I often start my public talks by giving the audience a question: what is required for organizations to achieve performance excellence.  I get appropriate and accurate responses: highly engaged and trained workers, a focus on customer needs, effective leadership, a vision and a plan for the future, data and measures, high quality products and services, good processes, and so forth.  Then I ask: “what is THE most important driver of performance excellence?”  And after the obligatory pause, the same answers usually come pouring out: good workers, good processes, focus on the customer, good leadership, good data.  All of these responses are appropriate, and to a certain extent, it depends on the environment and circumstances facing the specific organization: what is most important for one organization may differ for another because of differences in market, core competencies, and other key factors.  But believe it or not, there is one right answer – one that’s universal across all organizations.  The single biggest predictor of organizational excellence is…

Leadership.  And it’s pretty conclusive: there is considerable research out there that draws  correlations between effective leadership and superior organizational results/outcomes.  In fact, a few years ago, the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program studied organizations applying for the national quality award, and found that the area most strongly correlated with high performance results was leadership, followed by a focus on the customer and then having satisfied and engaged employees. 

It makes intuitive sense: your workers are those who are delivering products, services, and/or programs that customers value.  So their ability to deliver effectively and consistently will either make or break your organization’s ability to satisfy customer/stakeholder needs.  The link between employee satisfaction and engagement and customer satisfaction and engagement has been thoroughly researched (see “Employees are MORE Than an Asset” in the May 2009 Council newsletter: http://www.councilforquality.org/about_newsletter.cfm).

But you can’t have engaged, competent workers that lead to satisfied, loyal customers without effective leadership. 

This month, I want to focus on the connection between strong leadership and employee engagement (in the interest of full disclosure, this is a little self-serving as the Council is sponsoring a one-day conference on “Best Practices in Leadership & Employee Engagement” November 10 – see Article 3 below).

So let me begin by sharing some data – some pretty compelling evidence of the link between leadership and engaged employees and then to organizational results.  Unfortunately these days, that link is mainly negative.

Here’s the situation…

Employees aren’t happy:

• According to Gallup, only 33% of American workers are currently engaged with their jobs, while 49% are not engaged and 18% are actively disengaged.
• In a Conference Board report issued last year, 55% of American workers are not satisfied with their current work, which is the highest dissatisfaction rate in 22 years.
• In the summer of 2010, Hewitt reported that nearly half of the 900 organizations they tracked experienced declines in employee engagement versus about 30% that experienced improvement.  This was the largest quarterly decline in 15 years.
• Other studies have indicated that 60-80% of American workers would consider a job change if the opportunity presented itself (Manpower, CareerBuilder).  And according to Towers Perrin’s 2010 Global Workforce Study, 46% of new hires DO leave their jobs within the first year.

Much of this is due to poor leadership:

• Only 38% of American workers think their leaders have a sincere interest in their well-being (Human Resources Employee Engagement Statistics, Businessandthegeeks).
• Only 47% think their leaders are trustworthy (ibid).
• Only 42% think their leaders inspire and engage them (ibid).
• About 61% question whether their leaders deal effectively with poor performers (ibid).
• Only 42% think senior leaders encourage development of talent (ibid).

And this is costing American organizations dearly:

• Disengaged workers cost US businesses as much as $350 billion a year (Gallup).
• Job stress costs $200-300 billion to US employers annually in lost productivity, tardiness, and absenteeism (University of Michigan).

But if the trend were reversed, performance of organizations would improve:

• Companies in the top 10% of employee engagement beat their competition by 72% in earnings per share; companies in the bottom three quartiles had earnings 9.4% below their competition.  (SHRM)
• Gallup reports that businesses scoring in the top half on employee engagement DOUBLE their chances of delivering superior results compared to those in the bottom half.  Further, those in the 99th percentile are nearly FIVE TIMES more likely to deliver high performance than those in the bottom percentile.

