Training
Individual & Team
Courses
Anger Management
When you become angry at even the most minor of situations or if you find yourself lashing out unnecessarily at people you work with, your anger is out of control. This leads to many difficulties with your career and relationships. Anger can be managed given proper motivation and tools. This program provides anger management techniques that will help participants to control anger and begin to change their anger patterns. Anger Management is a 12-hour course in three parts over a two-month period. The individual and team activities will stimulate interest and reinforce key concepts that you can apply right away.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
Upon completion, participants will be better prepared to:
- Work through a detailed analysis of recent anger events and then review, rescript, and role play several events in order to fully master anger management principles and skills that can help them avoid unacceptable behaviors.
- Use a new way of communicating that emphasizes winning against anger by learning how to “lose,” when conflicts arise as a result of inappropriate expressions of anger. Participants will practice using specific phrases in a wide
range of typical anger scenarios to gain experience in expressing themselves in ways that are safer and more helpful. - Understand a belief system that promotes 20 important attitudes and values, thus disabling some of their anger triggers. Using beliefs and attitudes that are safer and more constructive, participants can respond more appropriately to stressful situations.
- Design a recovery plan to continue working on their anger following completion of the course, and make a formal commitment to diligently work on this plan for the next 90 days.
COURSE OUTLINE
1. Overview
2. Anger Assessment Survey
3. The problem with expressing anger
4. Principles for peace, happiness and permanent change
5. Communicate phrases to avoid creating an anger crisis
6. Follow through
Business Writing
Stop wasting time, frustrating readers, and losing credibility—this course can help. Most everyone suffers from some form of “business writing blues.” Some of us suffer from writer’s block, others take too long to make a point, and still others make common grammatical errors. Better Business Writing is a 14-hour (two days) practical course for all who need to improve their writing skills. The individual and team activities will stimulate interest and reinforce key concepts that you can apply right away.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
Upon completion, participants will be able to write better business correspondence
by learning how to:
- Organize their thoughts and write more concisely
- Write with purpose and conviction
- Jumpstart the writing process
- Avoid the most common writing errors
COURSE OUTLINE
1. Overview
2. The WRITE process
- Defeat writer’s block
- Stay focused
- Increase effectiveness
3. Common writing and grammatical errors
- Word usage
- Punctuation
- Sentence structure
- Concise writing skills
- Word and sentence strategies for reducing unnecessary words
5. Review and action plan
Conflict Management
Conflict is not inherently bad, but it can be destructive when it is ignored or managed improperly. It’s what you do with conflict that matters. This course is about creating an environment of respectful and effective communication that encourages employees to address issues instead of ignoring them. Conflict Management Skills is a seven-hour course that will help promote a healthy organization, which stays on track by learning how to resolve conflict and appreciate differences.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
Upon completion, participants will be better prepared to:
- Identify the five responses to conflict
- Confront issues openly
- Deal with difficult behavior
- Appreciate differences in fellow employees
- Give and receive constructive feedback
COURSE OUTLINE
1. Overview
2. Conflict management concepts
- Definition
- Four myths about conflict exposed
- Five responses to conflict and when to use them
3. Conflict management skills
- Appreciating interpersonal differences – assessment and discussion
- The five steps of giving constructive feedback
- The obstacles to receiving constructive feedback
- Five difficult behaviors and how to deal with them
4. Action Plan
Creative Thinking
Restore Creativity to solve Problems and Make Decisions. Increasingly, we are hearing about the importance of creative thinking in the workplace. In a recent survey of Fortune 500 CEOs, almost 60 percent of them ranked creativity higher than intelligence. However, research has shown that our creativity significantly declines from age five, and at age 40 most people have lost 98% of it. Do you want your creativity restored to solve problems and make decisions more effectively and efficiently? This is a seven-hour course for anyone who wants to increase their creativity, and is designed to give you results before you leave the classroom. The individual and team activities will stimulate interest and reinforce key concepts that you can apply right away.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
Upon completion, participants will be better prepared to:
- Identify individual and organizational opportunities for creativity
- Overcome blocks to creativity
- Analyze situations that require creative thinking
