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Seminars and Workshops

In cooperation with Management Resources, a Portland, Oregon consulting and training firm, client-specific, customized seminars and workshops are provided which support and apply the methodologies in the Blackbird Publishing Book List.

A range of topics are available that include:

• Project Management
• Process Analysis and Redesign
• Team Development and Team Building
• Team Building
• Self-Directed Work Teams
• The Manager's Role in Self-Directed Work Teams
• Leadership
• Group Facilitation
• Strategic Planning
• Managing Change

To inquire about seminars, workshops or consulting services, contact:

Project Management

This program presents, and facilitates in-session practice of a complete set of project management tools and techniques specifically designed for application within organizations in which the project leaders are not necessarily managers. The course covers all aspects of projects from inception through scoping, planning, implementation and delivery. Examples from the actual work of the participants are used to demonstrate the tools and techniques and participants generally leave the course with job-related work completed.

Topics include:

• Project Needs Analysis
• Project Planning
• People Skills for Project Leaders
• Day-to-Day Project Management
• Problem-Solving
• Project Transfer and Closure
• Project Planning and Managment Checklists for Forms

Program duration can be customized to accommodate customer needs:

• Half-day overview
• 1-day planning workshop
• 2-1/2 to 3 days with facilitation, direct assistance and follow-up with project teams.

Seminar/Workshop Index

Process Analysis and Redesign

Significant change and improvement can be achieved through the analysis of existing processes of work. Process analysis is a tool that can be used at any level of the organization and by virtually any group in the workforce. This program presents and provides practice in a variety of process-analysis tools and techniques and focuses strongly on the importance of developing analysis and evaluation criteria at the outset.

Topics include:

• Process versus function
• Developing data-collection criteria
• Developing analysis and evaluation criteria
• Process mapping techniques
• Process analysis techniques

Program duration can be customized to accommodate customer needs:

• Half-day overview
• 1-day workshop with facilitation and follow-up

Seminar/Workshop Index

Team Development and Team Building

Three programs are available under this general heading:

Team Building

Team building begins with development of a clear mission and charter for each team. With these as a foundation, teams can grow and develop their individual working styles and methodologies. This program is centered around a model of team development over time and a vision of the characteristics of high-performance teams. Participants are urged to evaluate current team maturity and to develop action plans to move the team forward toward high performance.

Team building is an organizational as well as an individual and group activity. The responsibilities of all parties who contribute to the success of the teams are examined and supporting and hindering activities and behaviors are identified. Action plans are developed to address strengthening supports and weakening barriers to team success.

Topics include:

• How Teams Grow and Change Over Time
• Developing a Team Mission
• Developing a Team Charter
• Characteristics of High Performance Teams
• Support and Barrier Identification
• Team-Development Action Planning

Program duration can be customized to accommodate customer needs:

• Half-day overview
• 2-day workshop with follow-up available for teams and team leaders.

Seminar/Workshop Index

Self-Directed Work Teams

After an organization has developed a team environment within its existing structure, the next logical step is the transition of directed teams (teams managed in a traditional way by a manager or supervisor) into self-directed teams. Although this is a logical progression it is not always the best way to go depending on the organization.

This program examines the characteristics of both successful self-directed work teams and of the organizations in which they operate. It provides critical evaluation tools and processes to help determine if the organization can realistically support and expect success from moving to self-directed work teams.

Participants are encouraged to critically evaluate and assess the characteristics of organizations that support self-directed teams and to compare these characteristics to their own organization. They are also encouraged to examine the reasons their organization desires to move in toward self-directed teams and to make determinations about the likelihood of team success.

Topics include:

• The case for and against self-directed work teams
• Team development over time
• Characteristics of High-Performance Teams
• Determining the business reasons for moving to self-directed teams
• Assessing the organization's ability to support self-directed teams
• Defining existing and needed organizational supports
• Determining missions and charters for the teams
• What about the displaced managers and supervisors
• Designing the team program structure
• Developing implementation plans

Program duration can be customized to accommodate customer needs:

• Half-day overview
• 1-day workshop with facilitation and follow-up
• 2-day planning workshop with facilitation and follow-up.

Seminar/Workshop Index

The Manager's Role in Self-Directed Work Teams

An organizational move to self-directed work teams creates some of its most significant disruption in the management and supervisory ranks. Managers and supervisors can find themselves displaced from their traditional roles. They are frequently asked to move from the role of boss to the role of coach. This is not always an easy transition.

This program examines the changing role of the manager/supervisor in a self-directed team environment and provides tips and techniques for managers in transition. The goals of the organization are used as the basis for a discussion of the shift in basic thinking that has led to the implementation of self-directed teams. The traditional role of the "manager as controller" is contrasted with the new, frequently expanded, role of "manager as coach, mentor and coordinator" required by the organization. Participants are encouraged to examine the roles both they and their teams must play and to develop realistic measures of performance.

Topics include:

• The shifting paradigm
• The new management role
• Shifting from boss to coach
• Empowerment: Delegation in the extreme
• Setting limits and managing the edges
• Setting expectations for yourself and your teams
• Survival tips for managers in transition.

