At the course’s conclusion, attendees should be able to:
- Determine what customers want
- Create dramatically positive experiences which exceed customer expectations
- Analyze the Communication Cycle
- Use skills to successfully complete the cycle
Industry Telecom
The success of any organization rests on individual employees and their commitment to working together as a team to make the organization the best it can be. How well employees work together has a great deal to do with their individual success, the success of their fellow employees, the co-op, and their owner consumers. This seminar is intended to assist participants in improving the communication skills between “internal and external” employees as a means of enhancing their work with others and their customers. The course will assist participants in better understanding how to improve communications with fellow employees, the key elements in the Communication Cycle, improved understanding of internal and external job ‘interconnectivity’, and managing problem ‘communication’ situations when they occur. This is an ideal course for all-employee training. The course will benefit participants by:
- Fine Tuning “Inside and Outside” communications
- Increasing customer satisfaction through improved employee communication
- Learning to better manage stressful situations
- Understanding what customers expect from their co-op and how working and communicating together helps meet those expectations
- Learning how the Communication Cycle serves as the key to improved internal/external communications
- Working together to earn customer loyalty
- Leading the 21st Century Workforce
This course covers in more detail some of the topics in the fundamentals course, including work order systems, financial statement accounting, financial planning, cost of service and rate design, activity-based accounting, capital credits, investment strategies, debt portfolio management, internal control procedures, and other similar topics.
This training course is designed to provide participants with the tools necessary to deal with anger management in the work place, or in their personal lives. Participants will learn about individuals deal with anger, what causes their anger and how they cope or do not cope with anger. The session will explore the causes of anger as well as various anger suppression techniques. Key objectives to be accomplished in this training session are:
- Identify anger and anger management
- Discover the role workplace environment plays in individual anger management
- Learn to “distress” ones life
- Discover avenues of anger avoidance
- Participant in group role plays concerning anger in the workplace and anger management
- Complete a back-at-work action plan and plan to improve participants ability to cope with stressors
When you think of workplace attitudes you must ask yourself the simple question: would you want an employee who is extremely good at his or her job but has a bad attitude or an average employee who has a positive attitude? I believe the overwhelming response would be for the later because we all have learned the hard way that bad attitudes can reduce the effectiveness of ones organization. The fact is that skills can be taught but an attitude is often difficult to change. The question often asked is what is an attitude? To some it’s a mindset, a way of thinking but that’s only partly right. The bigger picture is that an attitude is a habit of thought. It defines how one looks at their world and workplace. What employers want are people with attitudes that think “I can,” not “I can’t.” This one day seminar is devoted to the building blocks that lead to positive attitudes. Our trainer will show participants how to find, keep and maintain an approach that leads to a positive outlook. This highly interactive course includes interactive session as well as self evaluations to help individuals create an open mind and heart to developing a more productive, meaningful work life. This session will look at:
- How does one understand the importance of having a positive attitude
- How to develop and maintain positive feelings and thoughts in the workplace
- How a positive attitude leads to more productivity and a commitment to doing things right
- How attitudes impact and influence those around us
- The relationship between positive attitudes and internal and external customer satisfaction
- Identifying personality and attitudes – our true “colors”
- Creating personality matrix-the value of it
- Emotions and attitudes
- Anger-when, why, how, who
- Attitude “revamp”, a process and project
This course serves as an overview of business organization principles, including structure and operation. Topics covered include basic business economic theory, organizational structure, planning, and productivity. Topics to be covered include:
- The four benchmarks of group/organization dynamics
- Organizational mission
- The C-M-E Triangle and its role in OD
- Policymaking
The success of a business is based to a large extent on the people skills of its employees. The purpose of this one-day seminar is to improve the company’s business relationships through the skills of interpersonal communication with internal and external customers. Participants will gain a perspective of service excellence from the customers’ point of view when conducting business transactions both in person and via telephone. Using class discussion and interactive exercises, they develop skills for dealing with internal and external customers in a variety of recurring scenarios including technical support, answering questions, and giving information. The skills learned in this program serve to enhance the performance of the all employees who interact with fellow employees and customers resulting in reduced stress, more efficient utilization of transaction time, and improved customer satisfaction. The course will cover area such as: knowing what customers expect, assessing the ‘personality types’ of customers, how to control problem situations, creating a ‘positive image’ for customers, effective phone and e-mail communications. Learning outcomes in this program include:
- The blueprint of effective communication
- What your customers expect
- Creating positive customer experiences by using the appropriate communication style
- Handling all customer transactions professionally and efficiently
- The five basic strategies for handling stressful customer situations
Leadership is sometimes described as the ability to foster commitment, creativity and productive attitudes in others through effective self-knowledge and interpersonal skills. In short, leadership is the ability to bring out the best in people. This is a valuable attribute to possess, but what can you do to develop it? How do you recognize and build upon the attributes you already have? This one-day program explores those questions and helps you work toward your own leadership development plans. Participants in the course will learn to:
- Examine their own attributes in light of the characteristics of a good leader
- Gather and use feedback to gain insight on how you are perceived by others
- Fine-tune their communication style for achieving best results.
- Influence a work environment that promotes enthusiasm and productivity
- Create a personal development plan to build your own leadership skills
Almost everything we do in our work is done within the context of a team effort. More often than not, the difficult part facing the person responsible for leading others is inspiring individuals to work together toward a common end or goal. This seminar is designed to assist participants in learning the skills of being an effective team builder, the effectiveness of teamwork, the importance of being an effective team leader. Additional topics to be covered include:
- Why some teams succeed and others fail
- Some of the pitfalls of a team
- What you can do to help your team succeed
- How to reduce and resolve conflict on a team
- The results of team members not treating each other with dignity and respect
- What to do at the first hint of dispute
- Setting appropriate ground rules for team members
- Maintaining control
- Remaining impartial
Maintaining a competent, productive, and efficient workforce is something all managers and supervisors work to achieve. Retaining valuable staff is critical to an organization’s effectiveness and customer service. Money is not the sole solution to solving the riddle of keeping quality staff; rather, friendliness and professionalism rank as clear incentives to retaining employees building employee loyalty. Often it is the simple and less costly incentives that influence whether an employee stays with an organization. This class is centered around the simple premise that you must create a “positive internal” environment if you wish to build your business, offer quality customer service, and retain competent employees. The course will offer insights into how you can evaluate your current methods of dealing with employees, ‘tips’ for improving employee management, and helpful methods for making your workplace the ‘best’ it can be. Some of the items this course will deal with are:
- How to maintain positive employee relations
- How managers and supervisors influence their employee’s attitudes, work, and productivity
- Conducting new employee orientation
- Useful tips for helping your employees succeed
- Developing a professional workplace
- Motivating employees to grow with your company
- How to help employees be successful
- Communicating why your company is unique
It is a proven fact that team effort is a key ingredient to success and improvement for small units, department, and the company as a whole. Teams help to analyze and solve problems, work to construct solutions, fortify an organization, increase reliability, save money, and serve as a vehicle for change. Realizing and understanding the importance of the teaming process to organizational growth and development is an essential skill for everyone in a leadership capacity. This one-day class is designed to offer participants the opportunity to ‘learn’ more about team building and how it can be implemented at their organization. Through discussion, interaction, and ‘team’ work, participants will gain valuable insight into how they can foster a team based environment. Some of the topics to be covered include:
- How to recognize organizational strengths & weaknesses
- Utilizing synergy
- Thinking together to reduce ‘boundaries’
- The factors that prevents improvement
- What do ‘teams’ look like
- Understanding team dynamics and function
- How do the team members function together
- How each team member related to the whole
- Consensus building
- Selecting team members
The ‘traditional’ leadership model as we knew it is undergoing profound changes. The old “command and control” model no longer works in today’s information age. What is now expected is a more participative leadership style, where a leader seeks to establish equality between the leader and the ‘follower’. What once worked in the old ‘authoritarian model’ does not work with the empowered employees in the workplace of today. To be successful as a leader and to ensure the success of their organization, leaders must be prepared to engender the various expectations of today’s multi-generational workplace. This seminar seeks to offere participants a range of skills and perceptions that will pay dividends. Participants will discover:
- Discover the ten key aspects to good dynamic leadership
- Learn about the Challenges of Dynamic leadership
- Understand the signs of an ineffective leader
- Discover the things engaged leaders believe and employ
- How to be innovation in a changing workplace
- Applying small steps leading to Gigantic outcomes
- Understanding the keys to effective leadership and their outcome
Utilities in the U.S. lose more than $1 billion per year in uncollected funds. If this is an issue facing your utility then this course will be of benefit. The course is designed specifically for utility employees and supervisors with responsibility for collections and particularly those who pursue, or are interested in pursuing, former customers who have moved away while owing a debt to the utility. Participants will gain valuable insight into the process of “skip tracing” which is the process of gathering information on the location of debtors. This course covers the four major topics involved with this process: segmenting debtors for efficient tracing, legal guidelines and restrictions, current resources, and statistics regarding tracing performance. Employing an effective skip tracing procedure will help in reducing losses, particularly those that result from customers who do not pay their final bills after discontinuing service or being disconnected. Additional topics to be covered include:
- An overview of efficient options for conducting traces
- An understanding of the most effective skip tracing tools for specific situations, based on the debtor information available, and
- The information they need to immediately begin finding debtors who were previously considered “lost”
Nobody likes to be the bad guy. It’s human nature to want to make those around you happy, including your employees. Unfortunately, sometimes you have to make decisions that aren’t popular. If you’re one of the people that hate making decisions that are not well-liked, if you hesitate to deliver bad news, if you’re unsure how to communicate unpopular changes, then you need to attend Communicating Unpopular Decisions. Participants will learn strategies to communicate changes and decisions with openness and honesty, and most importantly, how to get “buy-in,” for the results needed! Topics to be covered include:
- Dealing with negative employee responses
- Ways to communicate your decisions honestly and openly
- Managing conflicting emotions about your decisions
- Maintaining your credibility
- How to learn from past mistakes
- How to use tough situations to improve overall employee-manager relationships
- Strategies for facing hostile reactions with confidence
As primary influencers of the workplace environment, managers and supervisors bear a significant responsibility for the productive outcomes of their organizations, departments, teams, and work crews. This program is designed to address the communication styles and techniques that tend to create an environment of trust, confidence, and mutual respect necessary for optimal performance. Class exercises, discussion along with real world case studies, combine to create a meaningful learning experience for any manager or supervisor. Learning outcomes include:
- How to increase levels of collaboration and mutual support among team members
- How to express your ideas in ways that gain the attention, support and respect of others
- How to quickly “fit in” with any group of people
- How to make an unforgettable, positive first impression on anyone
- How to minimize conflict and reduce friction on the job and in your personal life
Are you often asked to make a presentation, guide a process, or lead a retreat? If you would like to understand how to encourage full participation and promote understanding while remaining impartial, then this one-day program is designed to increase your group facilitation skills. You will learn to:
- Use the group decision-making model
- Recognize the importance of balancing task and people issues
- Utilize the diversity on your team
- Identify and use tools for effective meeting management
- Effectively manage conflict and build confidence
The purpose for this seminar is to provide participants with a clear understanding of the importance of employee evaluations and the process to follow in preparing for and conducting appraisals. The session will focus on the following key strategies:
- How to prepare for a performance appraisal
- The things to do and not do in conducting the actual interview
- What to say and not say in a performance review
- How to better manage discussion difficulties that arise during evaluations
- How to keep the evaluation focused and on track
- The importance of establishing performance goals for employees
- Setting and conducting follow-up discussions
- Proper record keeping
Protect your organization – know the ins and outs of workplace investigations.
