Syllabus:  Public Sector HR Executive Leadership Certificate Program

Start Date: April 22, 2025

End Date: June 6, 2025

Instructor:   Bernadette Costello, Ed.D., PCC, SHRM-CP, Managing  Partner, BCC Consulting

PSHRA Contact:  Debbie Tankersely-Snook, tankersely@pshra.org

Welcome:

Welcome to PSHRA's Public Sector HR Executive Leadership Certificate Program. This course will enhance your HR public sector leadership skills and help you develop targeted initiatives to improve your agency.

Your first live Cohort meeting will be held on  April 24th at 2:30 pm ET.  You will be sent a Zoom Event Link before the start of your course.

Course Outcomes

This course is designed to help you build your HR competencies and help you strategically position HR as a transformative business partner and leader in the organization.

To achieve this, the course focuses on 3 related areas:

• Your skill set in the 4 HR Lenses: business acumen; innovation; strategic orientation; and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. As part of this course, you will build a personal development plan for these competencies. 
• Your skill set in the HR Areas of Focus: leadership, culture, talent, technology, and communication. You will build a personal development plan for these competencies as well.
• Finally, you'll learn strategies for building, presenting, and gaining buy-in for the initiatives you develop to improve how HR is positioned within your agency.

You will finish this course with:

• a personal professional development plan,
• actions you will take to improve how HR is positioned within your agency.

Certificate:

You will earn a Certificate of Executive Leadership from PSHRA with your successful completion of both the online lessons and cohort session.

You may have attended an Executive Leadership in-person course.  Welcome! This learning experience will complement and enhance the material from that program and provide additional support as you build your leadership expertise.

Course Design:

This course includes six lessons that you'll take online and three cohort sessions where you'll meet with peers also taking this course. The online lessons will give you an opportunity to assess your development opportunities; teach important concepts, principles, and practices; and will help you begin planning improvement initiatives. Explore the course interactive elements and links to outside references to get the most out of the course.  The cohort discussions will give you an opportunity to share ideas and learn from your peers. In the cohort discussions you will further develop and refine the improvement plans you draft in the online sessions.

Time Commitment:

The more dedicated time and effort you put into this course the more you will get out of it.

To read the material, complete the activities, and prepare for the cohort discussions, consider scheduling 60 - 90 minutes for each lesson. Try to take the lesson at least several days before the cohort discussion - to give yourself time to reflect on what you have learned and the plans you have developed.

Online Cohort Schedule (Subject to Change): 

Cohort #1 – 4/24/2025 - 2:30 PM - 4:00 PM ET

Cohort #2 – 5/7/2025 - 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM ET

Cohort #3 -- 5/22/2025 - 2:30 PM - 4:00 PM ET

Cohort #4 -- 6/5/2025 - 2:30 PM - 4:00 PM ET

Week 1:

Online Lesson (self-paced)

Lesson 1: Introduction

Course Introduction.

Cohort Session (virtual)

Session 1: Introduction

Reviewing and discussing the content from the first lesson.

Week 2:

 Online Lesson (self-paced)

Lesson 2: Assess Your Skills Through the Critical Lenses

Learn more about business acumen; innovation; strategic orientation; and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.

Cohort Session (virtual)

Session 2: Introduction and Assess Your Skill Set

Reviewing and discussing the content from the second lesson.

Week 3:

Online Lesson (self-paced)

Lesson 3: Assess Your Skills Through the Areas of Focus

Learn more about leadership, culture, talent, technology, and communication.

Week 4:

Online Lesson (self-paced)

Lesson 4: Your Role as a Trusted Advisor

Learn about executive presence, leading with empathy, and how to build trust to drive collaboration.

Cohort Session (virtual)

Session 3: Area of Focus Skills and Being a Trusted Advisor

Reviewing and discussing the content from the third and fourth lesson.

Week 5:

Online Lesson (self-paced)

Lesson 5: Creating a Personal Development Plan

Take all that you've learned in the online lessons and cohort sessions and create a personal development plan.

Week: 6

Online Lesson (self-paced)

Lesson 6: Leveraging Your Skills

Create a plan to influence agency strategy and short-term projects based upon the skills learned in this course.

