Management and Leadership

Team Building

High performance teams possess a powerful esprit de corps, a common feeling of purpose, pride, loyalty and responsibility. The team is united in its fulfillment of vision, organizational mission, and consistently meets the challenging objectives of new opportunities. In spite of today's ambiguity and uncertainty, the innovative spirit of teams is committed to continuously improving all aspects of the job.

Seminar Objectives:
To focus on interdependent skills and attitudes essential to effective teambuilding. Participants will examine essential competencies that constitute high powered teams and the necessary skills for managing and communicating as a team. They will also learn how to reinforce creativity, ownership and accountability as team assets. "TeamBuilding" printable PDF

Management Skills for Supervisors

In these times of tight budgets and rapid change, the supervisor has acquired new work responsibilities and new relationships. You need technical skills, abilities to get the job done, the cooperative attitude of others, a commitment to shared goals, and above all, the ability to direct and motivate the people you rely on. You need to be a powerhouse of efficiency and productivity, and to have the skills to handle your managerial responsibilities with confidence and with ease.

Seminar Objectives:
To address all of today's challenges, and the skills and knowledge required to meet them. Participants will learn techniques for interpersonal effectiveness with employees and co-workers, operational effectiveness in managing goals and objectives, and organizational effectiveness in managing teamwork and cooperation."Management Skills" printable PDF

Developing Effective Leadership

Leaders are important for three reasons: they are responsible for the effectiveness of an organization; they are the anchors during upheaval and constant change prevalent in today's economy; they have the skills, flexibility and creativity to acquire new knowledge and to use it to create continuous improvement. These qualities bring them to the forefront as navigators towards clearly defined organizational missions.

Seminar Objectives:
To examine the essential skills for meeting demands of organizational transformation and competitive momentum. The leader's role as a motivator and a coach will be examined in contexts of shared vision, collaborative goals, effective interpersonal skills, and outstanding personal capacity to provide direction, build trust and generate enthusiasm."Developing Effective Leadership" printable PDF

Training the Trainer

Employee skills training, product development and service delivery are the same thing, because to the customer, the employee is the product and the service. Organizations providing outstanding service recognize the importance of intensive and continuous education of employees regarding customers, quality and superior service. Effective training methods are critical for sustaining commitment to the total quality service philosophy, and for competitiveness and survival of the organization.

Seminar Objectives:
To develop critical trainer competencies that can be augmented with the latest technology available to trainers. Participants will learn to analyze training needs and to tailor programs for in-company training. They will discover how to manage resistance, to prepare powerful presentations, and to use appropriate teaching aids to enhance learning and retention of new skills."Training the Trainer" printable PDF

Conflict Management

Not a day goes by that we don't see conflict happening - from subtle nuances to irrational demonstrations. Conflict is an inevitable reality in our lives, and ignoring it or accommodating it is not a solution. Properly handled, it is an opportunity for creativity and problem-solving. By recognizing that potential, parties in conflict can negotiate mutually satisfying outcomes, and develop a comfortable working relationship.

Seminar Objectives:
To present skills required to recognize indicators of potential conflict, to effectively manage conflict situations, and to deal with various forms of conflict demonstration. Participants will learn to deal with confrontation, anger, criticism, and misunderstandings, using systematic, situational techniques."ConflictManagement" printable PDF

Stress Management

Stress is a constant in everyone's life - either negatively or positively. Understanding the difference, how each affects us, and learning specific management techniques, is essential to our well-being. In this time of rapid change and greater expectations in the workplace, learning to recognize symptoms and to take action to prevent burnout will energize and enrich your relationships and self-confidence.

Seminar Objectives:
To examine sources of stress in the main areas of life, and their effects on the mind, body and performance of daily living tasks. Participants will identify their personal responses to stress, and learn specific techniques for coping with and managing stress on a daily basis."Stress Management" printable PDF

Total Quality Management

TQM shows the way to deliver improved productivity, better customer service, and superior quality with a focus on continuous improvement. It is a process for visionaries who recognize the challenge of achieving greatness in a dynamic market, the excitement of competing head-to-head with top achievers, and the importance of constantly meeting and exceeding customer expectations.

