This course is a transformative six-week journey through John C. Maxwell's "Leadership Gold," a compendium of leadership insights gathered from over four decades at the forefront of leadership excellence. As one of the most influential leadership experts in the world, Maxwell distills his most precious lessons into nuggets of wisdom that are as practical as they are profound. This course is designed to not only explore these principles but also to apply them, enabling emerging and established leaders alike to refine their skills and enhance their impact.

To insert.

COURSE OVERVIEW

We all know what good writing is. It’s the novel we can’t put down, the poem we never forgot, and the speech that changes the way we look at the world. Good writing is the memo that gets action and the letter that says what a phone call can’t.

In business writing, the language is concrete, the point of view is clear, and the points are well expressed. Good writing is hard work, and even the best writers get discouraged. However, with practice you can feel more confident about your own writing. This four-week online course will give you the tools to become a better writer.

The pace of the development of new technology is accelerating, and we find ourselves becoming increasingly dependent on technology to communicate with each other. As a result, we find ourselves spending more and more time living in a ‘digital world’.

 Clearly, for many people, online interactions are replacing real world one-to-one interactions. Therefore, it is vital that the concept of ‘Digital Citizenship’ is understood. The appropriate use of technology needs to be appreciated by everyone.

 Unfortunately, we often see people misusing and abusing technology, and not realizing it. The fact that users don’t understand their rights and responsibilities as a digital citizen, and do not know what is appropriate technology usage, is a major issue that must be addressed

Communication skills are at the heart of everything we do each day, whether at home, at work, or at play. Active listening encompasses the best of communication, including listening to what others are saying, processing the information, and responding to it in order to clarify and elicit more information. This four-week workshop will help participants develop and practice their active listening skills.

What Will Students Learn?

• Define active listening and its key components
• Identify ways to become a better listener
• Use body language to reflect a positive listening attitude
• Understand the difference between sympathy and empathy, and when each is appropriate
• Create a listening mindset using framing, positive intent, and focus
• Be genuine in your communications
• Understand the communication process
• Ask questions, probe for information, and use paraphrasing techniques
• Build relationships to create an authentic communication experience
• Identify common listening problems and solutions

What Topics are Covered?

• Defining active listening
• Body language basics
• Attitude is everything!
• Encouraging conversation
• Building relationships
• Getting over listening roadblocks

COURSE OVERVIEW

Behind every spectacular training session is a lot of preparation and meticulous attention to detail. The truly skilled trainer can make a program exciting. The learners will have fun while they are learning if the facilitator is able to involve their emotions as well as their minds. You will see the involvement, and you will feel the energy. To reach this stage as an adult educator isn’t always easy, but success isn’t just for the naturally gifted. It is possible for all of us who put effort into our personal growth and development. We want the enormous satisfaction that comes from working with others to help them reach their potential as human beings. This four-week workshop will help you reach that goal.

What Will Students Learn?

• Demonstrate your understanding of learning styles and how to accommodate all four learning styles in the classroom
• Apply the key principles of effective communication in a workshop setting
• Use a variety of training techniques to stimulate participation
• Develop a plan and prepare for an effective training session
• Explain the different levels of evaluation and when to use each
• Identify advanced interventions for difficult situations
• Put your skills to work for a team presentation

What Topics are Covered?

• Preparing to learn and understanding learning
• Competencies for adult educators
• Accommodating learning preferences
• Increasing your expertise and using existing materials
• Planning a workshop, including preparing visual aids
• Effective communication (incl. questioning)
• Kirkpatrick’s levels of evaluation
• On-the-job support
• Managing stress and dealing with difficult situations
• Training in different forums (i.e. virtual learning)
• Mock training presentations

NOTE: We strongly recommend completing HR Portal’s The Practical Trainer workshop before taking this course.

This four-week course provides participants with the knowledge and skills to conduct internal environmental audits. Practical, proven techniques for planning, conducting, and reporting on internal environmental audits will be introduced. Role-plays and case studies based on actual audits will be used to reinforce the concepts and provide participants with practice in applying the principles to situations typically encountered during internal auditing.

Do you love those moments of exception, when everything seems to have come together and things are working beautifully? Would you like to create an environment where those rare extraordinary moments become the norm? Then you may just be ready to learn the value of Appreciative Inquiry, also known as AI. AI is a method for implementing change that is rooted in being positive, sharing stories of things that work well, and leveraging people’s strengths and the power of co-creation to initiate lasting, powerful changes that can make an organization the best it has ever been, because of people who care and are committed.

There was a time when what you learned in school before entering the workforce would be all you needed to know for the rest of your career. That is no longer the case, as today skills can become outdated very quickly. The rapid evolution of workplace technologies and best practices means you need to keep your skills current. You must truly be a life-long learner and can no longer rely on what you already know.

The definition of learning is the process of acquiring new, or modifying existing knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, or preferences. It is a means of honing our skills, enriching our minds, and changing the way we see things in the world.

