Cross-functional management involves managing in a way that bridges the functional silos that constrain your organization. You have to rethink your approach to business operations and promote synergy and collaboration in a team-based environment while moving toward a common objective. This course defines organizational cross-functionality and its benefits. It helps you develop techniques to support a cross-functional strategy throughout your organization. And it shows you how different types of knowledge management systems can play a role in implementing that strategy.

1

Helping your organization to reach its full potential is among your most important responsibilities as a leader. In a modern competitive business environment, tapping an organization's potential for high performance not only helps it to be more competitive but also helps it to better respond to and manage the influence of external factors. In short, high-performance organizations are those with a competitive edge. Facilitating a high-performance environment requires the right skillset. This course helps you assess your organization's potential for high performance in terms of its mission statement, strategy, performance measurement strategies, customer orientation, leadership, and culture.

1

Experienced managers are extremely valuable to an organization. With the experience and judgment they have developed over time, these managers can provide leadership and drive to guide the organization to new highs. So it's important that you devote time and other resources to ensuring their ongoing commitment to the organization's long-term and short-term goals. Managers with highly developed skills manage their teams and subordinates more efficiently, reduce overall employee turnover, and increase the organization's performance. In this course, you'll learn about a range of techniques for investing in your managers to establish their long-term commitment to the organization. In particular, you'll learn how to develop their competencies and skills through coaching. Finally, you'll learn how to identify signs of underperformance in experienced managers and how to help them overcome whatever is hindering their performance.

1

In an ever-changing business environment, organizations globally are faced with the challenges of having to reinvent themselves or face failure. This course examines the factors driving organizational change and shows how you can use a change management strategy to mitigate any potentially negative impact in your organization. It helps you prepare yourself and your team to meet the challenge of change and uncertainty. It also enables you to secure everyone's support while you're implementing change. And it gives you guidelines on how to embed the changes once they've been implemented.

1

Are you paying enough attention to your high performance employees, the people who really help drive your organization? To assume that they don't need your ongoing support because they seem self-sufficient can be a costly mistake. If you don't give them the attention they need and deserve, they may take their energy elsewhere. The key is to keep them engaged and motivated. This course helps you better understand what motivates high performers so you can use effective techniques to retain them and develop their full potential. It focuses on the importance of giving high performers challenging and meaningful work, autonomy, mentoring opportunities, and appropriate feedback.

1

People are the most important part of any organization. Developing tomorrow's organizational leaders requires a continuous commitment by managers and HR professionals to prepare new managers to grow into leadership roles. New managers must be properly oriented and trained when moving to their new positions. But training is an ongoing process, and mentoring is one key strategy for turning these new managers into leaders who'll help keep the organization prosperous into the future. This course covers the elements of an effective orientation program. It then illustrates some appropriate techniques for training new managers, such as job coaching, customer and supplier visits, and involvement in shared projects with other teams. Finally, it introduces a mentoring model so you can help new managers realize their leadership potential.

1

Agile software development is an iterative, incremental approach to developing and releasing software. Agile principles include commitment to timely and ongoing software deliveries, changing requirements, simplicity in approach, and sustainable development cycles. The Agile method also promotes self-organizing, self-empowered, self-monitoring teams and individuals who work collaboratively with face-to-face communication. Agile development practices include frequent releases, ongoing testing, customer and stakeholder participation throughout the development process, co-ownership of code, and pair-programming. In this course you will be introduced to agile team practices including pair-programming and co-ownership of code. You will also become familiar with agile programming practices including test-driven development, and behavior-driven development and you will become familiar with agile testing activities in relation to software components, user interfaces, and data.

2

Agile software development is an iterative, incremental approach to developing and releasing software. Agile principles include commitment to timely and ongoing software deliveries, changing requirements, simplicity in approach, and sustainable development cycles. The Agile method also promotes self-organizing, self-empowered, self-monitoring teams and individuals who work collaboratively with face-to-face communication. Agile development practices include frequent releases, ongoing testing, customer and stakeholder participation throughout the development process, co-ownership of code and pair-programming. A range of agile methodologies have emerged. All embrace the general principles of agile development but can differ in focus and level of formality. In this course you will be introduced to the principles of agile software development, and you will be provided with an overview of some of the principle agile methodologies such as Extreme Programming(XP) and Scrum. You will also consider the issues involved in applying an agile methodology in an organization.

2

Agile software development is an iterative, incremental approach to developing and releasing software. Agile principles include commitment to timely and ongoing software deliveries, changing requirements, simplicity in approach, and sustainable development cycles. The Agile method also promotes self-organizing, self-empowered, self-monitoring teams and individuals who work collaboratively with face-to-face communication. Agile development practices include frequent releases, ongoing testing, customer and stakeholder participation throughout the development process, co-ownership of code and pair-programming. In this course you will be introduced to the principles of agile project management during software development iterations. You will become familiar with agile practices in relation to project management tasks such as work scheduling, team meetings, change and risk management, progress monitoring, reports and reviews, and project scaling.

1.5

Agile software development is an iterative, incremental approach to developing and releasing software. Agile principles include commitment to timely and ongoing software deliveries, changing requirements, simplicity in approach, and sustainable development cycles. The Agile method also promotes self-organizing, self-empowered, self-monitoring teams and individuals who work collaboratively with face-to-face communication. Agile development practices include frequent releases, ongoing testing, customer and stakeholder participation throughout the development process, co-ownership of code and pair-programming. In this course you will be introduced to the practices of agile project planning. You will become familiar with project planning tasks such as creating and estimating user stories, release and iteration planning, and agile modeling.