Seminar Objectives:
To outline strategies for implementing TQM in any organization desiring to improve its business practices. Participants will learn the necessity of meshing top management commitment with employee enthusiasm and support. They will also recognize the need for training, feedback, and open communication as integral to an ongoing, successful TQM initiative."Total Quality Management" printable PDF

Decision Making and Risk Taking

Every day, managers face decisions that involve potential costs and risks. Decision-making is a critical facet of every manager's job; how effective they are has direct application to organizational performance and the success of their career. Creative, innovative improvement contains a component of risk. By balancing risk with projected benefits, managers can maximize organizational potential and growth.

Seminar Objectives:
To examine practical, systematic techniques for decision-making, with effective criteria for evaluating decisions and monitoring results. Participants will learn to assess risk factors, to balance risks against benefits, and to arrive at the "best" decision based on quality analysis."Decision Making and Risk Taking" printable PDF

Motivating Yourself & Your Employees

Self-motivation in high-achievers and effective leaders means always moving in the direction of established goals. Leaders understand that achieving manageable goals in the pursuit of excellence can realize self-esteem and outright exhilaration! Motivating and inspiring their employees can bring about the same results, as they unleash their creativity and deliver excellent service in an environment of ongoing positive feedback.

Seminar Objectives:
To explain the relationship of behaviour and the resulting feedback as the key to motivation. Participants will examine how attainable goals, harmonious work relationships and effective communication work together to build support, self-esteem, self-confidence, and to enhance job satisfaction for managers and employees."Motivating" printable PDF

Human Resources Management

Human Resources Planning

Organizations are being forced to do more Human Resources planning due to continued pressure to reduce staff and restructure employment in order to lower operating costs to meet the demands of increased global competition. With consideration of government legislation, aggressive Human Resources planning is required to develop strategies for addressing people-related issues. It is also required for re-aligning and integrating staff functions and roles for optimal performance, networking and realization of organizational goals.

Seminar Objectives:
To define the Human Resources planning function as integral to business planning; to examine characteristics of a fully integrated planning process. Participants will discuss the Human Resources planning mission, process, activities and effectiveness measures, how the Human Resources planning function has become part of a collaborative team process."Human Resources Planning" printable PDF

Recruiting & Selecting Employees

If people are the most important asset of the organization, then the practices adopted in attracting outside applicants and seeking them from within, need to be of value to an organization in achieving its aim. Recruitment and selection practices must reflect the culture and values of the organization. Effective recruiting and selection find people with knowledge, skill and interest in meeting or exceeding job criteria.

Seminar Objectives:
To examine the role of interviews in the sequential selection process, and the components of an effective interview plan. Participants will discuss factors that affect interview outcomes, interview problems and errors, Human Rights concerns, and interview improvement methods."Recruiting & Selecting Employees" printable PDF

Effective Interview Skills

The interview is a vehicle for the exchange of information between a job applicant and the interviewer regarding suitability for and interest in a job. It also provides the interviewer with a sample of an applicant's behaviour in a one-to-one interaction situation. Given the continued use and resurging importance of interviews, efforts must be made to ensure that they are both job-relevant and non-discriminatory.

Seminar Objectives:
To examine the role of interviews in the sequential selection process, and the components of an effective interview plan. Participants will discuss factors that affect interview outcomes, interview problems and errors, Human Rights concerns, and interview improvement methods."Effective Interview Skills" printable PDF

Hiring, Orientating & Training New Employees

Having recruited and selected suitable people to join the organization, it is imperative to integrate them into the company as effectively as possible. Orientation, training and development will add value by increasing motivation, ensuring adjustment and socialization, developing competency and responsiveness to rapid change in the business environment, and improving team and corporate performance.

Seminar Objectives:
To discuss training & development functions that ensure employees possess knowledge and skills to perform satisfactorily and advance in the organization. Participants will examine orientation and socialization processes that instruct new employees to the organizational culture, and will study training and development methods and aids that enhance employee job satisfaction and motivation."Hiring" printable PDF

Preparing Position Descriptions

A good job description program can be the backbone of an Human Resources Department. However, writing a good job description is not a simple matter. A job description must be specific, complete, meaningful and readable to the employee. The writer of the job description, (the job analyst) manager or supervisor, must have an understanding of the job for accurate content, an employee-focused orientation for appealing job presentation, and an effective writing technique for a readable product.

