Online Recognize Benefits eLearning Training

Professional Assertiveness Do you feel that co-workers see you as too passive or aggressive in your professional career? Do you wonder if there is a more appropriate professional style? Do you want to know how to develop your professional style? Do you feel you could develop your assertive communication techniques? Do you feel that you may not listen to your co-workers? Or do you feel that you need to develop your  more...

Framing the Problem When you frame a picture, you intend for the viewer to examine everything within that border. Problem framing is similar in that you must not only consider what objectively makes up the problem itself but also what subjective tendencies influence your view of the situation. This course is designed to help you effectively frame problems so that you're sure your line of sight is aimed straight  more...

Overview of Business Process Management In today's business world, competition is tough. Organizations are under a great deal of pressure to become more productive and more efficient while developing new, innovative products and services more rapidly than ever before. Management is demanding improved quality, reduced costs, and increased productivity with fewer resources. How can organizations respond to these pressures while remaining  more...

The Process of Globalizing a Product or Service Actually going global takes both planning and doing. In this course, you'll learn about the three major steps you need to cover to globalize a product or service. First, pick the right geographic location for your corporate goals and create a good plan for globalizing the product or service you're working with. Then "globalize" your product or service and let the world know you're open for  more...

The Art of Global Communication Considering that communication is something you do every day, how many people actually stop to consider what is happening before they speak? Can you just talk without thinking too much about the target audience, the message to be communicated, and a host of other information? Communication is too important to be left to chance. The subtleties of language, expressions, and gestures all enrich the  more...

Launching Successful On-site and Virtual Teams One factor that defines team success is the way in which a team is launched. Quickly moving an on-site or a virtual team into high-performance mode takes planning, strategizing, and a seamless launch. In this course, you'll learn techniques for setting up a successful team that can be applied to an on-site or a virtual environment. First, you'll learn strategies for selecting high-performing team  more...

Facilitating On-site and Virtual Teams Knowing how to facilitate maturing on-site and virtual teams is critical, because it is at this time that teams typically reach peak performance. Mature teams begin to perform independently, and it's important that the leader's role changes to that of a facilitator. This course will cover the facilitation of on-site and virtual teams as teams mature. It will introduce the development stages of  more...

From Executive-level Sale to Strategic Partnership Selling at an executive level doesn't stop when the contract is signed. To develop the business and prevent attack from the competition, major accounts need nurturing. This course illustrates how knowledge of various corporate cultures will give you a customer compatible approach that safeguards and maximizes your account revenue. Salespeople who sell at an executive level and obtain and maintain  more...

The Strategic Account Sales Approach A successful sales track record doesn't come from a hit-or-miss approach. It comes from the implementation of step-by-step processes that help ensure predictable, repeatable, and measurable results. In this course, you'll learn about the strategic account sales (SAS) approach for successful sales. You'll start by gaining an understanding of the premises and strategy behind the approach. Then  more...

Understanding Your Customer Can you imagine trying to sell a product or service to a customer you know nothing about? You probably wouldn't succeed. The better you know your customer, the higher your chance for success. In this course, you'll learn about the first major component of the strategic account sales (SAS) approach: research. You'll start by learning about the key areas to research using the SAS approach and where  more...

Conducting Effective Sales Research Meetings Researching your target accounts is important for understanding your customer's business. But only by conducting research meetings will you learn the "inside" information you need to truly understand the business fit between your company and your customer. In this course, you'll learn about bringing your research and communication skills together in strategic account sales (SAS) research meetings.  more...

The Territorial Account Sales Approach A successful sales track record doesn't come from a hit-or-miss approach. It comes from the implementation of step-by-step processes that help to ensure predictable, repeatable, and measurable results. In this course, you'll learn about the territorial account sales approach for successful sales. You'll start by gaining an understanding of the premises and strategy behind the approach. Then,  more...

Understanding Your Target Customer s Business Imagine trying to sell a product or service to a customer that you know nothing about. Do you think it would be an easy process? Probably not. The better you know your customer, the better your chances for success. In this course, you'll learn about the first major component of the territorial account sales (TAS) approach--research. You'll gain an understanding of the benefits of good research and  more...

