TomLaForce.com » Workshops & Seminars

Mission Accomplished

Tom LaForce — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:09:29 +0000

If you are trying to boost morale within your organization, consider boosting productivity. Help employees succeed, and they will respond with positive feelings. Here’s a 50 minute webinar on this topic. Check it out.

Interested in doing a workshop or webinar on this topic for your organization? Contact me and we’ll figure out the approach that will work best for you.

Speak Up

Tom LaForce — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 13:59:56 +0000

How do you get quiet employees to speak up? Why would you want them to? What’s the cause of their unwillingness to say what is on their minds? I recently did a webinar on this topic where I address these questions and many others. It runs about 45 minutes. You’ll find the recording here.

Working It Out

Tom LaForce — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 20:02:28 +0000

Working together with people can be tough. It’s inevitable that when two or more work side by side, day after day they will experience conflicts and maybe even get on each other’s nerves. Having a disagreement with someone isn’t a big deal. It’s actually a normal occurrence in a healthy workplace. What can be a big deal is how people handle the situation.

Most people don’t handle conflict very well. They usually pursue one of three strategies, none of them leading to positive results. Some avoid the person and/or issue, meaning things never get resolved. Others get overly aggressive and escalate the situation into a big fight which at best is uncomfortable and at worst can permanently damage relationships. Still others become passive-aggressive, turning to gossip or sarcasm. This not only doesn’t solve the problem, it usually gets a lot more people mixed up in the dispute.

In this two-hour, highly interactive workshop, participants will learn a positive approach to dealing with conflict and the people with whom they find it difficult to work. Specifically, participants will learn how to:

Analyze the situation so that they can make a better decision about what action, if any, they should take to address the situation.
Prepare for a difficult conversation to increase the odds things will go well.
Express concerns and their point of view in a manner that reduces the chances the other person will become defensive.
Respond skillfully to a person who is defensive or overly aggressive.
Listen respectfully to gain a better understanding of what’s really going on.
Follow a standard problem solving process to give tough conversations some structure.

Leading Change

Tom LaForce — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 20:00:39 +0000

Guiding employees through workplace transitions is no easy task. This workshop will help you navigate these waters with more confidence.

In this workshop participants will walk away with a better understanding of…

How people process change.
Their own reactions to change and how that affects their effectiveness.
The leader’s job as a change agent.
How to communicate during workplace transitions.
Strategies to use to build more support for a change.
Ways to develop a change-ready working environment.

Now I Get It

Tom LaForce — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:59:36 +0000

In this session participants will strengthen their communication skills. They will examine the communication process to explore key roles and responsibilities. They will develop strategies for overcoming common communication obstacles. They will learn several techniques for helping people better understand them, and what they can do to better understand others. This workshop runs two hours.

Beyond Words

Tom LaForce — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:58:18 +0000

Words convey only 7% of the meaning in conversation. The most important messages are sent through posture, gestures, expressions, tone, touch and a variety of other signals that most of us know as body language. By paying greater attention to our own body language we are able to avoid sending messages that we didn’t intend to send. By noticing the body language of others, we are better able to understand what they are trying to tell us.

In this fun and interactive one-hour workshop, we will explore the meanings of common non-verbal signals and how to use them to become better communicators.

Team Players

Tom LaForce — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:56:53 +0000

This popular, four-hour interactive workshop is designed to teach participants how to become effective team players. Using a combination of experiential learning and classroom techniques, the participants walk away with new skills and a better feeling about working in a team-based environment. Here’s what participants will learn:

Characteristics of the ideal team player
Formal and informal team norms
Communicating wants and needs
Listening
Body language
Team trouble-shooting

Facilitation Skills for Meeting Leaders

Tom LaForce — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 23:41:25 +0000

Imagine having a core group of employees who really knew how to maximize the productivity of any meeting. This two-day workshop is about giving people who are willing to show this kind of leadership the skills they will need to make a meeting successful.

Upon successful completion of the workshop, participants will be able to:

Describe the role of a facilitator.
Demonstrate key facilitator competencies such as listening, summarizing, reframing, and questioning.
Plan an effective agenda.
Be able to use a variety of facilitation tools and techniques to manage a group’s process.
Close a meeting in a manner that promotes action and follow-up.
Document the outcomes.

The workshop will cover the following topics:

The facilitator’s role
Facilitation competencies
Session planning
Problem-solving tools like multi-voting, brainstorming, structured discussion, and other useful techniques.
Facilitation tools such as ground rules, parking lots, and note-taking.
Balancing participation
Keeping the group focused
Dealing with negativity
Managing power imbalances
Managing the clock
Trouble-shooting

Meeting Magic

Tom LaForce — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 23:38:44 +0000

Meeting Magic is geared towards helping people become better meeting participants. It also provides foundational tools that can help anyone lead a more successful meeting. This workshop can be customized to run from two to four hours. The time constraints dictate what is covered and to what depth. Here are some of the typical topics addressed.

Meeting planning
The seven-step meeting process
Meeting roles and responsibilities
Parking lot and ground rules
Brainstorming
Multi-voting