Does the world seem as if it has turned up-side down and the daily grind has found you joyless, weary, tired and burned out? Does it feel like everyone around you is whining, moaning and complaining about ....well, everything? Think their attitude is catching? But wait, there's hope! You can be a catalyst for change by adjusting your attitude and your influence. How can YOU be UP in a Down world? The answer is simple: Control your Attitude. In this session participants will review and learn abut the four components for having a positive attitude. The key issues to be covered include:

• Optimism: Understanding that you have a choice in seeing whether a glass as half full, or half empty.
• Objectivity: Being honest with ourselves is sometimes very painful; however, it will help your self esteem and lower your anxiety.
• Deliberation: It takes a conscious effort to change the habits and expectations you have developed over time. You must deliberately focus on creating good habits intentionally.
• Determination: Never stop moving forward! If you find that you are becoming discouraged or frustrated, then dealing with those feelings becomes part of the challenge. Spend some time deliberately strategizing for getting a better outlook.

When you think of workplace attitudes you must ask yourself the simple question: would you want an employee who is extremely good at his or her job but has a bad attitude or an average employee who has a positive attitude? I believe the overwhelming response would be for the later because we all have learned the hard way that bad attitudes can reduce the effectiveness of ones organization. The fact is that skills can be taught but an attitude is often difficult to change. The question often asked is what is an attitude? To some it's a mindset, a way of thinking but that's only partly right. The bigger picture is that an attitude is a habit of thought. It defines how one looks at their world and workplace. What employers want are people with attitudes that think "I can," not "I can't." This one day seminar is devoted to the building blocks that lead to positive attitudes. Our trainer will show participants how to find, keep and maintain an approach that leads to a positive outlook. This highly interactive course includes interactive session as well as self evaluations to help individuals create an open mind and heart to developing a more productive, meaningful work life. This session will look at:

• How does one understand the importance of having a positive attitude
• How to develop and maintain positive feelings and thoughts in the workplace
• How a positive attitude leads to more productivity and a commitment to doing things right
• How attitudes impact and influence those around us
• The relationship between positive attitudes and internal and external customer satisfaction
• Identifying personality and attitudes - our true "colors"
• Creating personality matrix-the value of it
• Emotions and attitudes
• Anger-when, why, how, who
• Attitude "revamp", a process and project

This course serves as an overview of business organization principles, including structure and operation. Topics covered include basic business economic theory, organizational structure, planning, and productivity. Topics to be covered include:

• The four benchmarks of group/organization dynamics
• Organizational mission
• The C-M-E Triangle and its role in OD
• Policymaking

Almost everything we do in our work is done within the context of a team effort. More often than not, the difficult part facing the person responsible for leading others is inspiring individuals to work together toward a common end or goal. This seminar is designed to assist participants in learning the skills of being an effective team builder, the effectiveness of teamwork and the importance of being an effective team leader. Additional topics to be covered include:

• Why some teams succeed and others fail
• Some of the pitfalls of a team
• What you can do to help your team succeed
• How to reduce and resolve conflict on a team
• The results of team members not treating each other with dignity and respect
• What to do at the first hint of dispute
• Setting appropriate ground rules for team members
• Maintaining control
• Remaining impartial

This one-day seminar covers the basic rules and conventions of both conversational and written language as applies to the business environment. Topics covered include proper sentence structure, appropriate word choice, correcting common errors in spelling and punctuation. Also discussed is the use of traditional literary devices, which promote clarity, favorable impression, and understanding. Topics to be covered include:

• Written and verbal communication cycles
• Structure, grammar, and syntax
• Spelling and punctuation
• Using communication to inform and influence

This two-day seminar is designed to build essential communications skills for leaders who communicate in a variety of ways with their subordinates, co-workers and managers on a daily basis. Commonly used tools - both
verbal and written - will be covered. In just two days, the attendees will:

• Learn to speak like a leader by becoming an overall better communicator
• Build better work relationships while communicating for needed results
• Develop more effective presentation skills for use in training and general speaking situations
• Develop better skills in writing with emphasis on accurate, brief and clear communication in fast-paced situations
• Learn to communicate with diplomacy, discretion and influence

Day One:

• What Communication Involves and Its Importance to a Leader
• Speaking like a Leader - The Basics Behind Becoming a Better Communicator
• Building Better Work Relationships while Communicating for Results
• Communicating in Difficult Situations - Giving and Receiving Feedback
• Communicating with Diplomacy, Discretion and Influence

Day Two:

• Writing Skills in Fast-Paced Situations: Memos, Notes and E-mails
• Developing Effective Presentation Skills
• How-to's of Crystal Clear Communication
• Hands-on Communication Exercises

Few would ague that life and work are hard enough without the complications surrounding self-defeating emotions, behaviors, and habits. The multiple forces that bear down on us every day can eventually take their toll. No wonder people often feel anxious, resentful, taken advantage of and even trapped. This one-day seminar is intended to help participants understand how to stay focused on their goals, whether work or personal, while ups and downs occur around them. Participants will gain insight into developing ‘personal' flexibility to deal with uncertainty and to find meaning in what they are doing. This seminar will focus on the important personal skill of emotional self-control. Participants will learn about what role emotions play in their life, the ways they are expressed, how to manage emotional ups and downs, to deal with stress and how to handle crisis situations. Over the course of the day, the class will learn how to make ‘better' choices at work and elsewhere, how to practice self-discipline, and control emotionally difficult situations. In addition, others issues to be covered include:

• Build confidence by learning to respond correctly to difficult situations and people
• Explore ones attitudes and how to use anger constructively
• Control how one reacts to emotional situations presented by other people
• Embrace how to ‘let go' of the old and accept change
• Learn to eliminate habits that tend to pull you down and work against you.

