective. My workshops require active participation in discussions, work in pairs, and individual reflection and writing. Each workshop ends with participants making at least one commitment to action with an action trigger – a time or circumstance in which they will take that action – and an accountability partner (accountability buddy, as we call them) to ensure that the action is really taken.
We have very particular needs, and none of the workshops listed completely fit them. Do you design bespoke workshops?
Yes, I do. I would love to speak with you about your needs to assess whether my expertise is a good fit. If it is, we can discuss details. If not, I will be happy to refer you to someone very capable in my extensive network of subject matter experts.
Can you tailor your workshop to our specific circumstances and needs?
How far in advance do arrangements need to be made?
How many participants are typically in your workshops?
I’ve conducted workshops ranging from 8 to over 150 individuals. Your needs will determine how I assist you, but it’s safe to say that all my workshops are scalable. Participants work in small groups or pairs under my guidance to maximize the value of their investment of time and attention.