Supervisory / Management Development Program

Sessions focus on skills, knowledges, and information specifically oriented toward supervisors in a local government setting. Sessions use a combination of lecture, group activities, self-assessment instruments, role plays, case studies and other hands-on training tools. Topics may be added or deleted as desired. Participants receive a notebook with training materials and handouts to keep.

Legal Issues in Local Government Personnel and Supervision.  This section covers protected classes, ADA, FLSA, FMLA, sexual or general harassment prevention, and other general issues that can create organizational and personal liability for supervisors in hiring, promotion, discipline, dismissal, compensation, leave administration, and other personnel actions.   The session is conducted using an interactive approach that is understandable and interesting for first line through management levels of supervision.
(1 to 2 half-day sessions)

Diversity in the Workplace.  This session focuses on understanding others, sensitivity to and appreciation of differences, and seeing things from the perspective of others.  Topics include gender, racial, cultural, national origin, religious and other diversity issues.
(1 to 2 half-day session)

The Supervisor / Manager’s Leadership Role.  This session covers the role of leader in inspiring  high performance and developing self-managed employees.  The result is that close supervision is no longer necessary (empowerment) freeing the supervisor for developing, communicating, and creating a shared vision of excellence. Styles of Management Inventory, The Leadership Challenge, and other leadership instruments may be used in this session.
(1 to 2 half day sessions)

Role of the Supervisor.  What is the supervisor's special role?  What is a supervisor's responsibility to employees?  To management?  Citizens?  How does a supervisor keep from getting stuck in the middle between employees and management?  Who are the supervisor's customers? Stake holders?
(1 half day session)

Overview of Management Principles.  This session reviews the context of management using a model of organizational effectiveness, covers the leadership principles from Posner and Kouses The Leadership Challenge, provides an overview on systems and how they work integrally within an organization and in a broader context, and examines some of the underlying assumptions we make about organizations and work that lead to more or less effective management.
(1-1.5 days)

Communication Skills for Supervisors.  Learn the important role supervisors play in communicating organizational mission, values, policies, and information important to employees up and down the chain of command and laterally.   Explore the role of body language in supervisory communications.  Learn how to analyze communications to identify why they are not working and how to get them on a more effective track.
( 1 to 2 half day sessions)

Understanding Human Personality. Learn how we are different and similar, how to appreciate differences and how to work effectively to build on these differences in teams or relationships.  This session covers the Meyers Briggs Type Inventory and its practical application to the work place.
(1 half day session)

Understanding Human Behavior.  This session examines patterns in which we communicate and engage in problem solving utilizing transactional analysis and the drama triangle.  It teaches methods of identifying ineffective patterns of interactions and how to avoid them.
( 1 - 2 half day sessions)

Motivation.    Learn what motivates and de-motivates humans in the work place and what a supervisor can do to influence an employee's motivation positively.  Learn what the phrase "boss watching means" and how to use this knowledge as a supervisor to positively influence employees. This session also explores how the assumptions supervisors make about people at work influence their actions leading to positive or negative results.  This classic of supervisory knowledge covers Maslow's hierarchy of needs, Hertzberg's motivational system, self-fulfilling prophesy, and McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y among other basics.
(1 - 2 half day sessions)

Conflict Resolution and Communication Skills.  Learn specific communications skills for use in employee conflict resolution, facilitating meetings, or to improve one on one communications.  Included are self-assessment instruments, role plays, transactional analysis, the drama triangle, the conflict model, and other strategies for diagnosing conflict and choosing an effective approach.
(1 to 2 half day sessions)

Coaching Employees for Performance Improvement.  This session covers how to give feedback in a way that employees find helpful rather than creating defensiveness. These techniques are also applicable to the performance evaluation program.
(1 half day session)

Conducting Effective Performance Evaluation Conferences.  This topic covers how to plan and conduct a performance evaluation conference that employees and supervisors can feel good about.  The focus is on two-way open communication designed to bring about a meeting of the minds on what an employee is doing well, what he or she can improve upon, and where he or she stands in terms of overall performance.  This session builds on the communications, conflict resolution, motivations, and coaching sessions to bring these skills together for performance review.  Therefore, these courses are considered prerequisites.
(1 to 2 half day sessions)

Making Effective Hiring Decisions.  This session covers the hiring process from start to finish including how to do a job analysis that identifies the knowledges, skills, and abilities, desired; how to write a job announcement and the importance of this step; various strategies and their appropriate and inappropriate use, such as interviews, job sample tests, assessment centers, supplemental application forms, etc.; how to review applications and select candidates for interview; how to write interview questions and specific do's and don'ts for structured interviewing; the importance of the reference check and strategies for it; and the importance of the probationary period.
(1 to 2 half-day sessions)

Using Your Discipline, Dismissal, and Grievance Procedures.  This session covers effective use of discipline as a positive factor rather than as punishment, treating employees like adults rather than children so they behave as adults.  The session also covers how to write a warning, conduct a pre-dismissal conference and write a dismissal letter, and effective grievance procedure administration.
(1 to 2 half-day sessions)