2

Among the fears that people have about giving a presentation is that they will get mixed up, forget to make a key point, or repeat themselves. One way to avoid this is to have a sound structure. Once you have identified the purpose and audience for the presentation, and come up with some ideas for what to say, you can transform those ideas into a script or notes that will guide you through the presentation. You should start with an introduction, where you grab the attention of the audience and tell what you are going to do. Next, you need to support each of your key points and, at the same time, not lose the attention of the audience. At the end of your presentation, you need to give your audience a clear understanding of what happens next. You also must make your ending compelling. After all, this is how the audience will remember you. This course describes how to make these key parts of a presentation – the introduction, support content, and conclusion – memorable and effective. It also explains the purposes for which different presentation aids are used, as well as how to use visuals appropriately. Finally, this course describes how to rehearse a presentation – a key step in building confidence for the real thing.

1

Excellence in presentation can be achieved when the standard of your delivery matches the quality of your content. You may have carefully planned and structured what you want to say, but if you deliver your message in a monotone while standing stiffly, you're probably not going to captivate the audience. Having diligently prepared for your presentation, you need to make sure that your delivery is engaging. You need to communicate your enthusiasm to the audience if you want them to be enthusiastic about your ideas. At the same time, you must appear composed and confident. This course describes how to make your delivery successful and memorable. It covers techniques for managing stage fright – the biggest problem most speakers have. It also explains how to set the right environment for your presentation by making the right choices about room layout and by preparing the room, including the equipment, lighting, and temperature. You'll also find out how to use your voice and body language to deliver your message clearly and effectively. Finally, the course outlines guidelines for handling audience questions – an area most speakers are also very concerned about. After all, how credible the audience finds you can be swayed by how effectively you answer the difficult questions that come up.

1

Even the most seasoned public speakers can experience nerves before a major presentation. The successful ones, however, have learned how to make those nerves work for them. Positive concern about the impact of a presentation can spur presenters to raise their game, enabling them to get the desired results. For example, a presentation can be immeasurably improved if you devote sufficient time and attention to three key steps - analyzing your audience, organizing your ideas, and selecting an appropriate presentation method. This course describes how to plan effectively for a presentation by carrying out these steps.

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The importance of being able to count on your colleagues when it matters most cannot be overstated. Trusting relationships truly are the foundations for productive and enjoyable workplaces. Trust helps improve communication and productivity by giving you and your colleagues the confidence to express and resolve problems. This in turn allows you to focus and collaborate more effectively. At the same time, there are many pitfalls associated with distrusting relationships, including negative impacts on personal development, not to mention team and organizational success. This course provides invaluable insight into the impact of trust and distrust in the workplace. It also addresses the importance of fostering trusting relationships at work and how to build and sustain trust with your colleagues.

1

Trust is an important component in any workplace. When colleagues know they can count on each other, morale and productivity levels tend to increase. But what if trust is betrayed? How will this impact your ability to perform your job effectively? This course will provide key insight into the cost of lost trust including its negative impacts on performance, morale, and ultimately the bottom line. How to rebuild trust once it's lost and maintain trust over time will also be addressed.

1

Establishing a positive and respectful coaching relationship is integral to the success of your coaching efforts. It lays the groundwork for accomplishing the goals you and your coachee set. This course highlights the importance of a strong coaching relationship. It describes how to establish rapport with your coachee by showing interest, finding common ground, and matching your coachee's demeanor and language. In addition, the course covers ways to develop a positive coaching relationship, including letting coachees act autonomously and take responsibility, and helping them to learn and develop. Materials designed to support blended learning activities aligned with this course are available from the Resources Page.

1

An important part of any coaching session is asking the right questions. When you do this, your coachees will be more focused, attentive, and proactive in finding their own solutions. But you need to know what questions to ask, and in what order. It helps to follow a structured approach that guides you from a broad understanding of what your coachee is trying to achieve to a clear action plan with detailed steps. This course describes how to carry out effective coaching sessions, including clarifying the coachee's situation and recognizing and determining the best options for your coachee to work with. Finally, the course provides actions for wrapping up a coaching session, including getting commitment, identifying obstacles, creating a plan with deadlines, and agreeing on support going forward. Materials designed to support blended learning activities aligned with this course are available from the Resources Page.

1

Coaching offers organizations a win-win method for developing their employees. It not only helps individuals reach their potential but also helps the organization improve its productivity and competitiveness. In a rapidly changing business world, coaching can also help employees adjust and adapt their skill sets. Coaching is about encouraging, confronting, challenging, questioning, as well as consistently respecting and supporting coachees in developing and achieving their goals. This course introduces the skills you need to be an effective coach, including listening and observing, providing feedback, questioning, and setting goals. It also covers how to identify which coaching role is most appropriate for a given individual or situation. The course also details the importance of selling the idea of coaching to those you feel need it. Materials designed to support blended learning activities aligned with this course are available from the Resources Page.

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Every coachee has different needs, and an effective coach can identify those needs and tailor a coaching style to maximize results. Coaches typically use two general coaching styles – directive and nondirective – depending on their coachee's skill and motivation, as well as how far along they are in the coaching relationship. This course highlights the importance of using an appropriate coaching style with your coachee. Specifically, you will learn how to use different techniques for directive and nondirective coaching. Materials designed to support blended learning activities aligned with this course are available from the Resources Page.

1

Become a better employee by understanding that honoring shared values and beliefs will gain you a reputation for being responsible, fair, honest, and respectful. These are essential qualities for both personal and professional success. Following a personal code of ethics is a good way to apply ethical principles and to ensure your reputation and integrity in the workplace are uncompromised. Many companies provide their employees with a formal code of conduct, but you can also develop your own code by clarifying your ethical principles and applying guidelines for behaviors that align with your code. This course explains common values, offers a process for developing your own ethical code of conduct, and presents several scenarios in which you get to exercise your ethical muscles. With the guidance provided in this course, you will be able to develop your own code of conduct, apply core values at work, and approach common ethical problems with confidence.

1

How do you go about making the best ethical decision possible? Sometimes there are gray areas between what is right and what is wrong. Do you have the tools necessary to ethically lead you in your work practices? When you are able to recognize areas in which ethical problems occur in the workplace and are aware of the various arguments and justifications that become obstacles to ethical behavior, it is easier to successfully apply ethical standards. This course aids you in identifying ethical problems, helps you avoid the obstacles that may tempt you to act improperly, and gives you the tools necessary to guide you toward the right decisions.