Cohort Session (virtual)

Session 4: Personal Development Plan and Leveraging Your Skills

Reviewing and discussing the content from the fifth and sixth lessons.

Course Workbook:

The course includes a workbook.  You'll use the workbook throughout the course to reflect on what you're learning, record ideas, plan for future personal development, and plan activities for your agency. There are two versions:

• a PDF version - if you'd like to print it and write your answers and ideas and
• an MS Word version - if you'd prefer to work electronically.

The files have the same content - just differences in page layout. You will use the workbook while taking the online lessons and while attending the cohort sessions.

The workbook is available by selecting the Course Materials tab and then Executive Leadership Workbook.

Making public sector work better^®.

Welcome!

We are excited to announce the launching of the New Public Sector HR Essentials course.

Thank you for your course registration.  We are so excited you have looked to PSHRA® to help you grow in your career.

Whether you want to sharpen your skills, transitioning to public sector, want a refresher, this is the place you belong.

With this change, the PSHRA-CP certification component will operate separately with a brand-new proctored exam and certification process.  The course, exam, and certification will no longer be packaged together.  There will be separate fee to take the CP Exam and become certified.

The new course includes:

• Condensed 10-week format
• Flexible schedule and learn at your own pace, anytime, anywhere and 24/7
• Public Sector Focused – Tailored for you
• Delivered online and asynchronously
• 4 Live Zoom Course Check-ins and 1 hour in length
• Get Personalized feedback and support
• Course Dashboard contains everything you need – no third-party textbook to buy.

All your course materials are included on your course dashboard (no textbook to buy).

Don’t hesitate to contact us:

• PSHRA – Debbie Tankersely-Snook, Associate Director, Member Programs, Membership - meetings@pshra.org

Making public sector work better®.

PSHRA’s Public Sector HR Essentials Certificate Course Syllabus

Please let us know if you run into any problems or have questions as soon as possible.  We want to make sure you are to have the best possible learning experience.  

Course Material (All you need is on your dashboard)

• PSHRE Workbook (PDF and Word Versions)
• Public Sector HR Essentials Lessons Summary
• HR20/20 Report

Meetings and Discussions:

• Course Cohort Meetings take place in Zoom Events – You will receive your Individual Zoom Link once the course starts.
• Course Discussion Board take place in Your Course’s Engage Community – You will be automatically enrolled into this community.  Your course’s community Link is - Coming Soon.

Course Design:

The course spans ten weeks and follows a specific timeline with a sequence of lessons and cohort sessions. You will receive details about the dates, times, and locations of cohort sessions. 

Time Commitment:

 Plan for 1 hours for each online lesson to read, complete activities, and prepare for cohort sessions. Individuals have varying learning paces, so it might take more or less time for each person. We recommend completing lessons a day or two before the cohort sessions to allow time for reflection on what you've learned and the development of your plans. All course materials are included on your course dashboard (no textbook is required).

Course Cohort Session Schedule (subject to change):

• Start Date: 5/20/2025
• Completion Date: 8/5/2025
• Cohort Session 1:  6/13/2025 - 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm ET
• Cohort Session 2:  6/30/2025 - 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm ET
• Cohort Session 3:  7/18/2025 - 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm ET
• Cohort Session 4:  8/01/2025 - 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm ET

Course Content:

Week 1 - Introduction

Week 2 - Lesson 1:  Public Sector Basics

Week 3 - Lesson 2:  Recruitment

Cohort Session 1:  Public Sector HR Basics & Recruitment

Week 4 - Lesson 3:  Selection

Week 5 - Lesson 4:  Classification and Compensation

Cohort Session 2:  Selection, Classification & Compensation

Week 6 - Lesson 5:  Benefits

Week 7 - Lesson 6:  Labor and Employee Relations

Cohort Session 3:  Benefits and Labor Management Relations

Week 8 - Lesson 7:  Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity

Week 9 - Lesson 8:  Organizational Development

Cohort Session 3:  Equal Employment Opportunity & Diversity, Organization and Final

Week 10 - Lesson 9:  Course Summary

Certificate of Attendance:

You will earn a Certificate of Completion upon completion of the course.

Cancellation Policy:

Professional Development Cancelation Policy

Making public sector work better®.