Workshop Dates

Crucial Conversations is a self-guided, six-week on-line course with virtual discussions. The instructor will provide virtual discussions at the kick-off, mid-point and wrap-up sessions, and will be available with weekly remote office hours throughout the six-week class. ZOOM meeting links and the on-demand class link with instruction will be sent to the participants prior to class.

• Workshop 1:
  • Kick-off: August 3, 2021 | 9:00-10:00 am
  • Mid-Point: August 24, 2021 | 9:00-10:00 am
  • Wrap-up: September14, 2021 | 9:00-10:00 am
• Workshop 2:
  • Kick-off: September 30, 2021 | 4:00-5:00 pm
  • Mid-Point: October 21, 2021| 4:00-5:00 pm
  • Wrap-up: November 11, 2021 | 4:00-5:00 pm

Advertising Description

Engaging in open dialogue is vital to successful collaborations. If you would like to enhance your day-to-day conversations, Crucial Conversations is for you. Discussing difficult workplace issues with varying opinions is a challenge that often leads to low morale, reduced efficiency and project delays. This training offers participants an opportunity to learn skills and apply principles in conversations with varying opinions, when stakes are high, and emotions are strong.

Objectives (At the end of this course participants will be able to)

The training teaches how to: 

• resolve disagreements
• build acceptance and overcome resistance
• speak persuasively, not abrasively, about high-stakes, emotional, or controversial topics
• foster teamwork and better decision-making
• build teams that work together and act with unity and conviction

Participants: (audience course is designed to reach)

All UI employees are eligible to participate.

Workshop Dates

• Workshop 1:  
  • Kick-off: September 7, 2021 | 8:00-9:00 am
  • Weekly Sessions: September 13, 20, 27, and October 4 | 8:00-9:00 am
• Workshop 2: 
  • Kick-off: October 12, 2021 | 3:00-4:00 pm
  • Weekly Sessions: October 19, 26, and November 2, 9, 2021 | 3:00-4:00 pm

Workshop Details

“If you don’t pay appropriate attention to what has your attention, it will take more of your attention than it deserves.”
David Allen, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

This workshop is being delivered in a blended format over several weeks. A blended approach means that the learning will be self-guided, with a certified instructor facilitating a virtual kick-off and weekly sessions for learners to come together and discuss concepts in more depth or ask questions about the content and how to apply what they are learning. Zoom links will be provided after participants are registered, and before the first session. You are encouraged to have your cameras on during all the sessions to increase engagement between and among learners.

Workshop Description

When it comes to the work you do, who’s in charge—you or your work? It can certainly be easy to get overwhelmed! Wouldn’t it be great if you could just be in command of the numerous responsibilities you have to manage every day, both at home and at work? The groundbreaking GTD® methodology can help you achieve control in a world of constant change and ever-increasing input. This powerful program delivers a highly effective and sustainable way to attain greater levels of personal productivity.

Quote from a GTD participant:

GTD has helped out enormously in my organization techniques. The greatest benefit of this system has allowed me to successfully incorporate the duties of two positions in our department with my previous duties, without causing me a lot of undue stress. I am immensely grateful for that.

I am able to prioritize my new duties, delegate actions to support staff and maintain a manageable email inbox, thanks in part to the skills I learned in the GTD seminar. I recommend it to my colleagues in my department as well as acquaintances in the UIHC. - Frank Olalde

Objectives

Participants will learn the steps of the GTD Core

• Capture - collect everything that owns a piece of your mind and attention
• Clarify – get your ‘inbox’ (physical and digital) to zero
• Organize – park your information and reminders in ways that make engaging with your work easier
• Reflect & Engage – do work and have no regrets about your choices

Participants (audience course is designed for)

This program is intended for anyone who wants to reduce their stress, increase their productivity, get and keep their inbox, email, and voicemail at zero, or gain more time and energy while managing multiple responsibilities with more success.

Only UI employees are eligible to participate.

Workshop Dates

• October 8 and 11, 2021 | 8:00 am-4:00 pm (in-person offering)

Advertising Description

• Have you ever found yourself asking, "What's wrong with those people—why won't they change?" Or, "Are you saying that after all the money we’ve spent and two years of effort the outcomes haven't improved?" Or, "I'm in charge here, but it doesn't seem to matter"?
• Are there times when you just want to wave a magic wand and make a problem go away (of course you don't have magic wand, and even if you did, you’d never get to play with it)?
• Do you routinely come up with new solutions to old problems, implement them, enjoy success for a while, but then slip back to your old results?

The truth is, we all need to be better influencers. Hardly a day passes that we don’t try to influence others to do something different. We do our best to motivate employees to demonstrate more concern for results. We struggle to make sure projects are completed on time and on budget. In summary, we continually work on ways to exert our influence, but we regularly fall short.

In fact, in spite of the fact that we’re routinely trying to help others alter behavior, few of us can articulate a model of what it takes to do so. It’s time this changed. By drawing from the skills of many of the world’s best change agents and combining them with five decades of social-science research, Influencer creates a powerful and portable model for changing behaviors—a model that anyone can learn and apply.

Influencer can help you:

• Successfully lead change initiatives.
• Transform corporate culture.
• Improve compliance with safety regulations.
• Become empowered to solve problems within your team.
• Learn to diagnose the real causes behind problems and create real solutions.
• Learn to influence across the organization with or without formal authority.

Who Should Participate?

Influencer is ideal for individuals, teams, and organizations looking to overcome profound, persistent, and resistant problems in their organization or team. The workshop provides individuals at any level of an organization with the skills to develop an effective and comprehensive influence strategy to overcome these problems.