According to Towers Watson, “…the recent recession has driven a final wedge into the social contract, or ‘deal,’ that has traditionally underpinned the employment relationship.  Today, there is a gap between what employers (leaders) want and expect from this shifting relationship, and what employers can afford to deliver in a highly competitive business climate.  So organizations have a unique opportunity to define a new and more sustainable employment deal with their employees, which include fostering towards ‘self-reliance.’”  (Towers Watson, 2010 Global Workforce Study) 

Interestingly, there was a study reported just this week (National Governance, Culture, and Leadership Assessment study by the Boston Research Group, 2011) that looked at the differences between organizations that are “self-governing” (in which employees are guided by a set of core principles and values that align around a company’s mission) versus “command and control” (more top-down management, leadership by coercion, or blind obedience).  The conclusions are pretty compelling:

• There was a difference in ethical behavior: Nearly 50% of the command and control companies showed evidence of unethical behavior in the previous year, compared to 25% in self-governing organizations, yet
• Only 25% of those in command and control companies said they were likely to blow the whistle, versus over 90% of employees in self-governing firms.
• This lack of trust also seemed to impact innovation: 90% of employees in self-governing firms versus 20% in command and control employees agreed that good ideas are readily adopted by their organization.
• Some of the other data from this study show just how different leaders’ perceptions are versus employees: some 27% of management believes their employees are inspired by their firm, but only 4% of employees agree.  What a disconnect!
• Some 41% of managers say their organizations reward performance based on values rather than merely financial results.  Only 14% of employees believe the same.
• And amazingly, managers are EIGHT TIMES more likely than the average worker to believe that their organization is self-governing (in the study, only 3% of organizations were actually categorized as self-governing, while 43% were command-and-control and 54% were somewhere in between – a culture that was top-down, had skilled leadership, lots of rules and a mix of carrots and sticks).  Apparently leaders in most organizations have a much higher impression of themselves and their organizational culture than do their workers.

I wrote a column on the importance of employee engagement (and how leaders and increase it) in March of this year and also February 2010 (both can be found at http://www.councilforquality.org/about_newsletter.cfm).  In both articles, I outlined several ways organizations could improve employee engagement:

• Measure and manage the factors that drive employee satisfaction and engagement.  It’s amazing how many organizations simply don’t have a handle on how engaged (or even how satisfied) their employees are.  Not knowing this important information leaves you at risk and also leaves you in the dark about what to improve to increase workers’ happiness.
• Identify “critical talent” and work to retain these workers.  All employees are important, but some are more important.  Organizations need to inventory their workforce’s talent levels and focus on keeping those that are crucial to the business.
• Train and develop your workforce – on those things that are important to the success of your people and your company (and not anything else).  Having highly competent, highly skilled workers is the only way to deliver consistently high value to customers and other stakeholders.  People run your processes, your systems, your equipment, your operations.  If they don’t have leading edge knowledge (or worse, they really know what they’re doing), your organization will sub-optimize its resources, will experience waste, and will experience a negative impact on customer and financial results.
• Build systematic ways to transfer knowledge and skills among employees.  About 10,000 Baby Boomers retire EVERY DAY, a trend that will continue for the next 20 years.  Before those assets walk out the door, find ways to systematically transfer and leverage the collective knowledge of your most experienced, most seasoned workers.
• Adapt to different work styles.  Not all employees are the same.  Organizations need to engage with their workers in new and different ways, depending on the varying needs of their people.  Council member Manpower calls it a “one size fits one” mentality.  It requires a keen understanding of how your workforce can and should be segmented, and then the ability to respond to the varying needs and characteristics of those segments.
• Eliminate organizational waste. Not only does this drain on the bottom line, it frustrates employees who really do want to do a good job.  Try hard to streamline operations, eliminate unnecessary steps/approvals/barriers, and get ride of non- or low value-added activity.