Gaining Access to Key Personnel at Your Target Accounts In this course, you'll learn about the second major component of the territorial account sales approach: communication. You'll start by learning about coaching relationships. A vital part of your sales effectiveness depends on finding a key contact in each target account that can become your internal coach for the sales process. Then, you'll learn about gaining access to the right level at your  more...

Planning Your Field Sales Approach What factors mark the difference between mediocre and great field sales performance? One characteristic of highly effective field sales representatives is their ability to efficiently plan their sales approach for both existing customers and prospects, as well as managing their time and territories effectively. Planning Your Field Sales Approach provides practical tools for determining call and  more...

Applying Your Field Sales Approach A unique quality of effective field sales representatives is their ability to assess their customers' needs, determine sales opportunities, and access the decision makers--often in one or two sales calls. Sound impossible? It's not if the sales professional applies the essentials presented in Applying Your Field Sales Approach. This course provides sales strategies to change your customers'  more...

Federal Government Industry Overview Version 1 The Federal Government is the largest contractor and buyer of services and products in the U.S., spending over $200 billion annually. Regardless of what business you are in, chances are there is a government agency in need of your product or service. Winning a government contract can be challenging, and millions of dollars in potential contracts are lost to companies who do not understand  more...

The Telecommunications Industry Overview Version 2 Connecting the globe, the telecommunications industry is an essential element of the modern business world. It is also one of the most volatile. Plagued by regulatory discord and economic uncertainty, telecom carriers have struggled to maintain sound footing and a competitive edge, all the while endeavoring to provide crucial, uninterrupted service to their customers. In an age of rapidly  more...

Completing Your Field Sales Approach What does it take to successfully present valuable solutions and close sales while achieving a sense of accomplishment and trust between you and your customer? Completing Your Field Sales Approach highlights how to present sales solutions and close sales with your customers. Included in the course are steps and tips for overcoming customer objections effectively. You'll have opportunities to  more...

Completing Outbound Sales Calls You might have heard the saying, "it ain't over 'til it's over." This is especially true with inside sales calls. To be a successful inside sales consultant, you need to know how to keep your customer's attention all the way through the close of the sale. In this course, you will learn strategies for contacting the decision maker and for dealing with gatekeepers. You will learn the steps involved  more...

Technical Support Agent Survival Skills Coping with stress is an everyday issue for the Technical Support Agent (TSA). The focus of this course is specifically directed to the situations that TSAs encounter. The course will help the TSA avoid burnout and manage job responsibilities by identifying the causes of stress, prevention methods, and time management skills. Technical Support Agents seeking to acquire new skills or improve the  more...

Inbound Call Center Management Leadership Did you know that your personality can greatly affect your leadership skills? Are you aware that even if you are a fabulous manager, you may not be an effective leader? As a call center manager, how can you motivate everyone, including senior management, to work together toward a common goal? As you progress through this "Inbound Call Center Management: Leadership" course, you will become aware  more...

Inbound Call Centers People Management Inbound call centers are often the only link between a company and its customers. As a call center manager, you want to hire agents with special customer service "genes." Good call center agents do a better job on the telephone, are happier with their work, and genuinely enjoy helping customers. This course will help you staff your call center with the right people for the job. You'll learn how to  more...

Inbound Call Center Technology Today, the technology within the inbound call center is constantly changing and improving. How can you, as a call center manager, keep up with this advancing technology? Moreover, why should you? This course will explain the fundamentals of inbound call center technology, and explore ways current technology might evolve. It examines different methods of obtaining this technology, and outlines how  more...

Performance Metrics for an Inbound Call Center The call center environment typifies the active, fast pace of the business world. In this hectic environment, is there time to consider how things are being done? There should be. As the call center industry slowly transforms into a customer management industry, the impetus will be on call center managers to ensure customers receive the best service possible. But where do you look to analyze  more...

Excellence in Internal Customer Service In today's fast-changing and highly competitive business climate, offering excellent customer service has never been so important. But what about taking a different approach? Has your organization tried looking inwardly to find the answers to offering great service? Organizations consist of an independent chain of individuals and functional units, each taking inputs from one another and turning  more...

