Career Success

Are you about to enter the workforce? Are you an emerging professional? Are you new to your role in the organization? All prospective new employees benefit from understanding management principles, roles and responsibilities, regardless of position. Now you can acquire an in-depth understanding of the basic concepts and theories of management while exploring the manager's operational role in all types of organizations. Gain insight into the manager's responsibility in planning, organizing, leading, staffing and controlling within the workplace. It’s never too soon to plan your professional path by learning how the best managers manage for success! Upon completing this course, you will be able to: 1. Describe the difference between managers and leaders 2. Explore the focus of a manager’s job 3. Cite the required skills for a new manager’s success 4. Describe the five functions of management 5. Explain the new model management operating philosophy 6. Describe the hierarchy of planning 7. Use the SMART goal setting technique 8. Discuss the concept of evolution of leadership 9. Explain how customer satisfaction is linked to controlling 10. Discuss the power of building a network

Problem-solving and effective decision-making are essential skills in today’s fast-paced and ever-changing workplace. Both require a systematic yet creative approach to address today’s business concerns. This course will teach an overarching process of how to identify problems to generate potential solutions and how to apply decision-making styles in order to implement and assess those solutions. Through this process, you will gain confidence in assessing problems accurately, selecting the appropriate decision-making approaches for the situation at hand, making team decisions, and measuring the success of the solution’s implementation. Using case studies and situations encountered by class members, you will explore proven, successful problem-solving and decision-making models and methods that can be readily transferred to workplace projects. You will also learn to utilize frameworks like Root Cause Analysis and Decision Matrix tools. This course is for business professionals, managers, and team leaders seeking to enhance their strategic thinking and problem-solving skills. Upon completing this course, you will be able to: 1. Identify key terms, styles, and approaches to effective problem-solving and decision-making. 2. Explain how organizational decisions impact personal development, team dynamics, and company performance. 3. Reflect on how mindset and personal bias influence your ability to solve problems and make decisions. 4. Articulate how team decisions can benefit your professional growth and organizational strategy. To be successful in this course, you should have a basic understanding of business operations and team collaboration.

Success in business can be greatly enhanced with an understanding of key entrepreneurial characteristics and competencies solutions. This interactive course provides potential entrepreneurs with the knowledge of succeeding in an entrepreneurial opportunity. Topics include: how creativity, opportunity and feasibility are best evaluated; business strategies for new businesses; importance of a business plan; achieving success in a new business. At the end of the course students will have the skills and confidence to evaluate starting a business, in addition to becoming more enterprising in how they approach their roles should they decide to work in organizations. Upon completing this course, you will be able to: 1. Learn about the many faces of and contexts for entrepreneurship 2. Learn about the entrepreneurial process and how to manage it 3. Learn about what it takes to be an entrepreneur and your own potential to be one 4. Learn to recognize opportunities to generate and assess your own business idea 5. Explain the business planning process 6. Apply entrepreneurial approaches, concepts and methods to your own business idea 7. Learn about the operational issues in developing new business ventures

The modern workplace is more diverse than ever, encompassing varied generations, cultures, and work environments (remote, hybrid, in-person). This course addresses the critical need for effective communication strategies in this dynamic landscape. You will learn to identify and adapt your communication style to enhance team productivity and build stronger connections with colleagues from all backgrounds. This course is for professionals, managers, and team members looking to improve their communication skills in diverse business settings. By the end of this course, you will be able to: 1. Identify your own communication style and its impact on others. 2. Describe methods to increase effective communication in varied contexts. 3. Discuss how changing demographics affect workplace communication. 4. Differentiate between the five working generations and their communication preferences. 5. Identify communication benefits and challenges of different work environments. 6. Discuss effective techniques for communicating with a diverse workforce. 7. Implement a flexing communication strategy to better communicate with your workplace team. To be successful in this course, a basic understanding of workplace dynamics and a desire to improve communication skills are recommended. No specific software tools are required.

