Advanced Writing:
Writing for Results is a required prerequisite.
Assertiveness Training:
Assess personal communication styles.
Discuss ways to increase self-esteem and confidence.
Practice skills for communicating without infringing on others' rights.
Basic Supervision:
Explore the role of the supervisor.
Relate communication, motivation and positive discipline to "work place" setting.
Practice applying supervisory skills to real-life problems.
Business Grammar Review:
Discover the two most embarrassing grammatical mistakes and how to correct them.
Choose and use the right word in any business situation-the "professional" vocabulary.
Learn the seven cardinal rules for using commas.
Discover guidelines for using the apostrophe... correctly!
Learn the most commonly misspelled words in the English language... and how to spell them right!
Discover ten tips the professionals use for accurate proofreading.
Change Management:
Discuss the process of change.
Identify reasons people resist change.
Develop a plan to manage change for personal and organizational success.
Changing Role of the Manager:
Study changing demographics and expectations of today's employees.
Apply current trends to personal situations.
Practice employee-involvement skills required to have a productive, effective work force.
Conflict Management and Negotiations:
Clarify positive aspects of conflict.
Evaluate personal conflict-management style.
Practice effective conflict-management strategies.
Creative Thinking for Problem Solving:
Analyze personal style of creative thinking behavior and problem solving.
Explore strategy for working with people who have different styles.
Discuss techniques for developing a work environment where employees can use their creative abilities.
Experiment with a variety of creative idea generating processes.
Experience creative problem solving individually and in groups.
Cultural Diversity:
Distinguish among affirmative action, valuing diversity and managing diversity.
Discuss how effectively managing diversity relates to organizational productivity, ethics and legal issues.
Identify the possible barriers of traditional organizational culture.
Determine how personal values, biases and management styles influence the performance of employees from various cultures and subcultures.
Explore ways to expand options and choices regarding the management of different groups of people.
Customer Service for Employees:
Identify who the customer is, both internally and externally.
Discuss ways to recognize how the customer views the organization.
Practice handling an angry customer.
Develop approaches and techniques for generating positive relations with the public, with emphasis on image, identity, values and communications.
Decision Making:
Examine methods for improving individual and group decisions.
Discuss the role of logic and feelings in the decision-making process.
Identify the dynamics of decision making within a group setting.
Effective Communication Skills:
Examine elements of verbal and nonverbal communication.
Assess personal communication barriers.
Practice active listening skills and positive self-talk strategies.
Effective Discipline Strategies:
View discipline as a positive, natural process for employee development.
Study principles of interpersonal interaction that improve the discipline process.
Practice skills of positive discipline that reinforce the organization's disciplinary process.
Effectiveness Training for Support Staff:
Develop proven approaches for assuming more professional responsibilities.
Access individual communication and administrative skills.
Examine effective relationships for members of the management team.
Elected Officials and Staff Relationships:
Examine the characteristics of successful working relationships within governmental organizations.
Explore issues such as role clarification, internal and public communications, group dynamics, conflict resolution and power.
Employee Assistance:
Recognize when an employee needs help.
Practice basic counseling skills needed.
Examine the role supervisors/personnel play in making a referral.
Discuss the nature of Employee Assistance Programs.
Explore ways to build trust so employees use the program.
Identify alternatives to an Employee Assistance Program.
Employee Involvement Teams:
(An intensive, long-term approach to organizational effectiveness.)
Establish governing board and top management commitment.
Train top management in development and implementation of employee team process.
Train team leaders and facilitators in the team process.
Evaluate team progress.
Refine or redirect efforts as needed.
Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action:
Define the impact and legal implications of bias and prejudice in the work environment.
Examine laws and statutes regulating relationships in the work place and the employee's and management's rights and responsibilities under these laws.
Identify the organization's process for handling grievances.
"The classes were participatory and not instructor dominated; we learned by doing instead of learning by listening." City of Rome Supervisor
Ethics and Ethical Decision Making:
Recognize what constitutes ethical behavior as mandated in the Georgia Codes for local government.
Assess personal ethical standards and their implications in the work place through real case scenarios.
Define the role of the "professional" in local government.
Financial Management:
Examine the various budget types and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Explore the elements of an efficient budget preparation process.
Develop an awareness of the considerations necessary to prepare a departmental budget.
Study ways to present the budget to supervisors and elected officials.