This four-week course will help you to become a better learner, and as a result make you a more valuable employee and well-rounded individual.

Workplace politics encompasses the power and authority processes and behaviors that are at work in a particular workplace. It is how the links between people in the workplace work. There are workplace politics at play in every organization!

In 1990, two American psychologists (Dr. Jack Mayer and Dr. Peter Salovey) purported that if there was a cognitive intelligence or IQ then there must be an emotional intelligence (sometimes known as EQ). Daniel Goleman, the co-founder of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) theorized the social aspect of behavior as a complement to the emotional. His definition expanded to: “Social and emotional intelligence involves understanding your feelings and behaviors, as well as those of others, and applying this knowledge to your interactions and relationships.” In his work with CASEL he developed five interrelated sets of Social and Emotional Competencies: Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, Good Relationship Skills, and Responsible Decision Making. This four-week course will explore the social and emotional competencies and their role in working beyond workplace politics!

Today’s business environment isn’t focused on 9-to-5, lifelong, static positions like it was decades ago. Our world is constantly shifting and evolving, meaning that businesses (and workers) must evolve with it. As a result of this shift, consultants have more opportunities than ever before. This four-week workshop will show you how to build a business as a consultant.

COURSE OVERVIEW

Owning a business requires a vision balanced with attention to detail. You need to be a generalist who understands the multiple aspects of running a business, as well as the ability to step back and see the big picture and to reach into the future. The business environment is a complex place to be. Whether you wish to work as a consultant or freelancer, establish a corporation, or set up an operation that meets a need for very particular type of customer, there is a tremendous amount of information that you need to know and to apply. This four-week course provides essential learning for new business owners, whether the business is just in the idea stage or you have already begun and need to fill in the gaps.

What Will Students Learn?

• How to apply the best methods for creating, leading, and managing their own business

• Ways to establish an organizational framework through operations, finance, and leadership

• Techniques for setting up an effective and efficient system for hiring, retaining, and succession planning

• How to start researching and designing a strategic plan

• How to describe the essential elements of marketing, sales, and their company brand

• How to apply financial and accounting terms correctly

What Topics are Covered?

• Who are you and what are you about?

• Designing your organizational structure

• Introduction to operations management

• Understanding financial terms and budgeting

• Getting the right people in place

• Getting your product together

• Building a corporate brand

• Marketing and selling your product

• Planning for the future (including succession planning, goal setting, and strategic planning)

• Ethics 101 and leadership essentials

• Building a strong customer care team

• Training employees for success       

Teamwork is essential in any successful organization and to have an effective team, an organization must be comprised of individuals who pride themselves on being great team players. Many of us would consider ourselves to be team players, but are we really? Do we know what that takes and what managers consider to be the qualities that make a person a team player, or that make a good team player a ‘great’ team player? Everyone brings their own skills and strengths to the table, understanding how to use those skills within the context of a team is vital to help an organization succeed.

COURSE OVERVIEW

Your brand is the vehicle that propels your product or service into your customer’s lives, and into their hearts. A good brand is much more than an attractive image combined with some witty type. Your brand must reflect the heart and soul of your product, and offer a promise that you can live up to.  This four-week course will get you started on the road to creating a perfect brand.

What Will Students Learn?

• Define what a brand is and what branding is about

• Define various types of brand architecture and brand extension

• Identify your brand’s products, its features, and their values

• Write a mission, vision, and style statement for a brand

• Describe the basics of positioning a brand

• Understand the basics of creating a visual identity, including a brand name, slogan, and logo

• Help your employees live the brand by empowering them to be ambassadors and creating strong brand touchpoints

• Effectively plan an internal and external brand launch

• Monitor and evaluate your brand, and understand how to respond to the results

What Topics are Covered?

• Defining branding

• Creating a mission and vision

• Positioning your brand and developing your style

• Developing a brand name and slogan

• Creating a visual identity

• Living your brand and connecting with customers

• Launching your brand

• Taking your brand’s pulse

• Measuring brand health with a balanced scorecard, SWOT analysis, and Middleton’s brand matrix

• Interpreting evaluation results

COURSE OVERVIEW

Teams are an important building block of successful organizations. Whether the focus is on service, quality, cost, value, speed, efficiency, performance, or other similar goals, teams are the basic unit that supports most organizations.

With teams at the core of corporate strategy, your success as an organization can often depend on how well you and other team members operate together. How are your problem-solving skills? Is the team enthusiastic and motivated to do its best? Do you work well together? This four-week online course can help you get there!

COURSE OVERVIEW

A healthy self-esteem is essential for growth and achieving success. Of all the judgments you make in life, none is as important as the one you make about yourself. Without some measure of self-worth, life can be painful and unrelenting. In this four-week online course, you will discover some techniques that can dramatically change how you feel about yourself, and how you approach the world to get the things that you want.

