TMP Course Descriptions: Period 2

Do you have a well-defined process to follow and does it lead to success?  Or do you follow the typical path of technical professionals which is to “sell” with data; and if you don't get the result you want, you present more data?

This course shows how personal communication and persuasion skills are as rational as technical skills, and that you can learn and apply them just as systematically as you mastered your technical skills, helping you to interact with confidence and giving you credibility with your peers and customers/colleagues.  Some of the learnings include:

• How to persuade colleagues/customers about an issue, e.g., to use a different approach or technology, to get funding for an idea, to change priority of a project, etc.
• Understand and utilize a 9-step persuasion process that works in a technical environment
• How to effectively persuade people whose personality and behavioral styles are different from yours
• How to help your colleagues (team members, managers, subordinates, etc.) and/or customers discover they need your idea, product, service, etc. and why “convincing” doesn’t work
• How to get people to feel urgency and take action

The focus is on the systematic application of a logical process, an understanding of the human elements involved, and on providing the necessary skills, strategies, and techniques to increase your professional as well as personal effectiveness. 

Through self-assessment surveys, you’ll learn about your communication and persuasion tendencies and how to be more effective in persuading colleagues and clients who are different.

Best practices are stressed along with a set of tools and techniques that can be applied immediately to persuasion situations. 

Industry specific examples are cited to assist with the application process.

This course provides an upbeat and supportive environment where you will learn to unlock your true potential and perform at new levels of personal and professional excellence. You’ll explore inner terrain that we don’t normally have the opportunity to travel. 

Learning Outcomes:

• Discover your true life mission and learn how to harness your inner resource toward achieving it
• Create a customized leadership identity and integrate that “prototype of excellence” into your nervous system
• Understand how your early heroes and role models imprinted your values
• Replace limiting paradigms with empowering beliefs and integrate new behaviors into your daily actions
• Apply emotional intelligence strategies to step into optimum states of motivation, action, and high performance
• Learn to confidently take action in uncomfortable situations despite fear or embarrassment

If you are considering becoming, have recently been assigned, or are already performing as a supervisor, team leader, or manager, this course provides you with the skills and knowledge to become a highly successful organizational leader.

Members of the technical staff who are promoted into leadership roles often feel that learning how to manage others is daunting. Many technically competent people feel that getting things done on their own is easier than accomplishing objectives through other people. But technical people already possess many of the skills needed to become excellent organizational leaders.

This unique, highly participative course makes a smooth transition to management simple and straightforward. It provides the opportunity to assess your leadership capabilities and “build on your strengths” to hone and focus your talents into powerful management skills. Learn how to set and clearly communicate goals for your organization, build strong self-directing teams, nurture collaboration, guide the efforts of individuals and groups to perform at the highest levels, and focus and motivate your employees and others to successfully achieve the organization’s goals. Every session employs case studies, interactive exercises, and powerful instruments to enhance the learning experience and ensure you can immediately take what you learn back to your workplace.

Topics Include:

Leadership and Management

• What skills are necessary for effective managers?
• What skills do you already possess?
• What skills must you develop or enhance?
• Modern directions of leadership and management
• Getting feedback on your leadership performance (a 360-degree instrument)

Organizational Management

• Organize
• Staff
• Delegate (unique instrument)
• Manage corporate politics and parochialism

Teams

• Current team practices
• Enhance collaboration
• Virtual teams
• Diversity

Motivation

• Modern motivation theories
• Influence decisions (SDI)
• Sources of power

Performance Management

• Monitoring performance
• Assess progress (metrics)
• Give feedback (performance appraisals)
• Correcting undesirable behavior
• Personal plan (unique instrument)

Psychology has traditionally studied individuals, couples, and organizations in difficulty. Most theories and therapies are based on the work of these groups. But this problem-oriented focus has limited the usefulness of psychology in helping people to create and sustain success. There is a body of research that has sought to understand the traits and behaviors of people and organizations that succeed in the areas of career; building healthy, productive work relationships; and maintaining good physical health. The studies reach surprisingly consistent conclusions regarding the skills that allow us to create, maintain, and enhance success. In this hands-on course, you learn the skills of creating and sustaining excellence in the workplace through a lively mix of lectures, films, live demonstrations, case studies, and role-play scenarios.

Topics include:

• The 4 Skills of Successful People and Organizations
• How Successful People Change
• Strategies for Coping with Adversity in the Workplace
• The Essential Skill to Look for in an Employee or Colleague
• Preventing Conflict and Maximizing Collaboration
• Dealing with the Emotional Challenges of Managing People

Being technically exceptional is only half the responsibility of being a great leader. One of the key qualities of a highly effective leader is maximizing the performance of their team and each individual they lead.

Understanding and utilizing a variety of positive practices can have a direct impact on leaders, team members and organizations reaching their potential.

Discover how you as a leader can elevate the employee experience, maximize productivity, and build effectiveness, while strengthening team cohesion. This course will walk you through practical tools that will not only benefit your team, but also strengthen your own awareness and problem-solving skills, while developing effective working relationships.