Develop an understanding of how to control the budget.
Goal Setting:
Relate the need for goal development to present and future supervisory potential.
Study a variety of practical goal-setting and action-planning approaches from goal creation to goal implementation.
Develop goals for personal and departmental use.
Interpersonal Skills:
Identify skills and methods for relationship building in the work place.
Practice good listening, nonverbal communication behavior and idea presentation.
Receive feedback to improve on new and/or existing skills.
Interviewing Skills:
Establish measurable performance criteria for the job position.
Practice verbal and nonverbal communication skills in interviewing applicants; document interview.
Evaluate applicants to make best hiring decision.
Examine legal issues related to interviewing.
Leadership Development:
Define what constitutes leadership ability and how it is developed.
Assess personal leadership style.
Explore different styles of leadership and common characteristics of effective leaders.
"This workshop greatly improved my level of enthusiasm for my job and provided me a clearer picture of how my job fits into public service." Chatham County Supervisor
Managing Marginal Employees:
Identify the general causes of marginal effort.
Determine specific causes behind specific employees' marginal efforts and attitudes.
Examine ways to improve and eliminate marginal effort.
Establish standards to eliminate marginal effort and attitude.
Develop skills and strategies for eliminating marginal activity of others.
Managing Quality Customer Service:
Clarify the importance of creating employee awareness of effective customer service.
Establish standards of service within the department.
Examine hiring for good service.
Produce plans to monitor and evaluate service within the department.
Media Relations:
Study proven strategies for communicating publicly that get positive results and build community relations.
Discover techniques for dealing with the media in crisis situations.
Mediation Training:
Define what mediation is and how it differs from other conflict resolution processes.
Determine when mediation is an appropriate intervention to use in the work place.
Practice the mediation process skills of being a neutral facilitator in conflict situations.
Meeting Management:
Discuss what constitutes an effective meeting.
Clarify the stages of group process that occur in meetings.
Determine ways to solicit constructive member involvement.
Identify strategies for managing negative member behaviors.
Motivation:
Define principles of motivation.
Recognize what constitutes short-term and long-term motivators in the work place.
Explore ways participants can motivate themselves and others in a work setting.
Organizational Excellence:
Recognize how some local governments outperform others despite constraints.
Study characteristics which constitute excellence in local government, both individually and organizationally.
Performance Appraisal for Employees:
Recognize personal responsibility in the performance appraisal process.
Define ways to routinely communicate with management about personal performance.
Practice writing performance goals for employee development.
Performance Appraisal for Managers:
Analyze the need for setting mutual performance expectations with employees.
Discuss legally defensible documentation with routine feedback.
Conduct a performance feedback session using the organization's actual performance appraisal form.
Performance Measures:
Define the need for measuring performance.
Identify the types of performance measures.
Develop skills in identifying what needs to be measured.
Build skills in writing a comprehensive set of workload, efficiency, effectiveness and productivity measures.
Explore bench-marking as a strategy to improve services.
Phone Power: Projecting a Positive Image:
Project a professional image for the organization.
Answer, screen and transfer calls effectively.
Combine courtesy and strategy to move the conversation forward.
Select words with a positive connotation to create the right impression.
Avoid playing "telephone tag" a time-wasting game you can't afford to play.
Learn a six-point strategy for turning emotions into rational solutions.
Role play from real on-the-job situations to put into practice all the phone techniques you've learned throughout the day.
Power and Influence:
Explore the potential for use and abuse of personal and organizational power.
Assess personal perspective of power.
Practice skills in positive influence.
Develop a plan of action for strengthening individual and departmental power.
Problem solving Using the Quality Tools of Statistical Process Control:
Examine a scientific approach model of problem solving.
Identify measurement tools to use in collecting data for problem solving such as cause and effect charts, run charts, brain storming , pareto charts, flow charts, force field analysis and multi-voting.
Select the appropriate measurement "tool" for solving specific types of problems.
Practice the process of data analysis and interpretation.
Apply the model to "real work"situations and practice using the measurement tolls towards resolving the problem.
Project Management: Fundamentals of Managing Projects:
Given multiple projects that compete for the same limited resources, select appropriate quantitative and qualitative techniques to evaluate the alternatives and recommend the best alternative.
Given a project description, conduct a task analysis in order to generate a network diagram, Gantt chart and Risk Analysis.
