Line Management and Supervision Training

Employee Relations

• Bring Out the Best! Motivating Employees
• Career Development
• Coaching: The Lost Art of Leadership
• Counseling Employees
• Handling Employee Complaints

Communications Skills

• Communications: The Foundation of Success
• Conducting Effective Meetings
• Effective Presentations
• Decision Making
• Listening Effectiveness
• Assertiveness
• Networking and Relationship Building

Change Management

• Managing Change
• Problem Solving
• Resolving Conflict
• Values
• Managing Stress
• Time Management
• Creativity and Innovation Effectiveness

Recruiting and Performance Management

• Interviewing and Selecting Exceptional Employees: A Behavioral Approach
• Delegating and Making Assignments
• Establishing Goals and Objectives
• Establishing Performance Standards
• Increasing Productivity! Performance Consulting
•  Performance Appraisal Delivery
• Moving from Criticism to Feedback
• Learning Styles

Bring Out the Best! Motivating Employees

In order for leaders to motivate their employees, they need to know the underlying principles. This course balances theory, application, and skill development. The "Theories of Motivation" are explored and modeled. Survey information is provided for the participants use to evaluate the motivational factors in their area, and an action work sheet is developed so that specific techniques learned can be applied to their job. Skill building sections focus on teaching the participants how to provide positive reinforcement and recognition to their employees.

Learning objectives

• Discuss the implication of the demographic changes on their organization
• Describe the role of values, attitudes and behaviors
• Recognize biases and stereotypes based on gender, race religion, age, culture, disability, and life-style.
• Recognize verbal and nonverbal aspects of communication that may impede working relations
• Discuss how diversity is supported in the mission, vision and values of their company

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Career Development

The saying "hard work will ensure success" has today become more myth than maxim, with promotional opportunities shrinking and numbers of qualified candidates growing. Career counseling skills are more important than ever as leaders work with their employees to develop career goals that are realistic and help maintain employee motivation and productivity.

Learning objectives

• Name the major components of an organization's career development system
• Help employees accept responsibility for their growth and development within the organization
• Use Job History Forms and Life History Forms to aid in discovering employees' career goals and interests
• Prepare for and participate in a career-counseling interview with their employees
• Assist employees in exploring their career choice alternatives
• Help employees create action plans for their future goals

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Coaching the Lost Art of Leadership

Coaching has become an indispensable tool in the workplace. In this program, the participants will learn and practice a six-step method to help others improve individual performance by creating awareness of the need for change.

Learning objectives

• Determine the difference between counseling and coaching
• Identify the advantages and disadvantages of using questions to coach others
• List the six key steps used to coach
• Ask questions of the other person in order to create awareness of the opportunities for improvement
• Explore various action possibilities
• Help in selecting a specific improvement area
• Assist in developing an action plan
• Conclude the coaching session
• Answer questions with questions that contain clues
• Identify how values impact communication.
• Use methods to deal with emotion both their own and others
• Identify rituals that are used to prevent meaningful communication
• Increase understanding of individual work style differences.
• Recognize the impact of verbal and nonverbal messages.
• Apply appropriate "questioning" techniques to produce open honest feedback.
• Active listening techniques to increase understanding and acceptance.

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Communications: The Foundation of Success

Organizations that benefit from the full potential of their human resources encourage open communication and really listen to employees. They inspire employees to seek understanding and discover the abilities of teammates. This one-day seminar will enable you to practice open and effective communication that will help your organization operate at its peak level of collaboration and productivity. It includes a work style inventory (DISC) so you can examine your own communication style and better understand its effect on others.

Learning objectives

• Identify how values impact communication.
• Use methods to deal with emotion both their own and others
• Identify rituals that are used to prevent meaningful communication
• Increase understanding of individual work style differences.
• Recognize the impact of verbal and nonverbal messages.
• Apply appropriate "questioning" techniques to produce open honest feedback.
• Active listening techniques to increase understanding and acceptance.

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Conducting Effective Meetings

Most employees have had different levels of success in meeting and working with others. In this course participants learn how to use basic skills for dealing empathetically with others. Then they discover how to use basic skills for obtaining consensus in meetings with others. Last, they learn how to perform basic group skills including those of group leader, recorder, facilitator and group member.

Learning objectives

• Show and use four basic skills that build empathy
• Describe the roles and responsibilities of the group leader, the observer, the facilitator, the recorder
• Define consensus and consensus management
• Define power voting
• Demonstrate a five-step process for managing successful meetings

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Counseling Employees

Whether we call it "Counseling," "Taking Positive Disciplinary Action," "Creating Consequences for Troublesome Employees," or "Managing the Difficult Employee," it all boils down to learning how to modify or change an employee's behavior. This module is used to teach leaders how to deal directly with problem employees rather than just ignore the problem and hope it goes away. It provides a clear, step-by-step approach that leaders can use to effect employee change.

