The Payne Center for Leadership Development, located on the 3rd floor of Hemmingson Center is here to help students in any phase of their leadership journey, from connecting freshmen to over 150 clubs and organizations to the creation of a leadership portfolio for seniors seeking jobs or applying to graduate school. The services listed below are provided to help students make meaning of their leadership experience and transform that learning into valuable leadership skills.
Student Leadership Conference: This annual student-led conference on leadership is offered to all post-secondary students in the Inland Northwest. The inaugural student leadership conference, Navigating Change and Uncertainty with Hope will take place on Saturday, February 22, 2025 at the Gonzaga University Hemmingson Ballroom. Call for presenters is now closed. Registration is open until Friday, February 15, 2025. Learn more about the program here: 2025 Student Leadership Conference
2025 Keynote Speaker: Fr. Pete Neeley, S.J. of the Kino Border Initiative
Leadership Workshops: The PCLD offers a variety of skill-building workshops or can work with your club or organization to customize a workshop specific to your situation. Currently, we offer workshops on:
- Team-building
- Conflict Resolution
- Life Balance
- Time Management
- Facilitation Skills
- Strengths Quest Personal Inventory
- Mindfulness and Leadership
CliftonStrengths Assessment and Coaching: What makes a great leader? How can we invest in our strengths and optimize success, individually and together? The CliftonStrengths Online Talent Assessment is an assessment that measures your unique talents – your natural patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving – and categorizes them into the 34 CliftonStrengths themes. This assessment is a tool developed by Don Clifton and the Gallup Organization that helps individuals discover their top five strengths. It allows people to identify and understand their unique talents, which can be used to achieve success both at work and in their personal lives. This assessment focuses on maximizing natural talents rather than correcting weaknesses. Instead of identifying areas that need improvement and then developing an improvement plan, the CliftonStrengths assessment focuses on developing a person’s talents into strengths and managing weaknesses. Fixing weaknesses prevents failure, but building strengths leads to excellence. Gallup has found that individuals who focus on using their strengths are three times more likely to report having an excellent quality of life.
The Payne Center for Leadership Development offers CliftonStrengths coaching sessions for individuals, teams, and managers. CliftonStrengths coaches help individuals and teams assess their talents and provide guidance on how to invest in their strengths. They offer individual coaching, career coaching, and manager coaching to help people flourish by focusing on their natural strengths. We believe that everyone has talent, and when you know your talents, you feel empowered to succeed by doing what you naturally do best.
You can request for a code to complete an assessment and a coaching session here: PCLD CliftonStrengths Coaching.
Retreat Planning: We can assist your club or organization in finding a retreat location that fits your budget and needs, and help you design a retreat that meets the current needs and dynamics of your group.
Leadership Consulting: We are available to match your skills and desires to specific leadership opportunities, assist you in navigating a leadership challenge, discern your leadership strengths, or help you reach the next level of performance.
Leadership Library: Peruse our small but powerful leadership library located in Hemmingson Center, suite 313. Feel free to borrow a book or ask for book referrals pertaining to your interests. You can see our entire catalog on LibraryThing. Some books in the library include:
- The Spirit of Leadership by Robert J. Spitzer, SJ
- Leadership for a Better World by Susan R. Komives and Wendy Wagner
- Transforming Leadership by James MacGregor Burns
Community of Leaders: Spring Community of Leaders focuses on practical leadership skills for new and returning student leaders. The Fall Community of Leaders explores student leadership in the context of the University Mission and Jesuit principles, including cura personalis, magis, service and reflection.
Leadership Opportunities List: We have compiled a list of leadership opportunities (updated 12/2024) for students on Gonzaga's campus. This chart has information regarding the positions, compensations, and links to more information.