About Our Training Programs

Workplace Learning and Performance is committed to creating an environment of learning and performance that furthers Nova Southeastern University's mission, vision and values, and responds to current and future priority human resource development needs.

Our objectives are:

To provide a new employee orientation that introduces new employees to the benefits of working at Nova Southeastern University and supports their transition to employment at one of the nation's largest private universities.
Collaborate with divisions and departments to coordinate, expand and assess university-wide training and development efforts that support professional development and workplace performance.
Provide learning opportunities that help employees gain the skills they need to stay current in their jobs and, if appropriate, to move on to other opportunities within the University.

Please review required employee training courses and optional training courses below. To access further information on a particular course or to register, click on one of the course titles below.

Required Employee Training

To access further information on a particular course or to register, click on a course title below.

Code of Conduct and Ethics Training

This training provides guidance to all Nova Southeastern University employees and assists us in carrying out our daily activities within appropriate ethical and legal standards.

Objectives

To ensure that all employees possess the knowledge and skills for effective day-to-day decision-making and actions regarding federal and state laws and regulations governing university employment, as well as university policy and procedures.
To ensure that supervisors and managers across all colleges and centers uniformly apply these laws, regulations, and policies.
To prevent or limit situations that may put the university at risk both legally and financially.
To promote positive employee relations.
To ensure that all employees possess the knowledge and skills to adhere to the highest ethical standards in the conduct of our business.

All employees are required to complete the Code of Conduct training program through SharkLearn, using their NSU SharkLink ID and password within their first 90 days of employment.

Sexual Harassment Awareness & Prevention Training

This online training module focuses on ways to identify and prevent sexual harassment. The purpose of this training is to achieve and maintain an environment that recognizes the worth and potential of every individual and communicate respect among all members of the University community.

All employees are required to complete the Sexual Harrassment Awareness & Prevention training program through SharkLearn, using their NSU SharkLink ID and password within their first 90 days of employment.

NSU Shark Performance Management Training (All Non-Faculty Employees)

To prepare for the introduction of the Shark Performance Management Program, all non-faculty employees are required to complete a mandatory training session focused on understanding behaviors that support our Core Values as well as skill-building in the areas of goal setting, providing meaningful feedback, understanding performance expectations and accountability. Anyone who supervises one or more non-faculty employees must attend the training that will be held in May. All other non-faculty, non-supervisory employees will attend a training session in June.

Fair Labor Standards Act Training (Managers/Supervisors Only)

All managers and supervisors at NSU are required to complete the above training programs plus a Fair Labor Standards Act Training program. The Fair Labor Standards Act training will aid managers and supervisors in understanding the Fair Labor Standards Act and will focus on their role and responsibilities in complying with the law and University policies.

NSU Leadership Training (Managers/Supervisors Only)

All managers and supervisors at NSU are required to complete the NSU Leadership training courses.

Optional Employee Training

To access further information on a particular course or to register, click on a course title below.

Dealing with Change in Your Work and Life: How to Reduce, Prevent and Cope with Stress

Coping with the stressors of change is an everyday challenge in South Florida. Our population grows daily, with that comes added job responsibilities, stretching of resources, and many changes in the workplace.

Our ability to move with these changes and understand the dynamics of change is the key to becoming a "quick-change-artist" and thriving in our work and our life. Understand what blocks the efforts to administrate change. Learn the essential skills to initiating and carrying out changes big and small that confront you as an employee or supervisor. Learn the skills of shifting paradigms to help employees and supervisors move forward successfully.

Class Learning Objectives:

Understand the dynamics of change
Begin the process of personal paradigm shifting
Identify the four levels of change
Improve the ability to handle change
Identify and apply strategies in the workplace
Accept ambiguity and uncertainty
Become the pro-active change-agent to effectively help your organization move forward with change

Facilitator: Gay Lynn Williamson-Grigas

Training Date(s)

March 5, 2013 from 9:00 a.m. – Noon, TBA

Behavioral Style Interviewing

This training teaches individuals how to structure an interview to elicit the needed skills for the job utilizing past behavior as a predictor of future performance.

"Birth Order" Factor in Action: Emotional Intelligence, Teamwork and Conflict

This program:

will provide practical learning opportunity that helps NSU employees gain the skills they need to be successful in their current position as well as advance further their professional careers
will focus on developing important competencies within the popular framework of the Emotional Intelligence Model – Self-Awareness, Self-Management, and Relationship Management (Teamwork and Collaboration and Conflict Management)
will reinforce important NSU Core Values: Diversity and Innovation by helping NSU employees understand better Diversity of "Personality Styles" due to different Birth Order position with practical innovative application to advance teamwork and collaboration.