Whether the issue is a harassment complaint, a threat of workplace violence, employee performance or other workplace dispute – prompt, fair and thorough investigations are essential to your ability to make sound employment decisions and minimize legal risks. This workshop will provide you with practical guidance and actual experience in conducting effective workplace investigations. Participants will learn:
- The essential elements of an effective investigation
- Develop strategies for dealing with reluctant complaints
- Expert guidance on post-investigation issues
- No-nonsense tips on documenting investigations
Few would ague that life and work are hard enough without the complications surrounding self-defeating emotions, behaviors, and habits. The multiple forces that bear down on us every day can eventually take their toll. No wonder people often feel anxious, resentful, taken advantage of and even trapped. This one-day seminar is intended to help participants understand how to stay focused on their goals, whether work or personal, while ups and downs occur around them. Participants will gain insight into developing ‘personal’ flexibility to deal with uncertainty and to find meaning in what they are doing. This seminar will focus on the important personal skill of emotional self-control. Participants will learn about what role emotions play in their life, the ways they are expressed, how to manage emotional ups and downs, to deal with stress and how to handle crisis situations. Over the course of the day, the class will learn how to make ‘better’ choices at work and elsewhere, how to practice self-discipline, and control emotionally difficult situations. In addition, others issues to be covered include:
- Build confidence by learning to respond correctly to difficult situations and people
- Explore ones attitudes and how to use anger constructively
- Control how one reacts to emotional situations presented by other people
- Embrace how to ‘let go’ of the old and accept change
- Learn to eliminate habits that tend to pull you down and work against you.
This one-day training seminar is designed to help individuals develop and build decision-making, critical-thinking and problem-solving skills. Participants will learn about various methods for assessing and resolving problems and for understanding the role of inferences and assumptions. The class is intended to serve as a means for building confidence in how to ask the “right questions” and in overcoming the stress that some times accompanies making decisions. Participants will gain an understanding of how to be proactive, more confident, decrease stress, and strengthen ones ability to influence and persuade others. Additional topics to be covered include:
- How to ask questions to get the answers you need
- How to apply creative problem-solving techniques
- Build greater professional recognition through enhanced skills
This two-day course is designed as a comprehensive introduction to the principles of effective customer service and the role communication plays in how customers evaluate service quality and delivery. The course will cover areas such as knowing what customers expect, assessing the ‘personality types’ of customers, how to control problem situations, creating a ‘positive image’ for customers, effective phone and e-mail communications. This program offers ample opportunity for participants to practice verbal skills in successfully handling a variety of recurring issues such as bill inquiries, requests for service and/or information, and the occasional upset/irate customer. Learning outcomes in this program include:
- The ABC’s of effective customer communication
- The four universal customer expectations
- How customers “keep score” on your performance
- The “communication cycle” and how to use it
- Nine “scripts” to avoid and what to say instead
- Five critical steps for handling stressful customer situations
This course is designed to provide employees the basic skills for assisting customers in making purchase or participation choices. Unlike the typical “sales” training program, the emphasis here is customer-focused rather than being “commission” focused. Topics covered include the customer purchase choice process, the features/benefits relationship, and an introduction to using persuasive communication skills. Participants in this one-day training session will:
- Learn to distinguish the ‘two’ categories of buyers
- Understand the PDM (Purchase Decision Making) process and how to use it effectively with your customers
- Learn to use the 5-Step customer focused selling model
- Understand how to create and use a ‘features-benefits’ checklist for selling products
This one-day seminar is designed to provide an introduction to the Spanish language as a means of helping develop the skills necessary to provide enhanced service for Hispanic customers. This highly interactive course will focus on specific scenarios encountered, basic conversation, and proper pronunciation. Each participant will receive a Spanish/English manual and quick reference guide for use on the job. Previous experience with the Spanish language is not necessary. Some of the course highlights include:
- Learning basic pronouns and greetings, days, time, and currency
- Learn how to question the customer for troubleshooting and take general information regarding service
- Practice pronunciation with a partner
- Learn how to communicate billing problems and ask for deposits
- Learn how to give scheduled outage information and deal with disconnection problems
The intent of this training program is to promote change which will result in a long-lasting improvement in employee treatment of customers and employee creation of positive customer experiences. During the two-day session, participants will learn to view things through the eyes of the customer. The program emphasizes customer experience management, customer loyalty creation and personal touch treatment of customers. Participants will gain knowledge into how to use customer experience mapping tools to improve contact with their customers, effective communication skills, listening skills, anger defusing skills, request handling skills, and mistake handling skills. Course highlights include:
- Learn to evaluate the difference between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty/li>
- How one goes about creating customer loyalty/li>
- Seeing customers ‘through their eyes’ as a way to improving service/li>
- Steps to enhance customer service experiences/li>
- Establishing strategies for become a customer focused utility
In this course, participants will gain a perspective of service excellence from the customer’s point of view when conducting business transactions via telephone. Using class discussion and interactive exercises, they develop skills for dealing with customers in various recurring scenarios including service connects, disconnects, technical supports, and billing concerns. The skills learned in this program serve to enhance the performance of all employees who interact with customers via phone, resulting in reduced stress, more efficient utilization of transaction time, and improved customer satisfaction.
This seminar is designed to help individuals understand the strengths and weaknesses of their current listening style(s), and to develop plans for developing other listening styles more appropriate to the situation.
Participants will gain insight into how they can improve their listening skills by discovering current listening habits. The session will demonstrate that by using ones listening strengths effectively, and exploring other listening styles and their appropriate use in different situations, they can strengthen their listening skills and become a more active and positive listener. Topics to be covered include:
- Learn the four types of listening skills
- Demonstrate the ‘three barriers’ in communication
- Understand the subtle of non-verbal communication
- Apply the five listening approaches to daily communications
One of the more difficult tasks any leader faces is learning to effectively manage their job and that of others. The realities of shorter deadlines, competing priorities, endless meetings, constant interruptions, and higher quality expectations are just a few of the challenges individuals face on a day-to-day basis; yet, the number of hours in the day remains the same. In order to be effective in the job, leaders must be a good manager of time, learn how to delegate effectively, how to put organizational tools and techniques to use, and how to analyze, plan, and schedule activities based on priorities. The purpose of this training seminar is to assist participants in learning all of the above as a means of being more effective in their jobs. Topics to be covered include:
- Learning how to develop and use a “Can Do” attitude
- How to establish goals
- Know what to prioritize
- The keys to analyzing how your time is spent
- Developing a master plan for being more effective
- When to do things by scheduling
- How to control interruptions
- Learning to improve meetings
- Conquering procrastination
- Developing team work
In recent years, our society has become hyper-vigilant with respect to national origin, creed, gender, and religious affiliation. The workplace is not immune to the conflicts that arise as a result of cultural diversity. We all have our own biases but are often unaware of how our biases can lead to serious problems at work. Proactive communication is the key to resolving and preventing conflict, and in a diverse work force, the ability to resolve conflict in a timely and effective manner is critical.
Diversity can be defined as: “The variety of experiences and perspective which arise from differences in race, culture, religion, mental or physical abilities, heritage, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and other characteristics.”
So why is it when many people think of diversity, they think first of ethnicity and race, and then gender? Diversity is much broader. Diversity is otherness or those human qualities that are different from our own and outside the groups to which we belong, yet present in other individuals and groups.
It’s important to understand how these dimensions affect performance, motivation, success, and interactions with others. Institutional structures and practices that have presented barriers to some dimensions of diversity should be examined, challenged, and removed.