This one-day training seminar is designed to help individuals develop and build decision-making, critical-thinking and problem-solving skills. Participants will learn about various methods for assessing and resolving problems and for understanding the role of inferences and assumptions. The class is intended to serve as a means for building confidence in how to ask the "right questions" and in overcoming the stress that sometimes accompanies making decisions. Participants will gain an understanding of how to be proactive, more confident, decrease stress, and strengthen ones ability to influence and persuade others. Additional topics to be covered include:

• How to ask questions to get the answers you need
• How to apply creative problem-solving techniques
• Build greater professional recognition through enhanced skills

One of the more difficult tasks any leader faces is learning to effectively manage their job and that of others. The realities of shorter deadlines, competing priorities, endless meetings, constant interruptions, and higher quality expectations are just a few of the challenges individuals face on a day-to-day basis; yet, the number of hours in the day remains the same. In order to be effective in the job, a leader must be a good manager of time, learn how to delegate effectively, how to put organizational tools and techniques to use, and how to analyze, plan, and schedule activities based on priorities. The purpose of this training seminar is to assist participants in learning all of the above as a means of being more effective in their jobs. Topics to be covered include:

• How to develop and use a "Can Do" attitude
• How to establish goals
• Know what to prioritize
• The keys to analyzing how your time is spent
• Developing a master plan for being more effective
• When to do things by scheduling
• How to control interruptions
• Learning to improve meetings
• Conquering procrastination
• Developing team work

Understanding the various financial aspects associated with healthcare operations is essential for anyone performing the responsibilities associated with being an administrative or executive assistant. This one-day course is designed to provide this important employee group with a clear understanding of business operations, how to review and ensure budgets, and verifying that expenses stay on track. Participants in this training session will gain an important understanding of accounting language, key terms, financial definitions, financial statements, and balance sheets. In addition, the program will provide those in attendance with an improved familiarity with the accounting process and how you can assist management with decision making and analysis of important business numbers. Additional items covered include:

• The annual report and the auditor's role
• Evaluating an organization's financial statements
• Financing the business
• Budgeting more effectively

This course is designed specifically for those with administrative responsibilities to help increase cooperation and productivity. Topics covered include the bases of organizational power and how to effectively use each to accomplish challenging tasks and meet critical deadlines. Each person will take a personal leadership assessment inventory. Topics to be covered include:

• Understanding the bases of power and influence
• Levels of professional independence
• Principles of "followership"

There is the right way and the wrong way to be assertive. This class focuses on how to be assertive by sending the right signals and getting the right responses. The session provides insight into how you can handle yourself, without appearing to be either shy or pushy. Participants will learn how to get things done, how to better manage conflicts, recognize ones own strengths and weaknesses, and build a positive image. Additional topics to be covered include:

• Learn various assertive behaviors to use in challenging situations
• How to assess your stress level and manage that stress
• Learn how to use assertive communication techniques: verbal, nonverbal and assertive listening
• Develop an assertive delegation strategy

Have you noticed that some people are always looking at a glass that is half empty or they always feel like they are in a rut, burned out, and beat up?

This fun and interactive workshop is designed and intended to help people discover how thoughts, feelings and behaviors can affect work performance, relationships, success and self worth. Participants in this unique session can expect to gain valuable insight into what is 'negativitism' and how can it be changed in order to make a difference in their life and their workplace. This seminar is designed to help participants break the cycle of negativity and empower them to do what others say is impossible! The concept behind the day long program is to understand that "change is possible and it begins with each of us!" Some of the topics to be covered include:

• Understand Negativity and its causes
• The high cost of Negativity in the work place: turnover, lack of trust, burnout, and lethargy.
• Explore the many disguises of Negativity: Blamers, Chronic Complainers, Nasty-Nicers, Yes But-ers, Whiners, Procrastinators, and many more!
• Clearly define Pessimism and Optimism
• Learn how to replace Negative self talk with positive affirmation
• Explore the affects of attitude
• Discuss the importance of Humor in every situation
• Define Reframing: Getting a new Perspective
• Acknowledge the power of THANKFULNESS AND GRATITUDE
• Empower and Energize attendees to bring about change in their own lives.

The success of a business is based to a large extent on the people skills of its employees. The purpose of this one-day seminar is to improve the company's business relationships through the skills of interpersonal communication with internal and external customers. Participants will gain a perspective of service excellence from the customers' point of view when conducting business transactions both in person and via telephone. Using class discussion and interactive exercises, they develop skills for dealing with internal and external customers in a variety of recurring scenarios including technical support, answering questions, and giving information. The skills learned in this program serve to enhance the performance of the all employees who interact with fellow employees and customers resulting in reduced stress, more efficient utilization of transaction time, and improved customer satisfaction. The course will cover area such as: knowing what customers expect, assessing the 'personality types' of customers, how to control problem situations, creating a 'positive image' for customers, effective phone and e-mail communications. Learning outcomes in this program include:

• The blueprint of effective communication
• What your customers expect
• Creating positive customer experiences by using the appropriate communication style
• Handling all customer transactions professionally and efficiently
• The five basic strategies for handling stressful customer situations

Key skills possessed by effective executive and administrative assistants are diplomacy, discretion and effective communication. This one-day training session is intended to provide participants with the skills and understanding to maintain effective business relationships. Coverage will include the importance of communication skills with executives, colleagues and clients, how one should handle sensitive issues, and working tactfully with other employees. Participants in this training program will gain insight into:

• Learning to handle situations with discretion and authority
• Building on ones communication strengths
• The importance of diplomacy in the workplace
• Managing sensitive information and using tact
• Using electronic communications effectively