Learning objectives

• Explain the importance of improving an employee's performance
• Use techniques, which help prevent employee defensiveness
• Explain organizational policy in terms of its importance to the employee
• Define a performance gap by contrasting the employee's actual performance to the required standard
• Help the employee determine the cause of the performance problem
• Assist the employee in developing specific solutions for improving performance
• Use a summary/follow-up procedure to ensure application on the job

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Decision Making

The inability to make appropriate decisions can have costly consequences. This course will teach your leaders to determine the difference between "must" and "want" objectives, to develop objectives, create alternatives, evaluate risk, and to arrive at balanced decisions. In addition, participants learn to analyze potential problems resulting from their decisions and to develop contingency plans to deal with them.

Learning objectives

• Discuss the importance of visibility in making better decisions.
• Write an open decision statement.
• Determine the difference between "must" and "want" objectives.
• Develop objectives, create alternatives, evaluate risk, and arrive at balanced decisions.
• Analyze potential problems and develop contingency plans.

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Delegating and Making Assignments

Many leaders find it very difficult to delegate. They continually use precious time doing things others could do. In this course, participants learn the payoffs of delegation, discuss how to anticipate and avoid potential pitfalls, and determine criteria for assessing how effectively they have delegated and monitored an assignment. By discovering their own preferred delegation style, discussing alternative approaches, and practicing the steps of delegation, to maximize their effectiveness.

Learning objectives

• List the common barriers to delegation.
• Describe the pitfalls of delegation.
• Describe the potential payoffs of effective delegation.
• Use a step-by-step approach to minimize pitfalls and maximize payoffs.
• Illustrate the relationship between the delegation process and the process of management in general.
• Identify several distinct delegation styles.
• Describe one's own delegation style preferences.
• Use several decision factors, which help select the most appropriate delegation style in a given situation.

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Effective Presentations

People make presentations every day. Sometimes these presentations take place in a formal setting with podiums, projectors, and pie charts. At other times, you use presentation skills in informal settings as you talk on the phone, participate in meetings, or give routine progress reports. The presentations they make influence how their leaders, peers, or clients perceive them. Being able to express them effectively is a crucial factor

Learning objectives

• Plan and write any of the five types of presentations.
• Use the five steps in preparing for a presentation.
• Use techniques to control nervousness.
• Use body language productively.
• Grab and hold an audience's attention.
• Avoid mistakes preparing and using audiovisual aids.
• Handle problem participants.
• Ask their audience questions, answer questions, and handle loaded questions.
• Give a ten-minute presentation using audiovisual aids and good presentation skills.

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Establishing Goals and Objectives

Many programs on this subject focus on "How to Write Measurable Objectives." Although this course does deal with the issue of measurability, the primary purpose of this workshop is to teach how to establish goals and objectives with an employee in one-on-one interviews. Your leaders will learn to assist an employee in setting acceptable objectives, determining priorities, analyzing potential problems, and developing contingency plans.

Learning objectives

• Explain the importance of selling goals and objectives.
• State reasons why goals and objectives are often not developed.
• Make preparations to ensure the success of a goals and objectives-setting session.
• Formulate specific, measurable, achievable objectives.
• List areas for which objectives can be written.
• Assist the employee in setting acceptable objectives, determining priorities, analyzing potential problems, and developing contingency plans.
• Use a summary/follow-up procedure to ensure good communication of intent.

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Establishing Performance Standards

The failure of a supervisor or manager to communicate exactly what is expected of an employee is often the underlying cause of poor work performance and can lead to poor leader/employee relationships. This course teaches what performance standards are, addresses the reasons for establishing performance standards, examines potential problems, and uses a detailed three-step method to analyze an employee's job and to develop effective, mutually acceptable standards of work performance.

Learning objectives

• Explain what is meant by a standard of performance.
• State the principal purposes for establishing performance standards.
• Identify the major potential problems in establishing performance standards.
• Describe benefits that can be derived from performance standards.
• Use a given set of criteria to establish performance standards.
• Explain the importance of developing standards with the employee.
• Establish a performance standard using a three-step strategy that helps the leader plan a meeting with an employee, facilitates the meeting with the employee, and provides for follow-up.

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Handling Employee Complaints

Dealing with an employee who is upset, angry, or unhappy takes a high level of diplomacy and skill. A common and costly reaction is to respond with like feelings. In this course, your leaders learn how to get to the heart of a problem and work with an employee to determine appropriate solutions and follow-up action. Using the eight-step method presented in this course will help your supervisors and managers amicably resolve difficult situations.

Learning objectives

• Describe the types of complaints
• Describe the employee complaint process
• Give recognition to an employee's feelings and respond appropriately to them
• Listen to an irate employee without interruption
• Use techniques to assure accurate communication
• Analyze a situation by using diagnostic questions
• sist the employee in developing specific solutions
• Use a summary/follow-up procedure to ensure good communication of intent

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Increasing Productivity! Performance Counseling

How do you bridge the gap between employee potential and employee performance? Good counseling strategies and a balance of empowerment and accountability help managers transform potential into performance success. The "Performance Counseling" program is designed to teach front line leaders how to develop and improve job performance by clarifying roles and responsibilities, identifying employee barriers to great performance, and developing a corrective action plan with a follow up process.