- Be more creative in problem-solving and decision-making roles
- Implement five creative thinking tools
COURSE OUTLINE
1. Course overview
2. Five barriers to creative thinking
3. Five creative thinking tools
- Real Brainstorming
- Brainwriting
- Primers
- Mindmapping
- Six Thinking Hats
4. Action Plan
Critical Thinking
Throughout history, astute people have been concerned with the art and science of inquisitive thinking. In the 21st century, the ability to engage in reflective thought has been viewed as a fundamental characteristic of an independent person and as a skill for an increasingly wide range of jobs. As a result, this is a significant way to gain a competitive advantage in career and organization development. This seven-hour course takes critical thinking skills and techniques and makes them accessible to all employees.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
Upon completion, participants will be better prepared to:
- Evaluate the reasoning in an argument and determine its validity
- Make complex decisions with more efficiency and effectiveness
- Make a multi-perspective view of an issue for better decisions
- Use creative thinking techniques to expand the possibilities of viable solutions
COURSE OUTLINE OVERVIEW
- Thinking Map – An approach to critical thinking especially suited for evaluating the
validity of statements and conclusions - Grid Analysis – An approach to decision making especially suited for evaluating
complex situations involving many alternatives and factors - Lateral Thinking – An approach to organizational problems especially suited for
breaking down “silo” thinking - Action Plan
Customer Service
Customer service is an attitude that needs to permeate every aspect of an organization. The way we think, plan, and act should be influenced by an attitude of pleasing our customers, both internal and external. This is the first in a series of courses designed to address the many aspects of customer service. Before taking any of the other modules, start here to gain the general attitude and skills required by the other courses in the series. This four-hour interactive course is for everyone in the organization. The many individual and team activities will stimulate interest and reinforce key concepts that students can apply right away.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
Upon completion, participants will be better prepared to:
- Explain the power and benefits of excellent customer service
- Identify their customers and their needs
- Develop an excellent attitude and put it into action
- Use overt and covert language to communicate an excellent attitude
- Resolve conflict with customers and between team members
COURSE OUTLINE
1. Overview
2. The attitude of excellent service
3. Internal and external customers
4. Identifying customer needs
5. Powerful words and actions
6. Resolving customer conflict
7. Action Plan
Curing Meeting Nausea
Are you sick of meetings that exhibit these symptoms: queasy tangents, eternal discussions, lack of purpose, worthless minutes, painful presentations and poor results? This seven-hour course for managers, team leads, project leaders, and anyone who leads meetings, is the cure when taken with persistence and discipline.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
Upon completion, participants will be better prepared to:
- Focus on purpose and results rather than knee-jerk activities
- Keep meetings on track
- Create better meeting agendas
- Apply key facilitation techniques
- Address the following problems:
- Non-productive discussions
- Pointless presentations
- Unprepared participants
COURSE OUTLINE
1. Overview
2. Before the meeting
- Creating a model agenda
- Leader & participant responsibilities
3. During the meeting
- Ground rules
- Key roles
- Presentation essentials
- Parking Boards
4. After the meeting
- Painless minutes
5. Facilitating the meeting
- The facilitator’s role
- The “Four P” process
- Achieving consensus
6. Action plan
Mastering Change
Change at work can be overwhelming today, and mastering it is essential for survival. Often the human issues associated with change are not addressed, resulting in resistance and frustration. To deal with these issues requires a set of strategies to help you master change at work. This is a four-hour interactive course for anyone who needs to deal with change at work. The individual and team activities will stimulate interest and reinforce key concepts that you can apply right away.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
Upon completion, participants will be prepared to:
· Understand the critical difference between organizational and human change
· Overcome the “Not another change!” syndrome
· Apply effective strategies to manage the human stages of change
· Create an action plan for an actual change at work
COURSE OUTLINE
1. Introduction
- Key terms and concepts
- Drivers of change
2. The Nature of Change
- The process and stages of change
3. Melting – Overcoming resistance
- The pros and cons of change
- Four strategies to melt resistance
4. Moving – Dealing with uncertainty
- Dangers and opportunities
- Four strategies
5. Molding – Securing the future
- Natural progress
- Three strategies
6. Action Plan (involves an actual change at work)
Facilitation Skills
