Program Managers Conference 2025 Agenda
We are excited to host this year’s event to support you in your roles as leaders.
The theme this year is “A Look Inside Program Management,” and we will be focusing on what makes program managers tick, including sessions around the brain, behavior and tools to grow.
Agenda
Wednesday, May 28
9-9:30 a.m.: Introductions and Welcomes
Zoom link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/95932923167
9:30-10:30 a.m.: Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Wellbeing, and Productivity in the Digital Age
Zoom link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/95932923167
Join expert Gloria Mark for an overview of attention, and a look at how stress and burnout are on the rise and are serious concerns. When we drain our limited cognitive resources, it leads to stress and fatigue. And while multitasking may seem like a solution to your increasing workload, it actually harms performance: it increases errors, it takes longer to perform a task, and it causes stress. So what can you do? We’ll discuss how we can regain control over our attention with meta-awareness, forethought, and goal-oriented behavior, and what some organizational and policy solutions look like.
Dr. Gloria Mark, Chancellor’s Professor of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine
10:30-11 a.m.: Break
11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Breakouts:
Bridging IT & Business: Seamless Collaboration for Success
Zoom link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/91022557520
Join us for a fun, engaging, and informative session on leveraging IT services to enhance collaboration across business lines. We’ll explore new processes, smarter partnerships, and practical strategies to create a seamless, connected experience. Learn how IT can empower teams, streamline workflows, and drive better outcomes — together!
Sara Games, DCYF IT Training Manager
Fearless Conversations
Zoom link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/97119327991
This session will provide tools and strategies for engaging in meaningful, brave conversations while addressing the discomfort many feel when discussing sensitive subjects. We’ll explore how vulnerability can be a strength in these conversations and how to normalize these important topics in your environments and beyond. You’ll leave with practical insights and renewed confidence to engage with both children and adults around these complex issues.
Mike Browne, Senior Director of Community Engagement for Cultivate Learning at the University at Washington
Zoom link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/95687695250?jst=1
All human relationships function on trust. This is especially true in the workplace, where power dynamics are everywhere lurking just below the surface. Moreover, any true collaboration – working together toward a shared goal – absolutely requires trust and there’s no way around it. This workshop will focus on how you can build an organic authority that colleagues will respect and respond to (which is essential when you have responsibility for a project but lack any direct authority).
Lee Riley, training and organizational development consultant
12:30-1:30 p.m.: Lunch
Zoom link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/95932923167
Turn off your camera and enjoy Indigenous Radio Hour while you eat lunch or catch up on tasks. KEXP DJ Tory J (AKA Tory Johnston) is the co-host of Sounds of Survivance, a show featuring indigenous artists from all over the world, and he has put together an hourlong program for us to enjoy during the break.
1:30-3 p.m. Breakouts:
What’s Waste Got to Do with It?
Zoom link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/98844519396
Are you tired of having to do more with less? In today’s environment of limited resources this workshop may help you identify areas that do not add value to your work and activities that are wasteful so that you can advocate for efficiency and propose changes. Learning tools for performance improvement can help everyone prioritize day to day work in new ways.
Lisa Hamilton, LICSW, DCYF Quality Assurance and Continuous Quality Improvement
Jennifer Scacco, MPA, DCYF Performance Based Contracting
The Constant of Change
Zoom link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/98788442109
In this breakout you will explore how to navigate change, and learn about the change curve (which mirrors the learning curve!). We’ll also talk about the core elements of credibility, so you can be working to ensure successful management of change going forward.
Joey Pauley, organizational change expert
3-3:30 p.m.: Break
3:30-4:30 p.m.: Project Connect
Zoom link, How do you get buy-in for a project: https://washington.zoom.us/j/99609815265
Zoom link, How can we better communicate across divisions: https://washington.zoom.us/j/95421269234
Zoom link, What are common issues you face when implementing a new policy?: https://washington.zoom.us/j/92369575007
Zoom link, How do you keep up with change?: https://washington.zoom.us/j/98045830517
One thing we hear from nearly every conference planning committee is the desire to understand better what colleagues are doing across the department. This session will give you the opportunity to learn from each other about best practices, valuable strategies and how to stay engaged. You will be able to choose a topic-based breakout to engage in facilitated conversation that’s most valuable to you! Join whichever Zoom session you feel most interested in, or drop in to multiple. We will be putting people into breakouts in each room and then switching them up over 45 minutes so you get a variety of perspectives.