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Ethics don't just apply to senior executives. While upper management does have a responsibility to set the ethical tone for an organization, employees at every level also have a responsibility to conduct themselves in an ethical manner. This course will prepare you to approach your job with an awareness of the importance of ethics in the work setting and an understanding of what constitutes ethical behavior. You will learn the thinking behind ethical behavior and be able to recognize some of the common myths about business ethics.

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Often, and usually with the best intentions, organizations hastily overhaul processes or implement new systems in an effort to quickly fix or address a problem, only to discover that it wasn't the right solution after all the time and money wasted, and the problem continues. Business analysis aims to not only properly diagnose an issue, but determine the best solution to fix it permanently. Business analysts, who undertake this work, require a unique combination of skills and knowledge to be successful in this function. This course provides an overview of what business analysis is, including fundamental concepts and knowledge areas as prescribed in A Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® (BABOK® Guide) – Version 2.0 by the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA®). This course also covers the essential competencies required for effective business analysis, including behavioral characteristics, business and software knowledge, and communication and interaction skills. This course provides a foundational knowledge base of business analysis information so learners can effectively put principles to work at their own organizations. This course will assist in preparing the learner for the IIBA®’s Certified Business Analysis Professional™ (CBAP®) certification exam. IIBA®, the IIBA® logo, BABOK®, and Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® are registered trademarks owned by International Institute of Business Analysis.

2

In business analysis, there is no prescribed route to take. Each project, task, or process initiative is different, and every environment you work in is different. Therefore, it's essential you map out your business analysis approach based on the elements concerning your particular project, environment, and organization. It's equally important to clearly determine who your stakeholders are, who is responsible for what, and how much effort will be required for project deliverables. This course provides an overview of planning a business analysis approach, using techniques like the decision analysis approach, process modeling and structured walkthroughs as prescribed in A Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® (BABOK® Guide) – Version 2.0 by the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA®). This course also provides an overview of conducting a stakeholder analysis, including techniques such as RACI matrices and stakeholder maps. Finally, techniques for planning business analysis activities such as estimating required efforts are introduced. This course provides a foundational knowledge base of business analysis information so learners can effectively put principles to work at their own organizations. This course will assist in preparing the learner for the IIBA®’s Certified Business Analysis Professional™ (CBAP®) certification exam. IIBA®, the IIBA® logo, BABOK®, and Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® are registered trademarks owned by the International Institute of Business Analysis.

2.5

Most business analyst professionals recognize the importance of identifying and performing business analysis activities in order to successfully deliver requirements and meet project goals. But what about planning and managing how these business analysis activities are actually performed? A proposed structure and schedule for communications, a requirements management plan, and a clear plan to ensure business analysis activities are executed as efficiently as possible are all key elements of successful business analysis. This course provides an overview of planning business analysis communication using techniques like the structured walkthrough as prescribed in A Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® (BABOK® Guide) – Version 2.0 by the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA®). This course also provides an overview of the plan requirements management process, including techniques like problem tracking and decision analysis to create the requirements management plan. Finally, techniques for managing business analysis performance such as lessons learned workshops and utilizing metrics and key performance indicators are introduced. This course provides a foundational knowledge base of business analysis information so learners can effectively put principles to work at their own organizations. This course will assist in preparing the learner for the IIBA®’s Certified Business Analysis Professional™ (CBAP®) certification exam. IIBA®, the IIBA® logo, BABOK®, and Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® are registered trademarks owned by International Institute of Business Analysis.

2.5

As a project manager, you will inevitably be called upon to address ethical dilemmas. The type and complexity of these dilemmas can vary significantly from balancing the competing interests of stakeholders to adhering to conflicting legal, multi-cultural, and multi-national rules, regulations, and requirements. Addressing these issues is much more complex than simply deciding what is right and what is wrong. In an increasingly global network, project managers must proactively seek to understand cultural diversity, and how to work successfully with multi-national teams. Sensitivity to other groups, their social customs, and their means of doing business is key to success. Often, project managers will need to weigh all competing interests fairly and objectively in order to make the ethical decision that will have the most far-reaching benefits. In this course, learners will explore the values underlying ethical decisions and behaviors as outlined in the PMI® Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. For each value, learners will be introduced to the integrity aspired to, as well as the mandatory conduct demanded of project managers to effectively manage projects and further promote project management as a profession. Topics covered include the behaviors that align with the core values of responsibility, respect, honesty, and fairness; how to integrate ethics into your project environments; and how to resolve ethical dilemmas. The course provides a foundational knowledge base reflecting the most up-to-date project management information so learners can effectively put principles to work at their own organizations. This course will assist in preparing the learner for the PMBOK® certification exam. This course is aligned with A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) – Fourth Edition, published by the Project Management Institute (PMI®), Inc., 2008. Copyright and all rights reserved. Material from this publication has been reproduced with the permission of PMI®.

2

Do the right thing but make sure you do it on time, under budget, and within scope, all the while maintaining your professional integrity in a constantly evolving global business environment. How do project managers do it, given that most ethical dilemmas are not black and white and usually require diligent deliberation? Keeping with their vision of establishing project management as a professional industry, the project management community and the Project Management Institute (PMI®) have established standards of ethics to help members to navigate the sometimes murky waters of ethical issues. In this course, learners will be given an overview of the role of ethics in project management. Specifically, learners will be introduced to the Project Management Institute (PMI®) Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. These are standards that are supported by values identified by practitioners around the world as essential to ensure the integrity of the project management profession. In addition, the course covers the consequences of unethical choices and behavior, including their far-reaching impact on the project management community, the global business community, and society. It provides a foundational knowledge base reflecting the most up-to-date project management information so learners can effectively put principles to work at their own organizations. This course will assist in preparing the learner for the PMBOK® certification exam. This course is aligned with A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) – Fourth Edition, published by PMI®, Inc., 2008. Copyright and all rights reserved. Material from this publication has been reproduced with the permission of PMI®.

