The University of Toledo

Professional Development Courses for UT Employees

In order to participate in professional development programs sponsored by HRTD/OQCL, you must be an employee at The University of Toledo. Employees must complete an appropriate program registration form in order to enroll in a certificate.  The supervisor-approved form should be sent to the OQCL office via fax number 419-530-6177.  Registrants will receive an email confirmation of registration in the specified certificate within 5 business days.

UT CERTIFICATE TRACKS IN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT 

UT Culture Building Institute Diversity Certificate << Certificate description and fall schedule
*We are currently accepting registrations for the entire Diversity Certificate as well as for individual sessions, if you choose not to register for the certificate. Diversity Certificate Registration Form 

PHR/SPHR Certification Preparation Program  << Certificate description and registration form
*We are accepting registrations for the PHRM program. Deadline for registrations - January 24, 2014.

ESSPS Professional Sales Certificate If you are interested in the Professional Sales Certificate, please contact Deirdre Jones at 419-530-2978.

The Fall 2012 certificate cohorts ended the semester on a celebratory note.  Congratulations are extended to 73 certificate recipients on your great achievement!  Employees who earned a Professional Development Certificate, but were unable to attend the graduation breakfast can view the event  by clicking on the link below.

Professional Development Certificate Award Ceremony-April 23, 2013  (click on title to view recording)

Dr. Dan Johnson, UT President Emeritus, was a special guest speaker at the graduation, who provided inspirational remarks to certificate recipients.  Open the following link to view the transcript of his speech:  Dr. Johnson's Keynote Address-April 23, 2013 

Below, surrounded by faculty and UT leaders, are some of the Certificate Recipients who attended the award ceremony:

  

 Customer Service Certificate Recipients             Leadership Certificate Recipients

 

Managerial Finance and Budgeting Cert. Recipients             PHRM Certificate Recipients

 

Project Management Certificate Recipients        Six Sigma Green Belt Certificate Recipients

The certificates listed below have been postponed.  Please check back for updates.

UT Professional Development Schedule for Winter 2014 << Please check back for updates.
UT Professional Development Certificate Registration Form

Specific details about a certificate track may be found by clicking on the title of each program below.

• UT Leadership Certificate
• UT Managerial Finance and Budgeting Certificate
• UT Project Management Certificate
• UT PMP Certificate
• UT Six Sigma Green Belt Certificate

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Below are detailed descriptions of additional Professional Development seminars that are available through OQCL and which can be tailored specifically for your department.  

If you would like to schedule a customized program on these or any other topics for your department, please contact Ms. Carrie Herr via email at carrie.herr@utoledo.edu or by calling 419-530-2037. 

Meetings: Making Them Worth Your While                                                         
Time: 8:30am-12pm               
Instructor: Emily Fischer
Attending too many meetings means too little time to get the "real" work done. The issue truly is not the number of meetings, but the structure and focus. Restructuring meetings to mirror desired results improves participation, leads to better understanding of roles in impacting results, and increases commitment to decisions. Effectiveness can be measured by continued focus on key metrics and a deeper understanding of company goals throughout the organization. Properly utilized meetings can actually save time by accelerating decision making and communications, provide clarity and attain buy-in and commitment. Some of the questions and issues addressed during this seminar include:

• Are meetings necessary?
• Assessing meetings and their effectiveness
• Types of meetings and their purpose
• Structure of meetings
• Organizing meetings which no one wants to miss
     > Choosing content and context
     > Using tools to drive focus and action
• Translating meetings into meaningful, engaging and relevant activities

Getting Results
Time: 9:00am-4:00pm  
Instructors:  Dr. Clint Longenecker
This seminar is designed for supervisors and management personnel who wish to improve their performance and/or the performance of their teams, as well as anyone interested in improving his/her ability to get results.  Participants will acquire a step-by-step guide for action to help them “get results” in a very effective fashion with and through people and processes.  The instructors will draw upon a large database of organizations and managers from extensive, applied research that will be the heart and soul of this workshop.

