Developing Strong People Skills in Managers and Supervisors
&
How to Avoid Taking Things Personally

Workshop - Developing Strong People Skills in Managers and Supervisors

It is essential for today's managers to possess strong 'people skills' in order to be effective in their work. The emphasis of this session will be to focus on how we, as HR professionals, can cultivate these skills through professional development programs offered to staff within our organizations. These include communication (listening, assertion; both oral and written) skills, conflict resolution skills, meeting facilitation skills, etc. 'People skills' will be discussed and applied to performance management challenges, project management, delegation, and other relevant contexts. The presenter will draw upon extensive experience managing a professional development program for managers and supervisors at UW-Madison, as well as experience as a trainer and consultant in the skill areas.

In this session you will discover new ways to:

* Improve your 'People skills' in order to more effectively address conflict and performance issues.
* Enhance the skills of management by delivering tools/resources to become better communicators when addressing conflict.
* Get employees motivated and committed and improve employee interaction
* Revolutionize employee communication
* Measure your overall communication strategy

Our Presenter - Harry Webne-Behrman

Harry Webne-Behrman is a Training Officer with UW-Madison's Office of Human Resource Development. In that capacity, he coordinates professional development programs for campus managers and supervisors, and participates as an instructor in courses on conflict management, communication skills, facilitation skills, managerial mediation and other areas. Along with his wife, Lisa Webne-Behrman, he has served as Senior Partner of a private consulting and mediation firm, Collaborative Initiative, Inc., since 1991. Harry has worked with hundreds of businesses, schools, community groups and public agencies, and he maintains tremendous enthusiasm about the importance of learning to work collaboratively to build positive work environments.

Keynote - How to Avoid Taking Things Personally

It is not uncommon in the workplace that one may find himself/herself feeling verbally attacked in a conversation with a supervisor, co-worker, client or customer. The desire to defend oneself in the face of such attacks is natural, understandable, and usually not at all helpful in moving the conversation forward in a productive way. This presentation will examine the reasons for this and identify specific strategies to use in responding to such situations.

Our Presenter - Stephen Pearson

Steve has been the Director of the UW-Madison Employee Assistance Office since July, 1990. He has extensive knowledge and experience in the areas of responding to employees with personal problems, coaching of managers and supervisors, interpersonal communication in the workplace, managing organizational change, managing conflict in the workplace, working with difficult co-workers, and responding to threats of violence in the workplace.

Steve holds a Masters degree in Religion and Psychology Studies from the University of Chicago. He is also a Licensed Professional Counselor in the State of Wisconsin.

For more information contact:

GMA SHRM Management Team
2830 Agriculture Dr.
Madison, WI 53718
(608) 204-9814
fax (608) 204-9818
chapteradmin@gmashrm.org

Program Schedule subject to change.