Seminar Objectives:
To identify the importance of a well-written job description to all aspects of Human Resource and organizational performance management. Participants will examine components of effective job descriptions and their roles as staffing criteria, hiring guides, performance standards and bases for determining rates of pay. "Preparing Position Descriptions" printable PDF

Employee Performance Management

Effective management of the employment relationship focuses on the key stakeholders in this relationship, and the degree of influence each can exert in workforce management. With concepts of empowerment and high-powered work teams not at the forefront of the new organizational "democratic process", performance management must evolve into a flexible, accountable, fair and equitable process that rises up to meet increasing demands and competition in the marketplace.

Seminar Objectives:
To examine roles of management, of Human Resources processes of workers and of teams in workforce governance. Participants will discuss factors and methods that influence and contribute to effective management of the employment relationship and resulting organizational performance levels."Performance Management" printable PDF

Designing Performance Appraisals

Performance appraisals have long been regarded as one of the most critical yet troubling areas of Human Resources Management. It is an important mechanism for the communication and control of organizational goals and objectives, and for providing feedback, guidance, and motivation to employees. Information communicated during the performance appraisal can have long-term effects on employees' attitudes towards their job, their supervisors, and the organization.

Seminar Objectives:
To demonstrate the purposes of performance appraisals in relation to organizational goal accomplishment; to provide prescriptions for improving the appraisal system. Participants will discuss methods for enhancing the development, implementation and evaluation of performance appraisal systems, in light of operational processes, to create a customer-focused organization."Performance Appraisals" printable PDF

Preparing Employee Policy Guidelines

The ultimate goal in guide preparation is for the finished product to be inspired by and useful to its readers. The purpose is to provide readers with a readable document including specific information, and to be readily understandable and applicable. Creating a guide that works, requires the writers' awareness of needs of potential readers, and an overriding commitment to creating a friendly product that is a functional work tool.

Seminar Objectives:
To examine components of user-friendly guides; to follow the development process in a logical, sequenced, practical manner. Participants will discuss techniques for efficiency and long-term maintenance practices that will keep information credible, reliable, and indispensable to users." Policy Guidelines" printable PDF

Planning

How to Start a Small Business

Small business offers opportunities for success to anyone and everyone. No guarantees exits, and risks cannot be completely eliminated. Nevertheless, in addition to offering opportunities to those with the entrepreneurial spirit, small businesses have added vitality to the economy. An increased emphasis on quality products and services, and the need to adapt quickly to changes in the marketplace, have given small businesses the edge in today's competitive business environment.

Seminar Objectives:
To increase awareness of entrepreneurship as a viable career; to provide a step-by-step method for planning and managing a small business. Participants will examine the challenges, obstacles, risks and rewards of small business ownership."How to Start a Small Business" printable PDF

How to Prepare a Business Plan

A well-researched business plan is a critical component for creating a new business venture or introducing a new project or initiative in your organization. It is your portable document which forms the blueprint for your business. When seeking acceptance and commitment from financiers, stakeholders and decision-makers, it is a powerful tool for "selling" your idea and demonstrating your direction over time.

Seminar Objectives:
To provide a step-by-step process for putting information into a comprehensive business plan; to analyze how the document serves as a road map that clearly establishes direction, as a reference for measuring progress over time and is a tool for obtaining financing and/or capital for the business venture."How to Prepare a Business Plan" printable PDF

Developing Vision, Mission and Goals

In today's ever-changing business environment, leaders must use visionary thinking to develop appropriate goals and strategies for their companies. They must examine how their organizational processes and human resources can work together with a unified focus to guarantee responsiveness in a competitive global environment. Innovative and proactive planning must achieve close coordination throughout the organization in order to retain a sustainable competitive advantage.