Career Transition and Counseling                                                         
Time: 8:30am-12pm               
Instructor: Emily Fischer
Whether currently in the midst of a career transition or expecting/planning to change careers in the future, most of us would like to make our career transition as successful and stress-free as possible. The main objective of Career Transition and Counseling is to offer guidance to participants who need to determine a clearer path for achieving professional goals. During the session, participants will explore how the career change process can affect them and their families and ways to turn it into a positive experience. Through discussions and practical hands-on applications, the facilitator will guide the attendees into developing a focused approach to finding career fulfillment.  She will assist them with:

• Determining their abilities, strengths, and values
• Defining their career directions/objectives and their importance
• Developing a focused and relevant resume
• Exploring various avenues of approaching the marketplace for desired results
• Creating a personalized networking strategy
• Preparing for the interviewing process
• Understanding effective negotiation techniques
• Maintaining superior organization and planning

Six Sigma Principles for Higher Education 
Time: 8:30am-4:30pm                      
Instructor:  Dr. Don Levitt
Your department can increase efficiency, reduce costs, and improve customer service in every interaction by following a disciplined approach to process improvement.  In this workshop participants will learn how to apply the tools of Six Sigma and Quality to their own departmental processes.  Worksheets and guidelines will also be provided to support the participant in creating a culture of continuous improvement, and making the culture permanent.  Successful process improvement initiatives at The University of Toledo will be used to illustrate key points.  By sending at least two participants to this workshop, departments will be best able to practice applying the tools to their actual workplace challenges.

Speaking Effectively to Groups
Time: 8:30am-12:00pm            
Instructor: Mike McCartney
This course would be beneficial for all professionals who would like to brush up their public speaking skills, improve their image while presenting and increase their public speaking confidence for a more persuasive and effective delivery, while retaining their “control” of an audience.  Whether you make formal or informal presentations in front of internal or external groups, you will acquire some valuable techniques that will help you inspire and influence others through your verbal and nonverbal communication.  A few ideas covered during this program will include:

• Four important parts of “idea transfer”
• Techniques for capturing and keeping attention
• Punctuating key points through evidence
• An effective model for impromptu talks
• Using correct body language and tone to reinforce your message
• Instilling a bias for action and accountability in the audience

Mentoring and Coaching Skills
Time: 1:00pm-3:30pm       
Instructor: Dr. Margaret Hopkins
Effective leaders rely on the power of mentoring and coaching to bring out the best in themselves and others.  Coaching and mentoring skills provide a culture of support, feedback and continuous learning.  People who have experienced mentoring or coaching report greater satisfaction and career success.  This course will explore the specific roles and critical characteristics of a mentoring relationship as well as keys to constructive coaching.  As a result of this course, participants will:

• Learn about the roles of a mentor and a coach
• Identify the skills of effective mentors and coaches
• Discover the benefits of mentoring and coaching relationships for career development

Departmental Silos and Integration Strategies                                                       
Time: 8:30am-12pm               
Instructor: Emily Fischer
Silos are quite apparent in many organizations and can be detrimental to productivity and to achieving corporate goals.  Often, they lead to internal competition. Discover the barriers to cohesiveness within your organization and implement change to break down departmental silos, allowing for strategy integration, alignment and increased bottom-line performance. During this program, participants will discuss:

• Silos defined - are you living in a silo world?
• May the best department win! (Or do they?) 
• Silo busting! Breaking down silos to improve communication and efficiency
• Removing the "functional hat"
• Tools of cooperation and change
• Creating an integrated process environment
• Case Studies

Performance Appraisals: Planning, Implementing and Monitoring
Time: 8:30am-12:00pm           
Instructor:  Dr. Dale Dwyer
Most managers hate doing performance appraisals, often because they (1) aren’t sure how to do them effectively, (2) don’t like having difficult conversations with marginal performers, and (3) believe that the appraisal process takes a lot of time, keeping them from their “real” jobs. However, this course helps managers understand that their primary job is to help employees be successful at their jobs and demonstrates how to incorporate performance evaluation and development throughout the year.

Negotiation Skills
Time: 8:30am-12pm        
Instructor: Dr. Bob Yonker
Contrary to popular belief, successful negotiators are not born, rather they are made.  That is, you can actually teach people how to become proficient negotiators.  This hands-on training module presents relevant information that will help you hone your negotiation skills.  Topics to be covered include:

• Self-assessing negotiation style
• Identifying different types of negotiation situations
• Planning and preparing for negotiations
• Creating leverage/power in negotiations
• Claiming value in negotiations
• Discovering joint gains in negotiations (win/win solutions)
• Building relationships in negotiations
• Common errors (biases) that hinder optimal negotiation outcomes

Resume Writing                                                         
Time: 1:00pm-4:30pm               
Instructor: Carol Stamm
Would you like to represent yourself through a top-notch resume? This resume writing workshop will teach you to develop an outstanding resume step by step, with everything you need to know! In this highly practical workshop, you will learn how to make your resume shine above those of your competition. Some of the topics examined during this workshop include:

• Resume content, layout and the universal question of "how many pages?"
• Advice on which words to use and which words to avoid
• Tips on when to include and when not to include dates
• Techniques on customizing your resume to fit the advertised job

If you already have a resume, please bring it with you to the workshop or email it to us at the time of your registration. Our instructor will personally review your resume and help you remove any potential red flags. The benefit of attending this seminar will be a resume product that reflects your best self!