COURSE OVERVIEW

What exactly makes a decision ethical? The problem with ethics is that what may seem morally right (or ethical) to one person may seem appalling to another. This four-week workshop will not provide you with an easy way to solve every ethical decision you will ever have to make. It will, however, help you define your ethical framework to make solving those ethical dilemmas easier. We’ll also look at some tools that you can use when you’re faced with an ethical decision. And, we’ll look at some techniques you can use so you don’t get stuck in an ethical quandary. Best of all, we’ll look at a lot of case studies so that you can practice making decisions in a safe environment.

What Will Students Learn?

• Understand the difference between ethics and morals

• Understand the value of ethics

• Identify some of your values and moral principles

• Be familiar with some philosophical approaches to ethical decisions

• Identify some ways to improve ethics in your office

• Know what is required to start developing an office code of ethics

• Know some ways to avoid ethical dilemmas

• Have some tools to help you make better decisions

• Be familiar with some common ethical dilemmas

What Topics are Covered?

• What are ethics? Why bother with ethics?

• Taking your moral temperature

• Kohlberg’s six stages

• Philosophical approaches

• Avoiding ethical dilemmas

• Pitfalls and excuses

• Developing an office code of ethics

• 22 keys to an ethical office

• Decision making tools

• Handling dilemmas with company policy, co-workers, clients, and supervisors

• What to do when you make a mistake

COURSE OVERVIEW

This three-day workshop is a tool for your leadership development. It is designed to help you create and accomplish your personal best, and to help you lead others to get extraordinary things done.

What Will Students Learn?

• Define your role as a manager and identify how that role differs from other roles you have had.

• Understand the management challenge and the new functions of management.

• Discover how you can prepare for and embrace the forces of change.

• Identify ways to get you and your workspace organized and get a jump on the next crisis.

• Identify your leadership profile and explore ways to use this knowledge to improve your success as a manager.

• Enhance your ability to communicate with others in meetings and through presentations.

• Create an action plan for managing your career success.

What Topics are Covered?

• Learning organizations

• Peter Senge’s learning disciplines

• What leadership is and is not (including servant leadership)

• Kouzes and Posner’s five leadership practices

• Core skills like communication, body language, delegation, meetings, and time management

• Understanding the trust cycle and building trust

• Managing change

• SWOT analysis and problem solving

• Giving effective, constructive feedback

• Building good relationships

COURSE OVERVIEW

Business process management helps organizations leverage processes to achieve their goals and be successful. Once processes are implemented, they must be monitored, evaluated, and optimized to make sure they are still meeting the goals that they were designed to accomplish. A business that can successfully manage its processes is able to maintain a competitive edge, while increasing productivity and efficiency and decreasing costs.

COURSE OVERVIEW

We all know what good writing is. It’s the novel we can’t put down, the poem we never forgot, and the speech that changes the way we look at the world. Good writing is the memo that gets action and the letter that says what a phone call can’t.

In business writing, the language is concrete, the point of view is clear, and the points are well expressed. Good writing is hard work, and even the best writers get discouraged. However, with practice you can feel more confident about your own writing. This four-week online course will give you the tools to become a better writer.

Cannabis is one of the most commonly used mind-altering substances in the world. The laws on growing, selling, possessing and consuming cannabis vary greatly from one jurisdiction to another. Whatever the law may allow in your area, having employees under the influence of cannabis can create problems for your workplace in terms of safety and lost productivity. In this four-week course, you will learn how to lower the risks and respond to issues that may arise.

Coach, Mentor, Role Model, Supporter, Guide... do these words ring a bell? Being a coach involves being able to draw from several disciplines. Coaching is based on a partnership that involves giving both support and challenging opportunities to employees. Mentorship is a related skill that is often a part of coaching. It’s about being a guide, offering wisdom and advice when it is needed.

 Knowing how and when to coach (and when to use other tools, like mentoring) is an essential skill that can benefit both you and your organization.

Workplaces are made up of diverse groups of people with diverse motivations, backgrounds, and ethics. When such groups are brought together, sometimes there are opportunities for ethical, moral, financial, or even legal boundaries to be crossed. Sometimes those boundaries are crossed with disastrous results.

A workplace code of conduct is a tool that can be used to prevent such digressions by providing a framework for employees to follow of what is expected of them and how to conduct themselves in various situations.

This four-week course will look at the material that goes into a code of conduct and will allow participants to build their own as the day goes on.

COURSE OVERVIEW

Have you ever wondered why it seems so difficult to talk with some people and so easy to talk with others? Can you recall an occasion where you met someone for the first time and immediately liked that person? Something about the individual made you feel comfortable.  

A major goal of this two-day workshop is to help you understand the impact your communication skills have on other people. You will also explore how improving these skills can make it easier for you to get along in the workplace, and in life. 

What Will Students Learn? 

• Identify common communication problems that may be holding you back 

• Develop skills to ask questions that give you information you need

• Learn what your non-verbal messages are telling others 

• Develop skills in listening actively and empathetically to others

• Enhance your ability to handle difficult situations 

• Deal with situations assertively

What Topics are Covered? 