Working With Internal Customers Excellent customer service lies at the heart of any successful business. However, you should not overlook the importance of meeting the needs and expectations of your fellow employees, your internal customers. By helping other people within your organization, you enable it to succeed. Great internal customer service improves people's morale, productivity, and external customer service, and  more...

Overcoming Internal Customer Service Problems Managing relationships with your internal customers isn't always smooth sailing. When internal customer service does not go according to plan, problems occur, or communication breaks down, what can you do to get your plans back on track, and break down barriers? At times like these, you and your employees need to act swiftly and proactively to solve the problem, and regain the customer's trust. In  more...

Cross-selling in a Customer Service Call If there's one advantage most companies have learned to appreciate in recent years, it's "flexibility". Technology, the economy, and global events have forced companies to cope with a host of new challenges by being flexible. Flexibility is a key factor in customer call centers. As a customer service agent (CSA), you handle dozens of calls a day, effectively helping customers by providing  more...

Identifying Your Customer s Expectations Customers have expectations of all the companies with which they transact business. These expectations may be predominantly unspoken but, all the same, they have a strong influence on how your company, its employees, products, and services are perceived. In the first lesson of this course, you'll be shown what characteristics customers want to see demonstrated, what external influences generate  more...

Using Surveys to Measure Customer Satisfaction If you're lucky, your customers will complain when they are dissatisfied with your company's service. If you're not so lucky, they'll say nothing and just take their business elsewhere. It's essential that you keep your fingers on the pulse of customer opinion if you are to prevent them defecting to the competition. You need to measure customer satisfaction on a regular basis, and this course will  more...

Bridge The Expectations Gap You have to be prepared to walk a mile in their shoes to understand more fully what customers experience when they deal with your company. There's nothing more effective in emphasizing the gap between what you believe their experiences to be and their realities than thinking and acting like a customer. This course takes you through several processes for doing exactly that, and you'll be shown how  more...

Discovering What Your Customers Want The data are in, and there's no doubt about it: The return on customer loyalty goes directly to your company's bottom line. Too often, however, organizations seeking to improve customer satisfaction and loyalty begin with a survey. To build a successful customer satisfaction system, you have to begin with the basics. When customer satisfaction programs begin with a survey, and not a plan, the  more...

Developing Customer Satisfaction Surveys By the time most people have the chance to develop their first survey, they've seen so many that it seems like developing one will be a piece of cake. To an extent, they're right. Developing a GIGO (Garbage In/Garbage Out) survey is a no-brainer. Developing a survey that gets valid, reliable data, however, is both science and art. In this course, you'll learn to use the principles of survey design  more...

Customer Satisfaction Analysis and Implementation What you get out of a well-designed customer satisfaction survey will depend largely on the power of the analytical tools you apply to the data and the effectiveness of actions taken based on the resulting information. Although the analysis itself is best conducted by your statistical team, you'll be able to use survey results more effectively if you understand how key analytical tools are  more...

Information Technology IT Industry Overview Version 1 Though estimates on global spending for information and communications technologies run in the trillions of dollars, this giant industry continues to struggle through fluctuating markets and must concentrate on continuous improvement to survive. Most agree that the demand for IT products and services will continue to increase, but at the same time, the customer is demanding more value per dollar  more...

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...

Interacting with the Customer Failing to realize the importance of customer service and effective complaint handling leads to increasingly dissatisfied customers. Organizations need to be able to address the needs of customers in an effective and efficient manner. This course is intended to show the proper procedures and processes needed to provide effective customer service: how to properly support a customer, how to overcome  more...

The Call Center Industry When people pick up a phone and hear someone greeting them from the XYZ Company, they put little thought into the people, process, or technology behind the phone call. To them, the person on the phone is just a voice on the other end of the line. This course will examine all of the aspects of a call center. In order to facilitate this examination, this course has been broken down into three parts:  more...

Evaluating Internal Assignments So, is it success or failure? It's crucial that you take time to review your project and confirm outcomes on completion. What has been achieved, and what didn't go as planned? And how have you performed personally? Of course, success depends on your ability as an internal consultant to continually develop in the role, increase your skills, and make overall improvements in your performance. This  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...

