Continuous training and development of your employees is critical to engagement, retention, growth, and productivity. The opportunity for employees to continue to grow and develop career-enhancing skills through workshops, training, and seminars is integral to improving an organization's success.
The following is a sample of workshops, seminars and trainings designed to create a learning experience. The programs are flexible and can be easily tailored to meet the specific needs of the organization and participants and can be completed in person or a virtual format.
2024 Training Topics
LEADERSHIP TRACK
Introduction to Leadership: Often, employees find themselves in leadership positions with little to no training in leading others. This can be an uncomfortable transition for those who are used to being the best in their craft but are suddenly responsible for orchestrating a team. We often learn how to do the job itself without learning all the necessary tools to lead others to do that job. This workshop will explore the difference between managing and leading others. We will discuss the critical elements of leadership and dive into emotional intelligence to help leaders understand their strengths and weaknesses. While this is an introductory course, new and experienced leaders will take away new knowledge and tools.
The Critical Role of the Supervisor: Employees do not quit an organization; they leave due to three key factors. Understanding these three factors and ensuring that your supervisors at all levels recognize they are holding the key will lead to higher employee engagement, retaining talent, and long-term success. This course will discuss the disconnect between what managers want and what employees need and how to bridge that gap to create a cohesive team. We will cover key qualities of a great supervisor, common supervisory pitfalls, and tools for them to create a roadmap to improve their skills.
The Manager-Employee Relationship: The Bottom line for engagement: What does an engaged employee look like, and why is it so difficult? Employee engagement is critical to the organization's long-term success, and the direct manager has the number one impact on employee retention. In this program, supervisors, through the C-Suite level, learn the three drives of engagement, how to maximize employee value, and how to minimize employee dissatisfaction.
10 Critical Leadership Qualities: So, you want to be a great leader. It sounds simple, and some leaders make it seem that way. But for most, authentic leadership requires real effort and a willingness to grow, learn, and make mistakes. Effective leaders go beyond their "title" and have achieved the right combination of enthusiasm self-confidence, and develop skills and traits that, along with a healthy dose of luck and timing, drive people to want to work for them and ultimately achieve success. This high-energy and interactive presentation discusses ten critical leadership qualities you need to develop personally as a true, authentic leader.
Engaging the Generational Divide: You may wonder why we discuss different generations in the workplace. Many conflicts arise from two people seeing the same situation through different lenses. Each of the four current generations in our workplace have different general characteristics, communication styles, and needs. Understanding each generation can help any employee better navigate workplace relationships and interactions. In this workshop, we will discuss the generational characteristics as well as how each prefers to work and communicate to bridge the gap between the generational divides.
Employee Coaching and Counseling: Calling all supervisors and leaders who want to influence, direct, teach, and motivate their workforce. This workshop provides skills to create optimal work conditions within your organization, enabling participants to analyze and develop their coaching and counseling skills. After completing this workshop, participants gain practical and specific strategies to assist in dealing with complex problems and effective motivation to improve job performance.
Leading Change: Change is not the problem. That change's perceived emotional, tactical, and practical impact on any employee is the key. This interactive workshop helps participants understand how a leader's communication must be tailored to each group or individual when discussing the impact of change. It does not matter if the change is imposed on you, you initiate it, or it comes from outside the workplace. You will learn best practices to communicate proactively, win support, deliver the message, and achieve success.
Giving and Receiving Employee Feedback: Effective communication and feedback are among the most important tools in a leader/supervisor's toolbox. How you provide feedback will often determine the difference between success and failure. Through discussions, case studies, and exercises, this workshop explores the importance of feedback, the four types of feedback, the step-by-step process for giving feedback, and how to receive feedback.
Conducting Effective Performance Appraisals: This program is designed to help supervisors and leaders increase their effectiveness in managing the performance appraisal process. Participants gain insight into understanding the latest performance management trends and/or can be tailored to your current performance management process. Participants will learn how to handle hostile reactions and develop constructive, valuable, and worthwhile goals and tools for follow-up and accountability.
Emotional Intelligence for Leaders: This comprehensive training program is designed to help managers and leaders develop and enhance their emotional intelligence skills. The program covers key concepts such as self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills. Through interactive learning, group exercises, and self-awareness, participants will learn how to understand their emotions and those of others better, manage them professionally, and improve their interpersonal relationships.