What to Expect from Influencer

Influencer is a two-day workshop that uses a combination of live training, compelling videos, and highly useful tools. You will engage in extensive in-class practice, group participation, and personal planning as you learn and develop the strategies for resolving tough issues. Learn how to:

• Diagnose the web of causes behind any problem and create powerful strategies for driving change.
• Identify a handful of high-leverage behaviors that, if changed, will lead to desired results.
• Rely less on formal authority and more on ways to motivate and enable others to alter their behavior.
• Use the powerful Influencer Model to develop and apply a robust influence strategy to anything from small- to large-scale cultural transformations.

Discover the Six Sources of Influence

One of the most common mistakes people make in identifying the root of a problem is assuming there is only one cause. We also commonly assume there is only one solution. VitalSmarts research reveals that people who employ four or more personal, social, or structural influence strategies are ten times more likely to achieve desired outcomes than those who use only one or two.

Access Ongoing Support

VitalSmarts provides participants with post-training online resources to stimulate lifelong learning and skill development. These resources include the Influence Challenge Planner and the Influencer Review Schedule.

BE AN INFLUENCER!

Participants: (audience course is designed to reach)

These Influencer workshops are made available only to University of Iowa employees.

Workshop Dates

• Community Learning sessions via Zoom | October 5 and 14, 2021 | 1:00-2:00 pm
• Community Learning sessions via Zoom | November 4 and 12, 2021 | 10:00-11:00 am

Advertising Description

Leadership is Everyone’s Business, it’s not about your title or your organizational role, it’s about caring enough to take the action to inspire and change the lives of others.

Take the 14-day Leadership Challenge! The experience includes daily 15-minute micro learning opportunities, which include a short video and reflection exercise that can be completed on your own time and two one-hour community learning sessions through zoom. The Leadership is Everyone’s Business workshop is based on the five practices of exemplary leadership and are scientifically grounded in multiple decades of research.

Objectives (At the end of this course participants will be able to)

• Identify your own leadership strengths and areas for improvement based on your Leadership Practices Inventory Self-Assessment.
• Employ at least one method for improving your capacity to engage in each of The Five Practices.
• Create an action plan for the next steps in your development as a leader.

Participants: (audience course is designed to reach)

All UI employees are eligible to participate.

Workshop Dates

• September 21, 22, 23 and 24, 2021 | 9:00-11:00 am (Zoom sessions) | Registration Deadline: August 31, 2021
• November 9, 10, 11 and 12, 2021 | 1:00-3:00 pm (Zoom sessions) | Registration Deadline: October 19, 2021

Advertising Description

The course is based and grounded in the book by Stephen M. R. Covey. The Speed of Trust will help leaders and managers at all levels identify and close trust gaps that exist in the organization. As a result of attending this course, participants will be able to better manage change and lead high-performing teams that are agile, collaborative, innovative, and engaged.  Please note that this course is open to anyone seeking to build self-trust, relationship-trust and team-trust. 

Objectives

This training will examine the following topics:

• Case for Trust
• Self-Trust
• Relationship Trust
• Market Trust
• Societal Trust

Participants (audience course is designed for)

The course would benefit any supervisor, manager, or leader to influence their colleagues and team. The course is open to anyone seeking to build self-trust, relationship-trust, and team-trust and are encouraged to attend this course. 

Workshop Dates

• September 7, 2021 | 1:00-4:30 pm (Zoom session)
  Registration Deadline: August 24, 2021
• October 26, 2021 | 1:00-4:30 pm (Zoom session)
  Registration Deadline: October 12, 2021

Advertising Description

The Strengths at Work Workshop is a 3.5-hour exploration of individual strengths as reported by the CliftonStrengths assessment. Participants will gain an understanding of the significance in developing talents into strengths and how strengths enhance communication and teambuilding. The session focuses on identifying and building an understanding of strengths introspectively. We will also begin to explore how understanding individual strengths can enhance collaborations in partnerships and teams. 

There is a $20 fee associated with this workshop which includes: code for online assessment and course materials. Registration and payment must be received three weeks prior to the workshop. You will be sent the online assessment code after your registration and payment are confirmed. The assessment must be completed one week prior to the workshop. There will also be an assignment to complete prior to class start; the assignment may take up to an hour to complete.

Objectives

At the end of this training, participants will be able to:

• Identify and define individual talents and strengths
• Develop awareness of Strengths and their own strengths
• Use Strengths to build partnerships and teams
• Put Strengths into action

Participants (audience course is designed for)

The course would benefit any supervisor, manager, or leader to influence their colleagues and team. The course is open to anyone seeking to build self-trust, relationship-trust, and team-trust and are encouraged to attend this course. 

Workshop Dates

• October 7 and 8, 2021 | 2:00-4:00 pm (Zoom sessions)
• December 2 and 3, 2021 | 9:00-11:00 am (Zoom sessions)

Advertising Description

Are you ready to take your life and your work to the next level? Learn to increase your confidence, tackle daily challenges, and realize all your ambitions. This workshop is based on the book, The Success Principles™ by New York Times bestselling author Jack Canfield. You will be introduced to timeless principles practiced by successful men and women throughout history. Principles that once implemented into your daily life can take you where you want to go. Book and printed class materials provided.

Objectives (At the end of this course participants will be able to)

This course is meant to help participants integrate and apply the principles and strategies presented in The Success Principles™ How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be by Jack Canfield with Janet Switzer.

Participants will learn to:

• Create goals
• Identify roadblocks to achieving goals 
• Learn strategies for busting through challenges

Participants: (audience course is designed to reach)

This program is designed for anyone who is willing to look critically at where they are in their work life, ponder where they would like to be and create a preliminary plan on how to get there.

Only UI employees are eligible to participate.