The Art of Delegation: Effectively Guiding Direct Reports –
Managing has been defined as getting others to do what needs to be done. In delegations that have gone wrong, the delegator usually has omitted one or two critical steps. This module is intended for front-line supervisors and managers who have had experience delegating assignments or responsibilities to their direct reports. Participants will assess their attitudes and current practices as delegators, and through experiential activities, explore how to delegate effectively. (4-8 Hours)

Learning objectives:

• Assess themselves as delegators of responsibility
• Describe the Trust-Delegation Matrix
• Utilize the Six Steps of delegation
• Identify and assign tasks appropriate for delegation
• Augment their strengths and begin working on areas for improvement as a delegator
• Utilize eight important ingredients of effective delegation
• Complete a delegation plan to guide them in the delegation of specific tasks

Building Great Work Teams –
Work teams inside organizations operate at various levels of effectiveness.  Participants at this workshop will immediately enhance their team leadership skills by learning the five keys to building great work teams; techniques to resolve conflict; exercises available to fortify team bonding; beneficial team behaviors; ingredients to start up new teams; and tools necessary to get work done in teams.

Learning objectives:

• Start up new teams
• Appreciate and respect individuals on the team and their collective role
• Recognize the value of team building as a method to coalesce team members
• Strengthen team performance through the application of communication and conflict management styles
• Recognize and encourage beneficial team behaviors among team members
• Utilize strategies for building group consensus

Coaching and Counseling –
This program is designed to increase a manager’s skills as a coach and as a counselor. A coaching relationship is indicated when the employee is open to advice and shows little defensiveness. As a counselor, a manager identifies a problem that interferes with an employee’s work performance. A manager needs to switch from coaching to counseling mode when employees are less open to the manager’s input. Participants are asked to examine their own beliefs about coaching and counseling, to practice key skills, and to acquire a basic understanding of when and why those skills are necessary. (8 Hours)

Learning objectives:

• Identify the value of coaching and counseling in a manager’s work
• Recognize and use a coaching matrix
• Determine when to coach and when to counsel
• Recognize how personalities affect coaching/counseling roles
• Develop basic competence in applying coaching and counseling skills

Communicating in Teams –
The use of teams has increased dramatically in organizations over the last several years. A key ingredient to the team accomplishing its goals is effective communication between members. When teams work well together, ideas flow freely among members and conflicts are surfaced and managed. The goal of this program is to help participants develop their capacity to communicate in a team setting and to develop skills in solving team communication problems. (8 Hours)

Learning objectives:

• Increase the match between what people intend to communicate and what their team members actually perceive
• Learn techniques for giving and receiving feedback
• Uncover important but unspoken issues in a team
• Develop the ability to communicate clearly and directly with different team members

Creative Problem Solving –
Often we’re limited by the “we’ve always done it that way” approach. Solving problems in a creative manner can be the key to a more productive and satisfactory work life for employees. Creative problem solving is as much an art form as it is a scientific process. It requires creativity, intuition, and imagination. This program is designed to enable participants to learn and apply concepts and techniques related to an integrated approach to creative problem solving. (8 Hours)

Learning objectives:

• Understand problems in new ways
• Create a target for problem-solving efforts
• Acquire skills in developing novel solutions
• Become aware of how groups foster creative problem solving
• Develop an effective action plan for implementing creative solutions

Enhancing Established Teams –
Often teams are responsible for developing customer service standards and resolving service issues. In order for intact teams to develop successfully and become productive, members must have a solid understanding of their team’s group processes. This training program helps team members assess their styles of interaction as well as their level of team development, which are essential before they can achieve maximum productivity. (8 Hours)

Learning objectives:

• Explore beliefs about team effectiveness
• Practice observing interaction patterns during an actual team meeting
• Learn the phases of team development
• Develop a plan to improve team productivity

Ethics: A Guide to Decision-Making –
A critical element to the credibility of a good organization is the behavior of its employees, which must convey integrity and honesty. Often the issue of ethical behavior can affect organization operations. A major goal of this workshop is to provide participants with a sense of appreciation of the complex, interrelated sets of issues that are the fabric of an organization and the choice process continually involved in balancing personal, organizational, and societal goals. (8 Hours)

Learning objectives:

