Synopses of Current Sessions

Holding People Accountable

This workshop explores employee motivation, barriers to effective performance, types of feedback, barriers to effective feedback, accountability do’s and don’ts, how to talk with employees about performance, and how to handle recurring performance issues.  This session is geared toward supervisors.

Essentials of Supervision

Essentials of Supervision is a 4-hour course designed to be a support tool for managers and supervisors, taught by CEO Gordon W. Rogers. Participants will examine the responsibilities of supervisors, identify characteristics of leadership, analyze the art of motivation, discuss ways to manage stress, communication skills, learn to reinforce positive behavior and utilize discipline effectively, and examine how to use EMPAC. 

Stress Management

This 2-hour session will explore the common causes of stress and help participants learn how to identify their own personal stressors and better the control the stress in their lives.   The class will explore ways to achieve balance, relaxation techniques, and the importance of humor, assertiveness, and flexibility in our everyday lives.

Keeping Your Mind Off Money at Work

This course will examine the leading causes of financial stress and how to combat them.  Participants will learn how "financial bondage" may be keeping them focused on their money instead of their jobs and their lives.  Learn how to develop a plan for Financial Freedom and keep your mind off money at work!

Who's Pouring Into Your Life?

Your life is like a theater, so invite your audience carefully.  Take a good look at yourself...who has been a formative influence, either positive or negative?  Who gave of their time so that you might grow?  Who are YOU giving YOUR time to?   This class will both inspire and motivate and help you take a good look at your life and the company you keep. 

Motivating Employees to Be Top Performers

Myth or Fact: MONEY is the cure for all performance issues.  What do you think?

This is just one of the many aspects of motivation we will discuss in this course.  Motivating Employees is tailored to help you understand YOUR capacity and power to move your staff in the desired direction to accomplish company goals.  We'll also look at the importance of one's own professional supervision and how it parallels with the supervision YOU provide to your staff.  You'll learn effective ways to motivate your staff to produce desired outcomes.

Developing Your Leadership Skills

Do you want to know if you have what it takes to be a "great" leader?  This workshop allows you examine and discuss numerous characteristics necessary to provide effective leadership.  You will have an opportunity to complete a self-assessment to determine where you are as a leader, and gain helpful tips on growing in leadership.  *Please note that this course is geared toward supervisors.

Cultural Awareness in the Workplace

Were you aware that your "culture" helped make you who you are today?  And it's not just you - everybody that you interact with on a daily basis has been shaped and molded by their own cultural identity.  In this course you will increase your knowledge of cultural awareness, understand the need for continual self-evaluation, and examine the challenges involved in cross-cultural communication.  Participants will also learn skills for effectively removing communication barriers. 

Who Moved My Cheese?

Did you lose your cheese?  If so, did you find it again? 

This energetic and fun-filled class takes a humorous look at change, and how to deal with it.  Participants will examine the change process and identify four different ways that people (including themselves!) deal with change.  They will be able to compare the effects of change-related behaviors on a workgroup and demonstrate a constructive process to deal with the change.  Finally, attendees will learn alternate methods for dealing with the stress produced by change - particularly when it comes to change they have little, if any, control over.  So if you've lost your cheese, come find it again - with us!

Recognizing & Responding to Burnout

At some point in our lives, we will all experience burnout.  This course will look at the four definitions of burnout, the different types, and what is at the root of the problem.  It will also help you identify burnout indicators, how to put a stop to the cycle, and what to do about burnout on the job - both in yourself and in your coworkers and employees. 

The Practical Coach

What is coaching all about?  It's about encouraging, inspiring, and challenging your team.  Can you do it?  Do you have what it takes?  This exciting and dynamic course, developed by Media Partners Corporation, will take you through the steps to do exactly that.  With exercises and evaluations, you can truly customize the training to you and your needs.  The video features scenarios and role-play situations so you can see the different techniques and ideas in action!  And the workbook makes a great resource for afterwards.

*There is a $15 charge for this course, to cover the cost of the workbook.

Humor in the Workplace

All work and no play means you really need to attend this session!   Humor is good for you - it helps relieve stress and tension, boosts our immune system, and helps promote good interpersonal relationships.  But it can be tricky to know when and where to use humor in the work setting.  This course will help straighten it all out for you, as well as give you a few good chuckles to get you started.

Positive Ways to Deal with Negative People

Everybody has negative people in their lives; but how do you go about dealing with them in a positive and effective manner?   Some of the topics covered in this class are: positive self-talk, our reactions to events, avoiding power struggles, de-escalating angry people, and ways to manage conflict with others. 

