• Fine Tuning "Inside and Outside" communications
• Increasing customer satisfaction through improved employee communication
• Learning to better managing stressful situations
• Understanding what customers expect from their co-op and how working and communicating together helps meet those expectations.
• Learning how the Communication Cycle serves as the key to improved internal/external communications.
• Working together to earn customer loyalty

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

• Examine their own attributes in light of the characteristics of a good leader
• Gather and use feedback to gain insight on how you are perceived by others
• Fine-tune their communication style for achieving best results.
• Influence a work environment that promotes enthusiasm and productivity
• Create a personal development plan to build your own leadership skills

• Recognizing and overcoming resistance
• Minimizing productivity losses
• Reducing unnecessary employee stress
• Increasing employee buy-in and support for change
• Effectively planning, launching and managing change in your organization

• How to maintain positive employee relations
• How managers and supervisors influence their employees' attitudes, work, and productivity.
• Conducting new employee orientation
• Useful tips for helping your employees succeed
• Developing a professional workplace
• Motivating employees to grow with your company
• How to help employees be successful
• Communicating why your company is unique

• Use effective leadership strategies and techniques to get results
• Influence decisions made by others when you are not "officially" in charge
• Build skills, knowledge, and attributes needed to be an effective leader
• Develop advanced leadership skills that transcend your job position or role
• Use a leadership "blueprint" to achieve maximum capabilities

• Actual case studies in which application of the "key factors" yielded positive results
• Interconnection of the key factors
• Measurement - management's ability to predict success
• In-depth study and applications for controlling the key factors
• Reliability of the organization
• Customers' measurement and the key factors
• Achieving your organization's vision
• Cost control in known and undiscovered areas
• Quality tools
• Actual improvement of identified weak areas

• How to increase levels of collaboration and mutual support among team members
• How to express your ideas in ways that gain the attention, support and respect of others
• How to quickly "fit in" with any group of people
• How to make an unforgettable, positive first impression on anyone
• How to minimize conflict and reduce friction on the job and in your personal life

• Use the group decision-making model
• Recognize the importance of balancing task and people issues
• Utilize the diversity on your team
• Identify and use tools for effective meeting management
• Effectively manage conflict and build confidence

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.

• Recognizing elements of highly effective teams
• Targeting questions to diagnose your team's needs
• Identifying what a team leader should be listening for or paying attention to
• Examining potential interventions that match your team's needs
• Applying appropriate techniques to improve team performance
• Properly diagnosing team issues
• Increasing your knowledge of team dynamics
• Feeling more confident about your team leader skills

• What are and are not board duties and responsibilities
• Working effectively with your Manager
• The importance of grass-roots lobbying
• The principles of effective leadership
• An understanding of the communication cycle and its role in improving business relationships and task efficiency
• Understanding change

• Learn to recognize team members attributes and skills
• Help others apply their talents to work assignments
• Achieve goals through skills development
• Contribute to team success through individual performance

• Counseling vs. Discipline: which is appropriate?
• Identifying the process for counseling an employee
• Using a counseling interview for win-win outcomes
• Learning how to communicate positive messages of reinforcement

• Understanding the "annoying" employee vs. the performance problem employee
• Identifying when to use corrective or preventive discipline
• Documentation - what and how much
• Dealing with a major offense

• What does empowering employees mean?
• Why would an employee want to be empowered?
• Identifying and assessing your leadership style.
• When is authoritative leadership required?
• Which is a best, delegating or participative style of management?
• How to change leadership styles to meet the need.
• What conditions are required for employees to desire empowerment?
• Review case studies of failures and successes.
• Inspire, guide, help others grow, set and share common objectives - easy to say and easy to do when a leader understands and acts.
• Assess candidly the influence your personality has on others.
• Learn to lead through "empowerment," not power.
• Learn how to gain respect and appreciation from those with whom you interact

• Gen X and Gen Y, who are they?
• New generation - wants, needs, and expectation
• Communication: styles and substance
•  Seven leadership characteristics that work.

• 7 competencies of effective distance managers
• 5 obstacles to effective distance leadership
• What employees at multiple locations need (and expect) from their bosses
• Leading people who don't report directly to you
• Use of appropriate technologies for effective communication

How can you ensure top performance from people you see infrequently? How do you communicate effectively with different locations that are some distance apart? The need to accommodate customer convenience requires a new set of skills for managers and supervisors whose span of control includes district offices or remote locations. By learning tips and techniques used successfully by other distance managers and supervisors, participants can develop the skills and ability to effectively manage multiple remote business centers. In this course, participants will gain insight into the solutions to challenges posed by leading from a distance. Topics covered include basic principles of distance management, the key competencies involving distance management, employee expectations, and effective distance communication. Participants in this one-day course will learn:

• 7 competencies of effective distance managers
• 5 obstacles to effective distance leadership
• What employees at multiple locations need (and expect) from their bosses
• Leading people who don't report directly to you
• Use of appropriate technologies for effective communication

• how to prepare for a performance appraisal
• the things to do and not do in conducting the actual interview
• what to say and not say in a performance review
• how to better manage discussion difficulties that arise during evaluations
• how to keep the evaluation focused and on track
• the importance of establishing performance goals for employees
• setting and conducting follow up discussions
• and proper record keeping.