• Examine how values affect judgments
• Learn the three models of ethics
• Determine the value of a code of ethics
• Use a four-step process when analyzing ethical dilemma
• Practice how to question and evaluate the ethical decisions people and organizations make

Excellence In Customer Service –
Excellent service is the key to remaining credible with customers. Good service is the result of focused and intense management attention to a few basic principles, and the strategic and tactical implementation of these principles throughout the organization. This program is intended to build an appreciation of the value of customer service and an awareness of the behaviors that attract and repel customers, to provide practice utilizing effective service behaviors, to give participants the opportunity to assess the organization’s current customer readiness, and to introduce participants to the barriers and opportunities of developing an excellent service profile within departments. It addresses the principles involved in attaining an excellent service profile and examines how to implement those principles. Leaders, managers, and front-line employees alike will benefit from the experiences provided. (16 Hours)

Learning objectives:

• Understand the impacts of service on the organization’s credibility with customers
• Examine poor and positive customer service practices
• Determine how to assess the customer’s perspectives of service
• Assess the organization’s customer-service climate
• Identify the key organizational dynamics underlying good or poor service
• Learn and practice effective customer-service behaviors
• Acquire new ways of creating a real commitment to good service and improving real and perceived service
• Develop personal and organizational customer-service improvement plans

Facilitating a Service Culture –
Government organizations are in the business of public service.  Providing high-quality service is essential to generating credibility with the community-at-large.  The level of importance placed on delivering high-quality service is influenced by the organizational culture.  When it comes to culture creation and embedding, the behavior of an organization’s leaders are extraordinarily influential.  “Walking the talk” has special significance in that employees pay far more attention to the walk than the talk.  Especially important is what the leaders attend to, measure, become upset about, reward, and punish.  In this workshop, leaders learn about the aspects of a customer-centric organization and how to increase their influence on aligning their culture with that of an entrepreneurial approach to service.  In entrepreneurial cultures, employees assume that they should improve the organization’s efficiency and results, think about and change the way things are done, work together on solving problems and coming up with innovations, and respond flexibly and quickly to feedback from customers. 

Learning objectives

• The role culture plays in driving employee and organizational performance
• Elements of a customer-centric strategy
• Aspects of an entrepreneurial public-sector organization and operation
• Techniques and tools available to align the culture with the organization’s mission, vision and values and that of an entrepreneurial culture

Facilitating Groups and Teams Effectively –
Facilitating is a way of providing leadership without taking the reins.  As a facilitator, your role is to get others to assume responsibility and to take the lead.  An effective facilitator functions as a catalyst, a coordinator and a coach.  Join us and you’ll immediately enhance your facilitation skills by learning the seven facilitation stages, methods to create active participation, the core practices of effective facilitation, and the importance of differentiating between process and content.

Learning objectives

• Recite the ways in which facilitators contribute
• Manage Structure, Not Content
• Identify Core Practices of effective facilitation
• Recite the Seven Stages of facilitation
• Encourage Participation through Questions and Listening Skills
• Techniques to resolve conflict
• Apply six decision-making options
• Recognize the variety of process tools available

Improving Work Processes: A Field Guide –
More efficient, more effective, better, faster, smarter. Organizations often hear this in regard to the services, projects, and programs they provide. The ability to improve work processes can dramatically alter an organization’s performance. This module is designed to enable participants to learn and apply concepts and techniques related to process improvement. (12 Hours)

Learning objectives:

• Recognize the basic components of processes
• Identify processes in the work environment for improvement
• Locate specific areas of variance and non-value
• Utilize the techniques of process mapping for current and future processes

Interviewing: How to Land the (Next) Job of your Dreams –
Climbing the ladder of success and want to ensure you're taking the steps at the pace you want? Than attend this workshop and find out how to expand your professional network (most positions are filled through referral), prepare effectively for the newest trend - behavioral event interview questions, and effectively present yourself and your capabilities in an interview.

