Online Characterize eLearning - Training Resources

The Client-Consultant Relationship Getting to know your clients and their needs are the vital first steps to establishing productive working relationships. Understanding more about their organizations and what they expect from you will be essential if you are to provide a high-quality service that will excite them. You will also need to know how to recognize all the stakeholders and the real decision makers within an organization,  more...

Essentials of External Consulting You may already have a reputation as something of an area specialist or problem solver. You may have a number of years of general management experience, or you may have recently acquired a management qualification. Perhaps you've now been asked to deploy your knowledge in an external consulting role. What do external consultants really do? Although they may work in a variety of disciplines,  more...

Essentials of Internal Consulting You may already have a reputation as something of an area specialist. Perhaps you've now been asked to deploy your knowledge in an internal consulting role. Or maybe you've always been attracted to this role and you would now like to find out more? What will it mean for you? What does an internal consultant do? How do you become one? And if you have just become one, what is expected of you? This  more...

Managing Delivery Delivering to clients is the most important thing you do as an external consultant. Everything else--the selling and the fighting to win the contract--stands for nothing if you fail to deliver outstanding results time and time again. To keep your reputation intact, delivering to time, quality, and budget is the very least that you must achieve. To ensure that clients remain enthusiastic about what  more...

A Workable Solution for Internal Clients One of the many challenges of working as an internal consultant is that of "making things happen." But making decisions isn't always easy. There are so many options and you may encounter resistance to changes you propose during internal consulting assignments. How should you deal with this? And how can you be so sure that working practices won't simply revert back once you're "off the scene?" You  more...

Establishing a Relationship with Internal Clients Even if your clients are internal to your organization, you still need to spend time getting to know them, and understanding what it is they require from you. When you are dealing with internal clients, there may be a temptation to think you know everything about them, and about the project. This course will stop you from making that mistake. It will enable you to understand your clients' needs  more...

Team Feedback A guide Teamwork is playing an increasingly significant role in the majority of today's top companies. This is based on the assumption that working in teams leads to better business performance. In that case, you must ensure that team performance is managed effectively--feedback being of crucial importance. Feedback about how the team is performing, how individuals are contributing to the team's  more...

The Process of Interpersonal Communications It is almost impossible to be productive in today's business environment without being an effective communicator. This is particularly true if achievement of your goals depends on your ability to influence others. You need to be able to communicate your ideas, instructions, thoughts, and feelings accurately. This is not as easy as it may seem, and ineffective communication is often at the core of  more...

Becoming a Manager What does becoming a manager involve? What skills are needed to be a good one, and what will others expect of you? These are all natural questions for anyone who is about to become a manager, or who has recently been promoted. Moving into a first management role represents possibly one of the biggest changes in your working life. The transition from player to manager is an exciting, but  more...

A New Manager s Responsibilities and Fears Promotion to management is obviously welcome and something to celebrate, but when the initial excitement is over, you may begin to wonder about your new responsibilities. Your main focus is now on managing the activities of others and ensuring that the company's resources are used effectively. Apprehensions about whether you are able to do the job are natural--it merely indicates a healthy respect  more...

Lead and Communicate Effectively as a New Manager Employees want decisive leadership from their managers. Organizations, too, need their managers to be clear about their objectives, and how their teams can achieve them. As a new manager, it is important that you understand that leadership is about giving direction, but it is also crucial that you realize that it also involves trusting and empowering your staff. You will undoubtedly have been very  more...

Preventing Problem Performance Obviously, one of the starting points for managing problem performance is to prevent it from becoming so. This is a general part of effective management, focusing on those aspects of the managerial task specific to preventing problem performance. This means employing an effective selection procedure that is based on an accurate identification of the job requirements, and then using the first  more...

Coaching for Business Coaching is a vital component of any business that aims to be a winner in the new economy. However, unless coaches are clear in their own minds exactly what their function is, and why they are performing a coaching role, they may do more harm than good. Therefore, it is important to understand how coaching originated as a business tool, and the ways it impacted traditional managerial attitudes and  more...

Financial Analysis for Successful Marketing Whether you have a "head" for numbers, or a "dread" of numbers, no strategic marketing plan will be successful without a thorough financial analysis. The final course in this series takes a user-friendly, interactive approach to help you master the numbers game. You will analyze typical financial parameters associated with setting up a financial budget as part of an overall marketing strategy.  more...

Network Protocols This WestNet e-Learning module covers important information about services, layering, and protocols that will help you better understand key points. Additionally, you will learn how a protocol trace is taken and how to interpret the trace data.  more...

Hazardous Waste Generator Awareness This one-hour course provides basic information on hazardous waste determination and characterization. In addition, this course describes the three types of Generator Status (Conditionally Exempt Small Quantity Generator, Small Quantity Generator, and Large Quantity Generator) along with applicable requirements. Generators must manage their hazardous waste per the RCRA regulations. Thus,  more...