• How to project a positive and energetic image
• Develop a leadership style that works for you
• Learn which skills you already have and which ones work
• Gain insight into what will gain you respect as a leader
• Learn confidence in leadership roles
• Act and talk like a leader
• Learn to cope with stressful situations

The ‘brain drain' loss facing today's organizations is unprecedented in our history. While the loss of key talent and irreplaceable company knowledge due to attrition through retirement or resignation has always been a challenge it has never before reached this level. With the rapid increase of retiring "Baby Boomers" and the migration of younger workers from one job to another at intervals unheard of in the past, leaders must employ every method available to ensure continuity, to reduce the "brain drain," and keep service to customers at the expected high level. While there is no way to be totally prepared for this eventuality, there are concrete actions that leaders can take. These issues and the strategies to deal with them will be covered in this in-depth session. Some of the key topics to be covered include:

• Identifying strengths/limitations that exist in their organization's method of training, retention and team building.
• How to relate better to employees of all ages and levels of experience.
• The use best practices to motivate near-retirement employees to share knowledge and expertise while continuing to work to their full potential.
• The use best practices to motivate younger or newer employees to continue their employment with the organization for longer periods of time.
• Focusing on several key actions that will provide continuity and retain important knowledge, processes, procedures and expertise.

Today's organizations, more than ever, are focused on ways to achieve greater performance, reduce safety risks, find better ways of promoting change, and seek avenues to increase income. In order to achieve these goals, individuals must employ effective decision-making and task planning skills. The use of Operational Risk Management (ORM) serves as a means of enhancing the decision making process. It is a systematic approach to optimizing risks using the four key principles that govern all actions associated with risk management. ORM is a continuous process for the detection, assessment, and ultimate sustained control of risk while enhancing performance and maximizing organizational capabilities. This one-day session will introduce participants to the principles of ORM, a six step process of application, and each steps key attributes. Participants will utilize the skills learned by applying the information to applicable project scenarios. The session is highly application based and participant interactive. Topics to be covered include:

• The ORM Six-Step Process
• Application of a Risk Management Worksheet
• Use of additional tools for assessing risk in the work place at all levels
• Learn to minimize unnecessary risks by maximizing the decision making process

Form 7 is the Financial and Statistical Report submitted monthly to the USDA Rural Utilities Service. This report is based on the system's accounts and other departmental records and reflects the status of the system at the time of the report. The information in the report's 16 sections helps the board, the management team, and employees understand the performance of the cooperative. In addition, the report is connected to other studies and reports prepared by the management team and departmental leaders. Understanding the information and grasping the cooperative's financial philosophy helps board members to make consistent policy and financial decisions; helps the CEO, vice presidents, and department leaders to construct sound procedures and policy recommendations and to prepare appropriate financial strategies; and helps cooperative employees understand the impact of their daily activities to the cooperative's bottom line. The purpose of this training session is to:

• Assist participants in understanding the financial picture of the cooperative
• Provide useful decision making information
• Assist the cooperative team in operating more efficiently and effectively
• Demonstrate how the various financial and management reports are integrated
• Demonstrate how decisions are interrelated and impact several areas of the cooperative's operations

• Organizational culture and change
• Understanding the heritage and history of the electricity industry
• Assessing ones own behavioral style
• Learning the basic characteristics inherent in a team environment
• The principles of effective leadership
• An introduction to basic theories of leadership
• A model for effective interpersonal communications
• An understanding of the communication cycle and its role in improving business relationships and task efficiency
• An understanding overview of basic theories and observations regarding human behavior

This program is intended for first line supervisors and individuals in middle management. Participants will learn practical theory, engage in case studies, group discussion, and hypothetical situations. Each participant will complete a leadership style questionnaire to determine innate strengths as well as to uncover opportunities for greatest improvement. Participants in this training will gain an insight into basic theories of situational leadership combined with a model for effective interpersonal communications. Also, various theories of motivation and case studies involving actions that tend to motivate or demotivate employees in the workplace will be discussed.

• The importance of working as a team
• What are the key unspoken employee expectations
• How can you address issues of recognition among your employees
• Learn ways to improve performance while reducing frustration