Learning objectives:

• Examine three elements of a working network: People, Organizations and Other Leads
• How to use the Nine Tips for Mastering an Interview
• Effectively respond to interview questions using the Situation, Action and Result (SAR) framework

Leadership in the Performance Review: A Catalyst for Employee Growth –
The core of any organization is people working together. The more involved and worthwhile people feel, the greater the potential for organizational excellence! The performance appraisal presents an important opportunity to involve people in planning their future growth. The goal of this module is to demonstrate and practice guidelines for effective written and verbal communication to be used during a review. Participants learn how to act as catalysts for their employees’ personal and professional growth. Practice of written documentation, active listening, constructive feedback, and goal-setting skills takes place during the module. (8 Hours)

Learning objectives:

• Recognize the importance of the employee performance review as a leadership opportunity
• Define and practice giving constructive feedback and using active listening skills
• Develop clear, written evaluations
• Utilize the steps to co-create an individual development plan that increases involvement and motivation

Leading Change –
According to research, after implementing a major change initiative about 30 percent of any group will be resistant to change; about 20 percent will readily move toward the new direction; and 50 percent will adopt a wait-and-see attitude. Effective change initiatives occur when there’s alignment between an organization and its building blocks, such as people, culture, tasks, organizational structure, and work processes. This program provides managers and supervisors with tools and techniques to help them successfully navigate the turbulent and often uncertain path of change. (8 Hours)

Learning objectives:

• Identify internal and external forces imposing change
• Define roles and responsibilities in managing change
• Develop strategies for coping with and managing change
• Identify ways to involve employees in the change process
• Use a model to introduce change to employees

Manager-Led Team Building: Developing Teams With Vision –
This module is designed for a manager or supervisor and his or her team. Two central considerations underlie team building: 1) people must have a common purpose or objective in order to coordinate their actions continuously. This purpose includes understanding the relevance of the team’s work to the larger organization; 2) healthy and effective teams reaffirm all team members as caring, respected individuals who matter and make contributions to others. (8 Hours)

Learning objectives:

• Recognize a shared vision of the team’s work
• Appreciate and respect individuals on the team and their collective role
• Recognize how team members must conduct themselves in coordinating with others
• Understand the team’s work in achieving its vision

The Manager’s Role in Succession Planning –
Many organizations are facing the retirement of a significant number of their workforce. Succession planning ensures that replacements have been prepared to fill key vacancies on short notice, that individuals have the development to assume greater responsibilities, and that individuals are prepared for exercising increased technical proficiency in their work. Without succession planning, an organization may operate in a crisis mode whenever key workers are unexpectedly absent from critical positions due to illness, retirement, resignation, or termination. (8 Hours)

Learning objectives:

• Identify the manager’s role in succession planning
• Identify and analyze critical positions requiring backups on a temporary or permanent basis
• Compare individual appraisals of past and present performance with assessments of future individual potential
• Utilize a variety of methods to prepare high-potential employees for advancement by narrowing the developmental gaps between present performance and future potential

Managing Time through Time Management –
Time management is a process of constantly setting and arranging priorities. When we struggle to manage our time, our ability to complete assignments on schedule can be made more difficult. Between the influx of meetings, voice-mail, and e-mail, the ability to manage our time effectively can be an arduous process. Yet it feels totally different when we’re using time in a way we choose for ourselves than it feels when our time seems to loom out of control. A strong motivation to use one’s time to accomplish what one truly wants is necessary to bring about behavioral changes. This program is for anyone who wants more out of life, at work and at home. (8 Hours)

Learning objectives:

• Increase awareness of attitudes toward time
• Understand the seven competency areas associated with Time Management Effectiveness
• Identify individual tendencies in each of the seven competency areas
• Begin working on improving those areas identified for each competency where opportunity exists
• Recognize procrastination habits and techniques to overcome them
• Prepare a comprehensive and effective To-Do List to guide daily work
• Assess priorities and categorize to either Dump, Do, Delay, or Delegate
• Utilize techniques on managing interruptions
• Learn to plan time by setting priorities and developing action plans

Managing Your Career –
Some employees retire while others are newly hired. What should people do when promotion opportunities arise? If you wait until the opportunity for that promotion occurs before you recognize that you need to build your skills, knowledge, and experience, it might be too late. Participants in this workshop will gain a more complete understanding of themselves as a basis for realistic career decision-making and planning. The areas of self-assessment, career exploration, career decision-making, the job-search process, and creating a personal career-development plan will be addressed. (8 Hours)

Learning objectives:

