Communication, Problem-solving and Decision-making

Your effectiveness as a professional is determined by your capacity to solve problems, make decisions and communicate your ideas to others. This capacity is in turn driven by your innate abilities in these areas.

Innate abilities define what you do naturally and easily. They endure unchanged throughout your adult life and affect the way you instinctively use your mental and creative talents. While you can learn skills to support these talents, your natural abilities are unaffected by education or experience.  Professionals who know and understand their ability patterns are able to answer the question, “What am I naturally good at?” They can then use that knowledge to work more effectively with coworkers and clients. This course focuses on discovering your innate abilities to further your communication, problem-solving and decision-making skills.

Developing a Strategic Plan for Your Career

There are 8 Critical Success Factors™ that have a direct impact on your performance and satisfaction in your career and your life. They are: abilities, skills, values, interests, personal style, family of origin, stage of adult development and vision/goals. Each one is vital.

Research has consistently shown that nothing is more predictive of success and satisfaction in work and life than having a positive vision for the future. This course introduces you to each of these critical success factors and teaches you how to use them to create a personal vision for your career and your life.

You can use the information gained in this course as a template for setting short- and long-term goals and priorities. Creating a personal vision will help add clarity to your life and career, as well as address the specific steps you need to take to achieve your objectives.

Becoming an Effective Coach with Peers and Staff Members

The distinguishing characteristic of complete professionals is their capacity to utilize coaching skills with themselves and others. Firms are discovering that the traditional “command and control” style of management is not as effective in a work environment that demands rapid response, resilience and individual effort to remain competitive. Today’s most effective practice leader is a manager/coach.

Unlike traditional management skills, coaching deals with employee growth, development and achievement by removing roadblocks to performance and enhancing individual problem-solving. Coaching enables the person being coached to create and develop their own best practices, connections and resources. This course will develop the coach within you.

Understanding and Managing the Client Relationship

Miscommunication and misunderstanding between clients and professionals are the main reasons client relationships ultimately weaken and fail. The effective professional must quickly build his or her skills in the art and science of client relationships.

How do you build trust and establish rapport with a new client? Do you understand the power of smart questions? When should you push for your point of view and when should you listen, listen and listen some more to your client’s perspective? What are the essential tools for resolving conflicts with clients? What is your conflict resolution style? How do you give and get feedback that is constructive, supportive and non-judgmental? This course will help answer these questions and others.

A professional who understands tax and audit principles, but knows little about human behavior is profoundly limited in his or her ability to work effectively with clients. By understanding your style, as well as your client’s approach to communication, problem-solving and decision-making, you can maximize your performance and strengthen your key relationships.

Working Effectively in Teams

Teamwork may be the most overused and misunderstood concept in the vocabulary of management. Teams can only succeed when a set of specific principles and behaviors are mastered. While these concepts are uncomplicated, they are extremely difficult to put into practice day-to-day.

With teams, there is often the assumption that everyone works the same way. This is especially true in firms where people have the same professional training and background. In reality, each team member has his or her own distinct work style.

This course teaches you how to discuss your team’s internal differences objectively and positively, rather than negatively and subjectively. It will also help your team develop a collective vision, as well as discuss specific steps your team can take to achieve its goals. The results can be transform your team and have a profound impact on productivity and job satisfaction.

Contact

For additional information on these programs, please contact Cheryl Leitschuh, Ed.D. at 651-398-7151  or Cheryl@career-future.com.