Effective writing is a powerful tool in the business environment. Learn how to articulate your thoughts in a clear and concise manner that will allow your ideas to be better understood by your readers. Improve your business writing skill by learning to select and use appropriate formats for your audience, use the correct medium and adjust your writing style accordingly, as well as identify your objective and communicate it clearly. You'll also learn to spot, correct and avoid the most common writing pitfalls, and gain valuable experience analyzing, writing and revising a wide spectrum of business documents. From a simple email to a complete report, learn how to put good business writing to work for you. Upon completing this course, you will be able to: 1. Write effective business communications, including bad news, good news, persuasive writing, presentations, emails, memos, business reports and press releases 2. Learn how to edit and proofread business documents 3. Learn how to write for a global market

The art of negotiation comes into play daily in the life of employees at all levels and in every position. Participants explore how current approaches to negotiation strategy and tactics are used, what negotiation entails, types of negotiation relationships that exist from hard bargain to win-win, to fully partnered relationships and personal ones. The course explores the personal and behavioral characteristics of an effective negotiator. Participants discuss how empowerment, power, and authority affect the negotiation process and outcome. Topics include how important it is to plan and prepare for a negotiation session. Upon completing this course, you will be able to: 1. Learn about the nature of negotiation and how it differs from selling 2. Gain awareness of the basic doctrines of negotiation and barriers to effective negotiation 3. Explain the role of authority and how to address it in negotiations 4. Explain the role of power in negotiations and how to address power inequities 5. Explain the positive and negative influences of empowerment 6. Learn the different “stances” or negotiation styles negotiators might adopt 7. Demonstrate the factors that influence which negotiation style is implemented 8. Describe the personal and behavioral characteristics of an effective negotiator 9. Demonstrate your grasp of emotional intelligence and how it impacts the effectiveness of a negotiator 10. Assess your own values and personal style and how they affect the negotiation process 11. Learn about the critical importance of planning and preparation in the negotiation process

This course is for non-financial professionals, managers, and business leaders seeking to understand core finance and accounting concepts to drive organizational growth and impact financial decisions. You will gain a basic understanding of finance and accounting principles, enabling you to analyze financial information and assess the impact of your decisions across functional areas. Specific topics include financial analysis, planning, forecasting, budgeting, cash flow management, and strategic financing. You will learn to apply these concepts through practical exercises, potentially leveraging tools like Microsoft Excel for financial analysis and forecasting. Upon completing this course, you will be able to: 1. Explain the importance of finance and interpretation of financial information. 2. Apply accounting and finance concepts to analyze financials. 3. Understand key accounting and finance terms. 4. Examine financial statements using key ratios. 5. Explain the importance of the budgeting process. 6. Learn key components needed to improve profitability. To be successful in this course, no prior finance or accounting background is required.

This course is for professionals, project managers, administrative assistants, and anyone seeking to enhance their personal and professional productivity. You will gain and apply knowledge of personal and professional awareness, organization, and commitment. Learn to use tools, methods, and techniques in goal setting, prioritization, scheduling, and delegation to overcome time management challenges and enhance productivity. Upon completing this course, you will be able to: 1. Plan effectively to achieve your personal and professional goals. 2. Recognize and overcome barriers to successful time management. 3. Identify specific time management tools (e.g., digital calendars, task management apps) and use them effectively. 4. Manage resources both effectively and efficiently. 5. Keep your sense of perspective to prevent and manage crises. 6. Delegate effectively. 7. Manage expectations and say “No” when appropriate. To be successful in this course, you should have a basic understanding of workplace organization and a desire to improve personal efficiency.

This course combines the essential elements of Project Management and Team Leadership into one course. Through class engagement and reflection, you will acquire further understanding of the responsibilities of leadership and become better prepared to apply this knowledge to the project environment. Upon completing this course, you will be able to: 1. Learn about the role of high performance teams and leadership in project management 2. Learn about the tools and techniques for developing and strengthening high performance teams and team members 3. Learn about the stages in project cycle 4. Apply best practices to develop competencies and skills in planning and controlling projects to ensure successful outcomes 5. Learn how to monitor project activities and assess progress 6. Learn to communicate proficiently to report project status and performance to stakeholders and contribute to organizational knowledge base