Instructor: Celina Peerman, Ph.D.

Leaders need a range of skills for the coming years, and this session will look at both long-term and daily strategies for success. Explore the role of company mission and vision, and today’s manufacturing environment. You can apply this insight to daily leadership actions. Focus will be on increasing leader self-awareness and building emotional intelligence to assess and manage a variety of situations leaders must navigate successfully.

Instructor: Helena Long

The focus will be on understanding the foundational principles of effective prioritization and planning strategies in the manufacturing environment. Prioritization and time management tools and techniques for successful operations and personnel management will be examined and applied to a variety of situations common in manufacturing settings (e.g., scheduling, capacity planning, forecasting) with an emphasis on the roles of communication, decision making, and interpersonal relationships.

Instructor: Randy Richards, Ph.D. 

Conflict is a necessary and inherent part of organizations. The first step of resolution is to recognize the various types of conflict and the various styles with which to respond. Learn to identify and diagnose core issues. Practice critical conversations to begin dialogue when conflict impacts team and performance.

Instructor: Celina Peerman, Ph.D.

Building relationships internally and externally are critical. Recognize the role and implications of social media and work. Examine techniques for building a professional reputation, methods for professional presentation, and the effects of poor decisions and negative comments in and outside of work. Together, we will review scenarios about communication planning and mapping out messages.

Instructor: Mark Latta

Examine popular methodologies and principles (e.g., LEAN Management) that can be applied to increasing quality and implementing continuous improvements. Understand the role of internal and external customers and how everyday quality decisions are affected by organizational structure, processes, culture, and communication practices. You’ll also introduce yourself to key ideas such as waste, efficiency, value streams, and root cause identification.

Instructor: Lauren Chalupsky-Cannon

In today’s business environment we use more rapid-fire communications than ever before; we spend hours each day checking and responding to messages. When meeting in person, we only have one chance to make a first impression, and success may hinge upon your ability to communicate effectively. Even the very words you choose may be holding you back. To help us become better, we will learn professional written and verbal communication techniques to use with both internal and external customers.

Instructor: Randy Richards, Ph.D.

Today’s leader must manage all resources effectively and efficiently, including time and priorities. Examine methods of time management, plan more effectively, and apply what is learned to daily techniques for production. You will practice assessing situations and managing interactions, including conversations, to gather even more results.

Instructor: Michael Bootsma

Learn about the essentials of business acumen and gain a basic understanding of key financial terms, concepts, and metrics used in budgeting and accounting. Develop the knowledge and skills you need to more confidently participate in decisions related to financial matters. This includes knowing what questions to ask your supervisors that relate to financial metrics and being better able to justify your requests by framing them within the profitability context (e.g., ROI).

Instructor: Helena Long

People-related costs are a significant portion of any organization’s operating costs. Learn more about the legal requirement of human resource management. Review best practices for hiring and employee relations, and gain a new understanding for organization decisions and costs associated with total compensation, benefits management, and staffing strategies.

Instructor: Celina Peerman, Ph.D.

Communication is a critical area for organizations today and leaders must not only model best practices but demonstrate them too. Learn about personality and style from the DISC inventory. Focus on key steps to grow as a leader and learn what motivates team performance with an emphasis on communicating effectively based on styles and situation.

Instructor: Heather Woody

Learn the importance of establishing your personal leadership style and professional brand. Review best practices for effective professional communication, including applying new techniques to daily writing, meeting facilitation, and presentations to small groups as part of developing one’s professional presence.  

Instructor: Celina Peerman, Ph.D.

Apply your previous learning with your current experience to address a variety of employee and organization situations where conflict occurs. Examine ways to respond to various types of problems at work. We’ll compare and contrast different approaches to solving a variety of performance management challenges in the daily life of a supervisor.

Instructor: Celina Peerman, Ph.D.

Moving from peer to supervisor isn’t an easy transition. At any experience level, a leader can improve. Address the need to assess, grow, and challenge yourself. Focus on words to say in a variety of situations. Model best practices and build stronger relationships throughout an organization. Practice key conversations, learn to lead meetings effectively, and discover how to present with confidence.

Instructor: Celina Peerman, Ph.D.

Think bigger! Improve skills to assess situations, understand information, and identify core problems from different perspectives in order to take or suggest best possible solutions. Examine options and understand unintended consequences or implications. Review common thinking and decision-making errors. Gain confidence in decision-making abilities to lead through, and to welcome, new challenges. The session includes final presentations of key learning and a recognition celebration.