Who Should Attend: Our Workplace Diversity training assists employers and employees in understanding how cultural differences in the workplace can affect work performance and overall morale.
Course Objectives:
- Define diversity
- Recognize stereotypes and the impact they have on the organization
- Implement strategies to breakdown diversity barriers in the workplace
- Implement effective communication skills to avoid miscommunication and misunderstandings in the workplace
- Prevent discrimination in the workplace
With the onslaught of regulations revolving around individual privacy rights, HIPAA (Health Insturance Portability and Accountability Act), lawyer-client privilege and trade secret documents, the destruction of confidential documents has become very important of late. Because identity theft is growing at alarming speed the government is passing legislation to protect consumers and require businesses’ to do “due diligence” in protecting confidential information. The Federal Trade Commission’s new consumer protection law FACTA (Fair and
Accurate Credit Transaction Act) recently went into effect. This law basically states “any person who maintains or otherwise possesses consumer information for a business purpose” must properly destroy discarded consumer information. Remember what you throw away may cost you your good credit rating, your job and/or your employer millions. Retention schedules are extremely important to a company’s healthy existence. Destroying documents when their life cycle and regulation period is over saves the organization storage costs in many instances. It also protects organizations from having extra information for discovery should there be a lawsuit down the road.
Are you finding that more and more of your customer contacts are via emails? If this is the case for your staff, then understanding how email communications can be handled more effectively is essential to delivering outstanding customer service. Participants in this webinar will learn the keys to effectively using email as another form to connect with the customer and enhance the service experience.
Objectives:
- Learn how important it is to provide a great email experience
- Enhance your customer service through improved email
- Make emails more personable & less scripted
This one-day program is designed to assist participants in avoiding the pitfalls associated the hiring process. The course will provide individuals with insight into how to begin the recruitment process and ultimately selecting the right employee. Participants will learn how to analyze job descriptions and specifications to avoid legal roadblocks. Other items covered include: maintaining records to protect yourself and the company, how to handle face-to-face interaction during the interview, the ins and outs of pre-employment testing, and reference checks. The course will provide you with:
- How to employ various interview techniques to get the information you want and need
- Recruitment challenges and trends
- Preparing for the interview
- Avoiding the legal traps in the hiring process
- Learn how to begin and end an interview and ask the ‘right’ questions
The course covers the critical role of the board in leading a utility. It defines and describes the roles and responsibilities of board members, their relationship to each other, and their relationship to the CEO/General Manager.
Desired Outcomes
- A utility with strategic vision and direction
- A board membership that works together for the effectiveness of the utility
- Board Responsibilities and CEO Responsibilities
- A board that has a productive relationship with the CEO/General Manager
This program is designed to help employees effectively manage intensively emotional customer interactions. Topics covered include an exploration of the dynamics of emotional behavior, the various patterns of Angry/Difficult behavior, and how to use voice and word-choice techniques to help defuse tension or hostility.
E-mail and other electronic communication tools have evolved from merely novel ways to communicate with friends and family to universally accepted business tools. More and more customers – both internal and external – are demanding service electronically. However, the way many companies and their employees use these tools – particularly e-mail – has not kept up with this evolution. The instant communication that all electronic media provides along with the sheer numbers of messages and amount of information received electronically means that rules that governed electronic media even two to three years ago are not acceptable now. When the image and the productivity of the utility are at stake, all employees must be constantly aware of how they use this technology to communicate.
- Use e-mail driven service to enhance the entire service experience
- Make service emails more personable & less scripted – establishing rapport
- Understand the most common pitfalls of email customer service & what to avoid
- Understand the importance of choosing words wisely and using correct writing skills since anything sent out can end up posted on blogs and reviews
- Use electronic media to go beyond just answering questions to marketing the utility and placing it in the best and most professional, empathetic and efficient light
- Be better organized and systematic in filing, replying, forwarding or deleting e-mails
- Know when it’s time for a telephone or face-to-face meeting versus an e-mail
Leadership can best be understood by studying the question of – “Why do people follow leaders?” By understanding this simple concept, individuals are better able to become a effective leader. This seminar deals with the basic concepts of followership – learning ‘why’ people a leader and the importance of a leader giving others a reason for them to follow. Participants will lean about their leadership style and personality traits which relates to their personal followership style. They will discover the roles that ethics and values play in effective followership and potential leadership. The session will deal with the concepts of motivation and its role in determining why people follow and concept of situational leadership. Key objectives to be covered include:
- Understand the principles of followership
- Comprehend that good followership enhances leadership potential
- Identify competencies of followership which lead to promotion or advanced leadership positions
- Respond to the role ethics play in organizational behavior
- Understand Values and its role in followership/leadership behavior
- Comprehend the role of the organization’s “Vision”
- Discover the concepts of Motivation and its role in effective leadership development
- Comprehend the principle of good Communication Skill’s relationship to sound effective leadership
- Understand the concept of Effective Team Dynamics
- Identify principles of a Professional Environment
This one-day training program will focus on the history and theory behind fiber optics. Participants will learn about the advantages and disadvantages of optical fiber, system characteristics, as well as system parameters. Other topics to be covered include: optical fiber types, fiber optics system components, causes of loss in fiber optic system, and the basics of fiber optics troubleshooting.
This day and a half training session is a mix of theory and practical hands-on application. Participants will be exposed to the basics of fiber splicing, utilizing fusion and mechanical splicers. In addition, participants will learn about installing end connectors, testing with an OTDR, and testing connections. In the second half, participants will learn how to troubleshoot a system using various techniques, including: end-to-end attenuation testing, fault location, transmitter and receiver level testing, and cable acceptance. Participants will also learn about the various cable testing methods.
This one-day course is designed to provide managers, directors, and employees in non-financial roles, with an overview of the audit process. The course will seek to help answer: what role do auditors play, what is a financial audit, why do businesses need an audit, who can perform audits, what are the guidelines that must be followed, and who gets the audit report and what are they supposed to do with it. This course is a must for anyone in a management capacity or interested in learning more about the auditing process.
The success of a business is based to a large extent on the people skills of its employees. The purpose of this one-day seminar is to improve the company’s business relationships through the skills of customer service professionalism. The course will cover topics such as: knowing what customers expect, assessing the ‘personality types’ of customers, how to control problem situations, creating a ‘positive image’ for customers, effective phone and e-mail communications, learning to effectively manage problem situations when they occur. The course will benefit participants by:
- Delivering improved customer service
- Increasing customer satisfaction
- Improving ones customer ‘credibility’
- Managing stressful situations
This one-day class is designed principally for Accountants of all levels as well as those in Management. The focus of the class will concern a review of common types of fraud, their increased occurrence, an understanding of the prevalence of fraud, and how organizations are responding to this problem. The class will include a discussion of fraud deterrence methods, including techniques to strengthen internal controls to prevent fraud as well as steps and processes used in detecting fraud. Participants will be exposed to the use of various internal control items such as COSO as well as how to investigate internal fraud, and the use of various interviewing techniques. Participants in this program will gain useful insight into:
- The high cost of fraud
- Various methodologies for detecting and preventing fraud
- How to distinguish between perpetrators and the victims
- Understanding the characteristics and demographics of those who commit fraud
- Preventing fraud and understanding how to develop a successful fraud prevention program
This course covers the fundamentals of utility accounting for recently hired accountants and those involved in related jobs that have need to understand how accounting affects other aspects of the business. This course will cover the basics of operations and terminology, and will cover the following accounting topics: using a prescribed uniform system of accounts, cash versus accrual accounting, work order systems for capitalizing self-constructed plant, the general ledger and subsidiary ledgers, the four accounting cycles (revenue, collections, disbursements, and payroll).
Understanding the various financial aspects associated with utility operations is essential for anyone performing the responsibilities associated with being an administrative or executive assistant. This one-day course is designed to provide this important employee group with a clear understanding of business operations, how to review and ensure budgets, and verifying that expenses stay on track. Participants in this training session will gain an important understanding of utility accounting language, key terms, financial definitions, financial statements, and balance sheets. In addition, the program will provide those in attendance with an improved familiarity with the accounting process and how you can assist management with decision making and analysis of important business numbers. Additional items covered include:
- The utility annual report and the auditor’s role
- Evaluating an organization’s financial statements
- Financing the business
- Budgeting more effectively
The first half of this seminar focuses on the issue of workplace harassment. The session is intended to provide participants with a general knowledge of the importance of understanding and eliminating harassment by learning what it is, how it can occur, and how an organization must train its employees to avoid potential problems. Participants will gain insight into the many types of harassment that are present: age, race, sex, ethnicity and gender.
The second half of the class will engage the issue of how valuing diversity can improve an organization’s internal and external performance. Participants will gain insight into the importance of understanding, accepting, and capitalizing on differences between employees. The class will seek to provide participants with the skills to recognize and respect issues of diversity, the differences in people, and the need to have respectful attitudes toward others. This is an important training session for any organization wishing to develop and maintain a workplace free of prejudice and harassment.
On any given day, you look at yourself in the mirror and make a conscious choice to face the day with a positive attitude. That choice can be tough. Few would argue that life and work are hard enough without the complications surrounding self-defeating emotions, stress and the feeling of overwhelming demands. The multiple forces that bear down on us every day can eventually take their toll. No wonder people often feel anxious, resentful, taken advantage of and even trapped.
This one-day workshop will help you understand how to develop a personal action plan that helps you build positive self-esteem that leads to a healthy life. In this two-part session, participants will gain insight into developing personal flexibility to deal with uncertainty and to find meaning in what they are doing. This seminar will focus on the important personal skill of emotional self-control and balance. You will learn about the role emotions play in life, the ways they are expressed, and how to manage the emotional ups and downs that lead to unhealthy stress.