• Creating positive relationships 

• Growing our self-awareness 

• Communication basics and barriers 

• Asking questions and listening skills 

• Body language 

• Communication styles 

• Creating a positive self-image 

• Frame of reference 

• Techniques for the workplace 

• Assertiveness 

As the Internet grows, it becomes more challenging to find the correct information from a reliable source in a timely manner. As research expert Gary Price puts it, “The haystack is growing and finding the needles takes more time and requires greater skill.”

 This four-week course will teach you how to conduct accurate Internet research by creating a search plan, searching both the surface web and the deep web, and staying organized. You will also learn how to think critically and find the best sources for your Internet search.

COURSE OVERVIEW

Although it does take plenty of creativity to design an event that is memorable and meaningful, it also takes careful attention to detail, adaptability, effective delegating, and a lot of work. This two-day course will walk you through the process of event management, from the beginning stages of planning, to the final touches (like decorations, food, and music). While this course is specifically for corporate event planning, the elements here can also be applied to more personal event planning. Essentially, we’re creating an effective and well planned design that is ready for implementation and can be used over and over again.

What Will Students Learn?

• Plan a complete corporate event, including an agenda, budget, goals, venue, audience, food, and whatever else your client needs

• Keep your event on budget

• Design an advertising and marketing plan that includes a comprehensive use of media, take-aways, and/or swag bags

• Determine whether partners, sponsors, and volunteers can help to make your event unforgettable

• Create an atmosphere of service that delegates will remember

• Select speakers and a master of ceremonies to add impact to your event

• Create a diversity plan

• Evaluate the process once it's all wrapped up

What Topics are Covered?

• Event planning essentials

• Budgeting basics and managing contracts

• Using the committee approach

• Connecting with partners and sponsors

• Advertising and marketing

• Selecting the venue

• Feeding the masses and business etiquette

• Celebrating diversity

• Selecting speakers and a master of ceremonies

• Adding the finishing touches

• Event day roles

• Closing the event and gathering feedback

COURSE OVERVIEW

Many people see conflict as a negative experience. In fact, conflict is a necessary part of our personal growth and development. Think of when you were trying to choose your major in college, for example, or trying to decide between two jobs. However, conflict becomes an issue when the people involved cannot work through it. They become engaged in a battle that does not result in growth. When this type of conflict arises, negative energy can result, causing hurt feelings and damaged relationships. This two-day course will give participants the tools that will help you resolve conflict successfully and produce a win-win outcome.

What Will Students Learn?

• What conflict is and how it can escalate.

• The types of conflict and the stages of conflict.

• The five most common conflict resolution styles and when to use them.

• How to increase positive information flow through non-verbal and verbal communication skills.

• Effective techniques for intervention strategies.

• Ways to manage conflicts to enhance productivity and performance.

What Topics are Covered?

• Defining conflict and types of conflict

• Spontaneous and reflective action

• The Johari window

• Stages of conflict

• Conflict resolution style questionnaire

• The role of communication in conflict resolution (including information on active listening, paraphrasing, asking questions, and body language)

• The conflict/opportunity test

• Conflict and its resolution

• Helping others through conflict

Companies everywhere, no matter what their industry, can benefit from the principles of continuous improvement with Lean. Whether they adopt a very formal process or commit to something less structured, they can follow its principles and improve their bottom line by reducing wasted time and resources.

 This four-week course is designed for learners who have completed the pre-requisite Lean Process Improvement course, and perhaps have been involved in implementation of its principles in their workplace. It is the ideal next step along the path of learning and creating a workplace culture committed to continuous improvement.

COURSE OVERVIEW

The job market continues to change, as does the way we look for work. This course examines the value of presenting yourself as a complete package by using a resume as an introduction to an employer and backing it up with a portfolio presented at the interview.

What Will Students Learn?

• Speak about yourself using descriptive language.

• Apply the essential elements of cover letters and resumes.

• Understand the need for pre-employment testing and what to expect in your target market.

• Design a personalized portfolio.

• Develop a plan that moves you to a new job within 60 days.

What Topics are Covered?

• Who are you?

• Writing the resume

• Creating a noticeable package

• Cover letters

• The portfolio

• Dealing with awkward points

• Getting to a new job in 60 days

• Giving references

• Thank-you notes

Not all of us have had the opportunity to work in a truly positive work environment. A positive work environment is important for the productivity of a company but it is also important to us personally. Our emotional and physical health can be improved by working in a positive work environment. We should wake up each morning wanting to go to work - not trying to think of excuses to not go. We want to be proud of where we work and enjoy telling others about where we work. As an employee or a leader within a company you have a responsibility to create and maintain a positive work environment. Everyone has a responsibility to create and maintain a positive work environment. Even if this is not a companywide reality you can seek to provide this type of environment for your department/ division or those within your sphere of influence. This four-week course will give you tools to be able to create the type of company environment that you crave through building and nurturing effective workplace relationships.