Diagnosing and Planning Your success as a consultant depends on your ability to diagnose each situation correctly. You need to use your previous experience, and bring fresh ideas to every new contract. Frameworks and models help you to make an effective diagnosis. They help you to evaluate the strategic position of the client organization, which is vital. To deliver solutions that are relevant and appropriate to the  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...

Call Center Telephone Sales How many times have you attempted to get your point across over the phone, only for it to end up unsuccessful? Would you like to improve your conversational skills? When you take this course, you will learn how to save your and your customer's time. Learn which principles and techniques of selling, professional presentation approaches, and telemarketing laws apply to you. Using your time  more...

Effective Communication Skills Effective communication is essential to the success of any customer-oriented business. Each customer will have their own style of communication as well as an emotional response to contacting a support center. In order to effectively communicate, the Customer Support Specialist (CSS) must understand how to adapt to these different styles and emotions before the customer's problems can be dealt  more...

Managing Conflict Stress and Time Each customer wants her problem to be the most important problem to the Customer Support Specialist (CSS). For the CSS, adapting to each customer's communication style, understanding each customer's emotional response, and solving each customer's problem can be an enormously stressful and time-consuming process. This course is intended to show the proper methods needed to resolve conflicts, manage  more...

Management Tools and Metrics Customers contacting Support Centers expect the same level of professionalism each time they interact with a Customer Support Specialist (CSS). To ensure this consistently high level of service, the CSS can draw an array of management tools and processes that both guide and measure his performance. This course is intended to demonstrate the management and measurement tools a professional CSS is  more...

Establishing Team and Customer Relationships This course will familiarize the learner with the underlying benefits and skills needed to establish team and customer relationships. Teamwork is a critical component of a Support Center. This course looks at the individual responsibilities of each team member, as well as the team as a whole. It also addresses the role of strong leadership in building and maintaining successful teams. In a  more...

Creating Effective Contracts When you hear the word "contract", you may think of a written, legal document. However, when it comes to consulting relationships, contracts are more about setting expectations and involving the right people instead of setting legal parameters. In this course, you'll examine how to approach contracting, the considerations that are most important, and how you should approach the contracting  more...

Elements of Project Human Resource Management When project managers set their sights on delivering creative project solutions on time and within budget, they must select and manage a team of experienced and competent professionals who can meet the challenge. This requires that project managers understand the Project Human Resource Management processes of planning, selecting, developing, and managing a project team. Such an understanding  more...

Introduction to Project Process Groups and Initiating a Project In a relay race, the baton handoff from one runner to the next has a dual purpose. For the first runner, the handoff represents the end of his phase of the race. For the second runner, the handoff represents the beginning. The baton handoff is both a result and an input. In any project, there are many baton "handoffs" that must happen, making the whole project highly interactive. During this  more...

Project Planning In the early planning phases, project managers and team members have the most potential influence on the outcomes of a project. Yet, lots of planning does not guarantee successful planning. Just as project success can be planned, project disasters can be predestined if team members are not careful about the assumptions they make. A project management team that can balance the need for  more...

Managing the Execution and Control of IT Projects Did you know that the average IT project has cost overruns of nearly 200 percent, and that almost 30 percent of all IT projects fail? Why do you think IT projects are so vulnerable to cost overruns and failure? How can you ensure that your project does not end up as one of these statistics? You can avoid being a statistic by managing project scope, cost, and scheduling. As you go through this  more...

Ethics and Professional Knowledge PMBOK aligned What does being ethical mean? How does one make the best ethical choice in a complex project management environment? What are legal requirements, and how can you spot the moment when conflict of interest has occurred? In today's world, project managers must have a clear comprehension of these ethical responsibilities. Project managers must also be aware of their professional duty to contribute to  more...

Planning Project Procurement and Requesting Seller Responses If project success is to be achieved, products, services, or results often must be purchased or acquired from elsewhere within, or outside of, the organization. This process of acquisition and purchasing is Project Procurement Management, and it is a critical aspect of any project. As you advance in this course, you will gain an understanding of what processes are involved in Project Procurement  more...

Program Planning The planning phase in PMI's PMBOK is considered one of the most important phases; without a properly defined plan your projects have a much greater chance of not succeeding. This assumption can also be made for program management; however, with program management, an entire program can fail, which could include several projects. The cost and loss of benefits that are associated with a failed  more...