Program Description

Unique, innovative, and fun learning experience! Program provides valuable and very practical insights regarding the influence of family-of-origin experience (particularly our birth order) on how we behave in the world and workplace relationships. Participants will develop a set of recommendations on how to deal with challenges in communication due to different birth order styles.

Uncovering Secrets of So-Called "Personality" Conflicts
The Unseen Power of Family "Programming"
Birth Order and Who We Are Now: Our Strengths and Unused Resources
Teamwork Challenges & Strategies Based on Your Family "Programming"

What former participants had to say about outcomes of this program:

"Resolved real office conflict using concepts of birth order. ...Strategically think how to interact with co-workers born in different birth order than me"

"As a supervisor it opened my eyes and mind to look at the differences in employees and what motivates them. Not one size fits all..."

"I learned a lot how personalities are developed, and how they interact with people who have different personality types. Not only for other people but it was interesting to learn about myself and why I am the way I am"

"I learned that people come from different molds and may have different perspectives on subjects and situations based on their place in the family...understanding basic characteristics of the birth order will help me to better handle situations and people"

Faciltator: Pavel Mischenko

Training Date(s):

January 15, 2013 from 8:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., TBA

Communicating Through Conflict

...Improve or save any relationship in your life–at work and at home

Where there are people, there is conflict. And conflict often occurs and gets worse because communication is poor–or there's no communication at all.

Ronnie Moore, renowned communications and conflict resolution expert and author, will be at NOVA's Performance Theater* on Tuesday, December 11, from 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. to talk about how you can communicate better and resolve conflict more effectively–even when dealing with difficult and destructive people. Here's what you'll learn (in less than two hours) in this presentation:

How to decide whether the conflict has to be resolved or can be ignored
Critical communication skills to resolve the conflicts that can't be ignored
Instant insight and solutions to the three most common communication problems
Communicating with people who are not like you—dealing with different values, styles, and agendas
How to stop people from taking advantage of you: Communicating to take care of your interests too
When conflict will not resolve: when you're at that point and what to do next

You've heard it before: "This will change your life." It's true in this case–Ronnie's insights, tips, and tools will change your life. Whether it's your boss, employees, colleagues, friends, spouse, or family, you will leave this presentation empowered to stand your ground, communicate clearly and credibly, reduce your frustration, and increase the odds of improving or saving any relationship–at work and at home.

Communication Skills: Communicating with Diplomacy and Tact

Through “Communicating with Diplomacy and Tact” participants will learn to:

Respond to difficult situations in a confident, diplomatic, and tactful way
Understand the principles of effective communication as well as the barriers to communication
Learn some basic assertion techniques and listening skills

Apply mediation techniques to find common ground among opposing viewpoints

Facilitator: Maureen Appelt

Conduct Successful Meetings

Would you like to have people excited about coming to your meetings? Are you unsure why some meetings seem to go very well while others flop? We'll explore tips and strategies that result in meetings that are both productive and efficient.

Facilitator: Maureen Appelt

Customer Service Training

These sessions teach skills that create customer loyalty, even after service failures. The emphasis is on developing a considerate service mindset and proactive behaviors. The first session focuses on the big picture and the role of the individual employee in delivering stellar service. The second session focuses on developing skills that will help individual employees serve customers who are angry or upset especially after a service breakdown.

1st Session: Reaching for Stellar Service

explore how customers define stellar service, the challenges of delivering such service and how it adds value to every interaction
learn the key moments of truth in a customer interaction
gain an appreciation of their own strategic importance and their role in building customer loyalty
plan for their own success in delivering the five service qualities customers expect

2nd Session: Healing the Customer Relationship

Participants:

identify what sets customers off and discuss the positive potential in negative customer experiences
learn four guidelines for restoring trust and confidence in customers who are angry or frustrated
explore techniques for managing their own reactions in difficult situations
discover how to turn things around after a service breakdown and make goodwill gestures to encourage customers to return

Currently, this course is available upon request only.

Lean Six Sigma White Belt Workshop Program

This workshop program has been designed to provide the core concepts of Lean Six Sigma with a focus on Lean practices and quality improvement tools. Application-oriented White Belt training makes it easy for people to question how things get done within their "line-of-sight". Participants will be introduced to the DMAIC methodology: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control, as well as receive training in the problem solving methods and tools used to enhance their fundamental quality skills and their application of common sense. This program can also allow organizations to introduce their Lean Six Sigma program into more areas within and reach various staff and line-level employees. This in turn will create real financial gains as well as creating value for both the organization and its customers. The program is taught with small group interaction and hands-on exercises.