All of those tips are still valid today, and to them, I’d offer a few more thoughts.  A 2008 study by Conference Board, found eight core areas to be essential factors in employee engagement (and Gallup’s 12 survey questions address all eight of these areas).  As reported by Craig Britton, president of SwitchTrack, they are:

• The organization and its leaders build and expect integrity.
• Leaders build personal relationships with employees, addressing concerns and promoting trustworthiness.
• Leaders empower their workers and give them influence – they leverage worker expertise, they listen, and they take action on suggestions
• There is a clear line-of-sight between individual and company performance.  Organizations that are better aligned have higher engagement.
• They have pathways for career growth.
• Leaders reinforce the culture by encouraging two things: 1) friendships within the company, and 2) universal commitment to quality.
• Leaders provide opportunities for personal development – they provide encouragement and challenges for employees to learn.
• They encourage an environment that demonstrates pride in the organization.

Building systems that promote these practices – and an environment that consistently supports them – are hard work.  It requires a better understanding of employees’ needs; it requires transparency and open communication; it requires trust and integrity; it requires setting expectations and holding people accountable for them; it requires building a culture that focuses on improvement and performance excellence.  In short, it requires effective leadership.

To hear from 10+ high performing organizations how they have established effective leadership and how they have promoted and sustain high levels of employee engagement, consider attending our November 10 conference (and November 11 post-conference).  Details below and at http://www.councilforquality.com/specialevent2.cfm.

Want to participate in a discussion on this topic??  Visit our new blog to post a comment!

Yours in Improvement,

Brian S. Lassiter

President, Minnesota Council for Quality

www.councilforquality.org

Come join us for two extraordinary workshops:

Oct 25: Achieving 8 Dimensions of Excellence: Aligning Strategy and Measures with Customer Priorities, and

Oct 26: Mind & Voice of the Customer: Uncover, Translate, Measure & Deliver What Customers Want

Both are full-day workshops. Both are presented by Robin Lawton, President, International Management Technologies, Inc. (www.imtC3.com), and both are hosted in Bloomington.  Both have sold out in the past, with attendee satisfaction approaching 100%. Don't miss these extremely valuable, highly engaging workshops!!

Oct 25: Achieving 8 Dimensions of Excellence

Change leaders like you have high expectations, a vision of the possible and urgency to engage others. Join this stimulating and entertaining session for a pragmatic approach that will strengthen your ability to achieve strategic outcomes customers will notice and employees will enthusiastically deploy. Your top-rated speaker and author, Robin Lawton, provides a thought-leading model and new tools for an eminently practical way to:

• Describe customer priorities along four main dimensions
• Concretely connect them to enterprise mission and strategy
• Balance eight (8) areas of performance and related measures
• Integrate & leverage existing initiatives (Baldrige, GPRA, Lean/Six Sigma, HCAHPS, VoC, etc.)

Tools you'll take away include:

• A self-assessment that reveals excellence strengths/needs in four key areas of leadership
• The easy-to-apply framework, showing your current initiative(s) focus and how to leverage
• Two tools that remove ambiguity about what "service" means and who "the customer" is
• Deployment criteria proven to increase satisfaction & workforce capacity while simultaneously making huge cost and time savings
• The method for connecting strategy to daily work, applicable to everyone

Oct 26: Mind & Voice of the Customer

Challenging times are ripe with opportunity, making this session more important than ever. Its unique tools and methods will help you understand, keep and satisfy customers. And your efforts to apply ISO requirements, Six Sigma projects, Baldrige Criteria, HCAHPS and satisfaction surveys will be significantly enhanced. You will find this material is particularly relevant for your service and knowledge work, not just for the widget business.

This session shows how easy it is to confuse what you heard with what they said (not to mention what they want but didn't say). Mistaking the literal voice of the customer with the untapped mind of the customer is tragically common.  Tools such as surveys, quality function deployment (QFD), the Kano model, ISO 9000, Six Sigma and others have been increasingly used to capture the voice of the customer (VOC). While they have all made contributions, NONE answer key questions every practitioner must answer. Naturally, this workshop provides those answers.