A staff retreat can evoke some pretty strong emotions. Dread of a week hanging around with people you would never invite home for dinner. Queasy thinking about throwing yourself backwards hoping your ‘new friends’ will catch you. However, staff retreats still continue even in hard times. Why? Many of the things we really need to get done take longer than the two hours you have in meeting time. As well, the retreat itself can bring about a change in approach not possible sitting in your boardroom for a meeting. This four-week course will give you tools to be able to create staff retreats that are successful and help to bolster productivity, sales and positive workplace culture.

Webinars are now a common and effective tool being used by thousands and thousands of companies and people, across all industries. They are being used for everything from training to customer service, and education to marketing. Webinars are an affordable means of connecting with your staff, customers and online community.

This course will take you through the entire process of creating an effective webinar.  

o   Why and how to use Webinars

o   Defining your webinar objectives

o   Choosing the structure and content of your webinar

o   Creating the outline

o   Choosing the platform

This four-week course will offer an introduction to Webinar Creation and provide you with a tool that is both appealing to you, the creator, and Webinar Attendees. With millions of webinars taking place online every month this is a medium to be embraced.

Creativity can be defined as the use of imagination or original ideas to create something; inventiveness or a composition which is both new and valuable. How do we tap into our creativity when corporations and organization require or expect it?

Creativity is a skill. It can be learned. Workplace employers and the workplace environment can assist and promote the creative corporate culture.

Creative thinking in the workplace is in demand. We live in a competitive society and creativity improves productivity, teamwork, and innovation. Organizations receive many benefits when a creative corporate culture is implemented.

There are several techniques that once learned can assist workplace personnel to increase their creativity.

COURSE OVERVIEW

The need to lead, model, and promote the organizational values within a customer service environment is essential for business success. This one-day workshop will provide you with opportunities to explore your responsibilities within your role as a leader (supervisor or manager) in a customer service environment.

What Will Students Learn?

• Identify ways to establish links between excellence in customer service and your business practices and policies.

• Develop the skills and practices that are essential elements of a customer service-focused manager.

• Recognize what employees are looking for to be truly engaged.

• Recognize who the customers are and what they are looking for.

• Develop strategies for creating engaged employees and satisfied customers in whatever business units you manage.

What Topics are Covered?

• The six critical elements of customer service

• Understanding leadership

• Managing performance

• Onboarding and orientation

• Five practices of leadership

Cyberattacks are increasing at an alarming rate. Radware reported that there were 2.3 billion data breaches in 2018 – almost three times more than the year before – which cost companies about $600 billion. Most companies have installed firewalls and other cyber defenses to stop cyberattacks, but they are not foolproof. In fact, one of the key risk factors in cyberattacks is human error. A recent Intel Security survey found that 97 per cent of people could not identify all the phishing emails in a sample of 10 emails.

The need for training of non-IT staff is critically important. This four-week course will ensure that staff gain an appreciation of company-wide measures to protect against cyberattacks and their own role in the success of these defense measures. Most importantly, it will help staff recognize phishing attacks, and when a cyberattack has been successful, understand what steps to take to mitigate the effect. The importance of practicing safe social media behavior to prevent cyber criminals from mining sensitive personal and company data will also be discussed. In the capstone activity each participant will create a personal cybersecurity plan.

Most of us have experienced the reality of virtual meetings and presentations during our forced stays at home during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Whether it is virtual team meetings, client engagements, or even conferences, the situation we find ourselves in is likely to continue well into the future and become an increasing component even in the ‘new normal’ in at least a hybrid form. If you are not familiar with Zoom, MS Teams, GoToMeeting, and Google Meet or are not sure if you can do well as an on-line presenter, you could be facing a challenge. This four-week workshop will give participants valuable insights into how to present in a virtual environment using the most popular delivery platforms.

Today’s world is full of the unexpected. System failures, terrorism events, disease outbreaks, and superstorms disrupt businesses every day, sometimes to an unrecoverable point. Despite these challenges, some services (such as power plants, hospitals, and airports) have no choice but to continue operating.

 This four-week course will explore how these organizations maintain high reliability even in times of serious crisis and stability. We will share their secrets in a way that can be applied to all organizations in order to create high reliability and continued success.

Safety procedures are the backbone of an organization’s Safety Management System. They provide consistency and when followed create a safe working environment and greater productivity due to less injury down time. However, safety procedure writing is more difficult and time consuming than it at first appears. This four-week course will give you the foundation to start writing effective safety procedures.

Some people immediately command attention and respect when they walk into a room. Do you have that kind of presence? If not, is it something that you would like to develop?  This four-week workshop will help you do just that by building your credibility, improving your personal appearance, honing your networking skills, and enhancing your ability to communicate effectively. You will also receive an introduction to core leadership skills.

Digital transformation looks different for every business, but at its core, it means altering how a company operates with the addition of technology and with the goal of improving the customer experience and the workplace. This four-week course will teach you about digital transformation, and what companies in different industries are doing, as well as best practices so you can do it yourself.