The Sands of Time (Time Management)

"There's just not enough hours in the day!"  We've all said this at one time or another.  Learn how to get more time out of your day with this class.  You'll look at how to get and stay organized, ways to save time each day, goal-setting, and how to deal with one of the biggest time-wasters of all: worry.

Sleep: Its Powerful Impact Upon Work Performance

Do you get a good night's sleep?  80% of adults believe that not getting enough sleep leads to poor performance at work, risk for injury, poor health, and not getting along with others.  This training will explore how sleep impacts our work and personal lives as well as our health.  Helpful tips and treatments will be discussed to help participants improve their chances of getting good, restful sleep.

The Power of Focus for Women: Living the Life You Want

This workshop presents eight key focusing strategies for improving your life.  Topics discussed include: healthy boundaries, achieving balance, learning to say "no", self-esteem, image, health, money, perfectionism, and worry.  Come discover how to take control of your life and overcome challenges that may be holding you back.  "Dig Deeper" exercises will be completed to help you discover areas where you need improvement. 

Dealing with Difficult People (or, How to Keep Others from Pushing Your Buttons!)

Learn how to work positively with others even when the relationship is less than perfect.  This workshop will offer strategies for working with coworkers, family members, and even supervisors.

Work-Life Balance

Balance...what does that look like?  How do we achieve a healthy balance?  Come discover the areas where you lack balance and learn how to make improvements.  Challenges to achieving balance will be discussed, as well as the benefits of implementing changes in your life.

Preventing Violence in the Workplace

After the tragedy at Virginia Tech and the shooting at the Connecticut beer distributor, we are reminded again of the potential for violence.  Not only does violence occur in our schools, it also occurs in the workplace. This workshop is designed for supervisors and managers to assist them in doing their part to prevent violence in the workplace. *Please note this course is geared toward supervisors.

Holiday Stress

Excited about the holidays?  Me, too!   Join us as we talk about ways to truly enjoy time with family and friends, re-visit some of our favorite foods, and try our best to keep spending under control.  The plan for our time together is that we all walk away with helpful tips to effectively manage stressors that will visit us this holiday season. 

Color Me Happy!

Come learn how to create an environment that calms the senses through color, scent, music, and intention.  We will discuss ways to quiet the internal noise when the external world bombards us with to-do lists, email, bills, projects due, kids’ schedules, etc. 

Practically Perfect Parenting

Just what does Mary Poppins have to teach us about parenting?  Come learn skills for parenting kids of all ages.  Singing and spoonfuls of sugar optional. 

The Power of an Attitude of Gratitude

Scores of studies indicate that people who develop an "attitude of gratitude" are healthier, happier, and more productive.  How can we cultivate gratitude?  How can we respond to difficult and devastating experiences in life and still remain thankful?  Is it possible to remain positive through the small hassles of life?  How can counting our assets instead of listing our liabilities change our social, emotional, psychological, spiritual, and work lives?  Come find out as we explore gratitude and its role in our world today.

Getting Unstuck: 4 Questions That Can Change Your Life

This training discusses a tool called "inquiry", which was developed by Byron Katie, author of the book Loving What Is.  This simple process will help you look at life's problems and suffering differently.  Come and discover this terrific tool for living a more peaceful life today.

Eating Well & Healthy Weight (Online Seminar)

Led by Certified Diabetic Educator and Dietitian Diane Greenleaf, this six-session seminar will be facilitated online for people interested in improving their eating habits and losing weight.  Concepts discussed include behavior modification, the Lifestyle Change Plan, nutrients and calories, exercise, developing a fitness program, recipe modification, eating out, and making the changes last. 

This course is a series of 6 webinars.  Attendees should plan to attend all 6 sessions.

Fantastic Customer Service

In this very competitive business climate, satisfying the customer is no longer enough to create a loyal customer. Businesses, whether product- or service-oriented, must bowl their customer over with a clear message that they truly are the most important asset. The customer needs to feel pampered, catered to, and truly special if we are to turn a one-time customer into a loyal customer. Even in regulated businesses, this should be a top priority, as the political winds shift more and more into deregulation.

This workshop will focus on specific strategies that pamper the customers and bring them back again and again. Techniques for listening for clues regarding what the customer truly wants (which is not always what they say) will be covered, along with strategies for turning an angry customer into a happy customer.

Drug-Free Workplace

This course is designed to cover use, abuse, and addiction of the various substances that are tested for in the drug-free workplace program.  We will use a role-play on how to intervene when an employee may be impaired or under the influence while at work.  Supervisors can feel confident that they have the tools needed to provide a drug-free workplace.