1.5

Delivering a difficult message can be one of the most challenging things you do in a professional environment. It can bring anxiety, as you are faced with addressing an uncomfortable issue, and stress at the thought of the conversation's potential to result in a situation of high emotions. This course explores the skills needed to help you effectively plan and deliver your difficult message. It helps you learn how to develop and frame your message by examining issues such as careful preparation, wording, and delivery. If you deliver your difficult message with diplomacy and tact, you can better manage any negative impact your message might have on you or your audience.

1

Communicating with diplomacy and tact requires strategy, awareness, and skills. Its aim is to establish trust and rapport in relationships while delivering messages effectively. However, it's often pushed aside by good intentions cloaked by gut reaction and misinterpretation. This course provides techniques you can use to navigate through conversations in a way that shows sensitivity and respect for others. As well as exploring what you should say, the course shows you how you can use proper timing and delivery when conveying your message. This will enable you to deliver messages tactfully and diplomatically, without sacrificing your reputation or professional relationships.

1

Communicating with diplomacy and tact is more than a skill. It requires an awareness of your environment and style, and an ability to adapt to different situations. In this course, you'll see how conversations with different people in different situations can impact how you deliver your message, in terms of respect and sensitivity. By exploring the impact of environment, relationships, and communication style, this course shows you how to recognize the delicacy of different situations. It also demonstrates how you can adjust or adapt your communication style to ensure you communicate with diplomacy and tact.

1

Feedback is an essential element of successful businesses. Everyone benefits from the exchange of meaningful, constructive criticism. But giving criticism that is constructive rather than destructive can be one of the most important and difficult skills to learn. Given thoughtlessly, without proper preparation and consideration, it's likely to be ignored by the recipient, or worse yet, give offense. On the other hand, when given properly, constructive criticism given by a manager to an employee, or from a team leader to a team member, is a powerful tool for improving performance and increasing productivity. This course starts by exploring the key differences, the effects, and the importance of giving constructive criticism as opposed to destructive criticism. You will then learn a three-step process for giving constructive criticism effectively and have a chance to practice using it in a RolePlay that simulates a realistic work scenario. Materials designed to support blended learning activities aligned with this course are available from the Resources Page.

1

The performance of any organization depends upon the performance of every individual. Giving feedback is a necessary skill and can involve anyone in an organization, whether it is manager-to-report, peer-to-peer, or report-to-manager. There are generally two types of feedback: positive feedback for reinforcing positive behavior, and corrective feedback for correcting negative behavior. The purpose of this course is to help you improve your skills in giving both types of feedback. The course starts by exploring the importance and purpose of feedback in general, and then discusses both positive and corrective feedback. You will also learn a three-step process for giving feedback, and will have a chance to practice giving feedback using this three-step process. Materials designed to support blended learning activities aligned with this course are available from the Resources Page.

1

We all need feedback so that we can learn and improve. Sometimes feedback is on target, and its usefulness is apparent. Other times it may not be as easy to receive. Being able to receive feedback and criticism appropriately without getting your emotions involved is an essential skill for success in the business world. People in an organization need to be able to receive corrective feedback effectively, whether from someone in authority, a direct report, or a peer. Doing so allows you to better understand your colleagues' concerns, calm potentially heated exchanges, and solve issues efficiently. This course starts by exploring the reactions that typically occur when a person receives corrective feedback or criticism. You will also learn an approach that you can use to help you receive feedback in a productive manner and then have a chance to practice receiving feedback using that approach. Materials designed to support blended learning activities aligned with this course are available from the Resources Page.

1

How do you handle angry and confrontational customers? One of the most challenging, and potentially uncomfortable responsibilities of a customer service person is dealing with angry customers. By following a few simple techniques such as letting the customer vent, and expressing empathy towards the customer's situation, you can usually defuse tense situations without incident. This course explores typical trouble spots in dealing with angry customers, including reasons for customer dissatisfaction and things customer service people should refrain from saying or doing to avoid adding to the customer's frustration. Materials designed to support blended learning activities aligned with this course are available from the Resources Page.

1

Good customer service and strong customer relationships begin with building rapport. Building rapport requires knowing your customer, understanding their situation, and providing an empathetic ear for them to voice their concerns. Building rapport can lead to great customer relationships between individuals as well as the company they represent. This course covers how to build rapport with customers by being customer-focused. This includes being able to connect with your customers, being positive, paying close attention to the customers' needs, and understanding their feelings by empathizing with them. Materials designed to support blended learning activities aligned with this course are available from the Resources Page.

1

How do you make a good impression when providing customer service in the field? When you meet customers on their turf, your initial meeting forms the basis for their overall impression of you, your abilities, and your company. You can enhance the impressions you make in the field by using a few tried-and-true techniques, including being prepared, practicing customer recognition, and employing active listening so the customer feels reassured by your presence. To kick off your face-to-face service meeting, you should try to start on a positive note, clearly set the expectations for resolution time and scope, and help customers fully understand your products and services, as well as your intentions. This skill-building course takes your customer service proficiency up a notch toward excellent customer assistance. Materials designed to support blended learning activities aligned with this course are available from the Resources Page.

1

Can you hear a smile over the phone? When you're providing customer service over the phone – without the benefits of face-to-face interaction with your customer – it can be challenging to establish the right relationship for excellent service. Just like for face-to-face customer service, there are many techniques for service over the phone that can help you to consistently deliver the best customer service. This course covers the basic rules for answering a customer call including greeting the customer and offering your assistance. It includes information on how to make a good impression by listening and using questions to probe for more information, using your tone, and being able to empathize and be sincere with the customer. This course also describes ways of reflecting or adapting to your customer's style. In the end, customer service should focus on how to better serve and benefit the customer. Materials designed to support blended learning activities aligned with this course are available from the Resources Page.