Seminar Objectives:
To examine concepts and analytical skills required to diagnose today's competitive business environment. Participants will learn how to determine and coordinate corporate, divisional and departmental action plans that focus on the vision, and how to build in the flexibility needed to remain adaptable and responsive on demand."Developing Vision" printable PDF

Effective Time Management

Are you managing your job or is it managing you? Are you doing more now than ever, and enjoying it less? Time, our most valuable resource, is very personal, and the way we elect to spend our time determines the quality of our lives. Too many of us compromise our creativity and freedom in favour of daily routines and demands. In this fast-paced environment, there is an urgent need for time management skills for people who must structure their time and be self-motivated. It's time to get started!

Seminar Objectives:
To present a framework of management principles for clarifying priorities and developing objectives for high pay-off results. Participants will learn how to apply the principles to their personal situations at work, at home and at leisure, and how to commit them to habit; to overcome the stress of reacting to paperwork, telephone habits and interruptions; and how to increase their effectiveness towards a balanced lifestyle."Time Management<" printable PDF

Managing Change

Organizations today must constantly change to remain competitive, and this has placed incredible pressure on them to adapt quickly. Employees are being told to become more efficient, creative and accountable, the impact of which has brought uncertainty and higher levels of stress to the workplace. In order to survive and thrive, organizations and employees must remain flexible and responsive, and must develop interdependent strategies, attitudes and skills to embrace and master change.

Seminar Objectives:
To provide a framework for understanding the impact of change, for managing stress and capitalizing on it as a motivator for creativity, self-sufficiency, accountability and growth. Participants will learn ways to establish collaborative working methods that will energize employees, and to develop tools for successfully managing the vision and commitment to change."Managing Change" printable PDF

Strategic Planning

Strategic planning means systematically adapting to today's changing economic and competitive environment. Today's business leaders must develop a planning process that is both focused and flexible, that sustains a competitive advantage, while aligning with the organization's mission and meeting the changing needs of the marketplace.

Seminar Objectives:
To explore current issues in strategic planning; to provide concepts and analytical skills needed to diagnose and respond to today's changing business situation. Participants will learn to align vision and goals, to coordinate goals throughout the organization, monitor and evaluate progress, build in flexibility and rapid response capabilities, and to maximize their effectiveness in staying competitive."Strategic Planning" printable PDF

Succession Planning

Succession planning is becoming increasingly important and more difficult because of rapidly changing demands on managers in growing, evolving organizations. Grooming new managers has become a specific, evaluation-based process, in which criteria for assessing candidates and developing customized training are linked to expectations of future organizational changes and managerial staffing requirements.

Seminar Objectives:
To examine the succession planning process, and current practices in defining managerial position requirements. Participants will discuss techniques for identifying and assessing management candidates, and activities that are necessary for effective development of managerial talent in an organization."Succession Planning" printable PDF

Communications

Designing a Communications Plan

Throughout the world, men and women perform communication duties for organizations. They counsel managers, manage communications programs, write, edit and design publications, produce videotapes, do research, and promote organizations to the internal and external publics. An excellent communications plan plays a critical role in meshing organizational strategic plans with supporting relationships of stakeholders.

Seminar Objectives:
To define the characteristics of excellent communications programs, and the key role that they play in organizational performance, internally and externally. Participants will examine relationships between models of communications plans, organizational structure, and job satisfaction, and the role of communications programs with the external public, major stakeholders, and potential pressure groups."Designing a Communications Plan" printable PDF

How to Work a Room

A room full of strangers is not an uncommon setting for people in business. That room is also often a haven of golden opportunities for business networking, initiating new contacts and seeding new relationships. Positive self-projection in such situations can create an unmistakable presence, a high comfort level, and the self-confidence necessary to seize those networking opportunities at every business and social gathering.

Seminar Objectives:
To share extensively researched tips, techniques and strategies to help maximize opportunities at business and social events - meetings, dinners, parties, celebrations and conventions. Participants will learn practical, proven communication and networking techniques in this informative, interactive and dynamic presentation."Networking" printable PDF

Interpersonal Communications

Many supervisors and managers take their interpersonal skills for granted as they go through their daily workplace routines. Yet communication skills form the basis of how people perceive supervisors and managers and their ideas. Business depends on how managers get through to people - by motivating, by influence and control, and by the best relationships in business are those founded on honest, direct, and the convincing communication.