The Foundations of Creativity and Innovation What is creativity, and how does it affect the brain? Why is it that people often have many of their best ideas once they leave work, when performing the most mundane tasks? Is this a coincidence, or is there a particular reason for it? As more and more organizations encourage employees to propose creative and innovative ideas in the workplace, it's imperative that you understand the foundations  more...

Ratios Averages and Graphs Whether tracking profitability or portraying the rate of inventory consumption, knowledge of ratios and averages is indispensable in the business world. Using real-world scenarios, this course explains the concepts of ratio, proportion, and how to compare different kinds of numbers; and discusses simple, weighted, and moving averages. Anyone who needs to apply basic math skills to business  more...

The Role of Critical Thinking in Organizations In the organizational arena, applied critical thinking skills provide an essential foundation for all effective planning, problem-solving, and decision-making activities. Employees who can analyze and reason consistently and proficiently furnish a cost-efficient resource that results in a distinctive competitive advantage. Workers who are skeptical of quick fixes and operational dogma pay  more...

Developing Fundamental Critical Thinking Skills You may not need an MBA to succeed in the corporate arena, but regardless of position or industry, you do need to be able to analyze, reason, and communicate effectively. These and other critical thinking skills are increasingly consequential as organizational planning and decision making become more distributed and reliant on written and verbal communication factors. Developing Fundamental  more...

Strategies for Facilitating Critical Thinking Workplaces are not typically associated with reflection or critical self-reflection, ideas that are often considered 'soft' to the bottom-line, results-oriented world of business.... Yet, paradoxically, reflection is becoming more part of the lifeblood of organizations in today's economic environment. Victoria Marsick's words illustrate why businesses can no longer thrive on the unexamined  more...

Organizational Scope of Critical Thinking In any complex environment systems are necessary, but they must serve an organization rather than become its masters. This is how Ralph S. Larsen, chairman and chief executive officer of Johnson & Johnson, describes both the need for systems and their inherent risk. Organizational systems, with complex and intricately interrelated components, demand the application of critical thinking to avoid  more...

Presenting to Succeed There are a number of basic types of presentations, but all presentations have four things in common: a presenter, an audience, a venue, and a message. This course concentrates on showing how each of these vital elements has to be taken into account when preparing a presentation. Presenting is a skill that needs to be learned and practiced, starting with how you prepare, and you will be shown a  more...

Delivering Your Message So, the presentation is prepared and practiced. Great. But this means nothing to the audience. When you stand there in front of them, all that matters to them is what you look like and what you say. This course is about delivering your message, and the techniques you need to do this. First of all, you have to make a positive first impression on your audience members by how and where you stand, by  more...

Presentation Resources Available to You This course is about making effective use of resources that can take the pressure off you--visual aids, questions, and making a team presentation. Visual aids are overused, and presenters are overdependent on them. You need to know what visuals are available to you, and be able to determine which one suits a particular need. You need to know what makes a successful visual. Finally, you need to be  more...

Leading Effective Business Meetings Since there are more than 11 million meetings held every day in the United States, there is a good chance that your life is full of meetings. There is a general agreement among business professionals that most meetings are not well run. They often waste your time, drain your energy, seem to have no purpose, and bear few positive results. Are you tired of attending meetings like this? Are you tired  more...

Enhancing Your Listening Skills Have you ever been taken by surprise by an unexpected deadline? Have you ever left a meeting unsure about what was decided? Have you ever asked a supervisor for advice, only to later forget what your supervisor told you? You can avoid problems like these by using effective listening skills. Effective listening helps you to know what's going on in your organization, get cooperation from your  more...

An Essential Guide to Giving Feedback The performance of any business depends upon the performance of everyone within the organization. To ensure that all staff are meeting their potential it is essential that there is a culture which enables feedback to be given and received. This course enables you to become familiar with the key aspects of giving candid, constructive feedback about performance. The purpose of this course is to  more...