Morning Session Objectives:
- Recognize how you are wired: where you thrive and where you struggle
- Identify your personal stressors and trigger points
- Understand the delicate balance of emotional and logical thinking
Session Length: 3 hours
Afternoon Session Objectives:
- Embrace how to ‘let go’ of the old and accept change
- Personal Growth
- Learn to eliminate habits that tend to pull you down and work against you
- Create an action plan that will help you create balance in all areas of your life
This course is designed specifically for those with administrative responsibility to help increase cooperation and productivity. Topics covered include the bases of organizational power and how to effectively use each to accomplish challenging tasks and meet critical deadlines. Each person will take a personal leadership assessment inventory. Topics to be covered include:
- Understanding the bases of power and influence
- Levels of professional independence
- Principles of “followership”
An organization’s competitive advantage largely depends on the way it manages its largest asset – its people. Yet, too often the metrics used by HR professionals are not linked closely to the measures that drive the business.
This one-day session is designed principally for individuals involved in human resources leadership. Participants will gain valuable insight of recent court decisions impacting the interpretation of federal and state levels of employment law. This interactive session will teach HR leaders how to create measurements that drive company performance; provide supervisors the tools that help them effectively manage their team and increase employee engagement; and how to prepare the organization for the impact of outward business trends facing the organization.
Course Objectives:
- Defining the people metrics that drive your business operations
- Understand the current business and environmental trends that will impact the employee needs in the future
- How to create accountability measures that link to your critical HR metrics and business results
- How to integrate HR metrics as a tool for future workplace planning including retirement readiness, knowledge transfer and succession planning
- Developing your communication plan for both company leadership and the employee population
This one-day seminar is intended to provide individuals with a broad overview of human resource issues confronting people in leadership capacities. The class will explore a range of personnel issues from developing job descriptions to selection and hiring practices. Participants will gain insight on supervisory issues such as discipline, training, evaluations and terminations. This session will review the key employment law issues and federal regulations such as discrimination and equal employment law practices impacting organizations. The issue of the importance of developing and maintaining effective policies to guide an organization will also be discussed. This class is important for anyone with supervisory responsibilities. Some of the areas to be covered include:
- Understanding the importance of developing effective job descriptions
- Conducting effective interviews, selecting and hiring the best candidate
- Developing workable employee orientation programs
- Policy manual do’s and don’ts
- Key to effective discipline
- Understanding and reducing violence in the workplace
- The pit falls of employee terminations
- Discriminations and equal employment opportunity
- Handling harassment in the workplace
This one-day class serves as an update to employment law. The class is designed principally for individuals involved in human resources management. Participants will gain valuable insight into changes that may have taken place at the federal and state levels regarding employment. The courses will cover a wide range of employment law topics and will provide valuable time for discussion and question and answer. Topics to be covered include:
- Review recent changes in employment law
- Interpret how these changes will affect the workplace
- Identify the need for changes in policy and procedures based on changes in the law
This two-day seminar is designed to Introduce the five methods of installing fiber optic cable in the outside environment, giving each method’s advantages, disadvantages and concerns as well as learning about various testing and maintenance issues associated with all five methods. In addition, participants will gain an understanding of the reasons for each cable’s design and which design best fits the client’s specific situation.
Increasingly, organizations are finding that customers are much more vocal about the standards of performance for those with whom they spend their money. This is especially true for utilities due to the importance of the product to quality of life and to the individual customer’s and overall community’s social and economic well-being. This course will help you examine how your organization can take the steps to becoming a more customer-focused organization through examining customer expectations regarding routine transactions, dissemination of information, and performance results. Participants will gain an understanding of the importance of establishing service standards by which the organization evaluates itself. The course will provide insight into how standards of service provide a framework within which an organization can better track customer expectations and outcomes. Topics to be covered include:
- The meaning of being “customer-focused”
- How front-line customer service employees’ actions are key
- Knowledge of fundamental customer expectations and how to establish performance standards to meet those expectations
- Tools for tracking customer expectations and how to implement programs to meet them
- Strategies for identifying which technologies or services your customers are looking for and will support
- Specific actions which tend to exceed customer expectations
Does the world seems as if it has turned up-side down, and the daily grind has found you joyless, weary, tired and burned out? Does it feel like everyone around you is whining, moaning and complaining about ….well, everything? Think their attitude is catching? But wait, there’s hope! You can be a catalyst for change by adjusting your attitude and your influence. How can YOU be up in a Down world? The answer is simple: Control your Attitude. In this session participants will review and learn abut the four components for having a positive attitude. The key issues to be covered include:
- Optimism – Understanding that you have a choice in seeing whether a glass as half full, or half empty.
- Objectivity – Being honest with ourselves is sometimes very painful; however, it will help your self esteem and lower your anxiety.
- Deliberation – It takes a conscious effort to change the habits and expectations you have developed over time. You must deliberately focus on creating good habits intentionally.
- Determination – Never stop moving forward! If you find that you are becoming discouraged or frustrated, then dealing with those feelings becomes part of the challenge. Spend some time deliberately strategizing for getting a better outlook.
This program is intended for first line supervisors and individuals in middle management. Participants will learn practical theory, engage in case studies, group discussion, and hypothetical situations. Each participant will complete a leadership style questionnaire to determine innate strengths as well as to uncover opportunities for greatest improvement. Participants in this training will gain an insight into basic theories of situational leadership combined with a model for effective interpersonal communications. Also, various theories of motivation and case studies involving actions that tend to motivate or demotivate employees in the workplace will be discussed.
Change is inevitable. Yet regardless of your station in life, any change can be a challenge to cope with. This session won’t redefine change, for everyone must deal with it; however, it will give you practical strategies for dealing with an ever-changing and demanding marketplace. The topic will be approached from both the leader and participant role as each demands specific skills and approach. Participants will identify their natural response to change and learn practical strategies for successfully managing and utilizing change to the benefit for the organization. Topics to be covered include:
- Identify the common misconceptions of business change
- Identify and understand the steps of the change process and creative approaches to manage each phase
- How to develop a common language when dealing with the conflict of change
- Uncover the secrets of effective change agents
- Discover why employees resist change and creative strategies that encourage buy-in
- Define the building blocks of a culture that must embrace change as a new way of life
Creativity and Innovation are often used interchangeably, yet they are (and should be) separate and distinct. Where creativity is associated with problem identification and idea generation, innovation is more about idea selection, development and how to put them to practical use. Whether one is faced with a problem dealing with customers, sales, marketing, technicians, or finance, for each person asked there will be different answers and solutions. To understand that a person’s idea about “what a problem is” will change according to the information they have. This one day training session is devoted to understanding the importance of these vital skills to effective management, leadership, and organizational prosperity. Whether participants are looking to develop creative thinking skills, solve challenging problems or plan how to innovate at work, this workshop will provide the opportunity to learn new skills, employ new tools and methods for increasing creativity and solving problems and generating innovative ideas. Additional topics include:
- Learn the benefits of using a creative approach
- Apply logical thinking versus lateral thinking
- Methods and tools for generating ideas
- Skills for creative problem solving
- How to enable creativity in the organization
- Turning creative ideas into action
- Becoming a driver of innovation in the workplace
- Creating a culture that encourages creativity
Are you presented with the harsh reality of dealing with employees that have a ‘negative’ attitude about seemingly everything and everyone? The fact is, this is becoming a reality in today’s workplace where an increasing number of employees openly show discontent and negative attitudes. To deal with this problem, employers and employees need solutions for dealing with this problem. This one-day seminar is designed to provide participants, through group discussions and small group activities, with alternatives, techniques, and action plans for handling difficult employees and situations.
Balancing between business management and technology management when you are responsible for both tasks can be a challenge. Especially when you have business management skills but have no background in technology. If this is where you find yourself this class is for you. Covered in this session is a brief history and overview of technology, core terminology, basic IT disciplines, what is networking,
security is more than locking your door, what is an operating system, the necessity of storage and backups, etc. Using business management skills: such as project management, budgeting, negotiation, and compliance rules to help improve your IT department. Working with technologist (ie., geeks) keeping them focused and avoiding burnout.
What is appropriate training and how much is normal? Good sites to reference.
Regardless of the size or type of organization, all are faced with the eventuality of some form of emergency or crisis at some point. Whether by nature, man-made, or accident, crisis means problems and unwanted public scrutiny. All organizations must contend with managing these unforeseen emergencies, and, learning to effectively deal with them through a clear and comprehensive communication plan of action. This plan, when tied to ones emergency response plan will assist the organization and its employees in communicating effectively with its customers and the public at large. The purpose of this one-day class is to provide participants with the tools they need to help Management respond to a crisis. Participants will explore universal crisis communication problems and strategies that will help them learn how to deal with these intricate problems purposefully and immediately. Participants will learn how to offer useful, pragmatic advice to management to help protect the integrity of the company.