• Assess personal skills, values, interests, and experiences related to participants’ careers
• Learn the steps in career decision-making
• Learn why career resilience in a changing world depends on self-reliance in career management
• Examine beliefs and attitudes about who’s responsible for career management
• Adapt to change by learning about resources that aid in personal assessment and job-search techniques
• Evaluate current and future job opportunities
• Develop a personal career-development plan
• Experience the benefits of working with small groups for support and assistance in the lifelong career-management process

Meeting Management –
Research shows that the average American worker will sit through nine thousand hours of meetings in a lifetime–over 365 days–and that organizations spend thousands, sometimes millions, of dollars on meetings. Yet most people groan at the thought of attending another meeting. This is because meetings are often mismanaged. While most of us spend a great deal of time preparing for the work we do, we spend almost no time learning how to attend or conduct all of the meetings that accompany getting our work done. This workshop is designed to help participants plan, organize, and conduct productive meetings by preparing in advance, developing an agenda, encouraging participation, handling counterproductive behaviors, and planning for follow-up. (8 Hours)

Learning objectives:

• Plan and conduct meetings to maximize participation and achieve desired outcomes
• Recognize the differences between task and interpersonal issues in a group
• Utilize effective meeting leadership practices

Message Sent Equals Message Received –
We presume the words and ideas we choose for communicating a message hold the same meaning for others as they do for us, and we’re often unaware of how our non-verbal communication influences the messages we send. As a result, we’re often confused by the reactions we receive. This program is designed to help participants understand the impact of their own communications and learn new skills and concepts aimed at improving the match between message sender and message receiver. (8 Hours)

Learning objectives:

• Use the 5-Step Communication Process
• Explore the impact of non-verbal communication
• Learn and apply four steps in preparing and sending effective messages
• Practice the elements of effective communication
• Apply new skills to real-life/work situations

New Manager/New Supervisor –
Voila–you’re now responsible for achieving results through others. Now what? The focus of this workshop is on answering that question and helping both those who are new and seasoned in managing their people more effectively. Several skill-practices are included to provide sufficient opportunities for participants to practice new skills and techniques on coaching, delivering feedback, and leading a team. (8 Hours)

Learning objectives:

• Understand the role of the Supervisor
• Identify an operational definition of coaching
• Understand the value of coaching in a supervisor’s work
• Use the Coaching Matrix and the four approaches of coaching it features
• Use interaction skills that help you achieve critical business objectives while satisfying people’s personal needs
• Deliver two types of feedback
• Identify the 7 Keys to Building Great Work Teams
• Prepare team development goals for current teams

People Management: The Fundamentals –
As employees make the transition from Individual Contributor to Supervisor or Manager, different skills and abilities are required. This module is designed to enable participants to negotiate the transition and “hit the ground running” in their new role. (16 Hours)

Learning objectives:

• Identify the similarities, differences, and overall value of coaching and counseling
• Understand the components of effective feedback
• Identify methods used to resolve conflict in a professional manner
• Understand the impact on employee behavior of effective listening
• Utilize eight important ingredients of effective delegation
• Recognize the importance of employee performance review as a leadership opportunity

People Management: Practicing The Fundamentals –
As employees make the transition from Individual Contributor to Supervisor or Manager, different skills and abilities are required. This module is designed to enable participants to negotiate the transition and “hit the ground running” in their new role.

New skills are developed and practiced in a safe learning environment through the use experiential exercises and our own CREATE ™ process. Our active learning process (e.g., role play, dyadic discussions, peer interviews, learning games) gives participants practice time to utilize the techniques they’re learning. This opportunity to practice and receive peer and facilitator feedback is critical to each participant’s ability to transfer learning from the training to the workplace. (40 Hours Over 5 Or 10 Sessions)

Learning objectives:

• Identify the difference in skills, knowledge, and activities necessary in the role of individual contributor vs. manager of people
• Understand the fundamentals of change management
• Utilize the two people management skills of coaching and counseling
• Understand the components of effective feedback
• Identify methods used to resolve conflict in a professional manner
• Utilize effective listening skills
• Utilize eight important ingredients of effective delegation
• Recognize the importance of employee performance review as a leadership opportunity