1

Do you know who your customers are? In a customer-focused company, everyone knows they are responsible for excellent external customer service, but who meets the needs of internal customers? Whether you realize it or not, when you do things to help other people within your company do their jobs better, you are providing internal customer service. Internal customer service occurs every time you or a colleague requires information or a service from someone else within the company, and the quality of that service often has a huge impact on the overall quality of service delivered to external customers. This course explores who internal customers are, the expectations placed on serving internal customers, and how to treat your coworkers as you would your external customers. Materials designed to support blended learning activities aligned with this course are available from the Resources Page.

1

There are several defining moments or moments of truth that can make or break every service transaction. To successfully navigate these moments of truth, it's important for service organizations – and specifically customer service leaders – to add value to a customer's experience by creating and implementing strong, clearly-defined service standards. To implement effective standards and strategies, it's crucial that you stay attuned to customer needs and expectations, building a dynamic, adaptive service strategy based on input such as market research and customer feedback. This course explores strategies used to shape the direction of customer service in your organization including defining moments of truth, the creation and implementation of quantifiable service standards and methods of evolving your customer strategy to meet the changing needs of your customers. Materials designed to support blended learning activities aligned with this course are available from the Resources Page.

1

Do you have too much time on your hands? With all of the pressures of modern life, so few people today do. In order to preserve your time, you have to know how to manage it. And the first step in learning how to manage time well is to understand how you make use of it now. This will help you determine where can you be more efficient. This course focuses on ways to analyze your current use of time. It covers how to use a time log to document and then assess your time use. It also describes how your energy levels and personality affect how you manage time, and outlines ways to better manage time in accordance with your personality type and energy cycle. Materials designed to support blended learning activities aligned with this course are available from the Resources Page.

1

Time is a precious, non-renewable resource – how effectively you use it will determine success in both your career and personal life. The greatest squanders of this valuable commodity are time stealers – that multitude of annoyances, trivial tasks, and administrative duties that can easily consume your days. Moreover, you may find that some of your own behaviors affect how well you manage time. For example, you may be a procrastinator, or you may find it difficult to say no to requests to take on more work. Such behaviors can reduce your efficiency, as well as create unnecessary stress for you. This course focuses on strategies for dealing with common time stealers – procrastinating and taking on too much work – as well as how to handle interruptions. It shows you how effective time management can help you concentrate on the work that is truly productive while dealing both professionally and speedily with your time stealers. Materials designed to support blended learning activities aligned with this course are available from the Resources Page.

1

Managing time effectively entails analyzing your goals, breaking those goals into tasks, and then prioritizing those tasks. This isn't always easy or clear cut, given the number of tasks you may need to complete. But if you set clear and measurable goals and then develop an effective to-do list, you'll find prioritizing your many tasks is easier. And, in the end, you'll manage your time better. This course focuses on ways to prioritize your workload. It discusses how to prepare a useful to-do list and prioritize the items on it. The course also outlines how to sequence and queue tasks to help improve your time management. Finally, it describes how to estimate time frames so you can schedule your tasks effectively and meet your deadlines. Materials designed to support blended learning activities aligned with this course are available from the Resources Page.

1

Financial statements of an organization often conceal more than they reveal. Being able to analyze them and extract meaningful information is an essential skill that financial as well as non-financial professionals should have. Ratio analysis can be used to determine relationships between two elements of the same financial statement or between one element of one financial statement and another element of a different financial statement. This type of analysis can also be used to compare your company’s performance to a number or key indicators, including your competitors, industry averages and benchmarks. This course presents and discusses many methods for analyzing financial statements from a non-financial professional's perspective. It determines and interprets the key profitability, efficiency, liquidity, and solvency ratios using scenarios. It also explains horizontal and vertical analysis of the financial statements using real life examples.

1

Cash flow management involves monitoring, analyzing, and adjusting your business's cash flows to maintain a steady flow of cash available for your activities when needed. Sustaining working capital while managing the flow of cash is often a challenge with many businesses. Sale of goods and services results in cash coming in, while paying bills, taxes, dividends, and the repayment of loans result in cash going out. This course provides some insights into managing cash flow in your area of operation. You are guided through the classification of cash flow into operating, investing, and financing activities. You are then introduced to the idea of the Total Business Float with help of a case-based example and how to recognize the implications of working capital on cash flow. Finally, some strategies for sound cash flow management are also presented.

1

Financial statements, including the Income Statement, the Cash Flow Statement, and the Balance Sheet, work as a dashboard of the financial performance of an organization. Knowing how these financial statements are created, and how they reflect the performance of the organization, helps non-financial professionals better understand how their own functional areas can affect the company's bottom line. These financial reports are also used by professionals in all areas for evaluating proposals, suppliers, competitors, markets, and the general condition of the industry they operate in. This course aims to familiarize you with these three financial statements and how they reflect an organization's overall activities and performance. This course takes you through the various sections of these statements and explains how each is calculated. Finally, the course demonstrates how common business transactions affect an organization's financial condition with the help of an example.

1

Finance and accounting are at the heart of every business. These functions deal with recording, summarizing, and analyzing financial information across all departments for decision making, directing, and controlling their resources and activities. Every activity or non-activity in an organization has financial implications and financial acumen is expected at every organizational level. Professionals and functional managers in every department and functional area should have a certain amount of comfort and familiarity with the basic accounting and financial concepts, processes and practices so that they can use it to better manage and control their activities and make decisions that support organization's larger goals. This course aims at familiarizing non-financial professionals with basic accounting and financial concepts. You are introduced to key finance and accounting terms and concepts such as the accounting equation, accrual-based accounting, financial risks and returns, and basic accounting principles. This course also takes you through the steps in the accounting process and helps you recognize how business transactions affect various financial statements and the bottom-line of your business.