Using industry-relevant case studies and small groups, class participants will learn how to:
- Look at a crisis from management’s perspective
- Establish priorities in the crisis communication process
- Create a Crisis Communications Plan
- Communicate with the press and the public during a crisis
Very few businesses can survive without communicating to its clientele about its products, services, and purpose. The same needs hold true for today’s diversified electric cooperatives. This one-day class has been designed with the electric cooperative in mind and takes participants from the ground floor of “what is marketing” through understanding the process and effects of “integrated marketing and advertising”. Participants in this course will through, lecture, class projects, and real life examples learn how marketing, advertising, and promotions impact ones business and customers. Through out the course, participants will be exposed to such important key elements as: the role of marketing, member’s decision making, using media mix, advertising strategy and planning, and the sales process. In addition to the above, the following will be covered:
- The Marketing Management and Research Process
- Influences on Member Behavior
- How Marketing Influences Member Behavior
- Using Different Advertising Budgets
- Understanding Market Segmentation
- Determining Members Needs & Wants
- Developing Product/Servicing Positioning
- Integrated Marketing Communications
- Managing the Sales & Relationship Building Process
- Overcoming the obstacles in Service Marketing
The Service Challenge
Utilities stand to gain or lose customer loyalty depending on how they position themselves in the minds of their customers. This one-day seminar provides insight into the function of journalism and public relations and presents techniques for influencing the content and tone of information presented to the public through the various media such as television, radio, and print. Participants will engage in interactive exercises involving real world events, and will prepare press releases as well as answer questions from a “reporter”. Sessions will be video recorded and critiqued to insure a meaningful learning experience.
The purpose for this seminar is to provide an understanding of the importance of employee evaluations. Participants will gain a clear understanding of the process to be followed in preparing for annual review session and how these sessions should be conducted. The session will focus on the following key strategies:
- How to prepare for a performance appraisal the things to do and not do in conducting the actual interview
- What to say and not say in a performance review
- How to better manage discussion difficulties that arise during evaluations
- How to keep the evaluation focused and on track
- The importance of establishing performance goals for employees
- Setting and conducting follow up discussions
- Proper record keeping
This course is designed specifically for those with administrative responsibility to help increase cooperation and productivity. Topics covered include the bases of organizational power and how to effectively use each to accomplish challenging tasks and meet critical deadlines. Each person will take a personal leadership assessment inventory. Topics to be covered include:
- Understanding the bases of power and influence
- Levels of professional independence
- Principles of “followership”
This course is designed specifically for those with administrative responsibility to help increase cooperation and productivity. Topics covered include the bases of organizational power and how to effectively use each to accomplish challenging tasks and meet critical deadlines. Each person will take a personal leadership assessment inventory. What you will learn:
- Understanding the bases of power and influence
- Levels of professional independence
- Principles of “followership”
This course covers the plant accounting systems, or work order systems, used by telecom entities to maintain accurate plant records. Because telecom companies are so capital intensive, they must maintain detailed and accurate records of their outside plant. Utilities that borrow RUS funds are required to maintain continuing property records (CPRs) and subsidiary records in accordance with RUS procedures and Part 32. Other topics that will be covered include integration of plant record-keeping with financial forecasts, construction work plans, long range system studies, the loan application, RUS construction contracts, close out documents, staking sheets, time sheets, and other similar records. In addition, non-regulated plant verses regulated plant issues will be discussed.
There is the right way and the wrong way to be assertive. This class focuses on how to be assertive by sending the right signals and getting the right responses. The session provides insight into how you can handle yourself, without appearing to be either shy or pushy. Participants will learn how to get things done, how to better manage conflicts, recognize ones own strengths and weaknesses, and build a positive image. Additional topics to be covered include:
- Learn various assertive behaviors to use in challenging situations
- How to assess your stress level and manage that stress
- Learn how to use assertive communication techniques: verbal, nonverbal and assertive listening
- Develop an assertive delegation strategy
This one-day course is designed to prepare new and future foreman, crew leaders, and others in supervisory capacities for the challenges of effective leadership. Participants will gain insight into what people respect in leaders and how to develop their own unique leadership style. The course will discuss among other topics: what management looks for in a leader, what ‘followers’ expect, the characteristics of effective leadership, the common pitfalls encountered by leaders, how to develop ones own leadership tools, winning support and overcoming resistance, and how to keep things ‘on track’. This program is a must for anyone who needs to know what a leader is . . . and is not. Some of the things you will learn are:
- How to project a positive and energetic image
- Develop a leadership style that works for you
- Learn which skills you already have and which ones work
- Gain insight into what will gain you respect as a leader
- Learn confidence in leadership roles
- Act and talk like a leader
Learn to cope with stressful situations
The ‘brain drain’ loss facing today’s organizations is unprecedented in our history. While the loss of key talent and irreplaceable company knowledge due to attrition through retirement or resignation has always been a challenge it has never before reached this level. With the rapid increase of retiring “Baby Boomers” and the migration of younger workers from one job to another at intervals unheard of in the past, leaders must employ every method available to ensure continuity, to reduce the “brain drain,” and keep service to customers at the expected high level. While there is no way to be totally prepared for this eventuality, there are concrete actions that leaders can take. These issues and the strategies to deal with them will be covered in this in-depth session. Some of the key topics to be covered include:
- Identifying strengths/limitations that exist in their organization’s method of training, retention and team building
- How to relate better to employees of all ages and levels of experience
- The use best practices to motivate near-retirement employees to share knowledge and expertise while continuing to work to their full potential
- The use best practices to motivate younger or newer employees to continue their employment with the organization for longer periods of time
- Focusing on several key actions that will provide continuity and retain important knowledge, processes, procedures and expertise
This seminar is designed to help managers and supervisors develop their skills in making business presentations or speaking in a public forum such as town meetings or civic organizations. Each participant will discover various tips and techniques used by professionals. Practice sessions will be conducted using a variety of appropriate real-world scenarios. Practice sessions are video-recorded and critiqued in order to help each participant develop appropriate communication skills and techniques.
In the real world of today’s workplace, leaders are faced with many challenges – doing more with less, adapting to an ever changing environment and managing employee problems. Unfortunately, the latter takes most of our time. In this session, we’ll identify the clues that reveal potential employee issues and how to address them professionally and legally. Participants will learn what is required for effective documentation and how to communicate expectations of performance. In addition, participants will take away practical tools that will help them to better manage employee conflicts as they arise.
Course objectives include:
- Identify the warning signs of the slumping performer
- Understand the legal requirements of employee documentation
- Discover the secret language of coaching
- Learn a practical approach in dealing with employee conflict
This one-day seminar is designed to provide participants with an understanding of the dynamics of workplace conflicts and strategies of how to better manage those conflicts and improve relationships. Participants will gain insight into why unresolved conflicts tend to fester and lead to potentially serious consequences and what you can do about resolving them. The seminar will also focus on dealing with employees that have a ‘negative’ attitude and solutions on how supervisors deal with this problem. The session will provide participants, through group discussions and small group activities, with a variety of alternatives, techniques, and action plans for effectively counseling employees and for handling difficult employees and situations. Topics covered in this session include:
- The two basic causes of conflict and how to identify them
- How to stay engaged on a productive solution focused conversation in spite of distractions
- Using ‘the right words’ to aid in handling difficult situations
- How to utilize an effective six-step road map to help create the appropriate environment for resolving disputes
In spite of attempts to promote competition, complaints over the cost of residential utility bills continue to increase. This one-day course is designed to look into the phenomenon of “high bill” complaints and the reasons behind them. Participants will learn the general weather related and other common energy issues that can increase energy consumption and the potential tools for resolving them with the customer. Particular emphasis is given to the communication skills most effective in resolving emotional complaints over the increased cost of a utility bill. Topics covered include:
- Varieties of Complaints: technical, weather-related, errors, hardship
- Resolutions: energy audits, payment plans
- Dealing with Irate/Irrational Customers: types and scripts
The key to preparing and responding to any situation is planning and preparation. This one day class is designed to prepare an organization by presenting a “how to process” on being prepared for the next storm. The session will cover dealing with a projected storm, tried and proven restoration procedures, cleaning up after the fact, and a process for debriefing. Participants will gain insight into implementing the S.T.O.R.M model (storm, tactical, operations, remediation, model) for their utility. This training program will benefit anyone who is held accountable for the restoration of service to the consumer. The main focus will be on logistical preparedness and performance, as well as actual restoration processes. Participants will gain valuable insight into what to do before, during, and following a storm. The session will cover such items as: staging areas, estimating ETR, logistics, materials, emergency response, data collection, media management, storm packages, and customer communications. The instructor has 35 years of practical restoration experience in the utility industry. Additional key topics to be covered include:
- Preparing for the upcoming storm (logistics, operations, materials, and communications)
- What to do during the storm
- The first steps following the storm
- Assessing the system (shutting down/consolidating staging areas, switching the system back, removing debris, clean up)
- The value of debriefing and revising the plan
Employees that work with customers in a ‘front desk’ setting must be able to handle a range of situations that may arise. One key aspect is the challenge of dealing with a security threat to yourself or others, including irate individuals, bomb threats, a suspicious packages, theft or violence. Know what to do and what not to do can be the difference between a successful conclusion and one that ends badly. If you are unsure how to respond in these situations then you can’t afford to not attend ‘Safety & Security Basics for Front Desk Operations’. Participants will gain valuable do’s and don’t on how to handle a range of threatening, strategies for spotting weaknesses in front desk procedures, how to deal with emotionally charged situations, and much more.
- Learn how to evaluate visitor access to your organization and increase security in your lobby and front desk area
- Learn the very best responses to a variety of emergency situations — from bomb threats to fire to medical emergencies
- Discover how you should react when weapons are involved — and things get frightening
- Explore ways to empower yourself and bolster your confidence
- Learn how to effectively defuse angry, out-of-control employees or visitors, and regain command of sensitive situations
This one-day program is designed to provide a company and its employees with a base of understanding concerning workplace safety and security involving such keys issues as: robbery, potential violence, kidnapping, bomb threats and more. It is commonly thought that workplace security is a job for management, security patrols, surveillance cameras, and the police. And to some extent it is. But in order to maintain a safe and secure workplace, everyone needs to become involved. The main objective of this training is to teach employees to be aware of security risks and what can be done to help prevent security breaches while at work. Participants in this program will gain insight into measures that can be taken to minimize or prevent harm to themselves or others as well as important do’s and don’ts for potential safety and security issues. Class participants will be involved in role-playing and observation skills-building exercises as well as case studies to improve learning and understanding.
