DESCRIPTION OF THE PROGRAMS IN THE LEADERSHIP ACADEMY
Generational differences and Values-Based Diversity
Organizations worldwide are facing the challenges of varied values within their workforce. However, few are making concentrated and long-term efforts to change how they attract, develop, manage and retain talent. Communication, motivation, and decision-making are all affected by this mix of generational and values-based differences. This program will use the backdrop of generational change to help people understand cultural and value differences from one employee to another.
Learning Points:
- Identify five generations in the workplace and define them by experiences and events.
- Compare and contrast the values and the potential outcomes of generational interaction.
- Consider and identify potential problems for an organization when people from different generations fail to communicate effectively.
- Compare and identify differing feedback styles and their impact.
- Learn strategies for effective cross-generational communication, motivation, supervision, and direction.
Employee Motivation
Since motivation influences productivity, supervisors need to understand what motivates employees to reach peak performance. It is not an easy task to increase employee motivation because employees respond in different ways to their jobs and their organization's practices based on age and culture. Motivation is the set of processes that move a person toward a goal. Thus, motivated behaviors are voluntary choices controlled by the individual employee. The supervisor (motivator) wants to influence the factors that motivate employees to higher levels of productivity.
Learning Points:
- Learn the underlying psychology of human motivation.
- The principles of motivation for most people will be explained.
- Learn how to implement motivational behavior into your management style.
- Learn practical considerations for motivating employees.
- Become aware of the external and internal factors affecting employee performance of various ages.
Authentic Communications
Communication is a challenging organizational issue regardless of size or industry type. Ineffective communication creates barriers and inhibits efficient and safe operations and can endanger self or others. As leaders of the organizations tap the thinking potential of the workforce, structured business communication becomes integral to the equation for organizational business accountability. Whether the issues are interpersonal communication techniques, consistent processes for standard meetings or a comprehensive organizational communication plan, the foundations for effective communication are repeatable information processes of timing, frequency, content, correctness, and issue/action status.
Learning Points:
- Learn to decode the messages that others are sending.
- Learn to form messages that effectively convey their true intent/desire.
- Consider using various mediums for communicating effectively without losing the integrity of a message.
- Learn the benefits of improved listening to self, team, and organization.
- Review the roles and responsibilities of effective communication- sender and receiver.
- Understand your listening areas that may need development.
- Review the techniques for improving listening.
- Review the techniques for encouraging others to listen.
- Learn the non-negotiable steps for good listening.
- Develop the action plans for improving listening in one-on-one situations, in workgroup meetings, and in daily operations.
Coaching For Performance
Both supervisory coaching and mentoring are processes that enable employees to achieve their full potential. While there are differences in coaching and mentoring, they share many similarities. The mentorship or coaching relationship includes a promise of deliberate attention and guidance to the successful growth and development of the employee. The destiny of the supervisory mentor and coach is to find the right words, the right encouragement, and the right knowledge to provide clarification on the future and lifework of the employee.
Learning Points:
- Understand what coaching is.
- What is mentoring? How are they similar? How are they different?
- How does it impact your business?
- Who is responsible for coaching and mentoring and why?
- Understand the laws of employee development.
- Learn how to coach employees on positive and constructive behavior change.
- Learn how to create an environment that promotes proper (desired) behaviors.
Conflict Resolution
Many workplace conflicts start out as small problems that simmer in two ways: (1) either, employees hesitate to raise issues because they do not want to rock the boat and/or fear retaliation, or (2) managers—hoping that the issues will resolve themselves—avoid them. Failure to address conflicts costs organizations both directly and indirectly and current conflict interventions often offer too little or come too late. Unresolved conflict in the workplace often causes the best and most talented employees to leave an organization. Because replacing a good employee can cost up to 150% of that person's salary, it behooves employers to make efforts to retain existing, trained personnel.
Learning Points:
- Learn about the various phases of conflict.
- Various approaches to a conflict will be explored in detail.
- Participants will learn about their personal approach to conflict.
- Examine how to deal with challenging conversations.
- Learn the five levels of confrontation and how to deal with them.
- Gain skills in controlling personal emotions.
Corrective Counseling and Behavior Change
Supervision can be informally defined as getting work done through the efforts of others. Supervisors have the important responsibility of ensuring that work gets done while the organization’s rules, regulations, and policies are fairly and equitably applied to all employees within their work units. Supervisors are management representatives who must balance organizational needs with employee rights on a daily basis. This is an essential and often difficult role. Counseling is a process through which one person helps another by a purposeful conversation in an understanding environment. The counseling supervisor seeks to establish a helping relationship to help the employee to express his or her thoughts and feelings in such a way as to clarify his or her own situation, come to terms with some new experience, see their difficulty (problem) more objectively, and to face their problem with less anxiety and tension. Its basic purpose is to assist the individual to make their own decision from among the choices available to them. People (employees) are more likely to change their own behaviors if they think it was their idea.
Learning Points:
- Learn about perception and its impact on relationships
- Learn about attribution theory and how to use it to change behavior.
- Explore the power of reflective listening.