1

Professionals and functional managers in every department deal with budgets one way or another for providing targets and direction in their day-to-day decision making and control activities. The budget is a formal expression of the plans, goals, and objectives of an organization and familiarity with the essentials of the budget is expected at every level within that organization. This course aims to provide a basic understanding of budgets and their importance in allocating resources and guiding the activities in an organization. It helps you identify the characteristics of an effective budget and the key phases of the budgetary planning process. The course then provides a few examples of different types of budgets and the approaches to budgeting. Finally, the course takes you through variance analysis and how to use a variance report as part of the budgetary control process.

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The notion of Time Value of Money is at the foundation of many financial decisions and activities in an organization. Regardless of your functional or departmental role, you may be required to choose between investment options in assets, plants and equipments, new businesses, advertising campaigns, employee training, or technology, based on their future cash flow expectations. It is important for you to make sound financial decisions to allocate your organization's resources most effectively and ensure the best return possible on them. This course attempts to familiarize you with the concept of Time Value of Money and presents some effective methods to evaluate the desirability of decisions involving capital expenditures and investment. This course covers two of these methods – Payback Period and Net Present Value – in greater detail to help you choose between different investment options.

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Communicating effectively across cultures can be very difficult. Not only must you pay attention to the cultural distinctions of your audience and adjust your style to them, but you also need to adjust your style to different forms of communication. This course offers guidelines and best practices for speaking and writing across cultures. The course also highlights the importance of keeping your audience's cultural expectations in mind when creating presentations and how to make your presentations effective in a variety of cross-cultural settings. Finally, the course provides a chance to practice communicating effectively through scenarios involving high- and low-context cultures.

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Effective communication is always a challenge, and when diverse cultures are introduced, good communication can become even more challenging. In today’s global economy, understanding how context, style, beliefs, and value systems influence the way we communicate and decode others' messages is more important than ever. This course attempts to explain various dimensions of a culture and how they affect the communication between individuals from different cultures by identifying the requirements of successful cross-cultural communication. The course takes you through the communication styles for high or low-context situations and provides some key guidelines to improve your cross-cultural communication based on Hofstede's cultural dimensions model.

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Cross-cultural communication has assumed even greater significance in the current global business context where people from diverse cultures share common business goals and working spaces on a day-to-day basis. It is essential for a skilled communicator to recognize and deal with cross-cultural differences and other barriers in the way of communication across cultures. To this end, building positive relationships can go far in making cross-cultural communication more effective. This course takes you through some best practices and strategies to help you take your cross-cultural communication to a new level. It presents a structured approach for dealing with cultural differences and making necessary adjustments to your communication style. It also offers some tips and strategies to build rapport across cultures. Finally, it helps you recognize behaviors that can hinder cross-cultural communication and suggests suitable actions to overcome them.

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Sexual harassment can have a disastrous impact on victims, offenders, and the company in which the offense occurs. Training employees in the essentials of prohibited conduct is an important part of reducing liability and maintaining a professional work environment. This course helps participants identify two types of sexual harassment, and recognize behaviors that may be considered sexually harassing in the workplace. Participants will also learn about courses of action available to victims, as well as the rights of employees, and the responsibilities of employers relative to sexual harassment in the workplace. This one-hour course can help your company demonstrate its commitment to a fair, responsible, and healthy organizational environment free from harassment and intimidation. This course was developed with subject matter support provided by the Employment Law Group of the law firm of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC. Please note, however, that the course materials and content are for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Nothing herein, or in the course materials, shall be construed as professional advice as to any particular situation or constitute a legal opinion with respect to compliance with any federal, state, or local laws. Transmission of the information is not intended to create, and receipt does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship. Readers should not act upon this information without seeking professional counsel. The information contained herein is provided only as general information that may or may not reflect the most current legal developments. This information is not provided in the course of an attorney-client relationship and is not intended to constitute legal advice or to substitute for obtaining legal advice from an attorney licensed in your state.

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Effective communication in the workplace can be a balancing act. If you're too passive, you may have trouble getting others to do what you want. If you're too aggressive, you may turn people off. Getting what you want in the workplace requires a balance of assertiveness without aggressiveness. This course will guide you as you move into a more straightforward and more effective communication style. You'll learn about the benefits of assertive behavior and how to distinguish it from passive, aggressive, or passive-aggressive behavior. You'll also learn about the requirements for assertive communication, such as being honest and straightforward, being respectful of others' needs and feelings, and using assertive body language and tone. Finally, you'll learn about how to increase the power of your assertive communication when your first attempts don't get the results you intended. Materials designed to support blended learning activities aligned with this course are available from the Resources Page.

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Author and communication expert Anthony Robbins once said, 'To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others.' In other words, understanding who you're talking to is as important as understanding what you're trying to communicate. Additionally, it is important to understand the role the medium, context, and other variables have on the communication process so you can optimize factors that are under your control. To confirm that your message got through, the final step in the communication process is asking for and reviewing feedback from your audience. This course explores key considerations for planning and delivering targeted messages. It highlights the components involved in communication and describes what to look for when analyzing the needs and wants of your intended audience – even if it is an audience of one. This course also takes you through the selection of an appropriate medium and context for a given message, and suggests strategies for delivering a well-planned message and eliciting feedback after your message is delivered. Materials designed to support blended learning activities aligned with this course are available from the Resources Page.

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Highly successful teams have members who exhibit certain key characteristics, including an honest and fair approach, personal integrity, and a positive attitude. But two personal qualities are particularly crucial for a member of a high-performance team: a healthy level of trust in others and a sense of commitment to the team. In the early stages of team development, leaders must set up structures and processes that support the development of these team characteristics. This course offers strategies used to build trust based on encouraging honest, accountable, fair, and positive behavior. The course also provides leaders with strategies that help increase team member commitment, such as being supportive, making members feel secure, providing interesting work, and acknowledging contributions and achievements. By using these strategies, team leaders can develop a cohesive team that works together to reach its goals. Materials designed to support blended learning activities aligned with this course are available from the Resources Page.

