Workshops

I specialize in workshops to help you solve problems and achieve your goals by sparking and developing your creativity, clarity, courage, and compassion in these key areas:

- leadership
- project management
- communication
- productivity
- creative and performing arts

I take a customized approach to bringing sharply focused, action-based workshops to organizations.

How much time do you have to train your people to dramatically improve their skills at solving problems and achieving your goals?

Here is a selection of my most popular, and successful workshops:

Supervising for Success - Two day workshop for front line leaders. You'll start on your goals and create the alignment and traction you need to achieve them. Ideal for front line leaders in any organization, we have deep experience (and time-tested tools) especially suited for leaders in the retail and service industries. $149 per participant.

Communicating for Results - One day workshop to help you develop the skills you need to create deeper, more effective conversations, build stronger relationships, and communicate with tact, respect, diplomacy, and professionalism. Add a second day to develop more productive meetings and learn how to deliver more powerful and influential presentations. One day program $99 per participant. Two day program: $149 per participant.

Creative Project Management - What if your goal requires a project? Bringing together the best (and fastest to learn and implement) project management tools this workshop will help you with whatever phase of your project you find yourself -- from launch to completion. One day program: $99 per participant. Two day program: $149 per participant.

Centered Problem Solving - If problems are making a mess of you or your team, turn that energy around with some focused and applied centered problem solving. We've taken some time-tested tools and processes, blended them with our unique approach, and created new ways to focus, analyze, create possibilities, evaluate choices, and solve problems. Available as a one-day (exploration and discovery) and as a two-day (exploration, discovery, and application) workshop, Centered Problem Solving is an investment that will pay for itself over and over. One day program: $99 per participant. Two day version (work on solving real problems!) $149 per participant.

Contact me about bringing one or more of these workshops to your location. I'm located in the Bucks County, PA area so if you're near there there is no extra charge for travel.

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doug@dougsmithtraining.com

facebook.com/dougsmithtraining

@douglasbrent

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"Doug had an awesome way of delivering the content. Great advice and information to take back to the work place."
-- Tosha, Cherry Hill, NJ

"The enthusiasm of Doug was awesome! I definitely felt I learned more because he had many examples."
-- Jaimee, Des Moines, IA

"I learned so much more than I expected... I will definitely take these skills back to the workplace and share this knowledge with my fellow employees!"
-- Courtney, Schaumburg, IL

"Doug's positive personality really helped make this course very interesting and worth while."
-- Breanna, Bloomington, MN

"Doug was great! I loved how he shared life experiences to teach! Great guy!"
-- Lisa, New Haven, CT

"Overall wonderful experience. I've gained a lot more knowledge than I had anticipated. Great leader who kept the whole class engaged and thinking."
-- Ashley, Baltimore, MD

"Doug was very engaging & kept the class moving efficiently.
-- Sarah Pollen, Frederick, MD

"This training was outstanding! Doug did an amazing job. He was entertaining and knowledgable. Thank you for a wonderful two day training."
-- Stephanie, Washington, DC

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doug@dougsmithtraining.com

facebook.com/dougsmithtraining

@douglasbrent

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Comments

Rival as Coach

Competition can be rough but it can also be educational. If you study your opponent you might learn their secrets. If you can listen to your opposition, they might be sending you valuable signals that could improve your own performance. What if your rival is also your best coach? -- doug smith

Turn That Feedback Upside Down

Is feedback painful? Do you hate both giving AND receiving feedback? Most people, in my experience, tend to avoid feedback because there is pain and even emotional trauma attached. Critical feedback hurts. Positive feedback, when it comes at all, isn't always enough to counter the trauma of the critical feedback. We do need critical feedback. We need to be able to benefit from observations and experiences to improve our performance going forward. As leaders, we have a responsibility to provide our team members with both support and challenge. Feedback should be part of that challenge. But it's not really "feedback" unless it's flipped upside down. On my Fender amplifier, if I play my guitar too loud and too close to the speaker the sound feeds-back. I like that sound (it reminds me of Jimi Hendrix) but many people don't and it certainly would not fit in most worship services or orchestra pits. The feedback is essentially telling me to turn it down. But I don...

The Problem With Compromises

Think about the last time you compromised on something. Whether it was a big compromise or a little compromise, how do you feel about it now? While we often call it "meet in the middle" it seldom does. Compromises are not automatically fair, no matter how implied that fairness is. Someone usually gets more out of a compromise than the person they are "compromising" with. If the low end is you, you don't like it -- and you remember that. If the top end of the compromise is you, you probably forget all about it even though the inequity simmers in the background. Compromises must be constantly revisited because they are inevitably unfair. If you get the chance to balance things out, your relationship will prosper. If you miss that chance, the relationship will suffer. What's your choice? -- doug smith

Action!

You've heard the term "Action!" in the movie business applied to beginning a scene. Get moving. Do your part. Play your role. Action. Often, the action is incomplete, incorrect, or just insufficient. When that happens on the set you'll hear "Back to one!" which means start the scene over from the beginning. You get another chance. Some directors will even give you a couple extra chances to get it right. Other directors, like Stanley Kubrick, might insist on dozens of "back to ones" to make sure something brilliant happens. We don't always get do-overs in real life, do we? But we can't get stuck at "one" or "back to one". We need action. Sketch out all the plans you want as long as you remember that it takes action to achieve your goals. And what if you don't like the results of your action? Maybe...just maybe, give back to one a chance... -- doug smith

Steps of Success

Remember to celebrate the goals you've already achieved. They are powerful steps toward your next great goal. -- doug smith

A Bit of Justice

Is it possible to have peace without justice? I wrestle with that question because I know what I'd like it to be and I suspect that the real answer is something else. How about you? The path of peace is sometimes covered with conflict. Problems don't always present in a respectful, peaceful manner. Sometimes they barely even disguise the greed behind the behavior. Tough, yet almost certain, the answer involves an assertive response. A problem caused by greed might need a bit of justice. Peaceful, restorative justice perhaps, but most definitely justice. -- doug smith

Clarify and then Work

Where does success start? It starts with the goal. What is it that you really, really want? Clarifying what your goal is can save you hours, weeks, and years of frustration. Work on what matters. Work on your goals. -- doug smith

Pause

"Not so fast!" "What?" "I didn't say yes. At least not yet. Be careful of assuming it's a yes..." I don't like to be pushed, how about you? I don't like it when people assume that any answer that is not a no must logically be a yes. Maybe not. It's fine to pause. It's worth thinking. No one can fault you for taking a breath, or two, or three! A pause, before a promise, can prevent that promise from being broken. I'd like to be someone who keeps my promises. How about you? -- doug smith

Some Motivation

When your goals are tied to a larger mission their value prods you forward. One more step, one more step, for goodness' sake take one more step... -- doug smith

How To Give and Receive Constructive Feedback

I'm facilitating a training session this week on feedback and coaching so of course my research never stops. No matter how many times I've delivered a program, there's always more to learn. I found this video and recommend it. If you'd like to take some of the "sting" out of feedback, don't even think of it as feedback. Think of it as advice. Here's the ten minute video. If you don't have ten minutes, the first three minutes are golden. Three key points that I got from the video: Focus on the task, not the person Ask for advice, not feedback Your "second score" is how you take and process your first score. If someone says that your performance was a three on a scale of ten (ouch!) you can still get a ten on how you use that information. -- doug smith

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