Facilitation is the art and science of leading people through a process toward a result that is created, understood, and accepted by all participants. An effective facilitator makes it easier for teams to work together for output that is higher in quantity and quality. Effective facilitators may “be born” with certain abilities, but it’s more probable that competencies will be developed through experience, which this course can jumpstart. This 16-hour interactive course is for anyone who participates in team meetings, especially for those in a leadership role. The many individual and team activities will stimulate interest and reinforce key concepts that students can apply right away.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
Upon completion, participants will be better prepared to:
- Understand the role of the facilitator, especially as it relates to other facilitation roles
- Identify the main stages of the facilitation process
- Learn the stages of team development
- Understand how to manage conflict
- Provide students with practice and feedback
- How to build consensus
COURSE OUTLINE
1. Overview of the facilitation process
2. Preparing – What must be done before the meeting
3. Priming – Get the “creative juices” flowing
4. Probing – Exploring problems, options, or ideas
5. Pointing – Get everyone going in the same direction
6. Planning – Reach a decision and prepare to move forward with an action plan
7. Communication skills – Listening, body language, clarity
8. Group dynamics – Group development, problem-solving methodology, managing conflict
9. Facilitation Techniques – How to regain focus of the group, tips and tricks, the Seven Deadly Sins to avoid
10. Review and action plan – Key learnings and what we’ll do with them
Listening Skills
Examine how poor listening habits are developed and learn the guidelines to empathetic listening. This four-hour course will give you the tools to develop one of the most important traits of personal and professional success. Learn the barriers that interfere with listening and develop awareness of how attitudes affect the way people listen. Properly applied, this course will change your life.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
- Discover your listening competence level.
- Explain the 3 levels of listening and the effect each has on communication and relationships.
- Use techniques for getting the whole message.
- Apply the Value Activation System to help others solve problems.
- Create an important action plan for on-going development.
COURSE OUTLINE
1. Introduction and overview
2. Why are people poor listeners?
- Brainstorm, statistics about listening, exercise.
3. What are the barriers to listening?
- Types of barriers, practice, attitudes and their impact.
4. How can I get the whole message?
- The 3 levels of listening, practice, Level 1 Listening
5. How can I add value as a listener?
- Value Activation System, practice
6. Summary and review
7. Action plans
Presentation Skills
Increase your delivery, confidence, organization, flow, and competence. The purpose of this two-day course is to empower participants to prepare and deliver better presentations in terms of capturing, keeping, and motivating the audience.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
Upon completion, participants will be better prepared to:
- Apply adult learning principles to presentation preparation and delivery
- Use methods for engaging an audience and keeping it interested
- Handle nerves and hostility more effectively
- Identify and practice verbal and nonverbal elements of effective delivery style
- Interact and check in with the audience
COURSE OUTLINE
1. Overview
2. Preparation
- Adult learning theory and its impact on presentations
- Understanding audience needs and how to meet them
- Organizing thoughts and content: the order of preparation
- Considering design, style, and visual aids
- Creating interest and credibility in the first three slides
- Content blunders: what to avoid
3. Delivery
- The order of delivery
- Communication essentials
- Ways to maintain poise: mental, chemical and physical
- Creating interest and credibility in the first three slides
- Dealing with a tough audience
- Speaking habits to avoid
- Course review and action plan
4. Bringing it all together
- Deliver presentations to peers and get feedback in a safe environment
Problem Solving
Improve your ability to solve problems, especially on teams. There’s one thing we all have in common: problems. Here’s something most people don’t have in common: a systematic way to address problems. Instead, individuals and teams take a knee-jerk reaction approach that usually results in a “band-aid” instead of real fix. This four-hour course is for anyone who solves workplace problems, especially on teams. It’s especially helpful for avoiding the #1 cause of frustration on problem solving teams: suggesting a solution before the problem is understood.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
Upon completion, participants will be better prepared to:
- Explain the benefits of using a standard method for solving problems
- Solve problems in the short and long terms
- Use troubleshooting and decision making tools
- Create an action plan for implementing course concepts and skills
COURSE OUTLINE
1. Overview
2. The Five-Step Problem Solving Method
- The case for a systematic and common method
- The five steps explained
- Step 1 – State the problem
- Step 2 – Find the cause(s)
- Step 3 – Choose the solution(s)
- Step 4 –Apply the solution(s)
- Step 5 – Plan next steps (e.g., communicate results, institute a change)