- Review the common categories of disciplinary problems.
- Learn when, why, and how to counsel employees.
- Explore changing the behavior of various levels of employee performance.
- Learn the 4-step counseling process.
- Acquire skills for distinguishing between counseling and discipline.
- Learn about defensive and non-defensive communication.
Goal Setting
The process of setting goals helps you choose where you want to go in life and in business. By knowing precisely what you want to achieve, you know where you have to concentrate your efforts. You will also quickly spot the distractions that would otherwise lure you from your course. More than this, properly-set goals can be incredibly motivating, and as you get into the habit of setting and achieving goals, you will find that your self-confidence builds fast.
Learning Points:
- Why do we need goals?
- How should goals be set?
- When should goals be set?
- Understand the T.A.R.G.E.T. process.
- Learn how to achieve your goals.
- Learn how goals flow in an organization
- Learn eight effective goal-setting strategies.
- Learn how to focus your efforts.
- Understand why people fail at goals.
Problem-solving
Regardless of what you do for a living or where you live, most people spend a lot of their waking hours, at work or at home, solving problems. Most problems we face are small, some are large and complex, but they all need to be solved in a satisfactory way. Before we look at the area of problem analysis and solution, though, let's take a few moments to think about just what we mean by a problem. Although most people consider problem-solving methods a given, many organizations still use ad hoc methods for addressing problems. In other words, they latch on to the most obvious explanation for a problem and pray that they’ve addressed its root cause. An effective problem-solving method is simply a step-by-step roadmap for developing solutions
Learning Points:
- Learn how to define problems.
- Learn how to analyze problems.
- Learn how to research problems.
- Learn how to foster a positive point of view about problems
- Explore those obstacles to problem-solving.
- Learn a 5-step problem-solving methodology – S.O.L.V.E.
Group Think & Group Decision-Making
Work teams play an important role in the modern corporation and its decision-making processes. From software engineers who collaborate to write code to the boards of directors who gather to make strategic decisions, teams are increasingly being used worldwide as the foundation of work. This course explores a variety of topics surrounding teams whose members work in the decision-making process. There are challenges and opportunities when teams work to solve problems and make decisions, both for team members and for the organization.
Learning Points:
- Identify and understand the group decision-making process.
- Consequences of poor group decision-making are identified.
- Review the dangers of Group Think.
- Learn effective patterns of group decision-making.
- Strategies for effective communication within groups are explored.
- Identify action planning that avoids poor group decisions.
Building High-Performance Teams
Teams can be powerful and productive when they function well. The performance and output of the team is likely to be greater than the sum of its individual members. When several people come together to work on a single initiative or project, they are not necessarily a productive team. Before a group of people can function well together, they have to pass through a series of stages. The challenge of every good leader is to help their team move through the various phases of team formation until they reach the final stage.
Learning Points:
- Review the benefits of building effective teams.
- Review and learn team-building skills and techniques.
- Review the leadership skills of leading teams.
- Learn how to evaluate teams.
- Learn how to communicate with teams effectively.
- Dealing with conflicts within teams is an acquired skill.
Ethics, Values, and Culture in the Workplace
Ethics and professionalism have always been of critical importance to many business environments. To achieve the goal of providing the highest quality service to your customers and employees, companies depend upon the actions of each individual supervisor to set the ethical tone. Employees report to supervisors who must be able to reinforce values-based behaviors in their subordinates. Each manager and supervisor has the responsibility of having high personal and professional standards. Each must live up to the highest professional standards and strive to have those who report to them live up to professional standards. Unethical or immoral people will not be changed into ethical, moral people by completing this course. It is taught as a basis of information to give each manager and supervisor an understanding of expectations and to solicit the discussion of concepts involved in the business profession through the process of making ethical choices and helping younger less experienced supervisors and managers to make the correct decisions.
Learning Points:
- Define the following terms as they relate to the role of Manager/Supervisor within the business environment:
- Learn how to create a positive culture
- Discuss the concept of values as they convert to behaviors.
- Describe what factors or influences are present in making ethical decisions.
- In a classroom exercise, participants will discuss the following:
- Is there a right and wrong?
- Who sets ethical standards?
- Learn to create a predictable value structure that results in fully engaged employees
- Learn strategies for leading line personnel in an ethical manner.
Priority Management
Many people spend their days in a frenzy of activity but achieve very little because they are not concentrating on the right things. The 80/20 rule states that typically 80% of unfocused effort generates only 20% of results and that the remaining 80% of results are achieved with only 20% of the effort. By applying time management skills, including planning, the course materials aim to change this to ensure that you concentrate as much of your effort as possible on the high payoff tasks. This ensures that you achieve the greatest payoff possible with your investment of time.
Learning Points:
- Life management versus time management is explored.
- Efficiency models
- Learn the consequences of interruptions.
- Multi-tasking—help or hindrance?
- Life management styles are explored.
- Learn how circadian rhythms impact your life and time management.
- Understand how to measure the importance and urgency of tasks.
- Understand what things get in the way of your productivity.
- Create a predictable daily success schedule.
