Process and Organizational Management
- Strategic Planning: Forecasting a High Performance Future at the University
- Creativity and Breakthrough Thinking
- Process Improvement: Working “Smart” for Better Results
- Creating a Business Plan: Maximizing the Value of Your Department's Services
- Developing a Communications Plan: Successfully Marketing Your Services and Events
- Basics of Survey Design
Strategic Planning: Forecasting a High Performance Future at the 
University
This course acquaints leaders with results-oriented strategic planning tools and approaches to develop your organization’s future direction. It emphasizes key processes to create common ground and direction among staff, while enabling the organization to better deal with daily decisions and organizational change.
You will learn to:
- Build commitment and consensus among all levels of staff
- Describe techniques to forecast future work environments
- Define the roles and contributions of strategy development and goal-setting
- Integrate organizational goals with unit and individual goals
You will benefit by:
- Providing clearer priorities
- Effecting positive change
- Learning how and when to use an outside facilitator
- Avoiding pitfalls that trip up most planning efforts
- Facilitating better decisions
Audience:
All directors, decision-makers and managers who want to develop their organizational planning awareness and knowledge
Program Note:
This course will utilize brief online pre-class assignments to maximize the session time.
Schedule Selection(s) |
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Cost: $139 |
Dates: Fri. 6/5/09 |
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Creativity and Breakthrough Thinking
Fostering creativity in the workplace contributes significantly to peak performance, a creative approach to problem solving, and effective teamwork. Participants will discover ways to encourage creative thinking in themselves and others in order to achieve improved business results.
You will learn to:
- Cultivate creativity in yourself and others
- Create environments conducive for creative change
- Use creative thinking processes for making decisions
- Utilize humor to generate creativity
You will benefit by:
- Building the morale of others by empowering them to contribute their creative ideas
- Discovering ways to use your creative ideas to foster a fun and productive work environment
Audience:
All staff who are interested in maximizing organizational productivity and creativity
Schedule Selection(s) |
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Cost: $139 |
Dates: Thu. 2/5/09 |
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Process Improvement: Working “Smart” for Better Results
With more work than anyone can possibly handle, it’s more important than ever to be operating as efficiently as possible. One way to achieve efficiency is to create effective work processes.
You will learn to:
- Define the concept of process management
- Identify one or more key processes in your work area that would benefit from process improvement
- Describe the key elements of managing a process
- Determine the appropriate individuals who should be involved
- Identify barriers to process changes and methods to overcome them
- Identify what to measure in a process
- Develop a strategy to assess a process for inefficiencies
- Use key tools to analyze data for improving a process
- Assess the appropriate methods and strategies for communicating changes to others
- Determine steps for the implementation and ongoing maintenance of a process
You will benefit by:
- Developing some “just-in-time” strategies for improvement
- Better serving your customers
- Eliminating unnecessary steps or complexities in your processes
- Improving the quality of work life in your office
Audience:
Staff members who manage or have decision-making authority over their organization’s processes
Program Note:
This program will utilize in-class assignments to maximize the concepts and skills taught.
Schedule Selection(s) - 1½ Day Course |
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Cost: $299 |
Dates & Times: Tue. 3/24/09 8:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. & 4/7/09, 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. |
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Creating a Business Plan: Maximizing the Value of Your Department's Services
A strong business plan can help ensure your department’s success by providing detailed descriptions of the tasks needing to be developed and identifying strategies to deliver the value of your department’s services.
You will learn to:
- Describe the purpose and value of a business plan
- Identify the different types of business plans and their uses
- Apply appropriate techniques to identify new business opportunities that benefit your customers
- Analyze different components of a business plan using case studies and exercises
- Construct a framework for strategic alignment of your business plan with service delivery
- Create an actual business plan for your department
You will benefit by:
- Mapping a plan of action for yourself and your department
- Maximizing opportunities for the success of new or existing services
- Decreasing significant obstacles to the successful achievement of your department’s organizational goals
- Increasing your department’s credibility with leadership, customers and other stakeholders
Audience:
Anyone who has all or some of the responsibility for the planning and oversight of their unit or department’s business operations
Program Note:
This program will utilize in-class assignments to maximize understanding of the concepts and skills taught
Attention:
This course is not for individuals who are experienced in writing business plans.
Schedule Selection(s) - 1½ Day Course |
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Cost: $339 |
Dates & Times: Wed. 5/20/09 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. & 6/3/09 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. |
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Developing a Communications Plan: Successfully Marketing Your Services and Events
In a large, complex organization like the University of Michigan, communicating who we are and the services we offer presents a challenge. Without a strategic communication plan, we run the risk of missing the mark when it comes to meeting customers’ needs.
You will learn to:
- Determine the role effective communication plays in large, complex organizations
- Describe the benefits of developing a strategic approach to communication
- Use a six-step approach to build a strategic communication plan designed to meet the communication goals of your department
- Identify appropriate UM resources to use in your communication plan
You will benefit by:
- Targeting communications to your intended audiences to build a stronger internal images
- Overcoming barriers to the successful communication of your department’s services
- Developing a strategic communication plan
- Learning about the guidelines established by UM related to communications
Audience:
Anyone who is responsible for the planning and implementation of event-based or departmental communications
Attention:
This course is not intended for staff members experienced in the field of marketing and/or communications
Program Note:
This course uses a hands-on approach in delivering the material. In between the class sessions, participants will draft a strategic communications plan of their own design.
Schedule Selection(s) - 1½ Day Course |
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Cost: $369 |
Dates & Times: Wed. 2/11/09, 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. |
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Basics of Survey Design
University departments and units need to know what their customers want. A well-designed survey can play a pivotal role in meeting every organization’s goal while addressing customer needs
You will learn to:
- Differentiate between various types of survey methodologies
- Identify an appropriate target audience to sample
- Apply and demonstrate awareness of the survey design process
- Become familiar with the most common mistakes in survey design
- Recognize the importance of pre-testing surveys
- Review the process for conducting the survey
- Recognize the appropriate process to follow to summarize survey information
You will benefit by:
- Improving organizational planning efforts and forecasting customer needs
- Tracking customer trends more effectively
- Enhancing communication between customers, management and your unit
- Working through various, hands-on learning opportunities to experience how a successful survey is developed
- Being well-equipped with a collection of survey tools and job aids for quick reference and easy application back in your work environment
Audience:
All staff members who are new to basic survey processes or those wanting a refresher
Program Note:
This course uses a hands-on approach in delivering the material. In between the class sessions, participants will draft a survey of their own design.
Attention:
This course is not intended for staff members who specialize in survey design and development services. Also, this course does not cover statistical analysis of survey data.
Schedule Selection(s) - 1½ Day Course |
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Cost: $229 |
Dates & Times: Wed. 4/29/09, 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. & Wed. 5/13/09, 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. |
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