Southern Oregon University's executive and management training workshops addresses skill gaps identified by local employers. Do you want to expand your leadership skills to be a more effective leader? Do you have a good manager who struggles with some aspects of developing a work-team? Do you want to enhance your team's performance? These skills make all the difference in growing from good to GREAT. Click on the topics below to find out more information about these Professional Development workshops.
Workshops for 2018-2019:
These workshops can vary from 3 to 7 hours in length, each custom designed to further develop your leadership skills.
Developing Intelligent Teams: How to Maximize Impact and Get Results - October 24, 2018
Date & Time: Wednesday, October 24, 2018 8:30am – 11:30am Cost: $125
Location: Higher Education Center, Medford Rm 129B
Description: Are you ready to boost team success by delivering results despite external pressures and limited resources? Would you like to learn how to be an effective team member? This action oriented/experiential workshop will explain and demonstrate the essential tools and framework necessary to create an intelligent team capable of sustained high performance. You will acquire the knowledge to create collaboration that transforms members to valuing the "we" over the "me." This course will be low on theory and high on techniques that are instantly applicable to your team. Presented by Paul Seymour. Click here for more information. Click here to register.
Leadership through the MBTI (Myers-Briggs) - November 28, 2018
Date & Time: November 28, 2018, 8:00am to 12:00pm Cost: $165 (plus $50 for MBTI report)
Location: Higher Education Center, Medford Room 129B
Description: Would your work be more productive if you better understood those around you? What if you better understood yourself? Chances are morale, efficiency, and work product would improve if you did! This half day workshop will utilize the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) to understand, appreciate, and work with different personality styles. Each participant will receive their personalized Myers-Briggs Report to better understand their own leadership style and preferences, their potential challenges, and possible areas for leadership development. This will also help you understand other people’s preferences, appreciate other’s differences, and learn approaches to interact with other types more effectively. Presented by Stuart Meyer. Click here for more information. Click here to register.
Strategy Planning for Teams - December 12, 2018
Date & Time: Wednesday, December 12, 2018, 8:30am -11:30am Cost: $125
Location: Higher Education Center, Medford, Room 129B
Description: What if you had a terrific, innovative idea to grow your business? Do you know how you’d plan it? What questions would you ask, and in what order? Does it even matter, or should you "just do it" and see what happens? In this workshop, we will step through critical questions, which you will apply to your specific business or breakthrough idea. Participants will come away with the foundation for a business plan, including the basis for a go/no-go decision and the beginnings of a strategic plan that you can take home and flesh out. Presented by John Lamy. Click here for more information. Click here to register.
Thriving in the Midst of Change While Maintaining Work-Life Quality - January 16, 2019
Date & Time: Wednesday, January 16, 2019, 8:30am-11:30am Cost: $125
Location: Higher Education Center, Medford Rm 129B
Description: Can change rattle your life – work or home? Research shows most of us say “yes!” because the process of identifying values and their connection to intrinsic motivation and work-life quality has been largely misunderstood. Furthermore, organizations often overlook these challenges, then find themselves losing valued employees or suffering from a lack of genuine engagement from their people. This session aims to provide leaders, managers, supervisors, and Human Resource professionals with a transformative experience in how leaders work with their people and how people themselves integrate their work and their personal life. Participants will leave with a better understanding for coping with and flourishing from changing environments. Presented by Christopher Harding. Click here for more information. Click here to register.
It's a Matter of Mindset: Three Critical Perspectives that Drive Effective Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) March 13, 2019
Date & Time: Wednesday, March 13, 2019 8:30am to 11:30am Cost: $125
Location: Higher Education Center, Medford Rm 129B
Description: While quality and continuous improvement processes like TQM, Six Sigma, Lean, and Lean Six Sigma were each designed to facilitate improvement, they have definite differences in basic aims and perspectives. There are, however, three essential (though not often discussed) mindset components that underlie each of these systems and are necessary to effectively implement improvement processes. Based on well-honed tools and processes used by companies like Toyota, Dow Chemical, Intel, Amgen, and Whirlpool Corporation, the course will aslo include studies, peer-to-peer discussions, and group dialogue. Presented by Chris Harding. Click here for more information. Click here to register.