Program duration can be customized to accommodate customer needs:

• Half-day overview
• 1-day workshop with facilitation and follow-up.

Seminar/Workshop Index

Leadership

We offer four leadership programs based on four different models, each designed to address specific leadership needs. Management Resources trainers have been providing leadership training in private practice and through local community colleges for over 10 years.

Topics include:

• Situational Leadership: Based on Paul Hershey's pioneering work on successful leadership, this training enables participants to evaluate specific leadership situations, and adapt their own style to address each situation most effectively. A variety of assessment tools are available that are tailored to specific workplace situations.
• Transformational Leadership: Focuses on the role of the leader in fostering self-sustaining cultures in organizations, and managing culture change. Assessment activities include Organizational Climate Assessment, Organizational Readiness for Change Survey and Transformational Leadership Self-Assessment.
• Visionary Leadership: Focuses on the importance of a clear, shared vision in organizations, and the role of the leader in fostering vision. Includes a self-assessment activity.
• Community Leadership: Focuses on the complexities of leading across functional lines and with diverse stakeholder groups. Provides a model for transferring ownership and empowering others.

Program Duration can be customized to accommodate customer needs:

• Half-day overview with assessment
• Full-day leadership training with overview, assessment and interactive work sessions.

Seminar/Workshop Index

Group Facilitation

A key focus of our practice is group facilitation. We conduct facilitated work-sessions for clients nationwide. We also provide training in facilitator skills and techniques. These sessions are highly interactive, providing ample opportunity to practice group problem- solving models and hone skills.

Topics include:

• The Role of the Facilitator
• Visual and Analytic Tools for Group Problem-Solving: Includes tools for analysis and visual display of information such as Force Field Analysis, Pareto Diagraming, Gantt and Pert Charting using Post-It® Notes, Weighted Voting, Criteria Evaluation and Nominal Group Process.
• Facilitator Sand-Traps and How to Avoid Them: Identifies common "process" and "human" problems and provides strategies for moving beyond them and keeping the group on track. // Future Search Conferencing: Consulting, assistance, and training of facilitators for large-scale, whole-systems conferences.
• Facilitated Work-Sessions: Sue Diciple-Wedding, primary facilitator with Management Resources, has a nationwide practice. Her practice includes small group sessions and large-scale conference development and moderation.

Program duration:

• Both training and facilitation services can be customized to accommodate customer needs.

Seminar/Workshop Index

Strategic Planning

Our planning curriculums and facilitated planning work-sessions have been used extensively by both private and public organizations. We have facilitated the strategic planning process and conducted training with such organizations as Northwest Natural Gas and the Oregon State Police. Our curriculum strongly emphasizes customer and quality considerations as well as other considerations from the environment in which an organization conducts its business as a starting point to the planning process. Our program provides a context in which the customer requirements, strategic imperatives and values of an organization can be explored and translated into goals, objectives, supporting strategies and action plans.

Our planning curriculum is highly interactive, and encourages participants to devote in- training time to the actual work of planning. We also offer fully facilitated goal-setting and planning work-sessions, with services such as pre-session data development, agenda development, post-session transcription of notes and plan write-up.

Topics include:

• Planning Overview: Defines concepts and language of planning.
• Quality Overview: Defines the customer-based concepts and language of quality.
• Environmental Scan: Defining the organizational environment.
• SWOT Analysis: Assessing organizational abilities and competitive standing.
• Oganizational Values: Defining the parameters for decision-making.
• Customer Analysis: Defining the customer(s) and their requirements.
• Goal-Setting: Defining key organizational outcomes.
• Strategy: Defining the key approach toward achievement of goals.
• Plan and Quality Deployment: Tools and strategies for involving and coordinating the efforts of the whole organization behind strategic and quality initiatives.
• Action Planning Techniques: Tools and techniques for scheduling, tracking, and coordinating diverse functions.
• Case Study Activities and Facilitated Work-Session.

Program duration can be customized to accommodate customer needs:

• Half-day overviews or in-depth treatment of specific component(s).
• Two-day planning program.
• Facilitated work-sessions developed to address customer need.

Seminar/Workshop Index

Managing Change

Our curriculum on Managing Change has been used extensively by both private and public-sector organizations. It was selected in November, 1994 by the U.S. Department of Justice as the demonstration module for the nationwide Community Policing Consortium training program. Based on the Adult Learning Model, the program is highly interactive, featuring both group and individual activities.

Topics include:

• The impact of a "Paradigm Shift" on organizations.
• Importance of managed change.
• Conditions required for successful change.
• Strategies for establishing the conditions for change.
• The role of the leader during change.
• Survival strategies for the individual during change.
• Activity: Defining the Paradigm Shift in the organization.
• Activity: Creating a "Change Equation"
• Activity: Assessment of supports and barriers to change.
• Activity: Overcoming barriers to change.
• Activity: Personal Action Planning.

Program Duration can be customized to accommodate customer needs:

• Half-day overview
• 1-day workshop
• 1-1/2 day workshop with follow-up.

Seminar/Workshop Index