This 2-hour training is designed for supervisors working in safety-sensitive areas.  The Department of Transportation (DOT) mandates every supervisor receive an initial training that covers one hour on alcohol and one hour on drugs.  This class meets the DOT requirements.

Generations in the Workplace

What's all this talk about the Silent Generation, Baby Boomers, Gen X'ers & Millennials? Can all of these generations successfully work together in one place? This training will provide an opportunity to explore these questions together, so join us! All generations welcome.

Healthy Heart

Facilitated by dietitian Diane Greenleaf, RLD, CDE (who also conducts our "Eating Well & Healthy Weight" online seminars), this 2 hours class will provide information to decrease your risk for heart disease and/or manage your heart disease.  Find out how to assess your cardiac risk. Learn how diet, exercise and stress management can affect heart disease.

Alcohol & Drugs in the Workplace

This class is a one-hour overview on the effects of alcohol and drugs in the workplace.  It is ideal for new employees or as a refresher for supervisors in DOT-covered positions who have previously received Drug-Free Workplace training.  (This class does not meet DOT requirements for new supervisors.)

Personality Types in the Workplace

Come learn about how our personalities affect the way we interact at work (both good and bad).  We will complete two assessments and through those you will discover your own type dominance.  All groups need a balance of the different types in order to work effectively.  Come discover what your type is and how to effectively interact with other types in this exciting 2-hour workshop!

A-N-G-E-R!

This workshop will look at ways to recognize the first signs of anger in and out of the workplace.  Participants will learn ways to defuse anger and respond in healthier ways.  The workshop includes some strategies discussed in the Dealing with Difficult People workshop and builds upon them. 

Checkbook Combat

Checkbook Combat is designed to help participants to set up and manage a budget in our tough economy.  The class includes three ways to set up a budget, understanding needs vs. wants, money saving ideas, and the avoidance of credit problems.  The instructor’s personal experiences will be shared in the class.

Time Management: Getting the Most Out of Your Day!

“There just aren’t enough hours in the day!”  While we can’t give you more hours, we can help you make the most of the hours you do have.  Come learn how to manage your time to make the most of your day and your life!

Compassion Fatigue

What is “compassion fatigue?”  It’s a little bit like burnout, a little bit like stress, and a whole lot like the end of your rope.  It can strike people of any profession, but is most apparent in the social services and non-profit sectors and with those who are in a caregiver capacity.  In this 2-hour class, we will look at what compassion fatigue really is, how to prevent it from grabbing hold of you, and (most importantly), what to do if it does.

Motorcycle Mary's Best Financial Seminar Ever!!

Strap on your helmets!  Motorcycle Mary uses humor, hard facts, and real-life experiences to teach people the consequences of their day-to-day spending habits, showing them what they do today will affect their financial future.  Motorcycle Mary’s “Maryisms” will strike the heart and your subconscious mind to help you learn how to handle your finances.  She will blow you away with her honesty and shock you with her colorful lifestyle.  This is definitely one financial class you will not want to miss.  Motorcycle Mary speaks from the heart---and will touch yours deeply.

Shadow, Ego, & Psychological Projection: Understanding the Basics

Why do good people sometimes do bad things?  This 3 hour training will explain the concept of "the shadow self," which is part (or parts) of our selves that we tend to deny, disown, or project onto others.  Shadow elements and the out-of-control ego can drive our behaviors, what we think, what we fear and avoid, and the things we react to in relationships.  Exploring our own shadow and ego is a necessary part of the journey into wholeness and healing.  Training will feature DVD clips with discussion and exercises that will help you reclaim projections and see how shadow/ego/projections manifest in your own life and relationships.

Leading in Difficult Times

When difficult times arise, a leader faces special challenges and opportunities.  This presentation discusses what leaders can do in difficult times.

Participants will:

• Discover how to face reality

• Examine the root causes of crises

• Discuss a plan of recovery

• List their values and how to stay true to these values in times of crises

• Develop a plan of how to care for self in crises

• Appraise how they can find support

• Develop a plan of how to enlist the expertise of others

• Discover how to make the crises a growth experience

• Appraise how they can gain more respect and influence during difficult times

Building Powerful Teams

We are aware of the importance of teamwork in the workplace.  This training session utilizes team activities, group assignments, and role play to help the topic come alive.  Participants will:

• Examine the components of powerful teams
• Analyze the advantages of team work
• Evaluate the components of effective teams
• Practice effective communication skills
• Analyze steps to building powerful teams.