- The five steps applied
- Apply the five-step process to three different problem scenarios
3. Action plan
Time Management
Identify what is most important and do that first. Time is one of the most mystifying elements of life. While philosophers and scientists are pondering its secrets, you have already discovered the symptoms of time mismanagement that can lead to frustration and loss of motivation:
- No matter how hard one works, there’s always too much to do
- A feeling that time has become a taskmaster
- Less and less satisfaction with work at the end of the day
This is a seven-hour interactive course for anyone who needs to master time and become more effective personally and professionally. The individual and team activities will stimulate interest and reinforce key concepts that you can apply right away.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
Upon completion, participants will be better prepared to:
- Identify and value what is most important in life (work/personal)
- Use proven time-management tools
- Apply key time-management principles
- Handle emergencies, interruptions, and perfectionism, and procrastination
- Identify time wasters and eliminate them
- Organize their workspace
Time Management
Identify what is most important and do that first. Time is one of the most mystifying elements of life. While philosophers and scientists are pondering its secrets, you have already discovered the symptoms of time mismanagement that can lead to frustration and loss of motivation:
- No matter how hard one works, there’s always too much to do
- A feeling that time has become a taskmaster
- Less and less satisfaction with work at the end of the day
This is a seven-hour interactive course for anyone who needs to master time and become more effective personally and professionally. The individual and team activities will stimulate interest and reinforce key concepts that you can apply right away.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
Upon completion, participants will be better prepared to:
- Identify and value what is most important in life (work/personal)
- Use proven time-management tools
- Apply key time-management principles
- Handle emergencies, interruptions, and perfectionism, and procrastination
- Identify time wasters and eliminate them
- Organize their workspace
Supervisor/Manager
Courses
Supervisory Skills Training
Supervisory Skills Series – Four Modules in Ten Days
Module 1: Foundational Skills for Supervisory Excellence (3 days)
-
- Becoming a Supervisor
- Supervisor as Leader
- Optimizing Employee Performance
- Communication Essentials
Module 2: Managing Employee Issues (2 days)
-
- Interviewing and Hiring
- Addressing Performance Issues
- Labor Relations, Fair Labor Standards Act and Employee Benefits
- Equal Employment Opportunity
- Employee Safety, Reasonable Accommodation and Medical Issues
Module 3: How to Build & Maintain a High-Performance Team (3 days)
-
- Team Development
- Employee Development: Coaching & OJT
- Conflict Management
Module 4: Making it Happen: Enhancement and Application of Skills (2 days)
-
- Time & Workspace Management
- Meeting Facilitation
- Leading Organizational Change
- Action Planning: Getting the Most from the Series
Management Skills
Management Skills Series – Six Modules in Four Days
Module 1: Strategic Thinking
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- Understand the difference between strategic planning and strategic thinking
- Advocate the need for a vision
- Find, create and communicate a vision
- Begin planning how to make the vision a reality
Module 2: Creating Partnerships
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- The need for departmental collaboration
- Assessing potential partnerships
- The four steps to collaboration for results
- Write a plan for creating a partnership at work
Module 2: Lean Workplace
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- Identify and eliminate waste in business processes
- Identify Lean principles and how they can be used to improve customer service
- Apply Lean tools to eliminate waste and improve value to the customer
- Develop an action plan to apply Lean principles and tools back at work
Module 4: Solving Managerial Problems
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- Explain the benefits of using a standard 5-step method for solving problems
- Use troubleshooting and decision-making tools
- Solve an actual workplace problem
- Overcome unconscious bias
Module 5: Negotiation Skills
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- Analyze the nature of conflict and their preference for resolving it
- Understand the advantages of interest-based negotiation over position-based
- Decide when it is most advantageous to use it
- Apply the process to individual and organizational scenarios
- Improve effective listening and interviewing skills
Module 6: Critical Thinking Tools
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- Analyze and evaluate various kinds of documents
- Evaluate the reasoning in an argument and determine its validity
- Make complex decisions with more efficiency and effectiveness
- Take a multi-perspective view of an issue for better decisions
- Learn four tools you can immediately apply to the workplace
On-the-Job Training Program
An on-the-job training program will address three major management dilemmas:
- “I have a limited budget for training courses.”