Seminar Objectives:
To stimulate thought, to test knowledge and to provide tools for refining and building interpersonal communication skills. Participants will learn techniques to enhance meetings, oral presentations, listening skills, one-to-one and team interactions, and written communication."Interpersonal Communications" printable PDF

Effective Negotiation

Almost all our dealings with other people, personally or professionally, involve some form of negotiation. It is the most common method for satisfying needs, meeting goals, changing attitudes or influencing decisions. Successful negotiating depends on cooperative problem-solving, essential communication skills, and creative strategy formulation for producing mutually satisfying outcomes in business.

Seminar Objectives:
To examine the processes of creativity as they influence negotiation; to present the dynamics of the win/win negotiating philosophy, in which the solution meets the needs and expectations of both parties. Participants will learn to expand outcomes of interactions, and to take advantage of potential results of cooperation, creativity and combined energy."Effective Negotiation" printable PDF

Presentation Skills

Presentations are an integral part of business; how well they are conducted can have a major impact on business and personal success. As business becomes increasingly complex, the need to communicate those complexities in clear, concise terms becomes more critical. Presentations are essential to the achievement of the goals of the organization, and are an extremely important avenue for career advancement.

Seminar Objectives:
To describe the fundamentals of preparing and delivering winning presentations, strategies for managing stage fright and fielding questions. Participants will recognize the role of presentations in business, learn systematic approaches to planning presentations, explore interaction techniques for participation and retention of information, and determine appropriate visual aids for enhancing the message."Presentation Skills" printable PDF

Assertiveness Communication

In today's competitive workplace, the ability to assert yourself is essential to personal and professional growth. Communicating assertively means getting people to listen to you; it means taking charge in managerial aspects of motivation, of decision-making and of teambuilding. Developing assertive communication skills provides access to opportunities for professional productivity and personal success in the business world.

Seminar Objectives:
To differentiate assertiveness from passive and aggressive communication styles; to demonstrate the impact of assertive communication in management tasks, personal effectiveness, group and business success. Participants will examine how patterns of assertiveness relate to management, and they will build on their own strengths to determine a pattern that capitalizes on their personality and style."Assertiveness Communication" printable PDF

How to Deal with Difficult People

Difficult people know how to keep you off balance - they constantly frustrate you, causing stress and lost time in the workplace. Unless you learn how to deal with them, they will succeed in controlling you. The ability to recognize the various "types" of difficult people, and their typical styles, will enable you to apply appropriate skills and responses that could lead to behavioural change and cooperation in these same people.

Seminar Objectives:
To examine the styles and habits of difficult people who are immune to the usual communication and management methods, and who rob us of job satisfaction. Participants will learn methods of influencing behaviour that capitalize on building constructive relationships. Techniques will also be demonstrated for maximizing open, respectful interaction and developing a cooperative working environment."Deal with Difficult People" printable PDF

Conducting an Effective Meeting

Today's leaders must be competent in presiding over business meetings where goals are set and where plans of action to achieve these goals are developed. Since meetings are where major decisions are made, knowing how to plan for and conduct them efficiently will ensure achievement of objectives within reasonable timeframes, as well as assure interaction and involvement of participants.

Seminar Objectives:
To provide practical, systematic procedures for planning, presiding over and facilitating deliberations of group members at meetings. Participants will examine purpose and consensus rules for meetings, and will recognize the role of leaders in encouraging creative thinking and communication as members proceed through agendas. Conducting an Effective Meeting printable PDF

Marketing

Marketing

Marketing means the delivery of the right message to the right market via the right media. It is a brick-by-brick process, as well as, an art and a science. As an art, it involves creativity and insight. As a science, it involves planning, analysis and discipline. The two must blend and balance to maximize potential and to capitalize on strengths of your company and personnel.