Project Management Fundamentals - April 17, 2019
Date & Time: Wednesday, April 17, 2019 8:00am to 12:00pm Cost: $165
Location: Higher Education Center, Medford Rm 129B
Description: This four hour workshop provides an introduction to the language and framework of project management for managing projects of all sizes for any type of organization. The workshop covers the five traditional phases of project management and includes assessments to prepare the individual, organization, and team for project management. Participants will learn to identify project goals, constraints, deliverables, performance criteria, resource requirements and control needs. Attendees are introduced to project management software, best practices and provided templates. Upon completion participants will have the tools to manage projects involving 3-5 people and spanning several months duration. We will lay out the basics of the classic Waterfall model, with a half-dozen hands-on exercises. A project will be demonstrated utilizing ProjectLibre software (freeware) to generate a Gantt Chart. Presented by John Lamy. Click here for more information. Click here to register.
Presentation Skills for Professionals - May 15 and 22, 2019
Date & Time: May 15 and 22, 2019 8:30am to 12:00pm Cost: $275
Location: Higher Education Center, Medford Rm 129B
Description: This workshop offers an intensive hands-on experience in how to create and deliver an engaging and persuasive presentation. It is designed for middle to upper level managers or executives who speak to boards, at conferences, and in company meetings. The workshop will deliver tools to improve your delivery and sharpen that clarity of your message. Presented by Cynthia Scherr. Click here for more information. Click here to register.
Here are some great courses which go in depth into various topics that are 5 weeks long in Winter/Spring 2019:
These classes are intense 5 week classes that include a few evenings in the Higher Education Center in Medford and online. If you would like more information about these classes, please contact professional@sou.edu.
Accounting for Managers - January 7 to February 9, 2019
This course focuses on the theory and practice of accounting and financial management for for-profit organizations. Course assignments help students learn about the nature and responsibilities of financial management in the for-profit sectors. Students study accrual and cash-basis accounting systems, as well as accounting analytical tools. Course work emphasizes understanding and interpretation of for-profit financial statements, risk management, and the importance of financials in managing an organization. Instructor: Karen Clarke.
Group Dynamics - January 7 to February 9, 2019
Involves experiential exercises designed to give students an opportunity to learn and gain thinking skills. Topics and exercises cover the development and assessment of creativity; the roles of learning styles, communication, assumptions, inferences, and hypotheses in creativity; the impact of groups on creativity; and various strategies for enhancing creativity. Innovation and Leadership students only. Instructor: Sole Thurnell.
Conflict Management - February 11 to March 17, 2019
Introduces students to the fundamental concepts and theories of dispute resolution and assists them in developing the basic skills and knowledge for productively managing their own and intervening in others’ disputes. Class time consists primarily of practice and roleplay, as well as lecture, and lecture-discussion. Instructor: Lisa Horwitch.
Management Information Systems- February 11 to March 17, 2019
Applies information science to business problem topics, including basic information system design and database concepts, information economics and decision making, systems management, and strategic issues. The case method is used to develop analytical and presentation skills in information systems topics. Participants should be familiar with basic computer applications. Instructor: Daniel Clark.
Strategic Social Media - April 2 to May 5, 2019
In a collaborative learning environment, students develop and produce original digital projects while conducting critical investigations into our role as participants in and products of digitally mediated culture. Instructor: Melissa Matthewson.
Working with Emotional Intelligence - April 2 to May 5, 2019
Examines social and emotional intelligence and how these competencies can strengthen leadership skills, enhance personal and professional growth, and promote a deeper understanding of self and others. Instructor: Chris Cook.
Creative Thinking - May 6 to June 9, 2019
Involves experiential exercises designed to give students an opportunity to learn and gain thinking skills. Topics and exercises cover the development and assessment of creativity; the roles of learning styles, communication, assumptions, inferences, and hypotheses in creativity; the impact of groups on creativity; and various strategies for enhancing creativity. Instructor: Mark Runco.