COURSE OVERVIEW

More than ever, a workplace is a diverse collection of individuals proud of who they are: their gender, their sexual orientation, their religion, their ethnic background, and all the other components that make an individual unique. One of the challenges for workplace leaders is how to help these diverse individuals work as a team. We all know what happens to organizations that don’t have effective teamwork: they fail. And, failing to embrace diversity can also have serious legal costs for corporations. This one-day workshop will give you ways to celebrate diversity in the workplace while bringing individuals together.

What Will Students Learn?

• Describe what diversity and its related terms mean

• Explain how changes in the world have affected you and your view

• Identify your stereotypes

• Use terms that are politically correct and avoid those which are not

• Apply the four cornerstones of diversity

• Avoid the pitfalls related to diversity

• Use a technique for dealing with inappropriate behavior

• Develop a management style to encourage diversity

• Take action if you or one of your employees feels discriminated

What Topics are Covered?

• Defining diversity

• How does diversity affect me?

• Identifying stereotypes

• Wise words

• The cornerstones of diversity

• How to discourage diversity

• The stop technique

• Managing for diversity

• Dealing with discrimination

As the global Internet population continues to grow, electronic commerce is growing as well. By the end of 2015, e-commerce is expected to generate over $400 billion annually. This huge market encompasses traditional e-commerce, as well as m-commerce (which is growing faster than any other sector) and location-based e-commerce.

 This four-week program will teach entrepreneurs how to develop, market, and manage an e-commerce business, giving them a crucial advantage in today’s competitive market.

COURSE OVERVIEW

Emotional intelligence, also called EQ, is the ability to be aware of and to manage emotions and relationships. It’s a pivotal factor in personal and professional success. IQ will get you in the door, but it is your EQ, your ability to connect with others, and manage the emotions of yourself and others, that will determine how successful you are in life.

What Will Students Learn?

• Understand what emotional intelligence means

• Recognize how our emotional health and physical health are related

• Learn techniques to understand, use, and appreciate the role of emotional intelligence in the workplace

• Understand the different emotions and how to manage them

• Create a personal vision statement

• Understand the difference between optimism and pessimism

• Validate emotions in others

What Topics are Covered?

• History of emotional intelligence

• Emotional intelligence defined

• EI blueprint

• Optimism

• Validating emotions in others

• Understanding emotions

• Setting your personal vision

COURSE OVERVIEW

Have you ever been in a workplace situation where a supervisor has made a decision that you didn’t agree with? Did you wish that you could ask someone else what they thought of the decision; whether they would have done the same thing? The peer review process offers employees just that chance, using a formalized procedure to ask, consider, and resolve just these sorts of questions. This one-day workshop will teach you everything you need to know about employee dispute resolution through mediation.

What Will Students Learn?

• What the peer review process is

• A process for employees to file grievances and for management to respond

• How to choose a facilitator and panel

• What is involved in the hearing process, from preliminary meetings to the hearing, and the decision process

• What responsibilities and powers a panel should have

• How to apply professional questioning and probing techniques

• Why peer review panels fail and how to avoid those pitfalls

What Topics are Covered?

• What is peer review?

• Initiating the process

• The peer review panel

• Asking questions

• The peer-review process

• Panel walkthrough

• Why does the process fail?

The ideas behind encouraging sustainability and social responsibility in business seem noble, as organizations commit to creating optimal circumstances for people to live and work. The reality is that every company, whether it is a micro-business or a large multinational corporation, can take steps to create sustainable, socially responsible environments that contribute to positive workplaces, communities, and futures.

COURSE OVERVIEW

Wouldn’t it be nice to be your own boss, work on your own schedule, and make money doing something that you’re passionate about? Millions of people around the world are living that dream and running their own business. This three-day course will teach you the basics of entrepreneurship. You’ll consider if entrepreneurship is right for you and learn the basic steps of creating your own business. At the end of the course, you’ll have a solid foundation to start your entrepreneurial journey.

What Will Students Learn?

• Assess your own entrepreneurial capabilities

• Outline and evaluate a business and product idea

• Identify your target market and customers

• Develop your value proposition

• Understand different types of business ownership and structures

• Evaluate franchising and business purchasing opportunities

• Create key business planning documents

• Create financial projections for your business and gather funding

• Create a product development plan, marketing plan, & sales strategy

• Identify ways to protect your intellectual property

• Describe effective ways to brand your product

• Launch and grow your business

• Demonstrate the behaviors of an entrepreneurial leader

• Find appropriate resources to help you on your journey

What Topics are Covered?