Coping with Criticism and Feedback We all need feedback so that we can learn and improve. What we often get is criticism, or feedback given to us in such a way that we feel defensive or angry. When your emotions get involved, it is difficult to be objective and to use the feedback effectively. This course links the concept of emotional intelligence, and EQ, to the practice of receiving feedback. By doing this, it provides you with  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...

Giving Feedback A Manager s Guide The performance of your business depends upon the performance of every member of your staff. Thus a key skill for all who manage staff is the ability to provide candid, constructive feedback about performance. The purpose of this course is to enable you to enhance your skills in giving feedback. The course starts by exploring the nature of feedback, and it then develops a practical approach to the  more...

E-mail as a Marketing Tool How can you find new customers? How can you build stronger relationships with new and existing customers? How can you boost sales of your company's products and services? This course will provide you with useful strategies to help you incorporate electronic mail into your marketing approach. Learn how to communicate effectively with your customers through e-mail. You and your company will benefit  more...

Teamwork and Results Without Authority When it comes to being a member of a team, what role do you think you should play? Legendary Alabama football coach Bear Bryant said, " In order to have a winner, the team must have a feeling of unity; every player must put the team first--ahead of personal glory." Yet, according to general George S. Patton Jr., "If everyone is thinking alike then somebody isn't thinking." When it comes to getting  more...

Gaining Allies Creating Change If you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. Is this an effective strategy for gaining allies to create change? How about, "If you do it my way, you'll feel better about yourself"? Finding and winning partners for the purpose of creating change is not easy in the intensely competitive and harried environment of the corporate world. It's especially difficult when you lack authority. The people whose  more...

Presenting Your Case Have you ever attended a presentation that failed because the presenter was ill prepared or ineffective in his approach? A successful presenter must possess the proper skills to plan and deliver an effective business case presentation and employ strategies to establish and maintain the audience's attention. This course examines the careful planning and delivery of a business case presentation. It  more...

The Impact of Culture on Communication Everything you say is influenced by culture. You operate with a set of invisible beliefs, values, and assumptions that become apparent to other people in the way you behave. Culture is important to the way you communicate, even though it is often hidden. Understanding more about culture can be a real bonus when working as part of any global organization. Showing your customers and coworkers in  more...

Assertiveness from the Inside Out Do you sometimes wonder if there's a way to alter your professional style--to change yourself from the inside out? Do you want to develop your professional assertive style? Do you want to learn about strategies that can help you interact assertively with others in the workplace? Are you placed in situations where assertive negotiations are needed? Now is a good time to enhance your professional  more...

Reviewing Performance Appraisal interviews are the culmination of the ongoing performance appraisal process. The first part of this process begins with modeling an effective performance discussion. Then, when a manager actually knows what he is aiming for, he can use this knowledge to plan and conduct a really worthwhile, efficient performance meeting. Appraisal meetings aren't always easy encounters, even when they  more...

Continuous Performance Assessment This course shows you how to make performance appraisal a continuous process. The first stage of continuous performance assessment is planning. Appraisal must be linked to performance goals that matter, and these goals need to encompass both the organization and the individual before a performance plan can be agreed on by appraiser and appraisee. Even with conventional roles and relationships this  more...

The Mentoring Manager Looking for ways to enhance your managing skills? In this course, you'll acquire expertise as a mentor that will benefit your employees, your organization, and your own career. You'll examine how mentoring differs from managing, and you'll brush up on essential communication skills. Finally, you'll learn to use mentoring to improve on team organization, dynamics, and performance. Managers,  more...

Understanding Technical Professionals As a manager, have you felt that technical professionals are sometimes difficult to understand? Do you find that the usual management models are not as effective as they could be? This course explains the ways in which these employees differ from other workers and how you can apply more appropriate and effective management techniques. You will also learn how business has responded with new  more...

Attracting Motivating and Retaining Technical Professionals If you're having problems finding and keeping technical professionals, you're not alone. In our financially competitive and technologically advanced business world, technical professionals are in great demand. Managers need to find ways to attract top-performing technical employees and keep them once they're on the job. In fact, surveys show that managers list attracting, motivating, and retaining  more...