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Successful teams are characterized by having a clear direction, trust among team members, effective communication, and the ability to quickly resolve conflict. In the early stages of team development, leaders must set up structures and processes that support the development of these team characteristics. Effective leadership is particularly required during the Storming stage of team development when conflict tends to be at its highest. The survival of the team depends on a team leader who can quickly recognize conflict, diagnose its cause, and use strategies to resolve the issue. In doing so, the leader restores trust and positive working relationships among team members. This course offers you an understanding about what causes conflicts on a team and the important role of healthy communication in handling conflicts. It presents many best practice approaches to resolving conflicts and illustrates the tenets of principled negotiation. By learning the principles and strategies presented in this course, you will have the skills to keep your high-performance teams away from destructive patterns of conflict and on track to achieving their goals. Materials designed to support blended learning activities aligned with this course are available from the Resources Page.

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The way in which a team is built is an important factor in determining team success. Leading a team quickly and smoothly into high performance mode requires the groundwork of setting team goals, identifying project tasks and assigning the right people to them, and defining the standards of team behavior to ensure team members work together so that team objectives are met. This course covers techniques for laying the foundation for a successful team. These techniques include setting team goals, assigning roles to individual team members, and defining specific guidelines that outline how team members should behave to minimize conflict and optimize team performance. Materials designed to support blended learning activities aligned with this course are available from the Resources Page.

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You have a team established and everyone is committed to the team goals. However, a common focus is not always enough to help your team achieve success. You must ensure that team members can communicate with you and with one another, and that they will work as a team rather than as individuals. This course outlines the importance and benefits of promoting team communication and collaboration. It covers techniques for encouraging effective communication by employing a favorable communication style and ensuring the team profits from team meetings. The course also introduces strategies that team leaders should implement to encourage team collaboration, including fostering shared ownership and stressing the team orientation. Materials designed to support blended learning activities aligned with this course are available from the Resources Page.

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Leading successful teams is an art, and team leaders can face many challenges when trying to optimize team performance. Whether you're a current team leader or simply someone who would like to develop the skills that would make you a strong candidate, you need to know certain things about how teams function and what it takes to develop a high-performance team. Among the most important things to know: good team development begins on day one. Forming an effective and cohesive team is fundamental to the success of the team later on, and pulling the right team together from the start has benefits far beyond just completing tasks on time. In this course, you'll learn techniques for setting up successful teams that can be applied to a variety of team environments. This course outlines the benefits of business teams and the importance of taking proactive measures to ensure a smooth transition during the initial phase of team formation. It reviews the five stages of team development and offers strategies for dealing with issues that may arise during the first stage, Forming. You'll learn strategies for selecting high-performing team members most suited for your project or team, as well as recommendations for performing proper introductions, clarifying team purpose and context, and making sure team members understand their responsibilities. Materials designed to support blended learning activities aligned with this course are available from the Resources Page.

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Virtual teams are emerging as the basic unit for conducting business of all types. Studies show that over 80% of workers today are involved in some way with team members who are not physically located in the same office. Virtual communication networks have made virtual teams possible, while globalization has made them a necessity. Leading virtual teams presents new challenges to leaders and managers. Virtual team leaders must find ways to successfully manage people who are separated by distance, time zones, and cultural differences. This course offers leaders a framework for successfully leading virtual teams. It outlines the key competencies that members of virtual teams should possess and offers guidelines for specific virtual team activities, such as teleconferencing and decision making. It also highlights a variety of tools and technologies that are commonly used for collaboration on virtual teams and presents guidelines for knowing how to choose the right technologies for specific situations. Materials designed to support blended learning activities aligned with this course are available from the Resources Page.

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As teams mature, they're able to perform more independently. Accordingly, team leaders must shift their role to one of maintaining motivation and optimizing team member performance. This ensures that their teams continue to perform at peak levels. The early stages of team development are about establishing the purpose of the team and its key goals, but once the team is up and running, the leader has a prominent role to play in guiding the team to success. This course describes ways to optimize team performance and effectiveness through assessments and feedback. It outlines strategies for sustaining high performance, including using coaching to improve team performance and motivating through shared leadership. Materials designed to support blended learning activities aligned with this course are available from the Resources Page.

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Globalization, diversity, outsourcing, virtual teams, downsizing, and changing forms of work are just some of the challenges facing companies today. Managers must be prepared to deal with the organizational issues that such challenges give rise to. Whether you're in Human Resources, a manager of a large department, or the leader of your team, you have to be able to constantly improve the organizational dynamics in your workplace. To do this, you need to start with the individual, which means you need to be able to recognize and work with different individual behaviors, attitudes, and perceptions. This course defines organizational behavior and identifies the variables and characteristics that influence an individual's attitudes and perceptions in the workplace, and how these can affect performance. And it shows how you can improve the attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors of employees at an individual level within your organization.

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Groups are a key component in any organization, so knowing how they function best is vital when trying to understand organizational behavior. Working in groups has key advantages for organizations, such as fostering creativity, pooling skills, and improving decision-making and performance. But groups aren't always effective, so it's important to identify what makes groups effective and learn how to deal with obstacles that groups encounter. In addition to explaining the characteristics of successful groups, this course provides guidance on how to address employee resistance to collaboration, priority conflict problems within groups, and various other conflicts within groups.

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An organizational culture isn't a set of rules or standards, but rather an interactive process – a social construct that's constantly changing. It's an invisible, dynamic force that drives a company and its actions. Culture is reflected in artifacts, patterns of acceptable behavior, and shared traditions, values, policies, attitudes, structures, and beliefs within any relatively stable organization. In this course, you'll learn how to foster a positive organizational culture. You'll first learn about the characteristics of a positive workplace culture and the benefits it offers. You'll consider the elements that drive the culture of an organization, such as autonomy and the degree of structure. The course also considers how employees influence the culture and how the culture affects employee behavior. And finally, you'll learn how to apply strategies that can help cultivate a healthy and positive workplace.