For many years, the customer base or member base of the local electric cooperative was “local.” They grew up in the co-op’s service territory, worked in mostly agricultural-based jobs or for local companies and were almost homogenous in their demographic make-up. This is certainly no longer the case as cooperatives in every part of the country now serve a much more diverse population.
Diversity is about more than an individual’s ethnicity, gender, or age. Diversity puts us in touch with our customers and with the many communities with whom we conduct business every day. The realization that times and society as a whole are changing and with it, the membership, can help keep cooperatives true to their core values of being responsive to ALL their members. It can also keep the cooperative out of the court of public opinion and legal opinion in matters of discrimination in service.
This interactive, lively course examines trends of diversity in the co-op’s membership and employees and helps attendees sort through their own feelings about diversity on many levels. The result is improved service to people from all walks of life, from diverse cultures and different lifestyles. Attendees leave more skilled and more aware!
This course is intended primarily for entry-level managers, supervisors, and team leaders who need to set and communicate performance goals to employees in an effective and professional way. Goal-setting for employees is an important management responsibility. After all, if your team doesn’t know where it’s going, how will it know how to get there? This course will help you develop a systematic approach to setting performance goals and expectations for employees. You’ll see how to establish initial goals that relate to performance objectives and accommodate employee interests. You’ll learn to review and refine your goals continuously, and how to communicate the objectives and behaviors that will help your employees succeed. And, to ensure success, you’ll learn techniques that will help you analyze performance, provide appropriate feedback, coach, and review your employees’ work so that their productivity and also job satisfaction can continually improve. Good employees appreciate clear goals that enable them to achieve and excel; if you can instill this kind of goal-oriented atmosphere in your team, your management skills will be valuable in any kind of organization.
In this course, you will identify methods to develop a systematic approach to setting performance goals and expectations for employees, including:
- Define performance excellence
- Align performance goals and expectations to the organization’s business drivers
- Define what is meant by SMART goals
- Develop SMART goals that support the organization’s business objectives
- Develop measurement systems to evaluate performance
- Monitor employee performance
- Provide constructive feedback & effective coaching to maximize employee and business performance
- Identify critical competencies and behaviors needed for succeed
How often do you hear someone on your team never seem to take ownership of
their tasks or “pass the buck” to someone else? It boils down to accountability which can be hard to define in the workplace. In the end, the lack of this important discipline can truly make or break an organization or team.
Holding employees accountable to the tasks they commit to complete can be difficult if leaders have not followed the right process. In this interactive session, participants will learn the necessary steps in establishing accountability from the moment tasks are assigned. It’s not about difficult or awkward conversations; but without the necessary skills, leaders often struggle in finding the right word or best timing for these uncomfortable conversations. Self-discipline principles will also be discovered in this session. Objectives for this session include:
- Understand how to set the appropriate environment and expectations with your team
- Learn how to effectively deal with the finger pointing that takes place when something goes wrong
- Discover the power of asking the right questions so performance expectations are met
- Learn the secret of courageously lead a team of diverse individuals
The purpose of this seminar is to provide a methodical, yet practical “bottom-up” approach to strategic planning. This new approach integrates several new and innovative steps to the traditional strategic planning process, including (1) obtaining input from all employees of the organization through focus groups, surveys and individual interviews, (2) developing a comprehensive action plan based on the organization’s strategic goals, (3) developing a “balanced scorecard”, (4) providing a method to link performance to compensation.
Too often, strategic business plans are simply written documents that fit nicely into a PowerPoint slide; yet, they do not translate into the actual operations of the business. This one-day seminar is designed to provide participants with an understanding of the key disciplines required to implement a strategic plan throughout all levels of the organization. The seminar will focus on the key elements of a strategic business plan, identify key indicators for success and the essential steps required to translate the written document into a useful business strategy. The planning and execution process will be explored from various perspectives of the business including the role of senior leaders, operational leaders, the employee base and customers. Participants will discover how each are essential to a plan’s full implementation. Key points to be addressed include:
- How do I identify the key points of the plan
- What are the indicators that drive my plan
- How do I get the organization to utilize the plan to its fullest
- How do I periodically assess the plan’s status
Have you noticed that some people are always looking at a glass that is half empty or they always feel like they are in a rut, burned out, and beat up?
This fun and interactive workshop is designed and intended to help people discover how thoughts, feelings and behaviors can affect work performance, relationships, success and self worth. Participants in this unique session can expect to gain valuable insight into what is ‘negativitism’ and how can it be changed in order to make a difference in their life and their workplace. This seminar is designed to help participants break the cycle of negativity and empower them to do what others say is impossible! The concept behind the day long program is to understand that “change is possible and it begins with each of us!” Some of the topics to be covered include:
- Understand Negativity and its causes
- The high cost of Negativity in the work place: turnover, lack of trust, burnout, and lethargy
- Explore the many disguises of Negativity: Blamers, Chronic Complainers, Nasty-Nicers Yes But-ers, Whiners, Procrastinators, and many more!
- Clearly define Pessimism and Optimism
- Learn how to replace Negative self talk with positive affirmation
- Explore the affects of attitude
- Discuss the importance of Humor in every situation
- Define Reframing: Getting a new Perspective
- Acknowledge the power of THANKFULNESS AND GRATITUDE
- Empower and Energize attendees to bring about change in their own lives
Understanding the depth of your talent pool is critical in today’s business environment. Organizations are “raising the bar” with regards to knowing who their current and future leaders are, and the capabilities they possess. A strategic approach is needed to examine future leadership requirements, assess current capabilities, and determine the steps necessary to close identified gaps. Through a practical hands-on approach, learn about critical decision points and conditions for implementing an effective succession management program. Topics to be covered include:
- Discover the real definition of succession planning
- Identify guidelines for assessing your organization’s bench strength
- Sequence the steps for conducting a systematic evaluation
- Understand the relationship between talent and performance management
In this one-day course, attendees will learn about and improve their skill levels in two of the most important elements of their jobs – Minutes and Proof-reading.
Today’s organizations must have records that, in an organized, clear manner, reflect the business of that organization – not just for their own uses but for legal purposes. The person whose responsibility it is to take the minutes and then organize them afterwards for inclusion with the documentation of the meeting must be able to work with the meeting organizer before, during and after the meeting. This course offers hands-on practice in the minute taking and organizing skills that will build confidence and accuracy for the attendees.
Another important skill for any person in charge of communicating in writing within the organization and to key customers and other stakeholders is proofreading – not only of their documents but of the documents of the people they are assisting. Correspondence sent with errors in grammar, structure, spelling, context or content send the wrong impression of the person writing and of the entire organization. Attendees are taught methods for proofreading for a variety of errors and even editing to ensure better document format and content.
Workplace conflict is an unavoidable consequence of professional life. Some people are magnets for conflict, while others manage to avoid at-work tangles with co-workers for years. But eventually, everyone has run-ins with someone on the job.
Conflict is anything but rare. Some sources indicate that human resource managers spend 25 to 60 percent of their time working through employee conflicts. And a University of North Carolina study showed that more than half of workers said anxiety about a past or present conflict with a co-worker cost them time while they were on the clock. More than a quarter of workers said they were less productive because they spent time trying to avoid a confrontation with a co-worker.
What’s more, violent confrontations and bullying are increasing and 17 states are now considering legislation against workplace bullying. A Society of Human Resource Management study found that more than half of workers said a violent act had occurred at their workplace.
Of course, work-related conflict should never manifest itself in those kinds of extremes. Understanding how to deal with tense work situations will help you avoid rare violent outbursts. You’ll also better understand how to navigate office politics and become more successful.
How well you understand conflict resolution can have as much or more impact as your professional job skills in determining the trajectory of your career path. Berate or belittle your opponents and you’ll encounter enemies at every corner — earn the respect of co-workers and you’ll find limitless opportunities.
Objectives:
- Recognize positive and negative conflict and its effect on the organization
- Define bullying and belligerent behavior
- Identify the different interactions styles that make up every organization
- Recognize your preferred interaction and conflict resolution style
- Leverage your personal style to improve relationships in the workplace
- Implement effective strategies to deal with workplace conflict, bullying and belligerent behavior
- Develop effective, flexible conflict resolution strategies
This seminar is designed to assist managers and supervisors in understanding the principles of job skills knowledge and development. Each participant will discover various learning styles and how to effectively use each to accelerate the skills performance process. Role-modeling/practice sessions will be conducted using a variety of appropriate training scenarios. Practice sessions are video-recorded in order to help each participant develop appropriate communication skills and techniques. Some the topic areas included in this session include:
- Learn to recognize team members attributes and skills
- Help others apply their talents to work assignments
- Achieve goals through skills development
- Contribute to team success through individual performance
This webinar is directed toward participants that perform mid to upper lever accounting functions at telecoms and builds on Telecom 101. The course covers issues relating to revenues non-regulated entities, and USAC audits.
The hallmark of good supervision is effective delegation. Delegation is simply when supervisors give responsibility and authority to subordinates to complete a task, and let the subordinates figure out how the task can be accomplished. Effective delegation develops people who are ultimately more fulfilled and productive. Managers become more fulfilled and productive themselves as they learn to count on their staffs and are freed up to attend to more strategic issues.