Performance Management –
An effective performance management system helps employees succeed—so they can help the organization succeed. It provides enough guidance so people understand what’s expected of them and enough flexibility and wiggle room so that individual creativity and strengths are nurtured. It provides enough control so that people understand what the organization is trying to accomplish. This module focuses on performance management as an integrated process of defining, assessing, and reinforcing employee work behaviors and outcomes. This includes translating the traditional performance management approach, which sees managing performance as an event (i.e. the performance review/appraisal), to a more effective approach in which performance is viewed as a process. As a process, several critical steps are involved to address performance deficiencies and augment successes. (4-8 Hours)

Learning objectives:

• Recognize the Performance Management Process
• Summarize employee performance on the appraisal form
• Summarize performance in discussion with the employee
• Set behavioral objectives for the next performance cycle
• Identify tools to enhance the Performance Management Process

Positive Motivation Equals Positive Performance –
Many of us believe that the difference between what employees can do and will do depends on the level of motivation. People in managerial and supervisory positions struggle with the fact that some people use more of their skills and talents than others do. While no individual alone can motivate another, they can provide the environment, relationship, and situations that make it possible for people to motivate themselves. This program is designed to help participants identify the factors that affect employee performance and those that influence the employees’ own internal motivation needs. Role play, problem solving, and goal setting are utilized to encourage creative ways of providing recognition, growth, and the development of employees for the achievement of personal and organizational goals. (4–8 Hours)

Learning objectives:

• Become aware of the external and internal factors that affect employee performance
• Increase knowledge of the major theories of employee motivation
• Apply these theories to the workplace
• Expand skills that encourage both the achievement of organizational and employee goals

Presentation Skills –
Speaking in front of others can be a confusing and even terrifying experience for many people. This training course helps participants take the mystery out of designing and delivering high-impact presentations. It will increase their confidence and effectiveness in making presentations to a wide variety of audiences. Participants will give one or more brief presentations while being videotaped and receive a critique. (8 Hours)

Learning objectives:

• Understanding the Two Key Roles of Effective Presenters
• Overcome presentation fear
• Calm nerves using relaxation and breathing techniques
• Develop Your Voice
• Use Eye Contact, Gestures, Posture, and Movement for Maximum Impact
• Prepare Concise, Hard-Hitting, and Memorable Presentations
• Define Meaningful Objectives for Presenter and Audiences Alike
• Create Opening Statements that Grab the Audience
• Design the Body to Support Your Objectives and Opening Statements
• Use Power Point, Flip Charts, Overhead Projectors, and Podiums Effectively
• Successfully Close the Presentation
• Effectively handle the Q&A period

Preventing Sexual Harassment –
This program examines the mental aspects, values and beliefs, and behavioral components of sexual harassment. This subject is one that generates strong feelings, and participants will have an opportunity to examine and recognize those feelings, to evaluate situations of alleged harassment, and to take steps to lessen complaints. (2 Hours)

Learning objectives:

• Identify recent changes that have impacted employees, organizations, and the work environment
• Understand vital components of the laws pertaining to sexual harassment in the workplace and the organization’s sexual harassment policy
• Describe the impact sexual harassment has on people in organizations
• Identify roles and responsibilities for employees, supervisors, and management regarding the organization’s policy
• Identify complaint and investigation procedures

Preventing Workplace Harassment –
This program will acquaint employees with legal requirements and the organization’s policy governing workplace harassment. In addition, this program is intended to increase awareness of employees’ roles and responsibilities in creating a workplace free of harassment including appropriate behavior and mutual respect among co-workers. (2 Hours)

Learning objectives:

• Define harassment and learn about its various types and forms
• Understand the organization’s policy regarding workplace harassment
• Understand the organization’s complaint and investigation procedures
• Learn practical guidelines to prevent harassment

Learning objectives:

• Utilize communication skills that can help a group move forward
• Utilize techniques to facilitate a group through a task
• Recognize ways to prevent and resolve disagreements and conflicts
• Utilize strategies for building group consensus

Project Management –
In organizations, much of our time and effort is devoted to managing services and providing programs. Increasingly, we’re spending more time managing projects, which requires a different skill set. Projects have a definite beginning and end, which makes them distinct from the normal, ongoing work which requires special management skills related to providing deliverables, achieving milestones, and satisfying deadlines. This workshop is designed to help participants identify critical issues associated with project-management stages, understand how to use appropriate tools in managing a project, and learn and practice a variety of techniques required to manage projects successfully. (16 Hours)