Seminar Objectives:
To provide practical marketing strategies that effectively utilize resources of money, time and personnel. Participants will recognize the value of a marketing plan for charting goals and strategies; they will learn how to market and plan strategically, to segment their market, to identify consumer behavior, to investigate market research techniques, and to analyze successful pricing, advertising and promotion tactics."Marketing" printable PDF

Customer Service

In today's service-oriented economy, excellent customer service is more than a competitive edge it is a survival skill. It means meeting and exceeding expectations of both internal and external customers. There is a remarkably close and consistent link between how internal customers are treated, and how external customers perceive the quality of a company's services. Satisfying all the customers results in loyalty, enthusiasm, teamwork, enhanced productivity, and continual demand for your service.

Seminar Objectives:
To demonstrate principles, techniques and action plans for developing a true spirit of service to your customers, to your employees and to your company. Participants will learn proven manageable and measurable strategies for building a quality service based on customer-centred values."Customer Service" printable PDF

Merchandising

Merchandising encompasses the areas of merchandise planning, resources, negotiating, pricing, distribution and control. Developing and implementing a merchandise plan is a primary component of retail strategy. To be successful, retailers must plan and supervise the marketing of goods and services at the right place, the right time, the right price and quantity to realize marketing objectives of the business.

Seminar Objectives:
To discuss buying and handling aspects of merchandise planning, to explore financial, retail and planning aspects of merchandising. Participants will discuss stages of merchandising, attributes of buying organizations and factors to be considered in planning merchandise quality, innovativeness, assortment and sources of supply."Merchandising" printable PDF

Product & Service Pricing

The number of competitors in an industry, their size, and the prices they charge can greatly influence a business' pricing decision, desired image, sales and profits. Learning how to exploit elements of product or service quality, reputation and positioning, and how to develop the right pricing strategy can expand profits, expand market share and increase sales towards marketing goals.

Seminar Objectives:
To examine factors that affect pricing decision, to explain common pricing methods and policies. Participants will learn how to determine effective pricing objectives and appropriate pricing methods for products/services, as well as recognize common pricing mistakes and their effect on gross margin."Product & Service Pricing" printable PDF

Exporting & Distribution

Exports are the goods and services sold by individuals or nations. Opportunities to conduct exporting are everywhere because the world market has become much more interdependent, and because trade conditions among nations change rapidly. Learning the fundamentals of trade transactions and swinging with political/economic changes can launch businesses into profitable international trade opportunities.

Seminar Objectives:
To explore the elements that must be implemented in order to export successfully. Participants will explore such factors as assessment of markets and exportability of products, evaluation of competition and overseas distributors, inventory management and distribution abroad, and financing strategies."Exporting & Distribution" printable PDF

Effective Selling Techniques

Demanding customers, technological innovations and incredible competition have changed the way sales personnel do business today. Sales forces that develop creative selling presentations and engage in planning and evaluation techniques maximize continuous quality service; those that develop effective listening and communication skills guarantee the fostering of strategic, long-term relationships with customers.

Seminar Objectives:
To examine techniques for defining, developing, and refining effective sales presentations. Participants will learn techniques for determining customer needs and concerns for offering solutions for making persuasive product/service presentations and for evaluating personal selling techniques."Effective Selling Techniques" printable PDF

Creative Advertising & Promotion

Promotion is the function of informing, persuading, and influencing the customer's purchase decision. The mix of a business' promotional strategy, personal selling, and advertising are all methods of communicating a product or service to the customer and should be simple and straightforward. This can turn everybody in the company into a promoter to clients to banks to employees or to the public.

Seminar Objectives:
To discuss relationships between promotion and communication processes to identify various elements of the promotional mix. Participants will examine methods for determining budgets for promotion and advertising, and will schedule and design strategies for informing and influencing customer buying decisions."Creative Advertising & Promotion" printable PDF

Guerilla Marketing

In a tough economy resources are strained and marketing dollars must be stretched to the limit while still launching effective and profitable marketing programs. By learning how to implement a marketing mix appropriate to their funds and their stage of growth, entrepreneurs can create a track record that will bring big returns on creative time investments.

Seminar Objectives:
To present the "real line" on practical, low-cost marketing strategies that can be understood and initiated in short order. Participants will learn basic marketing essentials and creative, low-cost strategies for promoting their business. "Guerilla Marketing" printable PDF