The Minnesota Council for Quality is pleased to announce a special two-day conference this fall: “Best Practices in Leadership Effectiveness & Employee Engagement.”  The main conference will be Thursday, November 10, with post-conference workshops on Friday, November 11.  High performing organizations such as US Bank, Toro, Allina Hospitals & Clinics, Olmsted County, Benedictine Health System, AMSOIL, Plunkett’s Pest Control, and others have agreed to share best practices in succession planning, communication, servant leadership, measuring and increasing employee engagement, and many other relevant topics.

Experts will also exhibit November 10, and special facilitated networking/sharing sessions are scheduled for parts of the day to help attendees absorb content, share best practices amongst themselves, and meet/build relationships with other leaders and professionals interested in performance excellence.

More information, including a draft agenda, can be found at http://www.councilforquality.com/specialevent2.cfm.

Strategic management is one of only three business practices consistently followed by industry and sector leaders. Practicing strategic management enables an organization to define its future, carve out a competitive market position, and establish a tiered, multi-plan approach to close the gap between today and the future. It provides a dynamic roadmap, responsive to the changing environment that aligns operational processes, prevents wasted effort, focuses scarce resources, and ensures that all stakeholders are “playing from the same sheet of music.”

The Minnesota Council for Quality is pleased to welcome Ted Vecchio, President of PerformWare Inc. to our October 6 PIN: "Planning is Not Dead."

In this dynamic, highly interactive presentation, participants will learn three key elements to help make their planning practices, best practices that realize their fullest potential. In addition, all participants will receive a special handout -- a white paper and proprietary assessment tool.

Take away three things from this discussion:

1) Assess your overall planning efforts against the best practice Pyramid of Planning

2) Identify one planning structure to deploy this year that will dramatically increase your planning effectiveness

3) Apply an accurate, forward-thinking assessment tool that can anticipate market problems before they occur and develop a proactive remedy

The discussion is from 8:00-9:00 a.m. on October 6 (networking and continental breakfast begin at 7:30 a.m.) at Minneapolis Community & Technical College, 1501 Hennepin Ave, downtown Minneapolis.

Admission to PIN is FREE for Council members; $15 for partner organizations; $30 for the public.

We are all born innovators. We have an innate ability to explore and experiment and invent and discover. Unfortunately, most of us have been conditioned to suppress those behaviors in ways that may be entirely subconscious. Without realizing it, we have adopted attitudes, assumptions, and beliefs that are at odds with our objectives. Yet every one of us has the power to become a world class innovator.

The Minnesota Council for Quality is pleased to welcome Dennis Stauffer, founder, Insight Fusion LLC, to our October 12 PIN: "Born Brilliant: The Mindset of a World Class Innovator (Like You)."

In this discussion, you will discover some simple choices that define the difference between successful innovation and getting trapped in the status quo. These patterns of behavior have the power to make each of us more adaptable and effective...or they have the ability to undermine even the most thoughtfully designed innovation processes when we fail to recognize the choices we’re making.

You will:

• Discover the subconscious mental models that drive (or obstruct) innovation.
• Reassess your own values, assumptions and beliefs to maximize your innovation capabilities.
• Identify the four critical choices that world class innovators make consistently and how those choices interconnect.
• Rediscover your innate talent for innovation and learn how to maximize it.

This interactive discussion will deliver research-based insights to enhance your creativity, adaptability and mental agility in confronting novel challenges. You will be energized to step up to the challenge of innovation and become part of the solution…boosting your personal, as well as your organization’s, capacity to innovate successfully.

We thank our sponsor, Metropolitan State University, for their support of this session, helping us to keep it complimentary for members.

The discussion is from 8:00-9:00 a.m. on Oct 12 (networking and continental breakfast begin at 7:30 a.m.) at Metro State University, 700 E 7th Street, downtown St. Paul.

Admission to PIN is FREE for Council members; $15 for partner organizations; $30 for the public.

In 2008, IBM launched a new marketing campaign centered on the theme of “A Smarter Planet.”  Since then, IBM and much of the technology industry has shaped their overarching strategies around this grand vision.  But this is more than just a vision: it’s a way of leveraging technology to improve communities.