Topics to be covered include:

History and Background of Lean and Six Sigma
Integration of Six Sigma and Lean Enterprise
Overview of Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control (DMAIC)
Project planning and management
Understanding Voice of the Customer (VOC)
Basic Statistics & Data Collection
Lean and Six Sigma metrics

Training Date(s)

~~February 19, 2013~~(Closed)

Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt Certification (HALF PRICE for NSU Employees)

This course teaches participants the Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt philosophy and how to apply it in his or her role and workplace on a day-to-day basis. Participants will learn about what Six Sigma and Lean are, both separately and how they work together.

Upon successful completion of all requirements for this course, participants will receive a certificate stating that he/she is Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt. There is no examination that needs to be completed for certification. Instead, certification is achieved through:

Instructor-led Training: The first step in a participant's journey to certification is instructor-led classroom training. In addition to the instruction, participants will enjoy in-class discussions as well as individual and group labs.
Individual Assignments: Participants will be given a few assignments that they complete on their own time during and after classroom training. Because our goal is to train resourceful Yellow Belts, participants will be allowed to use any resources available to them, including course notes, texts and other books, Internet content and news sites and mentors, including those provided by NSU.

To register at half price:

Log onto: http://www.huizenga.nova.edu/ExecEd/lean-six-sigma/yellow-belt.cfm
Scroll to the bottom of the web page to the Registration section and click on: Register Online.
All information must be filled in, including the employee N number.
Without it, the full fee of $925.00 will be invoiced.
Make sure the correct class is selected in the Program section:
SELECT A DATE: December 18, 2012 (FTL)
In the Payment Information section check: Please invoice me.
An invoice will then be sent via email for the appropriate fee.

Managing Employee Conflicts through Workplace Mediation

Unresolved interpersonal conflict between workers in a workplace takes a significant toll on employees' morale and productivity. This workshop trains managers, supervisors and leaders in an innovative mediation process applied to resolving conflict with employees.

Workshop Outcomes:

Gain knowledge of managerial options for handling conflict
Develop understanding of process and application of supervisory mediation
Experience hands-on practice with use of techniques
Achieve awareness of some benefits of supervisory mediation

Workshop Outline:

Conflict in the workplace
Supervisory/managerial options to conflict resolution
Supervisory mediation
Initial meetings
Preparing the context
Face-to-face meeting
Contracting and follow-up
Benefits of mediation

Facilitator: Neil Katz

Maximizing Professional Relationships

This workshop highlights the value of creating and maintaining positive, meaningful business relationships with students, customers, clients, and the entire NSU community. Through engaging dialogue and activities, participants will explore the benefits of making lasting impressions, communicating through verbal and nonverbal cues, and conveying professionalism through attire.

Facilitator: Sonia Smith

Negotiation Skills and Strategies

Two half day sessions (7.5 total hours)

A popular slogan proclaims, "You do not always get what you deserve. You get what you negotiate." It is true that high quality negotiation skills are a key factor in getting needs met for individuals and our organizations. This workshop will enhance the participants' capacity to effectively use interest-based negotiation concepts and tools to achieve mutually satisfactory agreements that will satisfy underlying interests. Participants will explore the practice of outcome setting, distinguishing between positions and interests, emerging interests through reflective listening and chunking, generating options, creating standards to evaluate options, and agreement management.

Workshop Outcomes:

Recognize their current negotiating style
Understand the power of interest-based negotiation
Expand and refine their negotiation “tool box”
Practice negotiation strategies
Enhance effectiveness in professional and personal negotiations

Facilitator: Neil Katz

Performance Management/Appraisal Training

This training strengthens supervisors' ability to initiate meaningful dialogue and appraisals that distinguish employees on the basis of performance.

Facilitator: Aaron Greenberg

Project Management Boot Camp (2 half day sessions)

Two half day sessions (total 8 hours)

Project Management is an in-demand skill set and one of the fastest growing professional disciplines in North America. This project management training session "Project Management Boot Camp" is an accelerated two half day session (8 hours) offering you the opportunity to learn how to use Project Management tools and techniques to help you successfully manage projects to finish on time, within a defined scope and budget.