Learning objectives:

• Understand the difference between Projects and Operations
• Identify appropriate project-management behaviors
• Recognize how prepared your organization is to use project management skills as a means to achieve results
• Determine steps to address strengths and areas for improvement in your organization’s project-management capabilities
• Learn how to coalesce a team
• Prepare team development goals for your organization’s existing teams
• How to develop a project plan
• Implement tools for executing a project
• Identify critical components needed for successful project management
• Utilize an enlarged repertoire of formats and scheduling methods

Providing Effective Feedback –
Feedback is information shared in the here and now about how an individual or group is performing and how that performance impacts the organization. Without this information, people operate in a vacuum. Appropriate feedback can help us feel confident, build our trust in those giving us the feedback, and move us toward success. Knowing how we’re performing on the job, at home, and in life is something everyone needs—and in most cases wants to know. (8 Hours)

Learning objectives:

• Examine the importance of skillful communication in leading effectively
• Learn interaction skills that help you achieve critical business objectives while satisfying a person’s individual needs
• Identify two types of feedback—Positive Feedback and Feedback for Learning
• Use the STAR Approach for delivering feedback
• Recognize the core elements of effective feedback
• Provide effective written and verbal feedback
• Decrease the chances of negative reaction to feedback for improvement

RAPID Innovation: Converting Ideas into Results –
Governments are in business…in the business of public service. Whether in lean times or flush times, playing it safe is no longer playing it smart. Dramatic change is necessary today and through the use of a series of vitamins, instead of the traditional pain killers, leaders can inject an innovative approach into their organizational mind-set of problem-solving.

The goals of this workshop are for participants to enlarge their perspective and expand their problem-solving approach to issues impacting their organization. In particular, to begin operating from an innovative, or do things different and do different things, approach. The intent is for participants, upon returning to work, to take actions that enlist their workforce and encourage an 'innovative' style of solving problems needed during today's unprecedented challenges.

Learning objectives and outcomes:

• How to use the 5-Step approach of RAPID Innovation.
• Techniques that many organizations are using to foster an innovative culture.
• Identify the existing vocabulary used in their organization and why it's a straightjacket to innovative solutions.
• Use a number of means to disrupt the status quo approach and begin pursuing prudent, smart risk-taking.
• Recognize the precariousness associated with replicating "best practices".
• Utilize effective methods to reconnect with customers.
• Recognize their organization's performance trajectory and identify potential competitors.
• Utilize effective strategies and tactics to strengthen their organization's 'employer brand' indispensable to recruiting and retaining talent.
• How to get leaders to start accepting new ideas and discard past solutions.
• Steps you can take immediately to strengthen your own innovation muscles.

Resolving Conflict with a Win/Win Approach –
Conflict can be healthy—resulting in new ideas, creative processes, and deeper relationships. For this to happen, the basis for dealing with the conflict must be win/win. Unhealthy conflict (that which is approached on a win/lose basis) leads to distrust, anger, and withdrawal. The goal of this module is to help participants realize what they bring to the conflict situations they face in their professional and personal lives, and to ensure that participants learn effective conflict-resolution skills. (8 Hours)

Learning objectives:

• Identify personal conflict-resolution styles
• Identify misunderstandings in conflict situations
• View others objectively
• Learn how to state complaints and request change effectively
• Utilize effective strategies to deal with difficult people

The Rewards Of Mentoring Others –
Mentoring is a powerful, dynamic process—for both employees and organizations. In this program, previously paired mentors and protégés are introduced to a program model that describes the four significant developmental phases in the mentoring process. Roles and responsibilities for protégés and mentors are defined. At the core of the training experience, are opportunities to explore and practice the critical skills underlying a successful mentoring relationship. (8 Hours)

Learning objectives:

• Learn how a successful mentoring program works
• Learn the roles and responsibilities of key players in a mentoring program
• Practice the skills that foster an effective mentoring relationship
• Develop an individual development plan (IDP) for the protégé