Models for Managing Technical Professionals Because technical professionals set a high value on autonomy, managing their time and resources can be a difficult task. But, since it's your job to supervise this often-frustrating yet extremely valuable group of employees, you need to figure out the best way to do it. And this "best way" may vary from company to company and from individual to individual. In this course you'll learn a variety of  more...

Developing Career Plans for Your Technical Professionals Why should you be interested in career development for the technical professionals you supervise? Because it's good for them, good for your company, and good for you. One of your major challenges as a manager of technical people is retaining them. And you may also need to recruit technical people to fill higher-level positions in your company. This course will help you use career development as a  more...

Management Development for Technical Professionals If you have ever considered moving up to a managerial position, certain personal and professional traits will be necessary when you make that move. In addition to the skills you have as a technical professional, you need to develop the skills of effective managers. This course will assist you in a self-assessment process that is essential to your efforts to become an effective manager. You will  more...

Communication Skills for Successful Management Effective communication is a crucial component of your success as a manager. As a technical professional, you developed various communication skills that helped you to succeed. But, as a manager, you will need additional communication skills to be effective. This course will examine various aspects of successful communication strategies and skills. You will analyze the strategies of nonverbal  more...

Process Management Skills Efficiency, in software terms, can be the difference between ineffective, poorly designed software, and elegant, intuitive software. Efficiency in manufacturing is the difference between processes that yield top quality products at a reasonable price, and processes that spit out shoddy products regardless of price. Likewise, efficiency is critical to the effectiveness of a manager and to the  more...

Leadership Development for Technical Professionals Managers must direct the activities of workers to address tactical or short-term issues while still maintaining a vision of the strategic or long-term goal. Therefore, the skills needed for an effective leader are varied and complex. For you, the technical professional, this means evaluating your current leadership skills. It also includes the development of more refined managerial skills such as  more...

Strategies for Transitioning into Management Making a smooth transition from technical professional to management is critical to your success as a manager. You've already demonstrated your technical expertise; now you're ready to take that next step. In your new role as a manager, you'll use technology in different ways -- focusing on managing production, not production itself. This course outlines management tactics for becoming an  more...

Mentoring Strategies in the 21st Century Current business trends--including acquisitions and reorganizations, emerging technology needs, and a changing work force--are all creating unique mentoring needs. This course addresses how mentoring strategies can benefit your organization in the current business climate. It explores the ways that mentoring can capitalize on gender, age, and cultural issues. Finally, it provides instruction on  more...

Achieving Success with the help of a Mentor Perhaps you want to ask an expert in your field or organization to mentor you. Maybe a manager has offered to guide you up the organization ladder. Or perhaps you're participating in an organizationwide mentoring program. Whatever the case, you'll want to make the most of having a mentor in your corner. In "Achieving Success with the Help of a Mentor," you'll learn how a mentor can help you guide  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...

Energizing and Empowering Employees Energy. Without it, the wheels and gigabytes of industry come to a screeching halt. And without energized, empowered employees, your part of global industry will make far less progress. This course introduces you to the importance of energizing and empowering employees. By doing so, you multiply the benefits to your department, team, and organization. The course begins by showing you ways to  more...

Leading Change from the Front Line Have you ever wanted something at work to change, but no one ever addressed the issue, so you just put up with it? Maybe you didn't bring it up because you thought you were the only person who didn't like it. Maybe you didn't want to make a fool of yourself by making it an issue. Or maybe you thought your boss would be irritated if you mentioned it. If any of this sounds familiar, this course is  more...

Dynamics of Leadership Can anyone, regardless of company status, be a leader? Yes Leaders can be found at all levels in the work force. When you're learning how to lead, is it possible also to be responsible for discovering new future leaders? You bet it is. Even though you aren't in management, do you have the power to influence someone to change his behavior? Again, the answer is yes. In this course, you'll learn how  more...

Attracting Developing and Retaining Generations How can you create a work force that blends the skills and knowledge of all four contemporary generations? Members of the silent generation, baby boomers, Generation X, and Generation Next are attracted to companies for different reasons. They have a variety of developmental needs and are loyal for a variety of reasons. Managers, HR professionals, team leaders, department leads, and company  more...