The Rochester Area Quality Council, an affiliate of the Minnesota Council for Quality, is pleased to welcome Chuck Wallace, IBM Education Coordinator, and Matthew Paschal, Design Engineer, to our October 11 program, "IBM: Let’s Build a Smarter Planet."

During this program you will learn about the scope of IBM’s Smarter Planet strategy and look “under the hood” to discover what elements make up a Smart Planet solution, and what are some examples of a smarter planet.  Chuck will provide examples of the Smarter Planet solution, including how individuals in the community can get involved.

The session is Oct 11 from 8:00-9:30 AM RCTC.

RESCHEDULED from September due to speaker illness!! – Now 10/19

Last month, the community welcomed a new Superintendent of Duluth Public Schools, Dr. I.V. Foster.  Dr. Foster, who hails from the Chicago area, brings new vision, new energy, and new priorities to Duluth.  Building on the district’s previous continuous improvement efforts, Dr. Foster has a vision for how to improve learning outcomes, reduce the achievement gap, and increase stakeholder satisfaction.  And Dr. Foster is a student – and advocate – for quality in our schools. Come hear how Dr. Foster plans to improve the performance of our schools.

The session is from 7:30-8:30 a.m. on October 19 (networking and continental breakfast begin at 7:00 a.m.) at a school location TBD.  Admission to TPPEN is FREE for Council members and guests ($20 for non-members).

For more information, please visit http://www.councilforquality.org/TPPEN.cfm. Space is limited so register today by emailing brian.lassiter@councilforquality.org.

Looking for information to improve workforce satisfaction?  Looking for best practices in leadership?  Wondering how to measure customer satisfaction or engagement – maybe using the Net Promoter Score method, the Kano method, or some other proven technique?  Want to learn how to use Hoshin Planning or other quality tools? 

The Minnesota Council for Quality developed an on-line Improvement Clearinghouse several years ago to provide information for improving organizational performance.  The Clearinghouse is still FREE and easy-to-use.  You will find valuable information such as white papers, articles, links to hundreds of other websites that specialize in continuous improvement, and a training/improvement-related event directory.  You will also find links to our online Consultant Referral Network (a “yellow pages” to find expert help to improve your organization).

The Clearinghouse is intended to be a comprehensive resource center for individuals and organizations desiring information on improvement frameworks, techniques, and tools.  So consider it a resource for learning more about improving aspects of your business.  Visit http://www.councilforquality.com/improve.cfm today to download (or upload) information and knowledge on performance excellence.

The Wisconsin Center for Performance Excellence, a partner of the MN Council for Quality, is pleased to announce a Lean Government Conference October 10 in Madison.  The one day Conference will be held at the Monona Terrace Community & Convention Center from 9am - 4:30pm, and will feature Graham Richard as keynote.  Graham is a champion of stronger cities, towns and states, with a special interest in green initiatives, high speed broadband and high performance government.  A former Indiana state senator and business entrepreneur, Graham Richard brought his expertise in both politics and best business practices to city government in 2000 when he began his first term as mayor of the Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Additional speakers include: Mike Rohlf, Iowa Office of Lean Enterprise; Teresa Hay McMahon, President of the Iowa Lean Consortium; Ellen Liston, Retired Deputy City Manager, City of Coral Springs, FL, 2008 Malcolm Baldrige Recipient; Barb Nicol, UW Stout Center for Operational Excellence; and Shawn Klinge, Foth Engineering.

Who Should Attend?  State Government Leaders; County, City Towns, Villages, Elected Officials & Department Heads; Tribal Government Leaders.

Register for $150 ($125 for multiple attendees from the same organization).

It's no surprise that organizations that perform at the highest levels have a formal strategic planning process in place with strong execution. In order for an organization to achieve success, there needs to be a roadmap for success. A strategic plan helps to provide direction and focus.  It points to specific results that are to be achieved and establishes a course of action for achieving them. A strategic plan also helps the various work units within an organization to align themselves with common goals.