Living a Congruent Life: Beliefs & Behaviors in Sync

We all have moments when our behaviors are out of sync with the beliefs we hold deep inside.  Do you know what your core values are?  Come join us as we discover & explore key personal and organizational core values.  The overall goal for this session is that we all walk away with a plan to have our behavior match what we say is important to us!

Dealing with Difficult People & Conflict Resolution

Participants will be able to:

• Identify and use communication skills such as attending behavior, paraphrase, open-ended questions, reflection of feeling and reframing.

• Describe the advantages and disadvantages of competition, accommodation, avoidance, compromise and collaboration in conflict resolution.

• Explain the essential elements of conflict resolution.

• Analyze the type of difficult person that creates the most difficulty for them.

• Appraise the difference between action and reaction in dealing with difficult people.

• Discuss how irrational beliefs can contribute to our effectiveness in working with difficult people.

• Apply appropriate skills in interactions with negative people.

Dealing with Your Aging Parents

This presentation will involve subjects such as typical emotional response when we have an elder who is declining, family roles and how it impacts the family, how to set limits, stress, and self care.  Available resources will be shared.

Becoming Financially Competent

Is financial stress sucking the joy out of your life? Do you sometimes wonder if you have the skills necessary to successfully manage your money? This course is for those wishing to learn or re-learn the basics of good personal finance. In this training you will learn how to create and maintain a budget, develop a plan for long term financial health, and systematically eliminate debt from your life. Numerous practical money saving ideas will be shared throughout the training.

• The nature of boundaries and how to set or improve them

• Poor or lacking boundaries that can lead to resentment and role burnout

• Fear of rejection or vulnerability

• The need for approval and struggling with guilt

• Healthy boundaries

• Managing one's emotions and energy in a way that promotes well-being

Emotional Eating: What's Eating You?

Often, there is a relationship between what we feel and what we eat. Food can bring comfort, hence the label "comfort food."  When we are lonely, sad, stressed, angry, frustrated, grieved, or hurt, our best friend at times may be food.  The most important question may be no what we are eating, but "What is eating us?"

This workshop is designed so participants will be able to:

• List triggers which lead to emotional eating

• Evalute the difference between hunger and emotional eating

• Implement relaxation and stress management techniques

• Define and practice "mindfulness"

• Compose an action plan to address behaviors when an issue is "eating us"

Your Best Brain at Work: Simple Steps to Optimal Performance

How well your employees act, feel, and perform on the job directly depends on how well their brains are working.  This training reviews the four main brain systems related to work performance – The Caveman, The Supervisor, The Conductor, and The Director – and shows managers and HR personnel how to spot symptoms of one or more systems not working correctly, as well as outlining simple strategies for helping to fix the common office-related problems associated with a brain working at less than optimal levels.

*This session is geared toward supervisors*

Amuse Your Muse!

Are you in a creative slump?  Have you ever wanted to do something utterly cool and totally creative – like write a novel, paint a picture, compose a song – but just don’t think you can?  Or have you attempted your creative dreams, only to be bogged down and frustrated and never get anywhere?  Well, you’re in luck, because Rachel knows just what is standing in your way: two things – one that you have (that you need to get rid of) and one that you don’t have (that you need to get).  Best of all: she can show you how to do both.  Sign up today and get your muse into gear!

Dealing with Difficult People in the Workplace: A Guide to Rational Relating

This presentation examines the key questions pertaining to handling difficult people in the workplace: Why are people difficult? How do difficult people trick us into responding in kind? And what should my response be? This is a highly interactive training, utilizing humor, group work, and multimedia components to equip those who deal with the public on a daily basis with tools that will help them empathize, de-escalate, and respond professionally to the difficult people they encounter.

Delegation Made Easy

Delegating effectively is a necessary skill in the workplace.  However, many of us struggle with how to do this well for a variety of reasons.  This training will talk about why this is so.  Why should we delegate, what are the benefits to doing it, and doing it right?  What are the most common reasons people hesitate or show reluctance to delegate?  What sort of tasks should we delegate, and which ones should we probably hold on to?  This training will also discuss the 5 stages of delegation:  Analysis, Appointment, Briefing, Control, and Appraisal.  Particular attention will be given to the briefing element and how to use briefs to improve your delegating efficiency and reduce the risk of problems due to miscommunication.  Delegation can free up the manager’s energy to devote to more important tasks.  When done right, it also builds relationships and can improve morale among employees.  It is a critical skill to develop in the workplace, and this training will provide you with the knowledge and skills you need in order to do it well.