Using Project Management tools and techniques helps break down the chaos of an overwhelming workload into manageable elements by following a process of initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling and closing a project. Key tools and techniques will be introduced to help you manage the scope, time, cost, quality, human resources, communication, risk, procurement, and integration of your project.

'Project Management Boot Camp' offers practical, real-world and hands-on experience in learning the principles and practices of project management that lead to effective and successful project implementation.

Course Overview

Project Management Foundations

Introduces the basic concepts of project management and provides an overview of some of the tools and techniques from the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). Other areas covered include the project life cycle, organizational and environmental influences on projects, the five required project process groups, and the multi-dimensional nature of project management.

Project Management Process Groups

This module addresses the five process groups of project management and practical techniques to apply Project Management methodology to any work environment. The process groups discussed include:

Initiating Process – Focuses on those processes performed to define a new project or a new phase of an existing project by completing a Project Charter and obtaining authorization to start the project or phase while ensuring the project is in line with the organizations Strategic Objectives.
Planning Process – Defining the scope and objectives of the project and developing the course of action required to meet these objectives is the focus of this process. Knowledge areas that will be discussed include, time management, cost management, quality management, human resource management, communications management, risk management and procurement management.
Execution Process – Those processes that need to be performed to complete the work defined in the project management plan will be presented, along with techniques and tools on how to ensure project objectives are met.
Monitoring and Controlling Process – Techniques and processes will be shared to ensure concise tracking of the progress of the project is maintained to ensure the performance objectives defined in the project management plan are met.
Closing Process – This module focuses on the processes to be performed to finalize all activities across all project management process groups to formally close the project or phase.

Facilitator: Lara Chabina Crowe

Trigger Proof Your Way to Success

You will learn solutions to common workplace problems in the form of twelve easy-to-use tools that will allow both managers and workers to change their responses to common triggers. The “Trigger-Proof” workshop series focuses on working on the inside, where behavior begins. The working principle is that when we understand ourselves, it is much easier to understand and deal comfortably with others. The better we understand our strengths and weaknesses, the more effective we become at altering our responses to uncomfortable situations.

The monthly lunch and learn sessions will start on January 19, 2012 with “Trigger-Proof Tool 1: Discover What Triggers You". Participants who attend the entire series will receive a free training manual to use for all of the workshops.

Facilitator: Gay Lynn Williamson-Grigas

Training Date(s)

2012 – The workshop sessions will take place from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. as follows:

November 15th – Tool 11: Every Thought That Comes Into Your Head Should Not Fall Out of Your Mouth
December 13th – Tool 12: Attitude Advantage: Being Resilient

Location: DeSantis 3049/3051

In 2013, the series will begin again and the workshop will take place from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. as follows:

January 10th – Tool 1: Discover What Triggers You
February 21st – Tool 2: Holding On To Your Power and Your Remote Control
March 14th – Tool 3: Keep the Door Knob of Your Life on the Inside
April 11th – Tool 4: Pattern Interruption: Redirecting Behaviors
May 9th – Tool 5: Learn to "Re-Do" Mistakes
June 13th – Tool 6: Don't Bite the Hook: Personality Types that Trigger You
July 11th – Tool 7: Refuse to Take Things Personally: It's Not About You
August 8th – Tool 8: Evict People Renting Space in Your Head
September 12th – Tool 9: Avoid the Misery Addict
October 10th – Tool 10: Choose Your Battles Wisely
November 14th – Tool 11: Every Thought That Comes Into Your Head Should Not Fall Out of Your Mouth
December 12th – Tool 12: Attitude Advantage: Being Resilient

The Writing ™ On-The-Job Writing Made Fast & Easy-even if you hate to write!

In this workshop, you will learn a proprietary writing process that will save you time and frustration when writing anything at work. The Writing ™ will take you from blank computer screen (or paper) to a clear, concise document—every time.

Invest just four hours in this workshop, and you will learn to:

Master the writing process: From blank screen (or paper) to clear, concise message
Select the appropriate level of detail--what to include and what to leave out when you write.
Reduce the reader's workload—tips for making documents easy to read and understand
Create appropriate tone
Edit and proofread what you (and others) write
Avoid the three most common and most embarrassing mistakes, including when NOT to use spell check
Write effective email and other on-line messages
Save time and frustration—yours and your reader's

You will enjoy yourself. You will learn and use the tips and techniques provided—including job aids to take back to work to help you continue to improve your writing. Your trainer, Ronnie Moore, is a leading communications expert and author. Her training workshops have been some of the highest rated at California State University and many corporate and government entities.

Facilitator: Ronnie Moore