This seminar is designed to assist managers and supervisors in understanding the principles of delegation, and the value associated with using delegation effectively. Through role-modeling and practice sessions, participants will develop an clearer understanding of delegation and appropriate communication skills and techniques to be used. Topics to be covered include:
- Understanding what work that can and should not be delegated
- Identify the steps to be followed when delegating work
- How to communicated effectively what is being delegated
- Identifying decision making levels
Have you ever found yourself faced with you seeing the situation one way and a fellow employee sees it another? And you’re both convinced that you’re right and the other person is dead wrong. Pretty common right? Reaching a decision with someone you disagree with can be an unobtainable goal. Yet, being able to handle such situations and move beyond them is essential. This webinar, will help you see through the reasons you disagree so strongly in the first place and work beyond them. Participants in this session will learn why you often don’t understand what is being said and why they’re saying it and how a rocky working relationship can cloud your perspective.
Objectives:
- Learn the importance of building and developing strong work relationships
- Understand how to make others feel heard
- Describe how to find ‘common ground’ in disagreements
- Discover when to agree and disagree
- Distinguish the steps for moving beyond disagreements to agreement
“You can trust me.” It’s a phrase every person has said at some point. Trust is a word that has made national headlines. Unfortunately, it is the misuse of trust that becomes the story. From recalled consumer goods to financial meltdowns, the relationship trust builds – and destroys – between people is truly powerful. For leaders, trust is the secret ingredient from which all performance is created. It is a foundational leadership skill that has specific ingredients for success. This course will explore the many aspects of trust. Participants will explore personal and organizational trust and the tools required to be successful in today’s changing work environment. Some of the topics to be covered include:
- How can you measure your team’s trust?
- What is the difference between personal and organizational trust?
- The hidden ‘traps’ leaders must avoid
- The three elements in a ‘trust’ relationship
- Becoming proactive
This course is designed principally for any individual with responsibility for project planning and management. The one-day training session will provide valuable information on how to be successful in the areas project scheduling, budgeting and planning. Participants will learn how to understand a project cycle and develop one that works. In addition, the seminar will provide participants with the confidence to take on projects from conception to completion. Topics to be covered include:
- How to plan, organize and control projects of any size
- The skills for organizing and tracking project resources
- How to identify potential problems and fix them as they arise
- Time management skills and setting priorities
- The skills of exerting influence without authority
How do you know if your crew is performing at its best? Do you see potential for improvement but you do not know where to start? This course will provide you with tools for diagnosing your own ‘team’ and matching your diagnosis to an intervention technique. Through the use of case studies, class discussion, and interactive sessions participants will address typical concerns including identifying, diagnosing, and resolving problems, making optimal decisions, and using relevant documentation to track progress and evaluate results. Additional topics that will be covered:
- The Seven Characteristics of Effective Leaders
- The 5-Step decision making/problem solving process
- The Group Dynamics Cycle and how it may influence decision-making
- Decision making and problem solving tools and models and how to appropriately use each
A key skill possessed by effective executive and administrative assistants is diplomacy, discretion and effective communication. This one-day training session is intended to provide participants with the skills and understanding of maintaining effective business relationships, the importance of communication skills with executives, colleagues and clients, how one should handle sensitive issues, and working tactfully with other employees. Participants in this training program will gain insight into:
- Learning to handle situations with discretion and authority
- Building on ones communication strengths
- The importance of diplomacy in the workplace
- Managing sensitive information and using tact
- Using electronic communications effectively
Communicating effectively with customers can sometimes be like walking on eggshells because of the sensitive nature of some business transactions such as overdue payments or perceived billing errors. This one-day program focuses on the most frequent communication gaffs committed by utility personnel, and how to alter a customer’s negative interpretation. Emphasis for this program is on proper message construction when dealing with potentially emotional situations.
When you think of workplace attitudes you must ask yourself the simple question: would you want an employee who is extremely good at his or her job but has a bad attitude or an average employee who has a positive attitude? I believe the overwhelming response would be for the later because we all have learned the hard way that bad attitudes can reduce the effectiveness of ones organization. The fact is that skills can be taught but an attitude is often difficult to change. The question often asked is what is an attitude? To some it’s a mindset, a way of thinking but that’s only partly right. The bigger picture is that an attitude is a habit of thought. It defines how one looks at their world and workplace. What employers want are people with attitudes that think “I can,” not “I can’t.” This one day seminar is devoted to the building blocks that lead to positive attitudes. Our trainer will show participants how to find, keep and maintain an approach that leads to a positive outlook. This highly interactive course includes interactive session as well as self evaluations to help individuals create an open mind and heart to developing a more productive, meaningful work life. This session will look at:
- How does one understand the importance of having a positive attitude
- How to develop and maintain positive feelings and thoughts in the workplace
- How a positive attitude leads to more productivity and a commitment to doing things right
- How attitudes impact and influence those around us
- The relationship between positive attitudes and internal and external customer satisfaction
- Identifying personality and attitudes – our true “colors”
- Creating personality matrix-the value of it
- Emotions and attitudes
- Anger-when, why, how, who
- Attitude “revamp”, a process and project
To be a good leader one must be a good follower. Much has been made of leadership over the years, yet there is little direction or guidance on how to become a follower. In this seminar we will discover the qualities and characteristics which make a good leader are similar to those associated with being a good follower. Anybody can be in control over a group of individuals and, at the same time, be a responsible follower to his/her supervisor. Simply put, followership is can be defined as the capacity to follow a leader. Finally, we will understand that the traits of competence and commitment are tantamount to the ideal follower.
Cooperative organizations, such as electric cooperatives, are unique in that the customers they serve own them. To that purpose, cooperatives are guided by a set of seven principles that are designed to reflect the best interests of those customer/owners. This course, offered in either one or one-half day segment, covers each of these seven principles, outlining specific programs, policies, and activities that are consistent with member/customer ownership.
One day you’re just another member of the crew. To your fellow crew mates, you are a friend, a pal. You fish and hunt together, and the relationship is defined and comfortable. Then, you become their boss. Now everything changes…or does it?
This one-day seminar is designed to provide participants with an understanding of the dynamics of workplace relationships and strategies of how to better manage those and improve relationships through an effective delegation of duties, tasks, and responsibilities process. Participants will gain insight into the connection between relationships and how “motivation through delegation” will assist you in reconciling both. The seminar focuses primarily on dealing with employees who allow changed relationships to negatively impact their performance and disrupt the work environment. Techniques of counseling, mentoring, and modifying negative behavior will be addressed and covered. In addition, the session will provide participants, through group discussions and small group activities, with a variety of alternatives, techniques, and action plans for effectively counseling employees and for handling chronic difficult situations through informal discipline. Topics covered in this session include:
- Motivation: theory vs. practice
- Delegation defined: what it is…and is NOT!
- Counseling vs. Discipline: which is appropriate?
- Identifying the five-step process for counseling an employee
- Using a counseling interview for win-win outcomes
- How to end a counseling/discipline interview on a positive them
Telecommuting is an option that’s becoming increasingly attractive to employers and employees alike. As companies search for cost effective ways to compete for the best talent available and motivate employees with significant generational differences, many organizations are turning to flexible work arrangements including telecommuting. Employees today are increasingly being squeezed by higher and higher gas prices and long commuting times and they are also increasingly aware of and concerned for the environment. Employers who address these needs and concerns will lead the way in employee engagement and performance. And with today’s technological advances, performance isn’t solely dependent on time on the office, as a matter of fact, employees today can and do work from anywhere at any time. The question is, how do you as a leader leverage that flexibility to enhance motivation, morale and performance.
As the baby boomers continue to retire, organization’s will begin feeling the effects of a talent war – both in recruiting and turnover, and those employers who work proactively to acquire and retain top talent will be in
the driver’s seat? Are you prepared to think differently and be flexible so your organization is prepared to not only perform, but outperform expectations?
In today’s work environment, there are plenty of reasons to consider implementing a Telecommuting Policy or allowing employees to work remotely, including:
- Green Initiatives
- Employee engagement
- Attracting and retaining top talent
- Increased productivity… and the list goes on
During this learning session, we’ll help your team explore the following topics:
- Things to consider when developing an effective policy
- Motivating and managing remote employees
- Legal issues to consider
Objectives:
- Identify the business rationale for implementing a remote workplace policy
- Identify positions suitable for working remotely
- Establish meaningful accountability systems to keep employees connected and productive
- Unlock the secrets to successfully managing a remote team
- Assess safety and security considerations
- Understand the legal landmines that exist with telecommuting
This seminar is intended to be delivered on-site and is offered in half-day segments. The program provides participants with a general knowledge of the importance of understanding and eliminating harassment in the workplace. Participants learn that harassment comes in many types, such as age, race, sex, and gender. Participants are exposed to the often-subtle aspects of how harassment enters the workplace.