Finance for Non-Financial Leaders: Non-financial leaders and executives make daily decisions that affect their organizations' bottom-line performance. Often, these decisions are made without fully understanding the financial impact. All leaders and executives must develop a strong understanding of financial information to become better strategic leaders and cross-functional thinkers.
The Downgrading of Professionalism: What does it mean to be a professional leader today? The last few years has increased workplace conflict between employees and blurred the lines of acceptable professional conduct. Social norms and new expectations of employees have rapidly challenged leaders and increased risks to the organization.
A Strategic Conversation about your "Real" Brand; Your Leaders: Your logo looks great, your customers are happy, and you're listed as one of the "Best Places to Work." But do you know what truly drives candidates to want to work for and stay with your bank? There's been a paradigm shift, and it's time to think differently about how your leadership and management's individual brand(s) drive successful recruiting, retention, and engaged performance. To learn what it takes to win in today's highly competitive market, join David Ciullo, CEO of Career Management Associates (CMA), in an honest and candid discussion on positively establishing a personal brand to impact competition, compensation, and talent.
COMPLIANCE TRACK
Harassment – Development, Compliance, and Risk Mitigation: This program will help employers comply with all forms of harassment and hostile-free work environments as outlined in Federal and State laws. This workshop opens with a review of the current climate on the issue of harassment. Employers will learn to comply with federal and state anti-discrimination laws and offer strategies for preventing harassment at your organization. Additionally, we do a separate additional segment for leadership with extensive guidance on how to report, process, and comply with a report of a sexual harassment issue or claim.
Sexual Harassment – Ethics and Workplace Respect: This program will help employers comply with all forms of harassment and hostile-free work environments as outlined in Federal and State laws. This workshop opens with a review of the current climate on the issue of harassment. Employers will learn to comply with federal and state anti-discrimination laws and offer strategies for preventing harassment in your organization. The program covers all Maine State requirements from the MOL for Sexual Harassment training. Additionally, this program also includes how an organization's ethics, as well as a culture of workplace respect, is critical to long-term success.
Understanding Employment Law: Recent Developments & Leadership Best Practices: Employment law keeps changing every year. This is happening not only at the federal level but more and more at the state level, with employers having to stay current and compliant. In this program, you will learn about important developments that may have significant implications for owners, leaders, managers, and employees. You will also learn best practices to ensure your leadership team avoids unnecessary risk and penalties.
Dealing with "Under the Influence": Does your leadership and management team know how to handle anyone they perceive as "under the influence"? Are they consistent in the process, paperwork, and reporting? Employers today are subject to a host of limitations on when and how they can test or handle employees they suspect are "under the influence." In addition, with the medical and recreational use of marijuana, employers need to be clear on the policies and procedures they set up to stay compliant. This workshop describes the current laws, implications for employers, and practical best practices to minimize risk and keep your workplace safe.
What Managers Need to Know About Affirmative Action: Managers and organizational leaders at all levels of an organization have critical responsibilities related to affirmative action and equal-opportunity employment. This program is designed to familiarize managers with the various components of an affirmative action program and their specific role in different personnel processes to assist the organization in managing risks and achieving full compliance and a state of audit readiness. This program is customized to include applicable Company policies and procedures, prior OFCCP AAP audit results, and terms and conditions of OFCCP conciliation agreements.
Preparing for an OFCCP AAP Audit: This program prepares an organization for an OFCCP affirmative action program audit. The scope is fully scalable and can include a mock audit that simulates OFCCP audit techniques. The typical elements include a review of the current affirmative action program for technical compliance, a comprehensive review and analysis of the analytical results for red flags to be addressed, and a review of key HR documents, personnel processes and practices, and HR technology. The results of our analyses are then covered in an interactive work session with designated organizational leaders to finalize the AAP for audit submission, followed by detailed discussions of compliance/risk management recommendations, OFCCP desk audit, and onsite audit processes and recommendations for audit preparation.
RECRUITMENT & RETENTION TRACK
Casting a Wide Net – Recruiting Today: Attracting and recruiting talent in a tight labor market takes creative thinking and work. What's your employment brand "really"? – do you know what it is? Can you influence it? What does it take to do so? There has been a paradigm shift in recruiting and attracting talent. Employers must rethink their recruiting efforts away from job boards and now through the company and their managers' branding, social media, and how personalization affects who and how you attract and recruit talent. You will also discuss how highlighting your true benefits is just as important as the base salary when attracting top talent.