Leading Silent Generation and Baby Boom Workers The two eldest generations of employees working today have unique needs and habits. Their experience and value sets are markedly different. Silent and baby boom generation workers cooperate well in some respects, but are capable of taking very different approaches to work-related issues. This course covers definitional material and applied management techniques concerning members of the silent and  more...

Making Cross-generational Teams Work Teams in the modern workplace may include members from as many as four different generations. For a team to work effectively, its manager must understand generational distinctions. Individual team members may subscribe to different values, practice different work habits, or seek different goals. Lessons in this course cover the benefits and challenges of teaming silent generation, baby boom  more...

Succession Planning Strategies You've decided to create a succession plan for your organization, but where do you start? This course explains how to begin the succession planning process. You will discover how to initiate a succession planning process from the conceptualization of the problem to developing an action plan. You will also discover opportunities for customizing the succession plan. Your understanding of succession  more...

Succession Planning and Human Resources Once you decide to conduct succession planning, how will you determine the human resources that you need? This course answers this question and other human resource issues. You will learn how to assess present and future needs as part of the succession planning process. For these two assessments, you will learn how to identify key positions, determine work requirements, and assess individual  more...

Succession Planning Management So, you have a succession plan and you've identified some problems. What do you do now? By taking this course, you will learn how to establish a leadership and talent development program that will ensure your succession plan achieves its goals. You will also learn how to overcome some common challenges that management teams face when trying to find the right people for a position. Since succession  more...

Managing in a Global Business Environment Companies now face intense competition all around the globe. In this challenging environment companies seek to adopt strategies that sustain their business growth. As a result organizations are changing the way they conduct and operate their businesses, transforming themselves in order to cope with these demanding circumstances. For today's business managers the need to comprehend these strategic  more...

Managing Cross-Functions Today, managers need to address the complex problems and challenges of the current global business environment. Managers must now rely upon other divisions, departments, or functions in order to allocate resources, prioritize their staff time, and cooperate with each other. This requires that managers develop a degree of systems thinking where managers operate in a large interconnected system of  more...

Managing For High Performance Managers today must deal with a myriad of business challenges. Often they must rely on their best personnel to get them out of a jam. But do they have the necessary skills and strategies for managing these key people? This course will examine what organizations need to do to ensure that they attract high performers, how they allow this talent to thrive, and, most importantly, how to avoid losing  more...

Key Stages in Coaching Coaching has many uses in organizations, and the sequence of coaching activities is similar in all of them. This course will involve learners in the continuous process of discovery, goal setting, action planning, and follow-up that distinguishes coaching from other development methods. This course is for anyone in an organization who has a role in improving the performance of co-workers, keeping  more...

Mindsets Emotions and Coaching What makes coachees receptive to your advice? What makes them willing to listen? Much of your success depends on the mindset, moods, and emotions of the people you coach. If they are feeling negative about the coaching experience or overcome with anxiety about poor workplace performance, they are unlikely to be receptive--no matter how valuable your insight may be. Getting in tune with your  more...

Coaching Trends When is a good time to coach? And what is the business case for coaching? Is coaching just another popular fad, or can organizations really benefit from it? Every coach should be aware of the strategic uses of coaching: the organizational benefits that are offered, how coaching can be used to help coachees deal with positive and negative change, and ways of coaching innovators and mavericks. What  more...

Delegation Basics Do you feel that there are just not enough hours in the day? Are you always striving to keep ahead of the paperwork that litters your desk? Perhaps it is time to consider sharing some of those tasks with your skilled employees. As you progress through this "Delegation Basics" course in the "Effective Delegation" series, you will discover what delegating is all about, what you need to do to prepare  more...

The Personal Approach in Delegation Have you delegated tasks only to later find out that the task wasn't completed properly or that it wouldn't be completed on time? Perhaps you need to reevaluate your delegation skills. This course will help you work more effectively with employees in a delegation situation. As you progress through "The Personal Approach in Delegation" course in the "Effective Delegation" series, you will discover  more...

Managing the Delegated Environment Do you want to increase your effectiveness as a delegator? Are you unsure of how much control and feedback you need to implement when delegating tasks? Then this course will help you achieve those goals. As you proceed through this "Managing the Delegated Environment" course in the "Effective Delegation" series, you will gain valuable insight into several areas including change management,  more...