Past Workshop Topics:
It's a Matter of Mindset: Three Critical Perspectives that Drive Effective Quality & Continuous Improvement
It's a Matter of Mindset: Three Critical Perspectives that Drive Effective Quality & Continuous Improvement
While quality and continuous improvement processes like TQM, Six Sigma, Lean, and Lean Six Sigma were each designed to facilitate improvement, they have definite differences in basic aims and perspectives. There are, however, three essential (though not often discussed) mindset components that underlie each of these systems, and are necessary to effectively implement improvement processes. In this session, we will explore:
- Why a tool called the State of Mind Diagram can be essential to all quality improvement efforts
- How a phenomenon now known as the Virus of Bias can interfere with assessments and data analysis and what leading companies are doing about it
- What the term Quantum Responsibility means and how this foundational approach ensures more effective engagement, communication, and buy-in from all those involved in a continuous improvement or quality process
- How an understanding of a process known as Leveraging the Genius of Inclusion increases a team’s ability to better understand the challenges and opportunities presented throughout the improvement process.
Based on well-honed tools and processes used by companies like Toyota, Dow Chemical, Intel, Amgen, and Whirlpool Corporation, the course will also include case studies, peer-to-peer discussions, and group dialogue. Presenter: Christopher Harding
Conflict Resolution in the Workplace
Conflict Resolution in the Workplace
Managers and employees spend an inordinate amount of time managing their own and team members’ conflicts and challenges. Few people have had quality training in these areas; as a result, resolution processes and outcomes are often less than productive or lasting. They can lead to uncomfortable and costly tangible and intangible consequences for the individuals involved and sometimes the entire organization. Conflicts can “blow up;” or silently “linger” with resentment; get in the way of the work; take more time than they should; or even lead to increased grievances, absences, and turnover. In this practice-based workshop, managers and employees both will learn: how to increase their personal power in any conflict, identify what’s really at stake when issues emerge, engage in best practices for raising tough issues, respond appropriately when they are presented, decide whether or not to get involved in others’ conflicts, and create communication agreements for conflict prevention in their own departments. Participants will become aware of the strengths and weaknesses of their own and others’ conflict styles and tactics.
Project Management and Metrics
Project Management & Metrics - Learn How to Manage The Busy-ness
Too complicated, too complex, too overwhelming: Making progress on a large project can feel like an endless Monday! This two-part workshop offers an introduction to project management and metrics that will help you establish control, and mark progress, over complex tasks that span months and involve multiple people. Click here for more information.
Project Management Fundamentals (8:30am-12:30pm) – An introduction to the language and framework of project management. Upon completion participants will have the tools to manage projects involving 3-5 people and spanning several months duration. We will lay out the basics of the classical Waterfall model, with a half-dozen hands-on exercises. We’ll use ProjectLibre software (freeware) to generate a Gantt Chart. Participants must bring a project to class to use in the exercise – either a work or home project.
Metrics (1:00-3:00pm) – An introductory class designed to engage participants in understanding the real purpose and use of metrics. We will examine the big ideas and best practices associated with metrics. Upon completion participants will be prepared to comfortably apply metrics to processes in their world.
Financial Literacy for Managers
Financial Literacy for Managers
The need for financial literacy at the management level is more important than ever. As businesses experience rapid changes accompanied by mounting challenges there is an increased demand for transparency and accountability and a need to improve existing financial reporting models. During this two session workshop, you will be equipped with the knowledge to bolster the financial capacity of your division or organization, and improve decision making and provide better support to your organization while understanding Financial reporting such as performance and loss statements, income statements, balance sheets and cash flow statements, managerial accounting, budget analysis, and performance evaluation tools to become proficient in budget and cost analysis that impact financial strategies.
Responsibility, Empowerment, and Accountability: Three Secrets Effective Leaders Know and Apply
Responsibility, Empowerment, and Accountability: Three Secrets Effective Leaders Know and Apply
Responsibility, Empowerment, and Accountability are powerful tools too often misunderstood and poorly applied in today’s organizations. In this two-session course (3 hours each), you will discover and practice the essential skills and mindset necessary for effectively implementing empowerment while creating a culture of authentic responsibility and accountability. Based on principles and practices utilized by Fortune 100 companies and thriving start-up organizations alike, this interactive, participatory course will enable you to you generate optimum engagement, effectiveness, and buy-in from your staff, colleagues, partners, or family members.
Other Workshops to Meet Your Needs:
Do you have other management training needs specific to your leadership team? Our network of professional development specialists can build content especially for you. We can also pull in topic specialists from across the Northwest to meet specialized needs. Email professional@sou.edu.
Register for Business & Career Development workshops at: www.sou.edu/takeaclass
For more information or group registration call 541-552-8150 or email professional@sou.edu