• What it takes to make it

• Resources to consider

• Laying the groundwork

• Building on your business idea

• Business ownership options

• Key documents to prepare

• Gathering funding and developing your product

• Creating a sales and marketing strategy

• Branding 101

• Setting up your office

• Launching the business

• Keeping the business moving

• Being an entrepreneurial leader

• Bringing it all together

COURSE OVERVIEW

How can you facilitate, rather than control, group decision-making and team interaction? With no formal training, people may find it difficult to make the transition from instructors or managers to facilitators. This two-day workshop has been created to make core facilitation skills better understood and readily available for your organization. It represents materials and ideas that have been tested and refined over twenty years of active facilitation in all types of settings.

What Will Students Learn?

• How to distinguish facilitation from instruction and training

• How to identify the competencies linked to effective small group facilitation

• The difference between content and process

• The stages of team development and ways to help teams through each stage

• Common process tools to make meetings easier and more productive

What Topics are Covered?

• Defining your role and how facilitators work

• Establishing ground rules

• Content and process

• Types of thinking

• Dealing with controversial issues and divergent perspectives

• Communication skills

• Listening for common ground

• Common facilitation techniques

• Giving effective feedback

• The language of facilitation

• Dealing with difficult dynamics

• Building sustainable agreements

• Stages of team development

• Analysis tools

Bad bosses. Almost everyone has had at least one in their working career. You do not want to be the bad boss in your work environment, the one who causes good employees to cringe when you enter the room. Or worse yet, you do not want to be the one who causes good people to leave the company. You want to be the type of manager that employees are willing to go the extra mile for. You want to nurture and inspire your team, giving them the confidence to do their jobs well. You want to provide guidance and motivation, while showing integrity and modelling the behaviors you want to see in your team. You want to be more than a boss, you want to be a leader. This four-week course will arm you with the tips and general information you need to enhance your skills and transform from a boss to a great leader. 

An important aspect of privacy compliance is communication both internally and externally. Employees need to know that privacy-related policies and procedures exist in your organization, and they need to be instructed on their use. Customers also need to be informed about a company’s privacy practices, and be given the chance to ask questions. Good communication is essential for maintaining company transparency and is an important aspect of compliancy with data privacy laws, including the General Data Protection Regulation. While having written policies and procedures is the best starting place, getting the message out about privacy is a critical subsequent step in the process.

COURSE OVERVIEW

Why are there so many different organizational systems and time management methods out there? The answer is simple: it’s like any other personal challenge, like weight loss or money management. There is no simple, one size fits all answer. You must build a solution that works for you. Over the course of this two-day workshop, we will explore various time management and organizational tools and techniques so that you can build a customized productivity plan for your personal and professional lives. At the end of the course, you will emerge with a plan that works for you, so that you can start regaining control of your life!

What Will Students Learn?

• Identify what personal efficiency is, what skill sets can improve personal productivity, and what attitudes we should cultivate

• Explain why multi-tasking is a myth

• Describe what role long-term goals play in short-term efficiency

• Share a personal vision and develop dreams and goals from it

• Apply the 80/20 rule and learn how it should affect planning

• Identify the characteristics of a good organizational system

• Develop a plan for an efficient workspace, including a customized information center and a filing system

• Apply a system that will allow them to process any type of information that crosses their desk

• Use the Eisenhower principle to prioritize work and routines to simplify lives

• Understand why they procrastinate and develop methods for tackling tasks

• Apply tools to make their households more productive and efficient

What Topics are Covered?

• Understanding personal efficiency

• Developing the right attitude

• Laying the foundation

• Building blocks of an organizational system

• Creating the right environment

• Setting up your virtual environment and information management center

• Managing information in six easy steps

• Prioritizing your tasks

• Saying no

• Creating routines

• Stopping procrastination now (not later!)

• Applying our lessons at home

COURSE OVERVIEW

This one day course is designed to help workplace leaders learn how to provide feedback any time that the message is due. Whether feedback is formal or informal, and whether it is provided to employees, peers, or someone else, there are ways that it can be structured to be effective and lasting.

What Will Students Learn?

• Explain why feedback is essential

• Apply a framework for providing formal or informal feedback

• Use descriptive language in delivering feedback

• Describe six characteristics of effective feedback

• Provide feedback in real situations

What Topics are Covered?

• Feedback definitions

• Speaking clearly

• Communication strategies

• Characteristics of effective feedback

• Receiving feedback graciously

• Testing the waters (role play practice)

COURSE OVERVIEW

We all have things we want in life. The route to success is to take the things that we dream about and wish for, and turn them into reality. This one-day workshop will lead participants through thinking, planning, and taking action on the things they really want. They will learn ways to ensure that they get where they want to go in life.

What Will Students Learn?

• Identify what’s important to you in your life

• Use goal setting activities and appropriate language to articulate what you want in your life

• Explain what your dreams and goals are for both the short and long term

• Use motivating techniques to help you reach your goals

• Understand how to deal with setbacks

What Topics are Covered?

• Self-understanding 

• Laying the foundation

• What’s in your bucket?

