MANAGEMENT

Customer Service
When you think of customer service what first comes to mind? Many would assume that we're talking about the basic skills. You know the ones. How to greet customers, how to make them feel respected and appreciated, and how to make customers confident in your staff's ability to resolve problems; and the list goes on and on…

In this workshop participants will:
• Learn how to create standards and hire to those standards
• Learn how to teach staff to be accountable to each other, promoting team work
• See examples of excellent performance being rewarded
• Talk about solutions to those corporate barriers that may prevent them from implementing improved programs

Participants will leave this workshop with:
• A blueprint for setting standards
• An action plan that will include possible methods to overcoming barriers

When so many businesses offer the same goods and services, the companies on top are those that excel at treating their customers well. The level of service provided to customers often dictates which companies are the most successful. People will pay more for good service. The benefits are obvious. Providing good service goes straight to your bottom line and begins with staff who are well developed and experience a high level of job satisfaction. Further savings are realized as staff turnover rates decline. Satisfied, well developed staff will remain on the job.

This workshop is a must for all managers and is an excellent follow-up workshop to our Effective Interviewing and Hiring Skills workshop.

Workshop faculty: Deborah Perry

Effective Communication and Presentation Skills
Communication is a major competency necessary for success in leadership and management. Effective leaders are also effective communicators who can convey information and its implied intention to their staff.
Good interpersonal skills usually result in effective leadership. Leaders require excellent communication to convey information, to reveal their attitudes, to motivate their followers, and to convey mission, vision, and values to employees. Organizations with effective communication systems are likely to be successful.

This workshop will help managers to develop skills in:
• Sending messages
• Giving instruction
• Developing rapport
• Obtaining commitment from staff

Special attention will be given to listening skills, providing feedback and criticism, and delivering praise and recognition.

Workshop faculty: James Deary, MA, EdD; Deborah Perry

Effective Interviewing and Hiring Skills
Hiring the right people for the right job helps organizations keep turnover down and productivity high. Consider the cost of replacement staff, including but not limited to interview time, reference checking, training, frustration, litigation, unemployment, etc. The total cost could equal an annual salary.

Participants in this workshop will:
• Develop a structured interview
• Apply interview techniques and maintain control through role-play
• Use behavior-based interview strategies

Participants will benefit by:
• Learning how to make better hiring decisions, reducing staff turnover, and saving their organizations time and money

This workshop is a must for all managers and supervisors who have responsibility for hiring staff.

Workshop faculty: Deborah Perry; Anthony Shaw

Grant Writing for Nonprofits
This overview will teach professionals in health and human services who have limited grant writing experience the basics of researching funders and writing grant applications. Participants will learn to write clear and concise goals, and specific, measurable objectives. They will also learn how to use data to develop a needs assessment, and to craft a workplan that outlines activities, timeframes and data collection for evaluation purposes.

How you will benefit:
• Learn how to develop a grant proposal - from the needs statement through evaluation
• Understand the differences between private, state, and federal grants
• Identify potential funders for your proposal

What you will cover:
• How to search for foundation, state, and federal grant opportunities
• How to develop a solid and convincing needs statement
• How to develop and write clear program goals and objectives
• Small group exercises to define the problems you intend to address, develop a program plan, and formulate an evaluation methodology
• Review examples of well-written (and funded!) grant proposals
• Fundamentals of developing a program budget

Workshop faculty: Maxine Golub, MPH; Susanne Callahan, MA

 

Group Process and Meeting Dynamics
A significantly important area of management is the relationship between leaders and how they contribute to the group effectiveness of the followers. Research on groups has identified important determinants of group effectiveness.

How you will benefit:
• Become familiar with the different behaviors exhibited at meetings
• Learn how to lead a meeting with productive results
• Diffuse counter-productive communication at meetings
• Utilize the talents of group members
• Make productive group decisions
• Identify pitfalls in group decision making

What you will cover:
• The 13 most common behaviors exhibited during meetings
• Leadership skills that energize group meetings
• Research on groups as determined in the Tavistock Project
• The group think hypothesis exhibited by cohesive groups
• Body language and its relationship to communication

Workshop faculty: James Deary, MA, EdD

 

Human Resources Law for Managers
Supervisors, managers, senior managers and potential managerial candidates will gain an in-depth knowledge of the laws and employment law environment that govern the management of people in the workplace.