Join our partner, ASQ, for their monthly meeting Tuesday, October 11: “Strategic Planning.” 

Building a strategic plan is not difficult if you employ the right process. In this session, Bob Mitchell, Senior Manager for 3M Corporate Quality & Lean Six Sigma Operations, will take the mystery out of strategic planning as he leads a panel of MNASQ leaders in a discussion of the process and tools that were used to develop the Long Range Plan of the largest ASQ section with MNASQ Strategic Planning: A Holistic, Practical Approach.

The Minnesota Chapter of Project Management Institute (PMI), an alliance partner of the Council, is pleased to announce its next breakfast session: “Saving a Troubled Project.”  The session will be held October 11, and will be facilitated by Mark Waldoff, an instructor at the U of M, who has 44 years experience in the aerospace industry. 

Projects get into trouble for repeating and well understood reasons. Many proven solutions to these common root causes of project issues are now well known. This presentation will address a process to recover troubled projects. The process determines the core project issues and defines steps necessary to put the project back on a successful path. In addition, organizational level structural actions that can be very valuable in preventing projects from getting into trouble in the first place are addressed.

The MN Chapter of ISPI, an alliance partner of the Council, is pleased to announce a special workshop November 11: “Learning Transfer Strategies That Really Work: Getting Serious About Solving the #1 Problem in Training.”  The session will be all day (8:30-4:00) at the TIES Building on Snelling in St. Paul), and will be facilitated by Dr. Ed Holton is the Jones S. Davis Distinguished Professor of Human Resource, Leadership, and Organization Development at Louisiana State University and CEO of Learning Transfer Solutions Global and Holton Consulting Inc.

Learning transfer – or the lack thereof – is the #1 problem in training today. Most estimates point to only 15-30% of learning transfers are actually used on-the-job to improve performance. That means that at least $100 billion is wasted every year, and perhaps much more. Yet, little progress has been made in solving this problem in practice even though there have been significant advances in research.

This workshop will build on our Thursday evening program to focus on action strategies that really work to solve the problem.  Participants will learn about evidence-based strategies that can significantly increase learning transfer and ROI from training. Using a systems approach and the latest tools Dr. Holton and his colleagues have developed, participants will be equipped to make a real difference in their organizations.  These tools include the Learning Transfer System Inventory (LTSI) and TransferLogixTM, their cutting edge learning transfer management system.

Workshop Objectives…Participants in this program will be able to:

• Diagnose barriers to learning transfer in organizations.
• Develop strategies to overcome barriers to learning transfer.
• Implement a process to significantly enhance learning transfer.
• Measure learning transfer pre- and post-training.
• Anticipate systemic barriers based on research.
• Apply learning transfer research in organizations.
• Use a software system to automate learning transfer strategies.

Cost is $240 ($200 for Council members). 

MNISPI’s November Chapter Meeting will be held the night before on Thursday, Nov. 10, 2011, from 5:30 -8:00 PM at the same location.  Dr. Holton will address “Solving the Learning Transfer Puzzle: Tools and Processes from Research.”

Please join the MN Facilitators Network, an alliance partner of the Council, for their next meeting October 6: “Capability Statements: Marketing for Facilitators.”  The session will be facilitated by Mary Jacobs, founder and consultant in Seaton Sales Management (and former sales manager at Northwest Airlines).

Finding new clients is one of the many challenges that Solo Practitioners face. You always strive for excellence with your customers, yet sustaining a successful long term business takes more than excellent service. You have to be constantly selling yourself and your business, and the prospect of selling is what holds businesses back from reaching their potential.

This workshop is designed to be interactive and hands on so you walk away with tangible ideas to grow your business. The workshop is focused on three strategies to build your business: Communicating your value to clients and new prospects; Building a basic sales plan; and Writing your Capability Statement.