- “My employees don’t apply what they learn in training classes.”
- “There isn’t a class for what my employees need to know.”
This is a seven-hour course for managers, team leads, and anyone who needs an overview of how to develop structured on-the-job training for employees.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
Upon completion, participants will be better prepared to:
- Explain the differences between informal and structured OJT
- Decide which jobs are appropriate for structured OJT
- Understand a process for developing structured OJT
COURSE OUTLINE
1. Introduction
2. Prepare OJT – See steps 1-3 below
3. Implement OJT – See steps 4-5 below
- Delivering training
- Evaluating results
4. Action Plan
Team Development
This seven-hour interactive course is a thorough introduction to team concepts and skills based on the Tuckman Model. Anyone who works in teams, especially
project and team leaders, will benefit from this course. The individual and team activities will stimulate interest and reinforce key concepts that students can apply right away.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
Upon completion, participants will be better prepared to:
- Explain why teams are important in today’s business environment.
- Identify an effective team.
- Identify where a team is in the 4 stages of development.
- Use a basic approach to problem solving.
- Suggest the best decision making method for a team.
- Help a team leader manage conflict
- Give and receive constructive feedback.
- Communicate more effectively in a team environment
COURSE OUTLINE
- Overview
- Appreciate teams
- Understand teams
- Establish teams
- Team infrastructure (i.e., assemble, organize, empower, process)
- Develop teams
- Action Plan
Leader
Courses
Leading Change
Globalization, technology, competition, and a diverse workforce have driven phenomenal organizational change in the last 10 years. The deeper and wider the organization change, the more overwhelming it can be, and individuals need to be able to manage it to survive. Often the human issues associated with change are not addressed. This course provides a set of practical strategies to address these issues.
This is a six-hour course for managers, supervisors and team leads who need to manage change for themselves and others. The individual and team activities will stimulate interest and reinforce key concepts that you can apply right away.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
Upon completion, participants will be better prepared to lead change by:
- Understanding the effects of globalization and technology on organizations Understanding the critical difference between organizational and human change
- Assessing the adaptability to change of self and others
- Applying effective strategies to manage the human stages of change
- Creating an action plan for an actual change at work
- Leading others through change
COURSE OUTLINE
1. Introduction and Overview
- Key terms and concepts
- Drivers of change
- The process and the three stages of change
2. Melting – Strategies for leading the first stage
- Identify the down and up sides of change
- Five strategies to melt resistance
3. Moving – Strategies for leading the second phase
- Dangers and opportunities
- Five strategies to move people to the new order
- Case study
4. Molding – Strategies for leading the third stage
- Natural progress
- Four strategies to keep people from going back
- Case study
5. Action Plan (real time)
Leadership Skills (Kouzes & Posner Model)
The overall objective of this workshop: increased ability of the participants to influence others for positive results. The workshop is based on Kouzes and Posner’s “Leadership Challenge” and is presented in a timeframe that fits your schedule. Homework assignments between sessions and a team project provide continuity, individualized learning, and real application. An abbreviated version of the workshop (three one-day sessions of modules 1-6) is also available.