Living with Margin in Your Life

Do you know your limits?  Can you see margin in your life?  Margin is the space between your load and your limit.  This training is partly based on Dr. Richard Swenson’s book, Margin.  We will take a look at technology advances and how having too much of a variety of things can cause struggle in our lives when we are trying to achieve balance and maintain our sanity.  The overall goal of this training is to help us walk away with tools to build and maintain margin in our lives.

The Voices in Your Head: An Introduction to Voice Dialogue

Do you have voices in your head?  Do they argue with one another?  Do some give in too easily…are there any bullies in the room?  The “Movie in Our Mind” can get kind of noisy sometimes and it is possible to restore order.  This experiential workshop will help you take back the director’s chair and manage your mental gremlins and chatterboxes.  We will discuss the psychology of “selves” or sub-personalities and the nature of psycho-synthesis.  We will also explore the primary selves, the disowned selves, and bonding patterns.  You will learn how to develop an “aware ego” that is consciously aware of its own inner dialogue and knows how to manage and direct it effectively.

Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us

Money is not what primarily motivates people!  Leaders can still get good work out of people and create a positive and productive work environment, even when they can’t offer big bonuses, raises, or salaries. 

*This training is geared toward those in supervisory or management roles.*

Dream Interpretation & Jungian Analysis: An Introduction

What is the significance and function of dreaming?  Is it a bunch of meaningless nonsense or do dreams provide insights and clues into our lives and daily struggles – consciously or unconsciously?  Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and others felt dreams were the “royal road to the unconscious.”  This training will provide a thorough introduction to the science of dreaming and tools for working with dreams.  Participants will learn about the language of dreams (symbolism, metaphor, feelings, and associations), the history of dreaming and its cultural context, tips for improving recall, and explanations for common dreams and symbolism.  Jungian Psychology can provide a framework for understanding the psyche and dream analysis.  Content will cover Jungian concepts such as the self, the ego, and the shadow self (unconscious drives), archetypes, synchronicity, complexes, the persona, and the four ego functions. 

*It is strongly recommended that participants bring a written or typed description of a dream they have had in order to get the most from this class and activities.*

How to Be an Excellent Employee

This training is for employees at all levels of an organization. Striving to be an excellent employee is one of the best ways I know to excel in your career and enjoy coming to work. Some of the topics included in this training are how to encourage and support your coworkers, developing and maintaining a positive attitude at work, efficiently managing your time, and how to have fun at work.  Come and revive the passion you once had as an employee.  

This class will explain what healthy assertiveness is all about, as well as what is it not.  Healthy assertiveness is a learned skill and this training will reveal the tools for putting it into practice.  We will clarify the difference between passive, aggressive, and assertive behaviors.  We will also cover the common roadblocks that can make asserting ourselves difficult, and the importance of selective assertiveness ("Is this the hill I want to die on today?")  Important issues related to the topic will also be highlighted, such as:

• The art of standing in your own power and the importance of becoming self-aware
• How to recognize and deal with passive-aggression in ourselves and others
• Why authenticity and congruency are so important in life and relationships
• Understanding where others end and you begin (Whose issue is this really?)
• The value of having good personal boundaries
• The importance of not assuming, reacting, or defending too quickly.

Where do you find yourself in this part of the story?  History has a way of repeating itself, and difficult times aren’t excluded.  This training will allow participants to gain perspective of the arena in which they find themselves leading, explore key principles to consider during a crisis and actions to take, make a decision to be intentional about one’s support system, and focus on ways to foster mental wellness in the midst of the storm.  

Answering the Call

Michael Steinberg, Owner of Home Instead Senior Care, will present their useful Senior Emergency Kit.  The kit gives seniors and their families a one-stop place to document all of the information that will be needed if they receive the call that their older loved one is en route to the hospital or emergency room.  The kit was developed in partnership with Humana Points of Caregiving.  A free kit will be provided to all attendees.

Goal Setting

Where are you headed?  What more do you want out of life?  This workshop examines the importance of setting goals and making life what you want it to be.  It will give you tips on setting goals, following through on your goals, and keys to maintaining this important feature in your life.  These tools can help you in business, relationships, and/or in your daily personal life.  Do you want to make life happen, or wait around for it to come to you?

com·mu·ni·ca·tion

There are few skills more essential to career success than being able to communicate in a clear, precise manner.  Communication seems simple enough, right?  You’re just taking information you have in your head and putting it into another person’s head. But of course we all know that there is much more to it than that.  Come and learn some of the basics and expand your skills in this area. This training is designed for those who need to learn or relearn the basics of communication and/or expand on their skills set. Topics covered include verbal communication, writing emails, meetings, and giving presentations.