Improved Productivity Through Teambuilding 
Time: 1:00pm-4:30pm           
Instructor:  Mike McCartney
This seminar is appropriate for team members who would like to improve the performance and cohesiveness of their team. It will provide the tools to not only improve their team chemistry for better results, but to also discover their own unique strengths in order to be more fully engaged as team members, be it in the shifting roles of a leader or a follower. This program will help participants: 

• Identify the characteristics of high performing teams
• Assess how well their team is functioning 
• Develop concrete, specific actions that they and their team can do to improve performance
• Know when to lead, follow or get out of the way 
• Make interdependence work for the team, not against it 
• Build trust, rapport and accountability among members  
• Facilitate communication between members 

First Time Manager
Time: 8:30am-12pm                
Instructor:  Mike McCartney
The first year as a manager is a pivotal one for personal and leadership development. Getting grounded in some basic “do’s” and “don’ts” for the first-time manager is a positive factor for achieving some early and long-term wins as a leader. This seminar is intended for first time managers who would like to make a smooth transition into a management role. Participants attending this seminar will already have demonstrated leadership skills but through this seminar they will acquire practical knowledge in how to manage successfully and effectively from the beginning in their new role. This program will help participants:

• Identify the difference in roles from doing to managing and leading
• Assess their own leadership style – strengths and development areas    
• Get to know their people without compromising their own legitimate authority
• Ask tough questions to keep people on their toes and to keep themselves informed
• Provide clear work directions 
• Give positive and corrective feedback 
• Keep the ball in the employees’ court for solving their own problems 
• Delegate for results 
• Earn credibility and trust 
• Partner with employees for their success

Coaching for Results
Time: 8:30am-12:00pm            
Instructor: Mike McCartney
This seminar is appropriate for a leader who understands the importance of working effectively with his team to achieve goals, but who needs guidance in establishing the proper rapport with his/her employees.  The attendees will engage in lively discussions with their peers, exchanging ideas, and learning from the instructor and each other on how best to apply the tips and techniques offered for becoming a great Coach.  This program will help participants:

• Describe the traits, skills and knowledge of a good coach
• Assess their own coaching capabilities
• Facilitate accountability on the part of the individual or the team
• Identify obstacles to performance and ways to overcome them
• Provide constructive feedback and corrective direction for performance improvement
• Use a variety of questions and listening techniques to communicate effectively
• Develop concrete actions for their own improvement as coaches

Change Management (based on the book, Who Moved My Cheese?)
Time:  8:30am-12:00pm           
Instructor:  Mike McCartney
This program will give participants a way of looking at change that helps them adjust more quickly by building organizational flexibility and open-mindedness, creating an adaptive organization that yields a strategic competitive advantage, and by exploring how managers should help employees anticipate and cope with constant, unrelenting change.

Seminar topics include:

• The Realities & Trauma of Change Management’s Responsibilities
• Employees’ Reaction: Why do we need to make this change anyway? (The Situation Analysis)
• Seven Things we know about the Nature of Change
• The Process of Change: Where are we going? (The Future State)
• Management’s Responsibilities & the Roles of the Participants
• Coaching Employees to take Control and Commit to the Change

Rapid Strategic Planning
Time: 8:30am-4:30pm               
Instructor: Dr. Don Levitt
This seminar is designed for leaders – and their teams – who want to stop “fighting fires” and start focusing their resources on the most critical factors for success by improving key performance measures.  Rapid Strategic Planning is a streamlined and systematic approach to creating one’s own roadmap that is both practical and flexible and which will take the participants to the next level of performance.  This hands-on seminar provides the worksheets, guidelines, models and steps for developing, implementing and sustaining your plan for success.  Participants will apply the tools and complete an initial “roadmap” during the seminar.  Departments which send two or more participants to this seminar will be best able to immediately apply these tools to their “real world” issues.

PLEASE NOTE:  For questions relating to any of the Professional Development Courses or the schedule, please call Eva Curtis at (419) 530-2036 or contact her via email at eva.curtis@utoledo.edu.