Communicating Effectively

Each person brings to work a unique set of skills, knowledge, and beliefs. Each person acts out in a way that they feel is successful. The problems with communication in most work environments relate to the establishment and maintenance of trust.

Effective interpersonal communication is critical to establishing a motivational work environment that maximizes productivity. This workshop looks at behavior as a choice and increases awareness of the consequences behavioral choices have on others. Participants learn that through adaptive behavior they can choose communication strategies that establish trust, minimize conflict, maximize cooperation, and create a positive work environment that increases productivity and enhances job satisfaction.

Duration:

1 Day

Objectives:

Upon completion, participants should . . .

• Understand the link between behavior, communication, and trust
• Apply various approaches to improve communication

Goals:

• Better understand yourself and others
• Recognize and respect individual uniqueness
• Understand how differences in communication style can create interpersonal conflict which, in turn, decreases productivity
• Learn how to leverage individual strengths and adapt communication strategies that minimize conflict
• Increase communication and influence management skills
• Increase both personal and workplace productivity
• Establish a foundation of behavior-based communication skills on which to build other key competencies

Content:

• Motivational Principles
• Conflict and Energy Drains
• Understanding Behavior: DiSC Personal Profile System ®
  • Understanding self and others
  • Respecting differences
  • Capitalizing on strengths
• People Compatibility
  • Recognizing dimensions of behavior and potential style conflict
  • Choosing behaviors that demonstrate trust and respect
  • Maximizing cooperation through adaptive behavior
• Keys to Building Trust
• Action Plans

Discovering Diversity

Today, leading organizations acknowledge that working successfully with others who don't share the same cultural background, belief systems, or traditions is a top priority in the workplace.  Employees need help in assessing their behavior toward people who are different from them.  And they must understand the benefits of changing negative attitudes and resistance into appreciation and cooperation.

This workshop provides a safe way to explore the complex, powerful issues surrounding diversity and helps individuals to look honestly at themselves to identify attitudes and behavior that stand in the way of teamwork.

Duration:

1 Day

Build a Bridge to Understanding:

In this program, employees complete the Discovering Diversity Profile ® and keep their results completely confidential. This approach provides an effective way to help employees explore diversity in the following key areas:

• Knowledge: Discover what they actually know about differences by looking at stereotypes and at the source of their knowledge or information
• Understanding: Decipher their level of awareness and explore their willingness to put themselves in a position to feel what others may be feeling
• Acceptance: Examine their patience and regard for respecting different beliefs and behaviors
• Behavior: Assess how they act out their attitudes toward others, their flexibility and openness in dealing with others, and their self-awareness of patterns of interaction

Outcomes:

This program helps people in your organization to:

• Discover their personal comfort level with people different from themselves
• Understand the impact of their behavior on others
• Assess the accuracy of their knowledge about differences
• Limit the influence of stereotypes
• Reduce conflict
• Transform knowledge into acceptance and empathy
• Embrace diversity as a source of organizational strength

Building High-Performance Teams

Successful team members don't do the same thing at the same time.  They do the right thing at the right time.  And while team members work together toward a common goal, individuals still must play their separate parts in the process.  As organizations rely more on teams to innovate, problem solve, produce, and compete at the speed of change, understanding and capitalizing on individual approaches to group processes is the bottom line on creating high-performance teams.

The Building Teams workshop leverages the Team Dimensions Profile, a unique self-directed learning instrument, to help individuals to work from their strengths by identifying their most natural team role – Creator, Advancer, Refiner, Executor, and Flexer.  Discovering their unique role prepares them to see another’s role and how they can best add value to the outcomes.

In this workshop, team-leaders and team-members learn to map the flow of assigning roles, completing tasks, and handing off tasks to other team members through the Z Process.  In this relay process, tasks are passed from Creators to Advancers, from Advancers to Refiners, and from Refiners to Executors. Flexers keep the process moving by filling gaps in the team.

Team-leaders and team-members learn to capitalize on individual strengths for total team performance through the use of a proven way to clarify roles, simplify processes, and maximize individual contributions for total team results.

Some of the long term benefits include:

• Identifying individual approaches to innovative teamwork
• Matching individual strengths with team roles
• Reinforcing and appreciating the contributions of others
• Reducing team stress and conflict
• Fostering trust and building mutual support
• Encouraging  team innovation and problem solving
• Reducing project-cycle time and increase productivity

Duration:

1 day

Objectives:

This workshop is designed to develop skills needed to:

• Understand and Leverage strengths
• Foster atmospheres that encourages creativity, inclusiveness, and fun
• Establish a team using the proven “Z” methodology
• Encourage participation
• Increase ROI
• Improve outcomes

Making Change Irresistible

"Successfully Managing Change"

This course is a dynamic program for Leaders, Managers, Change Agents and HR Professionals.  It provides an understanding of the significance of human relations in a changing environment that will enable the participant to be effective at leading others through change and introducing change in ways that minimize resistance.

Changes occurring in government and the private sector represent a whole new shift in thinking about how to conduct work.  With each change, each employee is required to make his or her own personal shift, if their individual plan is to move ahead because those who cling to the past will be left behind.  Along the way, leaders and managers should have become more effective at leading others through change and at introducing change in ways that minimize resistance.

Assessing and overcoming resistance to change have emerged as essential leadership skills.  Now you can develop the knowledge and skills necessary to do this by attending this training program based on the tools and concepts in Dr. Ken Hultman's influential book "Making Change Irresistible."

Objectives:

After successfully completing this course, the attendee should be able to:

• Thrive in a new working climate
• Develop skills and Techniques when dealing with resistance to change
• Discover how to lead others through change
• Increase participant's value and worth to their agency and to themselves
• Improve Inter-employee Communications, Cooperation and Trust
• Develop Strategies to convert change to opportunity
• Communicate the change with persuasion and win support

 Content:

• Understanding Resistance
  •          What is Resistance
  •          The Psychology of Resistance
  •           Understand the impact of Values, Beliefs, and Feelings on behavior
  •          Become more sensitive to value differences between people
  •          Assess your own values by completing the Mega Value Scale
  •          Compare old organizational values, beliefs and behavior with those needed now

• Leading Others through Change

  •            Understand why people resist change
  •            The Dynamics and Psychology of Change
  •            The Change Process - Assessing Resistance
  •            Resistance Diagnosis Exercise
  •            Learning Methods for Introducing Changes made by others
  •            Gain Acceptance for Changes you want to make
  •            Understand when and how to involve others in change decisions
  •            Plan change in a way that prevents or minimizes resistance

Methods:

The Lausanne Institute is committed to the application of classroom learning to the workplace setting. We employ a variety of instructional training methods to assure skills transfer. These include:

• Group Dynamics
• Guided Conferences
• Simulations
• Case Studies
• Lecturettes
• Skill Practice Exercises