Mary will lead this workshop that is focused for people that own professional services firms. The interactive exercises will get you to think and to act and most importantly have a roadmap to continue to build your business. It doesn’t mean that practitioners who work within organizations should stay away. Sometimes internal facilitators need to sell participatory processes in similar ways to people who operate their own businesses. It’s very possible that writing a capability statement and building an "internal sales plan" could help an internal facilitator, coach or organizational development practitioner raise the profile of their work in helping the organization meet it’s strategic and tactical goals.

Enterprise Minnesota, a partner of the MN Council for Quality, is pleased to announce their next upcoming event: “The Value of Your Business: What Expert Buyers Are Looking For” on October 27 in Brooklyn Park.

How can your business achieve strategic Value in the eyes of an investor? Investors will ask... Is your company known and competing in a market niche that can be successful? Do you deliver products/services most efficiently? Do you differentiate products and services within markets with the greatest potential?

The key lies in how well your company understands the role of Values in the journey to create business Value. Do your company's Values fit well with prospective partners? How do you know? How can a company raise its Value? Can a company and prospective partner agree? How does this negotiation take place?

Come learn from an expert investor on how to develop identifiable worth inside your company.

Granite Equity Partners will share their experience investing and partnering with fifteen companies over the past nine years. Granite Equity is a Minnesota-based company that invests equity capital in established, private companies to facilitate phased owner retirements and staged ownership sales. In addition, several company leaders will discuss their perspectives about transitioning a business, and the role of a company in raising both Values and Value.

The University of Minnesota’s College of Continuing Education, an alliance partner of the Council, is pleased to announce their upcoming improvement and business courses.  Council members receive a 10% discount on all CCE courses.

10/3 ONLINE Business Analysis $1,850

10/4 Leading Through Change $395

10/4 Online HR Certification Test Prep $1,095

10/4 Project Initiation $395

10/7 Project Management for IT Professionals $395

10/7 Technical Writing $395

10/7 Performance Management Process $395

10/11 Project Planning $750

10/11 Implementing Process Change $995

10/12 Successful Manager's Leadership Program $2,995

10/12 Data and Process Modeling $750

10/13 Achieving Results Through Personal Power and Leadership $395

10/14 Project Management and Chaos Theory $395

10/18 Managing Business Requirements $750

10/20 Organizational Assessment $795

10/21 High Impact Presentations $395

10/21 Business Acumen for Technical Professionals $395

10/25 Project Execution $395

10/26 Employee and Labor Relations $395

10/26 Business Analysis Planning $395

10/27 Developing Direct Reports and Employees $395

10/28 Career Planning Workshop $495

10/28 Applied Project Management $395

11/1 Improving Work Processes $395

11/1 Data and Process Modeling $750

11/3 Exercising Organizational Influence $395

11/4 Documenting Employee Performance $395

11/8 Measuring and Improving Work Processes $995

11/8 Project Execution $395

11/8 Organizational Training and Development $395

11/8 Project Control and Closure $395

11/9 Business Process Modeling and Analysis $750

11/10 Creativity and Innovation $395

11/11 Writing Business Reports $395

11/15 Employee Benefits Practices and Trends $395

11/15 Interviewing and Selection Processes $395

11/15 Project Risk Management $395

11/17 Successfully Dealing with Conflict at Work $395

11/17 Workforce Talent Assessment and Planning $795

11/29 Project Leadership $395

11/29 Coaching for Excellence $395

11/29 Business Process Modeling and Analysis $750

11/30 Designing On-Boarding Programs $395

11/30 Use Case Fundamentals $395

12/1 Ethical Business Decision Making $395

12/2 Working Assertively $395

12/6 Project Negotiation and Conflict Resolution $395

12/6 Technology for HR Management $395

12/6 Project Risk Management $395

12/8 Leading Successful Team Intervention Strategies $795

12/13 Applied Project Management $395

12/13 Capstone in Supervision $750

12/13 The Human Resource Audit $395

12/13 Process Innovation $995

12/14 Facilitating User Acceptance Testing $395

12/15 Verbal and Nonverbal Communication Skills $395

12/16 Writing for the Web $395

.

.

.

.