In the Era of Can't Ask and Won't Tell - How Do We Handle Interviewing: Hiring can always be challenging, no matter how experienced we are as managers. How do we recognize the people who will turn out mediocre from the ones who will deliver for us? This workshop covers all aspects of attracting talent, resume screening, interviewing, and hiring within a legal framework. In this interactive workshop, participants will work on filling a position they currently have open or would typically fill.
Retaining Top Talent in Turbulent Times: Recruiting and retaining talent in a tight, volatile labor market requires real internal work and focused execution. In addition, retaining top talent includes an honest conversation about the real drivers of engagement today. There has been a paradigm shift. This program will discuss challenges your organization is facing, challenge your thinking for solutions, and provide actionable tips to act and make a difference.
Career Pathing: The Advanced Roadmap to Retention and Engagement: Do you want a tool to attract and retain top talent and develop and empower employees? Creating a Career Pathing Program is a big step in the right direction. This modern process gives an employee a sense of purpose, creates an employee-centric culture, and is a win for employers. This program will discuss each step in building this advanced roadmap. Participants will gain a new perspective on engaging and retaining key employees.
FOR ALL EMPLOYEES
Dealing with Difficult People – Dealing with Difficult Situations: Every day, difficult people enter our lives, leaving us frustrated, drained, and angry. In the workplace, we can't simply avoid the challenging person; we must learn to modify our behavior. We will cover basic communication principles, essential communication tools, and skills. In this workshop, participants will learn how to diffuse challenging situations and leave feeling less stressed and more in control when interacting with difficult people. This workshop is appropriate for all employees from the front lines to the C-Suite.
Communicating with Confidence: The ability to communicate effectively is the foundation for success in the workplace. This program explores the difference between one-way and two-way communication and the impact of true listening skills. The ability to communicate effectively is the foundation for success in the workplace. Learn the four types of communication, some common pitfalls of face-to-face communication, and how to recognize and utilize non-verbal cues. Each participant will leave with an action plan to implement in the workplace.
Conflict Resolution: Conflict resolution is a key component of success in any work environment. It is a natural by-product of people having different needs, interests, ideas, and goals. No matter what your job, you will face large and small conflicts, and the ability to recognize and deal with conflict is a necessary core. In this program, we will cover causes of conflict within an organization, techniques to manage those conflicts, and the benefits of resolving conflict quickly and thoroughly.
Overcoming Negativity in the Workplace: Is your workplace a positive, uplifting place, or do you feel your energy levels drop when you enter the door? Negativity can become a vicious cycle where everyone feels irritable and discouraged, leading to higher employee turnover, lower employee engagement, and ultimately decreased productivity. Negativity in the workplace directly impacts individual employees, the team, and the organization itself. This interactive workshop starts with workplace negativity and its causes. Then, it discusses strategies to rebuild trust, stop enablement, hold people accountable, and establish best practices for long-term positive success
Unconscious Bias in the Workplace: Exposed unconscious bias can be a significant blow to your image as an organization, your reputation as an employer, and the daily lives of your employees. Unconscious biases are learned stereotypes that are automatic, unintentional, deeply engrained, universal, and can influence behavior. This workshop exposes participants to their unconscious biases, provides tools to adjust automatic thinking patterns, and ultimately eliminate discriminatory behaviors.
Professionalism in the Workplace: Being a professional involves more than just knowing your field of expertise; it also involves being authentic, creating a positive and confident image, and understanding the culture and environment. This workshop presents techniques necessary to determine the individual professional image and culture you want and need through self-exploration, exercises, group activities, and discussion.
Basics of Business Writing: We all are required to communicate in writing in one way or another. Understanding your audience, the purpose of the communication, and how to properly format your communication is critical to how your writing is received. This course will review the different types of business writing and when to use each. We will also check proper formatting for written letters and emails. This course is great for all employees through C-suite to elevate your written communication
Making a Difference through Critical Conversations: Are you looking for answers to the current retention crisis? Wondering how you might restore employee loyalty and engagement in your community? Managers have long been told that the key to success is rooted in a leader's ability to build relationships, make genuine connections, recruit the right people, set expectations, hold employees accountable, empower staff, and create the right culture. In the face of real-world workplace challenges – lack of perceived time, conflicting priorities, fear of tough conversations, genuine emotions that surface during critical conversations – how do you communicate this tactically and effectively continuously? What do you authentically say when something goes right? This program will focus on the real world you live in and ask you to listen, participate, and collaborate as we discuss tactical and practical tools for making a difference through critical conversations.