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The structure of an organization, including the complexity of the management hierarchy and the nature of the authority and reporting flow, can affect all aspects of employee interaction and overall behavior in the company. The organizational structure is the formal framework for communication and authority, and must be designed in a way that enables a company to achieve its mission, goals, and objectives. In this course, you'll learn how to instill positive employee behavior within your organizational structure. You'll first learn about the elements of an organizational structure that can affect employee behavior and how those elements play out in different types of organizational structures – functional, divisional, and matrix. You'll also learn about the measures you can take to help ensure employees adapt to the organizational culture. And finally, you'll learn how to enrich the jobs of your employees by determining the best method of job redesign for an employee.

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Because people sometimes have a negative opinion of politics and politicians, you might to think that politics should be kept out of business organizations. However, organizations are sites where power and influence are exercised, so politics can't always be avoided. The real challenge is to leverage organizational politics in a positive way. This course defines politics in relation to power and influence, distinguishes between negative and positive politicking, and gives instruction on how to be a politically constructive leader in your organization. More specifically, it provides guidance on using positive political actions to promote a course of action and get the best from employees.

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Establishing the budget for a project is a vital process in project management, yet it means nothing if the budget is not adhered to. Controlling project cost is critical to meeting a project's budget targets, and monitoring cost performance can mean the difference between the success and failure of a project. This course provides an overview of the Control Costs process. It introduces the best practices outlined in A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) - Fourth Edition, published by the Project Management Institute (PMI®). Specifically, the course examines the inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs of the Control Costs process. In terms of the tools and techniques, it shows how to monitor cost performance through earned value management (EVM), forecasting, and other techniques such as to-complete performance index (TCPI). It also demonstrates how to calculate planned value, earned value, actual cost, schedule and cost variance, and schedule-performance and cost-performance indices. This course provides a foundational knowledge base reflecting the most up-to-date project management information so learners can effectively put principles to work at their own organizations. This course will assist in preparing the learner for the PMBOK® Guide certification exam. This course is aligned with the PMBOK® Guide - Fourth Edition, published by PMI®, Inc., 2008. Copyright and all rights reserved. Material from this publication has been reproduced with the permission of PMI®.

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Accurately forecasting the cost of future projects is vital to the success of projects and the survival of any business. Project managers must have the ability to not only identify what work is required at the onset of a project, but precisely forecast how much that work is going to cost to meet the project goal. This course provides an overview of estimating and budgeting project costs in the Project Cost Management knowledge area, and introduces best practices outlined in A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) - Fourth Edition, published by the Project Management Institute (PMI®). Specifically, this course covers gathering cost information from numerous sources and then utilizing that information to apply tools and techniques such as bottom-up estimating and reserve analysis for estimating costs. Learners will also determine the project budget by calculating reserves and funding requirements. This course provides a foundational knowledge base reflecting the most up-to-date project management information, so learners can effectively put principles to work in their own organizations. This course will assist in preparing the learner for the PMBOK® certification exam. This course is aligned with the PMBOK® Guide - Fourth Edition, published by PMI®, Inc., 2008. Copyright and all rights reserved. Material from this publication has been reproduced with the permission of PMI®.

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How effectively leaders accomplish the objectives of sharing vision and plans, delegating, coaching, and motivating people depends on how well they can adapt their leadership communication style to suit the situation. Leaders who adopt a complementary style that helps communicate their objective increase productivity, company morale, and the overall success of the organization. This course covers the role of communication in leadership and how leaders can effectively communicate their objectives to their teams. It considers the appropriate leadership communication styles that can be implemented for various leadership objectives and the communication skills needed to achieve these objectives.

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In order to develop your leadership qualities, you need to accomplish certain tasks and activate your inner greatness. When you strive for inspirational leadership, you demonstrate credibility and create a community with a shared vision. People are inspired when they trust their leaders and can move toward common goals. Inspiring leaders create enthusiasm and bring relevant experience and sound judgment to their organizations. They paint a future for others that's grounded in reality and demonstrates ethical and courageous behavior in the tasks put before them. This course examines what people look for in an inspiring leader. It steps through the behaviors that inspirational leaders exemplify, explaining how to develop these traits. Finally, it explores how to activate your inner greatness to become an extraordinary leader.

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It's exciting when you can see your leadership development progress. Understanding how far you've come, and knowing what areas need improvement, increases your motivation to continue to grow as a leader. You can change your behaviors and increase your motivation by learning. This course covers techniques leaders can use to carry out a self-assessment, such as reflective journaling, using surveys and checklists, and conducting 360-degree feedback. It also provides you with ways to increase your motivation, and manage your own learning, by creating a leadership development plan that enables you to cultivate your own leadership growth.

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How you present yourself to others can determine the power of your message and how it reflects on you as a leader. One of the keys to developing your leadership message is establishing credibility. You must always do what you say you'll do. Powerful leadership messages have distinct qualities, and leaders who learn how to deliver these messages are much more likely to persuade their audiences. This course covers the leadership attributes that shape messages and explains how to establish and maintain your credibility as a leader. It also outlines the qualities that make messages clear and credible, and it presents techniques that enable leaders to ethically deliver persuasive messages.

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Conflict can have many causes – disagreements about who does what, or about how things are done, as well as disagreements related to personality and style. And inevitably, conflicts will arise in the workplace, so it's critical to be able to deal with them successfully. If you avoid conflict that requires quick, decisive action, or if you take an aggressive approach when you need to gain the commitment of the other person, you may make the situation worse. Unresolved conflict can intensify and hinder your productivity as you spend more time worrying about the conflict than achieving your goals. And remember, the costs of prolonged conflict can be high – negative emotions, blocked communication, and stress. But choosing the appropriate response based on the type of conflict is important. When you address conflict properly, you will experience a number of benefits: it can enhance your creativity and it can strengthen your relationships, for example. This course describes these and other benefits of conflict. It also explains the types of conflict situations you're likely to face in the workplace and describes appropriate responses depending on the outcome you want. Materials designed to support blended learning activities aligned with this course are available from the Resources Page.

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