Day 1
Module 1 – Workshop Overview
Objective: To understand the “big picture” of the workshop.
Agenda:
- Workshop agenda and objectives
- Why is leadership needed?
- What is leadership?
Module 2 – Model the Way
Objective: To become more credible as a leader by aligning values, words, and actions.
Agenda:
- Credibility: The Foundation of Leadership
- Aligning Actions with Values
Module 3 – Inspire a Shared Vision
Objective: To create a shared vision that will influence others to make it their own.
Agenda:
- Visionary Thinking
- Create Your Vision
- Implement Your Vision
Day 2
Module 4 – Challenge the Process
Objective: To create an innovative environment that takes intelligent risks and learns from mistakes.
Agenda:
- Section 1: Challenge the Process is Difficult
- Section 2: It’s Difficult but Worth It
- Section 3: Normalizing Risk
Module 5 – Enable Others to Act – Part 1
- Team Charter and Operational Agreement
- The Tuckman Model of Team Development
Day 3
Module 5 – Enable Others to Act – Part 2
- Team Charter and Operational Agreement
Module 6 – Encourage the Heat
Objective: Increased commitment and ability to encourage others through effective recognition
Agenda:
- Section 1: Encouragement
- Section 2: Best Methods
Day 4
Module 7 – Communicate Congruently
Objective: Increased ability to be a congruent leader through emotionally intelligent communication
Agenda:
- Emotional Intelligence
- Communication Styles
- Rapport Strategies
- Constructive Feedback
Day 5
Module 8 – Lead Others Through Change
Objective: Increased ability to lead employees through organizational change and transition
Agenda:
- The Nature of Change
- Melt – Strategies for melting resistance
- Move – Strategies for moving people through change
- Mold – Strategies for molding the new way
- Performance Plan (real time)
Module 9 – Making Commitments
- Review of entire workshop
- Planning next steps
- Team project presentations
Customer Service Culture
Energize your managers to create an environment that works for your customers and your organization. Managers set the stage for customer service excellence.
This course builds on Customer Service Attitude and defines a comprehensive training process that provides the infrastructure for an excellent service culture.
This is a 6-hour interactive course for those in your organization’s leadership positions. The many individual and team activities will stimulate interest and reinforce key concepts that students can apply right away.
Learning Objectives:
At the end of this course, participants will be able to:
• Generate a spirit of excellence
• Lead by example
• Develop people and build trust
• Build feedback systems
• Design measures for service areas that are important to customers
• Build measurement into organizational and staff performance
• Make measurement fun and motivating for everyone
• Develop service standards and build them into jobs
• Energize staff to delight customers through effective recognition
Course Outline:
1. Course overview
2. Inspire People by Leading a Spirit of Excellence
3. Manage Feedback and Communication
4. Measure Service
5. Recognize Excellence
Building Trust: The Essential Ingredient
Research shows that trust is the most fundamental quality of healthy organizations. Without it working relationships are dysfunctional, which hampers teamwork, productivity, and results. Establishing it between individuals and on teams can be difficult and slow, but this course presents four proven strategies that replace flawed approaches of “corporate wisdom.”
This four-hour course is for anyone who wants to improve organizational cooperation, productivity, and results. The class activities and case studies will stimulate interest and reinforce key concepts that you can apply right away.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
Upon completion, participants will be able to build trust for better working
relationships by:
- Learning about its power
- Understanding the role of initiative
- Learning how to be strategically open
- Practicing the secret of vulnerability
- Assessing your level of sincerity
- Learning how to deal with aggressive opportunists
COURSE OUTLINE
- The power of trust
- Strategies for building trust
- How to maintain trust after earning it
- How to regain trust after losing it
- Action Plan