Given project tasks, cost data and resource information, analyze all resource conflicts.
Given project cost data and project task and resource information, determine the cost of each task to develop the project budget.
Given data regarding a project in progress, apply techniques to calculate variance and determine an estimate at completion (EAC).
Project Management: Advanced:
Given a project description with incomplete information, gather information or develop assumptions that will facilitate preparing a project charter.
Given a project team, develop a project plan including a schedule, staffing and spending plan.
Given a project in progress, select and apply the appropriate planning and tracking tolls to monitor and report progress to internal and external client groups.
Given changes in scope and specifications for a project in progress, develop a revised project plan.
Given a set of unexpected events that affect project resources, develop and implement risk plans with revised cost and time estimates.
Professional Image:
Assess how participants present themselves to their organization and to the public.
Relate one's professional image to one's opportunities for future advancement.
Outline an action plan for enhancing one's personal and professional credibility.
Public Speaking:
Examine strategies for presenting ideas clearly and concisely.
Analyze and organize message content.
Practice speaking skills in a variety of situations.
receive feedback and assess progress through videotaped sessions.
"Class was well worth the time, cost and effort. Should be a requirement for all people in supervisory roles, even department heads." Dougherty County Supervisor
Quality Improvement Team Facilitation for Managers and Supervisors:
Identify the communication skills required to facilitate "Quality Improvement Teams."
Explore the phases of the group dynamics of functioning teams and develop skills to advance the group.
Establish the role of the facilitator as "referee," encourager, summarizer, motivator, statistician and coach.
Develop a working knowledge of the problem-solving process, the measurement tools of statistical process control and how to lead groups in problem solving.
Quality Management Concepts and Application:
Discuss briefly the historical evolution of management leading up to QM.
Examine the process from the view of Deming and Crosby, two of the leading names in quality management.
Explore the fundamentals of QM: management's commitment, teamwork, continuous process improvement and measurements.
Gain the ability to develop a quality strategy for your organization.
(Long-term QM consultation and system-wide training is available for organizations anticipating the application of QM.)
Risk Management:
Explore the risks faced by governments and ways to handle these risks, with emphasis on loss control.
Study ways to get injured employees back to work.
Study supervisor's role in reducing losses due to on-the-job accidents and injuries.
Establish strategies for increasing employee awareness and for implementing a safety program.
Sexual Harassment:
Discuss legal implications of Section 703 of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
Define responsibilities of management as required by law to prevent a perceived hostile environment.
Identify the process by which a complaint must be followed up.
Strategic Planning:
Apply the steps of the strategic planning process by participating in the development of a strategic plan for the department or organization.
Establish a clearly defined common direction for future decision making.
Outline a plan for monitoring and evaluating the strategic plan.
Stress Management:
Identify sources of stress in personal and professional life.
Define techniques for minimizing stress.
Develop a personal plan for managing sources of stress.
Systems Approach to Management:
Define a system and identify the critical components.
Examine the role of the manager in the new order of systems management.
Utilize the "control chart" to determine if the system is stable or unstable.
Explore methods of stabilizing a system and bringing it under control.
Analyze and develop skills of identifying special and common causes of organizational problems.
Team Building:
Relate principles of team building to personal work situations.
develop techniques and strategies for creating effective teamwork to maximize team resources.
Organize a plan to initiate or further develop teamwork within the department or organization.
Team Building Canoe Experience:
Provide an experiential learning process toward team building.
Enhance the importance of communication in building and maintaining a team.
Allow an opportunity to see oneself and others function as vital team members through a video made of the process.
Permit one to process this experience in relation to workplace team-building efforts.
Generate bonding qualities needed to make working together "work".
Time Management:
Identify personal time wasters, life goals and priorities.
Refine and/or develop skills that help organize the workday and workload.
Develop an appreciation for time as a non-recoverable resource.
Train-the-Trainer:
(For personnel conducting internal training.)
Examine conditions and ways in which adults learn best.
Develop instructional techniques tailored to content.
Demonstrate teaching style that is critiqued through videotape.
Discuss ways to assess learner needs.
Establish evaluation criteria for training.
Writing for Results:
Increase your writing speed.
Develop a more personable and professional image in writing.
Clarify your writing so that you cannot be misunderstood.
Organize your information to pack a more powerful punch.
Get the reader response you're looking for.
