Book the two-day workshop: Supervising for Success

Give your front line supervisors two days of training that will pay off in improved performance, engagement, and motivation for years to come.

Agenda:

Developing leadership capacity, strength, and flexibility
Ten keys to leadership success
Achieving your supervisory goals
Communicating for results
Building your team
Motivating yourself and others
Manage your time without driving yourself crazy
Coaching to improve performance
Facilitating highly productive meetings
Solving team problems collaboratively

Supervisors are challenged in every direction. They usually don't get the training they need and end up with more problems and headaches than they'd ever imagined possible. It doesn't have to be that way.

The key tasks of a supervisor can be learned. Our time tested and field tested training methods get your supervisors to explore, discover, and practice the key skills that will make a positive difference in their performance, their teams, and their lives.

How to bring this workshop to your location:

We're located in Bucks County, Pennsylvania and if you are, too you'll find this workshop surprisingly affordable for your organization. All you need is a conference or training room and five or more participants.

For more information, contact us here:

doug@dougsmithtraining.com

Comments

Build and Connect

The world is full of "buts" in search of more "ands." In improv. In leadership. In life. Let go of the fear and build on what's here. -- doug smith

Be Careful of Your Measures

Peter Drucker once said "what gets measured gets done" and there is much truth to that. Point people in the direction you want and they will do their best to get there. Just make sure, very sure, that you are measure what you really want and doing it without creating paths to cheating your way there. Given an incentive, people will find a way to achieve it. Most will work fairly but some will be tempted to game the. system, to stack the deck, to churn the number on their own behalf. That's not what you want. Ask yourself this question: how can we measure quantity and quality without gaming the system? Until you've answered that question, you'll never know how accurate, or useful, the measure is. -- doug smith

Sizing Our Influence

Our influence is usually smaller than we want it to be but greater than we realize. That's a good thing because humility helps our influence grow. -- doug smith

What's Your Creative Prompt?

The best place to wait for inspiration is in a place where it is certain to show up. Where is that for you? Onstage? Backstage? Greenroom? Workplace? Library? Laboratory? It could be your office, the factory floor, your work vehicle, anyplace where creativity is welcome. Your creative prompt can be solo and it can be in groups of people, too. Your best creative prompt is within you. How about this -- wherever you are, bring your inspiration with you. -- doug smith

Five Whys vs. Fishbone

Every once in a while a great article that explains an idea well appears that is worth sharing. This is one example, from HRDQ: Five Whys vs. Fishbone Diagrams for Root Cause Analysis . The article is worth reading but in brief, it describes two powerful and commonly used root cause analysis tools and how to use them. It makes a convincing case that it is not exactly one vs. the other -- start with the classic Fishbone diagram. If you uncover what appears to be one dominant cause path, drill down on that path using the 5 Whys. That's the order: 1. Fishbone 2. Five Whys I use variations of each of these tools in our workshops on Creative Problem Solving. The common versions are still effective and will save you time in problem solving. The root cause analysis is essential. Done properly and thoroughly it will prevent you from chasing solutions that do not actually solve the problem. What problem are you working on today? Have you identified the root cause? -- doug smith

Speedy, Pause

Speed is great. It overcomes indifference, it outruns hesitation, it gets things started. It can also lead to mistakes. Sometimes a mistake comes from moving too fast. Pause. Practice patiently to filter out the flaws. -- doug smith

Practice Again

Neglect is not neutral. Power comes from practice. Know it. Show it. Do it again. -- doug smith

Acceptance vs. Endorsement

Accepting a truth does not mean endorsing it. Sometimes it really is what it is. Until you change it. -- doug smith

We're All Imperfect

It is challenging to be a perfectionist. Continuous improvement is noble and necessary. Perfect is impossible. I picture myself, as John Wesley said, on the road to perfection and never quite there. Imperfection is a condition, not a punishment. We all make mistakes. Let's just fix them. -- doug smith

Exploring "Purple on Purpose"

What if there was a way to bridge the divide we all feel everyday, especially in our political views? What if there was a skill that could help people connect meaningfully by listening first, keeping judgment at bay, and finding common ground? UnScripted Products posed that question and launched a pilot workshop to explore ways to communicate more satisfyingly thru improv. I've been blessed with many opportunities to practice improv with truly fabulous, sincere, and creative people all over the USA -- in New Jersey, Chicago, Michigan, Colorado, Pennsylvania -- all over. Each improv group brings their own spark and joy. One wonderful feature of participating in different improv groups is that it does not feel like we are competing with each other because improv is a community. That makes it just about a perfect model for improving communication, crossing polarized divides, and recognizing people for the marvelously complicated but at heart well-intentioned beings that ...

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