• Getting down to business

• Getting started today

• Dealing with setbacks

COURSE OVERVIEW

Interviewing sounds easy enough: you arrange for a conversation between you and potential candidates, and then select the best person for a particular position. But what if you could refine the process in such a way that you were confident that you are selecting the right person? How do you separate the good from the great, when they have similar work experience and strengths to offer? This two-day workshop will give you the skills and tools to hire successful candidates.

What Will Students Learn?

• How to recognize the costs incurred by an organization when a wrong hiring decision is made

• Ways to develop a fair and consistent interviewing process for selecting employees

• How to prepare better job advertisements and use a variety of markets

• How to develop a job analysis and position profile

• How to use traditional, behavioral, achievement oriented, holistic, and situational (critical incident) interview questions

• Communication skills that are essential for a skilled recruiter

• How to effectively interview difficult applicants

• Ways to check references more effectively

• Basic employment and human rights laws that can affect the hiring process

What Topics are Covered?

• History of the interviewing process

• The recruitment and selection process

• Cost analysis

• Job analysis and position profiles

• Finding candidates and advertising guidelines

• Screening resumes and performance assessments

• Problems recruiters face and interviewing barriers

• Non-verbal communication and types of questions

• Traditional vs. behavioral interviews

• The critical incident technique

• Difficult applicants

• Interview preparation and format

• Scoring responses and checking references

• Human rights

COURSE OVERVIEW

In today’s fast-moving world, many managers and supervisors are expected to deal with some human resource issues. They may be asked to take part in developing job descriptions, take part in interviews, or take responsibility for discipline. This four-week workshop will introduce those managers to human resource concepts. We will walk you through the hiring process, from performing a skills inventory to conducting the interview; discuss orientation; and cover some issues that arise after the hiring (such as diversity issues, compensation, and discipline).

What Will Students Learn?

• Discuss current issues in the human resource field and the changing role of supervisors and managers in terms of HR functions.

• Write job specifications and identify core competencies.

• Apply methods of finding, selecting, and keeping the best people using behavioral description interviewing techniques.

• Get new employees off to a good start.

• Understand compensation and benefits.

• Maintain healthy employee relations.

• Make performance appraisals a cooperative process.

What Topics are Covered?

• Defining human resources

• Skills inventory and job analysis

• Position profiles and job descriptions

• Finding candidates and advertising guidelines

• Preparing for and conducting the interview

• Employee orientation and onboarding

• Planning training and external providers

• Performance reviews

• Attendance management and diversity

• Privacy issues and compensation and benefits

• Managing disciplinary issues and termination

• Exit interviews

COURSE OVERVIEW

When we talk about influence and persuasion, we often talk about marketing and sales. However, we influence in many ways and with great frequency. If you want a raise, sometimes you need to persuade your boss. If you want to convince your team to adopt a change, help your staff make choices, or choose the best place for lunch, there is often influencing taking place. This one day workshop will help participants learn how to influence and persuade in a variety of areas.

What Will Students Learn?

• Make decisions about using persuasion versus manipulation

• Apply the concepts of pushing and pulling when influencing others

• Describe different techniques for getting persuasive conversations and presentations underway

• Make a persuasive presentation by using the 5 S’s

• Apply storytelling techniques to extend influence

• Leverage concepts of neuro linguistic programming in everyday influence and persuasion

What Topics are Covered?

• Understanding persuasion

• Preparing to persuade

• Getting off on the right foot

• Presentation strategies

• Using stories to persuade

• Using neuro linguistic programming (NLP) techniques

Intrapreneurship has been described as a great way to make beneficial changes to your organization. People can choose to continue with the status quo, or they can work to make a difference in the lives of themselves and others within the company.

 Who wants to feel empowered and recognized for their innovative and creative ideas? Who wants to make a difference? If you answered yes to these questions, then this course will help you become energized and ready to push your ideas forward. After you complete this workshop, you will have ways to get started and implement your plans.

COURSE OVERVIEW

Your brain, thoughts, and behavior are at the core of everything that you do every day, even if you aren’t aware of it. In order to truly achieve the results that you want to achieve, you must master the art of bringing your unconscious thoughts to the surface, so that you can have real choice over how you interact with and respond to the world. Neuro linguistic programming can give you the tools to do just that. In this one-day introductory workshop, you will learn the basics of neuro linguistic programming. We will give you the tools to manage your thoughts, and thereby manage yourself.

What Will Students Learn?

• Define neuro linguistic programming (NLP) and its key terms

• Describe the key presuppositions of NLP

• Describe the five key senses as seen by NLP

• States of mind/modes of thinking using predicates & visual cues

• Develop and refine response strategies for any situation

• Use enriched language to engage your audience

• Interpret body language based on NLP principles

• Ask clean, precise questions to get the information you need

• Use hypnotic language and positive commands to get results

What Topics are Covered?

• What is Neuro Linguistic Programming?

• The NLP Presuppositions

• The Senses According to NLP

• Using Enriched Language

• Interpreting Body Language

• Asking Clean Questions

• The Power of Hypnotic Language

• Putting it All Together