The next AWLSIG Workshop– Building better stakeholder relationships: how emotions influence success, will take place on Thursday 11th June 2026, 12.00PM – 1.30PM.
Why this session?
What would you like to be different in your stakeholder relationships? Our relationships with stakeholders can be complex, with different interests, needs and power imbalances. Emotions, often unspoken, will always be present and will play an important role in influencing the success of these relationships. This practical and interactive session will provide space to consider how taking an intentional and future-focused approach to emotions can help to build better stakeholder relationships.
What we will explore
Participants will:
- Consider the role of emotions in effective stakeholder relationships, including self-awareness, empathy and “emotional contagion”
- Reflect on a stakeholder relationship that is important to them and identify what success looks like
- Use the Emotional Culture Deck to identify emotional intentions from different perspectives
- Consider behaviours and interactions that will support these emotional intentions
- Identify meaningful actions that they can take after the session to influence the success of the relationship
Interactive and engaging format
The session will include:
- Using a screen version of the Emotional Culture Deck, with guided prompts
- Anonymous polls
- Chat reflections
- Option to take part in smaller breakout conversations
- Opportunities to contribute verbally in plenary
- Q&A
Event Details
- Event Name: Building better stakeholder relationships: how emotions influence success
- Facilitator: Sonali Kumarakulasinghe
- Event Date/Time: Thursday 11th June, 2026. 12.00 – 1.30pm
- Location: SDF Zoom
- Registrations: Only available via SDF Jiscmail
- Bookings will only be accepted from Institutional email addresses
- Zoom link and joining instructions will be sent to you in advance of the session
About the Speakers
Sonali helps leaders and teams to generate change through better conversations at work. She delivers workshops and team culture programmes, provides leadership coaching and facilitates Action Learning Sets. She is currently delivering a 12-month certification and integration programme at a UK university to develop emotional leadership skills for research culture.
Sonali uses evidence-informed approaches that invite participants to identify new perspectives and possibilities, including the Emotional Culture Deck (ECD). She is an ECD Certified Partner and Consultant, offering public and in-house certification courses in leadership development, stakeholder engagement and change strategy. As a Solutions Focused practitioner, she invites individuals and teams to use small-scale experiments to notice useful change and navigate complex systems.
Sonali’s facilitation style is informal, future-focused and appreciative. She has delivered workshops at conferences including the International Association of Facilitators UK Conference, the UK Association for Solution Focused Practice Conference, the Happy Workplaces Conference, and at Agile on the Bench during the Agile Cambridge Conference.
You are invited to connect with Sonali at https://uk.linkedin.com/in/sonalikmcipd
For information about Sonali’s public ECD certification courses please visit https://events.humanitix.com/host/sk-consulting
About the SDF Advancing Women’s Leadership Special Interest Group (AWLSIG)
The aim of the special interest group is to support Women in Higher Education at all levels through speakers, events and networking to share experiences and explore our leadership pathways. We want to create a community to encourage debate and reflection around the successes and challenges we encounter and empower each other to reach our full potential.
The AWLSIG is aimed at staff developers and staff within Higher Education institutions with an interest in making a difference. Its purpose is to provide SDF members with a regular mechanism to interactively share best practice for:
- challenging mindset
- strengthening skills
- enhancing opportunities for success
AWLSIG enquiries: Please contact Clare Trembleau clare.trembleau@abdn.ac.uk or Antonia Adeyemi antonia.adeyemi@admin.cam.ac.uk (AWLSIG co-chairs), for any AWLSIG enquiries, or if you would like to deliver or co-facilitate a session