Are you overwhelmed by daily demands? Do you have a difficult time attempting to successfully juggle work and family obligations? Do you ever realize at the end of the day that you had accomplished less important jobs versus those that are more important? Do you see an endless amount of work piling up and you can’t seem to get all those things done that are required? Surly a few extra hours in the day would solve all of your problems. But is the amount of time we have the problem, or is our dilemma caused by the manner in which we manage our time? There is no mystery about time management. We all get 24 hours per day and 168 hours each week to eat, sleep, work, relax, exercise and have time for what we want to do. Getting the most out of time does not require you to be a magician. It takes planning, self discipline and an internalized change in your behavior. In this fast paced and action centered seminar, you will complete a time management survey to assess how you manage your time. You can reflect on your strengths and build on those areas which require attention regarding your time management skills. Each participant will build a time management plan. You will develop new techniques to use if your time management plans. You will learn a system used to prioritize your time management. Participants will be able to determine how time management impact work center effectiveness. They will learn the key aspect of delegation to support time management and planning. We will delve into stress management techniques to help eliminate those time management hindrances. Each seminar participant will discover those things which waste our time. You will learn to effectively focus on goals and priorities. You will learn those little management techniques which will buy you extra time each day. Participants will learn to prepare for successful meetings and discover those tolls which make the meetings time effective. All areas are reinforced through capstone role play, case studies and other group activates. The over all goals is to gain more productive work time and time for your personal life.
Today’s workforce is comprised of employees separated by four and even five distinct generational perspectives. Within the next ten years, internal and external forces will impact the workforce in ways never before seen that will require companies to adjust or face the consequences. Participants in this one-day session will gain insight into the complexities of the workforce, learn about the multi-generation workforce, and what makes the workplace ‘tick’. This one day program is designed to assist leaders in better understanding generational issues and in formulating strategies to maintain, improve, and ensure their workplace operations. Some of the topics to be covered include:
- Who make up the workplace?
- Generation wants, needs, and expectations
- Strategies for developing a strong workforce
- Understanding the importance of workforce planning
- Working together for the benefit for the organization
This class provides an overview of business issues related to service disconnects and collection processes in the utility industry. It highlights skills to position your utility in a positive manner during negative customer interactions. It also includes case studies of actual and potential customer situations that could have significant negative impact on your utility, including legal action. This class will encourage you to review current procedures and past performance to prevent or reduce the number of potentially negative factors in your processes.
This class delves into the purpose behind work order accounting and its use and accounting authority. The course will cover the initiation of the work orders, accumulating work-in-process, contribution-in-aide of construction, as well as retirements and contracts. Participants will learn about such expenditures as: materials, labor, transportation, and overhead. In addition, the course will provide valuable information on work order close out, utilization, and continuing property.
Today’s organizations, more than ever, are focused on ways to achieve greater performance, reduce safety risks, find better ways of promoting change, and seek avenues to increase income. In order to achieve these goals, individuals must employ effective decision-making and task planning skills. The use of Operational Risk Management (ORM) serves as a means of enhancing the decision making process. It is a systematic approach to optimizing risks using the four key principles that govern all actions associated with risk management. ORM is a continuous process for the detection, assessment, and ultimate sustained control of risk while enhancing performance and maximizing organizational capabilities. This one-day session will introduce participants to the principles of ORM, a six step process of application, and each steps key attributes. Participants will utilize the skills learned by applying the information to applicable project scenarios. The session is highly application based and participant interactive. Topics to be covered include:
- The ORM Six-Step Process
- Application of a Risk Management Worksheet
- Use of additional tools for assessing risk in the work place at all levels
- Learn to minimize unnecessary risks by maximizing the decision making process
Tactical Communication, enables employees to focus on the behavior of others while maintaining their own and others safety and then use Appropriate Presence and Words to achieve a professional purpose. Tactical Communication uses the energy of others to master situations. It contains a set of communication principles and tactics that enable the user to generate cooperation and gain voluntary compliance from others under stressful conditions
. These tactics are especially useful when dealing with hostile, angry, upset, frustrated or disgruntled people. Participants will learn about how to look creatively at conflict, offering specific, powerful, and usable strategies to resolve tense situations. Employees will learn to respond to situations rather than react to personal feelings. Additionally, employees will come to understand how to deal with difficult people and how to use conflict management tactics to defuse confrontational encounters. Topics to be covered include:
- Traits Of A Professional
- The Goal Of The Professional
- Tools Used To Achieve This Goal
- Communication: From The Receiver’s Point Of View
- The Three Survival Truths Of Communication
- The “Five-Step” Style Of Persuasion
- How To Recognize When Words Fail
- The Four Appeals Of Persuasion And The Forty-Six Principles Of Disinterest For Action
- Tactical Eight-Step” Meet & Greet
Objectives
- Enhance Personal Safety
- Defuse Potentially Dangerous Situations
- Lessen Stress on the Job and at Home
- Enhanced Professionalism
- Increase Productivity
- Enhance the Organization’s Reputation
- Decrease Complaints
This one (or two) day program is designed to provide participants with a clear understanding of what can go wrong with a fiber system and how the problems can be addressed and corrected. Participants will learn about the problems that can arise during the design or installation process, what can happen if installation crews are not properly trained, and what clues to look for when a failure occurs. Also covered during the class will be an update on the fiber types currently in the market place and what is on the horizon as well as a ‘buyers beware’ profile on cable specifications and installation. Some additional points of interest are:
- Troubleshooting system design and installation problems
- Learning to trace what might have happened to cause failure
- Troubleshooting animal damage
- A comparison of buried, duct, and aerial installation
- An update on competing cable manufacturers type, price, quality, and country of origin
- Understanding IEEE standards
- The hardware limitations and advantages for various FTTH (fiber to the home) manufacturers
Our workplaces are undergoing significant and rapid changes within the workforce. We are increasingly being challenged by retirements and resignations which impact how we continue to carry on our daily business. With the ever looming challenge of workforce change and the out bound movement of Baby Boomers and the in bound shift to a younger workforce we must identify means for maintaining continuity and eliminating the loss of valuable knowledge. It is essential that organizations identify means for transitioning their workforce while maintaining service to their customers. While there is no way to be totally prepared for this eventuality, there are actions that can be taken to help mitigate problems. Some of the topics to be covered include:
Understanding why retention is critical to an organization’s long term operation
The importance of developing a sense of unity in the workforce
Leading in a multi-generational workplace
Motivating employees to share knowledge, expertise, and information.
Methods for collecting information to prepare for anticipated labor shortages
Methods for retaining younger and newer employees
Fort Hood, Arizona, Kentucky, Connecticut… Are you and your company prepared? Do your employees know what violence in the workplace looks like? Would they know who to tell and what to do if they saw it?
This one day, intensive workshop will guide you through the steps of dealing with workplace violence.
Objectives:
- Is workplace violence a real issue?
- What violence looks like in its earliest stages
- The 3 stages of violence
- Who the most common perpetrators are
- Warning signs of violent behavior
- Workplace violence and OSHA
- What policies and procedures you should have in place to
- Prevent acts of violence, and
- Lessen the severity of those acts that do occur
- Conducting proper workplace investigations
- The difference between difficult employees and potentially violent employees
- Effective termination of difficult employees
- Tracking incidents
- Diffusing violence
- Effective prevention techniques
- Performance management
- Training
- Implementing a violence prevention team
Some days, it may seem like someone else is running your business. Market pressures tell you what products to make, laws dictate how you make them and the threat of employee lawsuits keeps you from tossing the bad apples out the door. Certainly, many laws limit your actions as an employer. But knowledge of those laws is power. You can turn the tables on unproductive employees, keep your business profitable and motivate employees without fear of litigation.
This course will help you stop workplace waste, ensure worker safety and keep drugs out of your business by aligning your leadership expectations with your manuals and policies & practices.
You’ve worked hard to build your business. This course is designed to keep you in business and profitable. To help protect your business from frivolous, baseless lawsuits, we’ll help train your supervisors and managers to comply with myriad laws yet still enforce effective workplace policies.
You’ll discover how to make employment laws work for you, not for the workers you fired for cause.
Objectives:
- Using your ultimate right (and Most Powerful Weapon) – Your Right to Fire
- Types of Documentation
- At-Will Employment
- Making Your Company ‘Sue-Proof’
- How to Fire a Worker Without Fear of Being Sued
- Wrongful-Discharge Suits on the Rise
- Avoiding Implied Contracts
- Arbitration Agreements
- Your Right to Test Employees for Drugs
- Your Best Defense: Prevention
- Develop a Drug Abuse Policy
- Setting Up a Drug Testing Program
- Tread Cautiously
- How to Combat and Cure Chronic Absenteeism
- Proactive Steps
- Developing and Implementing a clear policy
- Always document absences
- How to be consistent and fair
- Use Positive Discipline
- Supervisors’ Guide to Cutting Absenteeism
- How to Assess the Impact of Absenteeism
- How to Derail Discrimination Charges
- The Long Arm of Title VII
- Sex Discrimination
- Equal Pay Act
- Sexual Harassment
- Age Discrimination
- Court lowers the bar on job-bias suits
- Waivers under the OWBPA
- Watch out for youth-bias claims
- Your Ultimate Right Still Survives
- How to Avoid Getting Sued
- How to Stop Employee Crime Dead in Its Tracks
- Don’t Be Naive
- Inventory Your Vulnerabilities
- Is Honesty Company Policy?
- Establish Enforceable Controls
- If You Suspect an Employee of Stealing
- Dealing With Workplace Violence
- What’s Your Responsibility?
- Beware of Violating the ADA
- Screen Applicants
- Dealing With Violent Employees
- Set Up an Action Plan
- If You Fire the Person
- Dealing With the Rights of the Disabled
- You and the ADA
- Defining ‘Disability’
- Making Reasonable Accommodations
- The Defense of Undue Hardship
- Essential Functions
- Workplace Accommodations
- Penalties for Violations
- When You Must Give Advance Notice of a Job Loss
- The WARN Act
- Who’s Covered?
- 60 Days’ Notice Required
- When Is Notice Necessary?
- Exceptions: Unexpected Events
- If Notice Isn’t Given