Strategic Planning for Action-Oriented People –
Strategic planning is a method of efficiently pursuing a single set of goals. This program is designed around a strategic planning procedure that can be used by individuals or teams to achieve desired results. Participants work in small groups that work together throughout the entire module. Utilizing group feedback and support, they work on developing a strategic plan as the module progresses. (8 Hours)

Learning objectives:

• Utilize tools to identify manageable components of a problem
• Utilize skills to use in achieving successful planning outcomes
• Create an internal barometer to determine if planning is on-target
• Seek and accept verbal feedback regarding planning efforts

Supporting Employee Development –
Employee skill development encompasses several competencies: how to teach skills, conduct skill practice, coach on-the-job performance, and adjust to the learning style of trainees. This workshop is intended for any manager, trainer, or supervisor who is responsible for initially teaching skills to employees and then providing ongoing support. The focus in this module is on interpersonal (versus technical) skills (e.g., interviewing, customer service, selling, making presentations, supervising, and telephone reception). (8 Hours)

Learning objectives:

• Observe trainee performance
• Promote the trainee’s use of problem-solving skills
• Give effective developmental performance feedback
• Set effective performance goals
• Recognize and adjust to the learning style of trainees

Taking Initiative: How to Be a Leader in Your Own Role –
In today’s workforce, it is essential that all members of the workforce, at all levels, take the lead in improving productivity. When workers take initiative, speak up, share ideas, and make input into how a job can be done more effectively and efficiently, the entire organization benefits. This program, developed specifically for administrative support staff and others who do not have the title of leader or manager, is designed to broaden understanding of what leadership is and to raise awareness of how anyone can take the lead in their own role. (4 Hours)

Learning objectives:

• Recognize leadership behaviors and how to apply them in many situations
• Be familiar with functional leadership theory
• Utilize task and maintenance leadership actions
• Plan ways to develop leadership behaviors

“What Did You Say?”—Active Listening –
The biggest part of our day (working or otherwise) is spent in communication, and the greatest percentage of that communication time is spent listening. All of us have taken courses in writing and speaking, but how many of us have had training in listening? Through participation in this program, people will become more aware of the importance of listening and will gain insights, tools, and skills they can apply for continued communication improvement. (4–8 Hours)

Learning objectives:

• Identify your listening and communication style
• Recognize the emotional level of others
• Use emotional indicators to determine questions and statements
• Identify and use positive and negative listening responses
• Use common listening acknowledgments to gain rapport
• Develop open-ended and clarifying questions
• Use questions to uncover facts and feelings
• Practice improved listening skills

“What If We Tried It This Way?”—Creative Problem Solving –
Often we’re limited by the “we’ve always done it that way” approach. Solving problems in a creative manner can be the key to a more productive and satisfactory work life for employees. Creative problem solving is as much an art form as it is a scientific process. It requires creativity, intuition, and imagination. This program is designed to enable participants to learn and apply concepts and techniques related to an integrated approach to creative problem solving. (8 Hours)

Learning objectives:

• Understand problems in new ways
• Create a target for problem-solving efforts
• Acquire skills in developing novel solutions
• Become aware of how groups foster creative problem solving
• Develop an effective action plan for implementing creative solutions

Workplace Violence –
The program will acquaint employees with how to recognize the signs of a potentially violent situation and what to do when violence occurs. (2-4 hours) Learning objectives are:

• Definition of workplace violence
• What work-related factors increase the risk of violence
• Which occupational groups tend to be most at risk from workplace violence
• Examples of what is considered workplace violence
• What each employee can do to prevent violence in his/her workplace
• Components of the organization’s  policy about workplace violence
• Practical warning signs of a possible violent situation, and
• Appropriate behaviors when reacting to a potentially violent employee and situation

The wRite Way: Organizing, Writing, And Editing –
The need for clear and effective writing skills is paramount. This program is designed for employees across all departments and professions who engage in every kind of writing from memos and proposals to letters, reports, and technical writing. Participants will learn how to organize and express their thoughts clearly, select the appropriate style and format for the intended reader, and edit their writing to create professional documents. (8 Hours)

Learning objectives:

• Learn methods to organize effectively
• Review and integrate the principles of readability
• Evaluate and improve writing skills through practice
• Learn to match the appropriate format and style with the intended reader
• Gain editorial skills to create professional documents