As a manager, every decision you make and every problem you solve has an impact on your company. Even the most experienced managers have difficulty exercising sound judgment and demonstrating leadership skills while simultaneously handling their daily responsibilities and deadlines. While newer managers need to increase their skills through ongoing education, even the most experienced managers can benefit from this series. The variety of concepts covered in this series help to build confidence in making decisions, resolving conflicts, hiring the best candidates, influencing others, communicating effectively to a diverse audience, and leading change.
Each session provides the participant with group exercises, lively discussion through highly experienced facilitators, and developmental coaching to improve key skills. Participants will expand on their abilities to influence others, lead change and help spark innovation – while creating an atmosphere that attracts and retains the best talent. Take one course or take all ten.
Supervisors and managers with two more years of experience
Those that have completed our Front-Line Supervisor program
Senior supervisors who seek a refresher on key concepts
Anyone seeking in-depth knowledge in a particular topic area
Managers and Supervisors live with constant change, planned and unplanned. They can drive productive change by understanding all the elements that need to be in place for change to occur. What their role is and how to recognize and handle resistance are key concepts. In this class you will:
Learn the critical success factors for effective change
Understand barriers to effective change in the workplace
Generate a plan to help manage changes in your organization
Learn how to recognize and manage resistance to change
Modern-day cultural and technological changes have placed a new emphasis on texting, email, and social media. Managers expecting to lead an evolving and multi-generational workforce must understand the value, utility, and liabilities of today’s communications landscape. In this class you will:
Understand the vastness and complexities of today’s communications environment
Gain insight into the positive impact that email and social media can produce
Discover how the regulatory decisions on the use of social media and email can affect your business
Learn the role and limitations of using email as a communications method
Examine key concepts in business writing and improving your communication at work
Delivering corrective or disciplinary messages to the team or others is a critical part of being a leader. Building skills and confidence that comes with planning and effectively delivering these messages allows managers to better deal with difficult issues before they become significant problems. In this class you will:
Discover why honest; direct communication is challenging for many people
Understand how our values, attitudes, and behaviors intersect with corporate culture to drive our actions
Identify your own style towards conflict, and develop alternative strategies in some situations to increase effectiveness
Review how different communication methods work, and how they may influence what we say and hear
Define ground rules and planning for challenging discussions
Otherwise known as Today’s Legal Environment, Part II, staying up-to-date on legal concerns that managers may face is essential for compliant and fair decision making. The hiring, disciplinary, and performance management processes, as well as other people-related decisions, have potential legal implications that managers may not be aware of. In this class you will:
Learn the impact of today’s legal environment in a real-world approach, and understand recent changes in federal and Massachusetts laws
Understand how changes in the employee population and expectations of the emerging workforce impact your role
Explore concepts surrounding the job description, hiring, drug testing, diversity, bullying, harassment, and incident investigations to name a few.
Consistently named as the ‘least favorite’ activity of managers, performance appraisals are but one tool in the manager’s arsenal. In this class you will:
Be able to prepare and deliver a quality performance appraisal
Understand the usefulness and utility of a self-appraisal
Learn how to gain input from other key players for inclusion for a robust appraisal
Recognize and avoid common pitfalls and legal compliance concerns
Conduct an effective performance appraisal meeting
Innovation at all levels is essential for success in a global marketplace that is rapidly changing. Creating an environment where new ideas are encouraged, welcomed and transformed into new opportunities is an important skill for organizational leaders. In this class you will:
Explore and understand the importance of innovation to organizational success
Identify and recognize barriers to creative thinking, both individually and organizationally
Develop a plan for your organization to strengthen its approach to change
Understand and practice brainstorming techniques
Pinpoint where your organization is in its lifecycle and identify what to do next
Managers and Supervisors know they can’t work hard enough to make up for poor performers in their workgroup. Finding people that fit their culture, skills needs, and performance expectations happen in the recruiting and selection process, not the training room. In this class you will:
Learn how to identify what the required key skills and competencies are for position openings
Develop expertise in identifying the key behaviors that are essential for success
Identify the key components of the interviewing process and how to structure an interview
Learn the proper way to phrase questions and the impact of behavioral interviewing
Develop skills in interpreting candidate responses
Each of us has a ‘social’ style – how we think of ourselves when we interact with others. These are typical behaviors we have adopted to increase our effectiveness based on trial and error. In this class you will:
Identify and understand the style you typically use with others
Understand the limitations of your dominant style
Develop methods to detect, understand and adapt to the styles of others
Leaders need to cultivate key relationships, whether in their direct chain of command or at a peer level. Understanding how to navigate through these multi-directional relationships is vital for success. In this class you will:
Learn the dynamics of authority, power, and influence
Build influencing skills, particularly in managing “up”
Acquire an understanding of how decisions are made and how you can best contribute through the use of influence
This wrap-up program provides an overview of the key concepts from the series along with the opportunity to address unanswered questions or to clarify a previous program. It also provides the opportunity for discussion on what has or hasn’t worked in the workplace in terms of concepts learned and tried. We’ll also complete the final IDP to put the learning from the series into action. In this class you will:
Gain clarity on open issues resulting from the prior programs
Have the opportunity to discuss your experience to date in applying your new skills
Finalize your Individual Development Plan with an understanding of how to utilize your work environment to accomplish the objectives of your IDP
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