You will gain counseling and confronting skills in:

• Gaining agreement to the importance of improving performance.
• Preventing employee defensiveness.
• Aligning organizational and individual interests.
• Defining a performance gap by contrasting actual performance to the required standard.
• Helping the employee determine the cause of the performance problem.
• Guiding the employee in developing specific solutions for performance improvement.
• Working with the employee to develop a performance monitoring system.

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Interviewing and Selecting Exceptional Employees: A Behavioral Approach

Effective selection interviewing can greatly increase the odds that the person hired will perform well, enjoy the work, and stay on the job. This module covers both the planning process and the interviewing skills necessary to make effective selection decisions. Workshop participants learn to identify job requirements, identify candidate requirements, and develop specific questions to use in conducting the interview.

Learning Objectives

• Identify job requirements
• Identify candidate requirements
• Communicate requirements to those who may be involved in recruiting candidates
• Decide how to obtain information from candidates
• Screen prospective candidates
• Anticipate and prepare for candidate's questions
• Establish rapport with candidate
• Review and summarize obtained information
• Give appropriate information to candidate
• Make effective hiring decisions

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Managing Change

Change is a fact of life in most successful organizations today. Changes in leadership, new performance appraisals, new customers, and new processes and many other situations contribute to the need to develop change management skills. Poorly managed change can directly impact morale and productivity. This course teaches leaders to effectively manage the effects of change on their work groups.

Learning Objectives

• List common feelings and reactions brought about by a change experience.
• Discuss the effects of change on the individual supervisor and the employee.
• Describe how personal issues outside the workplace impact organizational change.
• Determine the difference between organizational benefits and employee benefits.
• List organizational costs if change is not successfully managed.
• Communicate change to employees using a step-by-step approach.
• Follow-up and monitor the effects of change.

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Moving From Criticism to Feedback

Criticism is a fact of life. How we deal with criticism, in both giving and receiving has a lot of impact on our success on the job. This workshop focuses first on turning criticism into constructive feedback by using a six-step model. It also teaches the participants how to receive criticism from others without becoming defensive.

Learning Objectives

• Define the difference between judgment and description feedback.
• Use a six-step model for giving feedback
• Identify their personal strengths and related weaknesses
• Use a six-step model for turning criticism into feedback.

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Performance Appraisal Delivery

Performance appraisals can be a real source of anxiety for both employees and their supervisors if not performed effectively. This course examines supervisory attitudes, knowledge, and skills, which have impact on the effectiveness of a performance appraisal interview. It explores in detail the performance appraisal's purpose, how to prepare for an appraisal interview, and how to conduct the performance appraisal interview in an atmosphere of guidance and helpfulness.

Learning Objectives

• Identify ongoing leadership behaviors that tend to create problems during a performance appraisal.
• List the major reasons for conducting a performance appraisal.
• Explain the importance of using positive approaches to bring about changes in an employee rather than using the performance appraisal as an instrument for judging.
• Recognize the importance of using words or phrases, which produce an atmosphere of guidance and helpfulness.
• Implement the detailed preparation necessary to ensure a good performance appraisal.
• Analyze areas of concern for the employee and the leader.
• Assist the employee in developing specific solutions.
• Provide the employee with specific positive feedback.
• Help the employee develop an action plan for key solutions.
• Use a summary/follow-up procedure to ensure good communication of intent.

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Problem Solving

Some leaders seem to have natural ability to-solve-problems, while others with the same intelligence and experience tend to apply the "right" decision to the "wrong" problem. This course is designed to develop knowledge and skills in solving problems. Logical methods are employed to teach the management processes of situation analysis and problem solving. This course uses real cases to ensure incorporation of skills and supplies instruments designed to aid application on the job. The intent of this workshop is to develop problem-solving skills that leaders can use to deal with their own situations, and does not attempt to teach leaders how to interact with employee's ideas.

Learning Objectives

• Describe the levels of awareness involved in solving problems.
• Discuss the importance of visibility in achieving more effective results when solving problems.
• Use a situation analysis to resolve general areas of concern.
• Define a problem specifically and arrive at causes by examining symptoms.

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Resolving Conflict

Conflict is a natural and desirable aspect of working in teams. Managing conflict is an essential leadership skill. Participants in this course will develop the skills necessary to identify sources of conflict, to identify their preferred style for managing conflict, to identify situations that it is appropriate to flex their preferred style, and to use a process for working through team differences. The course includes the Conflict Style Inventory by Dr. Sashkin that allows attendees to gain insight into their own conflict management styles.

Learning Objectives

• Identify four major sources of conflict
• Recognize how you and your team typically manage conflict
• Identify when it's appropriate to flex your conflict management style in order to achieve positive results
• Use a structured process for managing conflict

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Values

Values alignment is critical for organizational performance. Understanding how individual values, group or team values, and organizational values align strengthens the organization as a whole. When the differences are understood and communicated the tendency is to bridge gaps and build value alignment. Each participant will receive a values card deck for use in determining their values and the values of their workplace.

Learning Objectives

• Clarify your own values
• Clarify your groups' and organizations values
• Expand your self-understanding by learning how others perceive you
• Use appealing to values as an influence tactic
• Identify values gaps at all levels

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