This course will enable participants to:
• Understand the manager's role in maintaining a legal, appropriate workplace
• Recognize the positive effects on productivity, employee retention and organizational morale of knowing and enforcing workplace rules
• Know the history and practical reasons behind workplace rules and laws
• Sharpen their leadership skills to manage workplace issues proactively
• Resolve workplace problems before they become legal situations
• Improve their team's work environment.

During this course, participants will:
• Learn the variety of laws that apply to the workplace
• Understand the background and practical applications of these laws
• Discuss practical situations and how laws and rules apply
• Distinguish between inappropriate and illegal behavior, and learn how to manage in different circumstances
• Engage in role-plays to gain insight into competing viewpoints in problem situations
• View and discuss a video presentation on actual incidents at work

This course is necessary for anyone with supervisory or managerial authority. It is especially beneficial for first-time managers.

Workshop faculty: Anthony Shaw

Leadership and Influencing Others
Through the use of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, participants will learn how their personalities impact on their ability to lead and manage; and how to adapt their styles to meet the demands of their work situations.

The program objectives are:
• Increase self-awareness and confirm self-perception
• Learn how people take in information and make decisions
• Appreciate the gifts and strengths of others and self
• Learn how to capitalize on strengths
• Apply knowledge about personality type

Participants will benefit by:
• Learning how to persuade and influence others
• Building better relationships on the job
• Improving motivation

Workshop faculty: James Deary, MA, EdD, MBTI Certified Professional

 

Managing and Resolving Conflict
Conflict is a complex issue made more complex by personal history, home/work realities, culture, context/environment, gender, and attitude/responses. In this workshop, a stage is set for open exploratory learning. We begin by exploring the different definitions of conflict by incorporation of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator instrument.

Participants will learn:
• A model for managing conflict
• To identify those aspects of the conflict management process that we may see clearly and those that are blind spots
• How the model can be applied to conflicts at home and at work
• To develop an action plan for their own specific conflict issues

This workshop is a must for all persons with supervisory or managerial authority.

Workshop faculty: James Deary, MA, EdD; Deborah Perry

 

Managing Multicultural Teams
The purpose of this workshop is to help managers learn how to fulfill their role, beyond that of valuing diversity. The main point is that managers have power and responsibility beyond that of their reports. Managers need to understand that they control infrastructures (hiring, promotion, etc.) which can be discriminatory. Diversity is not just an issue about "being nice to each other," it is dependent on bias-free infrastructures.

Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to:
• Understand the manager's unique role in creating a successful diversity effort.
• Understand how managing diversity is different from traditional management.
• Understand the basic management infrastructures and how to use them to effectively manage diversity.
• Be able to identify success factors and pitfalls in managing diversity.

Workshop faculty: Deborah Perry

 

Time Management
Ever get to the end of the day and have no idea where your day has gone? What about the piles of paper all over your office that you never seem to be able to get to? What about missed deadlines and important projects that must get done but you never have the time to devote to them?

Many of our problems around how our time is spent can be blamed on human nature. We are committed to showing you how to overcome human nature and make the very best use of your workday hours.

Participants in this workshop will:
• Use a personal time log to identify their strengths and weaknesses
• Learn to redirect their efforts to the most important tasks
• Identify and eliminate "time wasters"
• Set goals and priorities
• Use the concept of the "Ideal Day" to implement an effective routine

Participants will benefit by:
• Gaining 2 hours a day in increased productivity
• Meeting deadlines
• Managing multiple priorities based on actual urgency
• Leaving this workshop with an action plan

This workshop is for anyone who must learn how to make the best use of their time.

Workshop faculty: Deborah Perry

Violence In The Workplace
Managers and supervisors will learn about this very current and crucial topic, and develop tools to manage and prevent violence in the workplace.

This course will equip managers and supervisors to:
• Understand the phenomenon of workplace violence, its history and impact
• Recognize warning signs and how to respond
• Diagnose workplace behaviors before violence occurs
• Develop policies and strategies to counter and prevent workplace violence
• Analyze their own reactions to potential incidents
• Become leaders in their workplace to ensure a safe and legally compliant environment.

During this course, participants will:
• Study current trends and findings about workplace violence
• Take part in an interactive simulation designed to highlight and analyze actual workplace violence situations
• Watch and discuss a video presentation by the leading legal expert on this issue
• Share and discuss personal experiences with workplace incidents.
This course is necessary for all frontline managers and supervisors, as well as production team leaders and more senior managers. Participants from diverse work settings and organizational roles foster a greater depth of discussion and course activity.

Workshop faculty: Anthony Shaw