Thursday, May 29
9-10 a.m.: Unleashing Your Creativity: The Power of Slow-Motion Multitasking
Zoom link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/98479121759
“To do two things at once is to do neither.” That’s what we’re told, anyway. But nobody seems to have told Albert Einstein, who produced four earth-shaking scientific ideas almost simultaneously in 1905. Tim Harford argues that we are thinking about multitasking all wrong – as a way to hurry up. If instead we do our multitasking in slow motion, we have a recipe for creative breakthroughs.
Tim Harford, economist, journalist and author
10-10:30 a.m.: Break
10:30 a.m.-12 p.m.: Breakouts
2025 Legislative Session updates & DP/ARL processes
Zoom link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/98698991258
Join us for a discussion of the 2025 session, and learn about new updates now that session is over. Content will include the decision package/agency request legislation process and how to get ideas to leadership, as well as how the Government Affairs Team lobbies for these once the agency has its final DPs/ARLs.
DCYF Legislative Affairs Team
Language Accessibility
Zoom link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/91267923559
Over half a million Washingtonians speak English less than “very well,” per the US Census. We need to support these folks in their interactions with our agency. Join members of the language access team at DCYF as we talk about what language access is, why it’s important, and how to implement best practices in your own area.
Ali Taylor, Language Access Services Coordinator
Karin Morris, DCYF ADA Administrator
Jonathan Whitby, MA, JD, DCYF ADA Operations Manager
Showing Up With Courage: Bringing Values to Life in Tough Leadership Moments
Zoom link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/98047859258
This hands-on breakout will help you dive into your personal leadership philosophies by examining your core values and what may be standing in the way of living those values at work. Drawing on Dare to Lead, this session will help participants shift from trying to “be right” to striving to “get it right”—especially in the hardest parts of their roles. Attendees will walk away with greater clarity on how to lean into vulnerability and bring genuine courage into their daily work, aligning their actions with both their personal mission and organizational goals.
Mackenzie Dunham, LICSW, CMHS, CDWF-Clinician
12-1 p.m.: Lunch
Zoom link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/98479121759
Turn off your camera and enjoy Indigenous Radio Hour while you eat lunch or catch up on tasks. KEXP DJ Tory J (AKA Tory Johnston) is the co-host of Sounds of Survivance, a show featuring indigenous artists from all over the world, and he has put together an hourlong program for us to enjoy during the break.
12:50-1 p.m.: CCWIS Update
Zoom link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/99518947693
Join the CCWIS team to learn more about the platform that will be replacing FamLink, and share your thoughts/feedback. This session is short and optional.
1-2 p.m.: Leading with Integrity: Aligning Personal and Agency Values
Zoom link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/98479121759
Join us for an energizing keynote on bringing personal values to life within DCYF. Drawing on concepts from Brené Brown’s Dare to Lead, you will explore how your individual beliefs connect with organizational values and discover strategies for “operationalizing” those values in everyday decisions. Through relatable stories, practical exercises, and candid discussions, you will learn to center your leadership in integrity—living your personal mission in a way that supports and elevates the agency’s broader mission.
Mackenzie Dunham, LICSW, CMHS, CDWF-Clinician
2-2:30 p.m.: Break
2:30-3:30 p.m.: The Science of Hope
Zoom link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/98479121759
Learn about the Science of Hope and strategies to improve goal setting, pathways development, and willpower in your personal and professional development. You will leave this conversation with a better sense of how to protect yourself against burnout and secondary traumatic stress.
Dr. Chan Hellman, Ph.D., professor at the Anne & Henry Zarrow School of Social Work and director of the Hope Research Center, University of Oklahoma
3:45-4:45 p.m.: Sound Bath
Zoom link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/98479121759
Our final session of the conference will help you transition out of learning mode back into life feeling centered and restored!
Ourah Arts