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Learning Programs
(click blue underlined titles for more information)

Along with our offering of highly customized solutions and services, 4results also offers a library of courses that can be applied to your businesses learning needs in:

Management
High Performance Team Development
Communication/Sales

Management 101 (click titles for more info)

Success in today's business environment of rapid change, new technologies and global economy takes leadership from managers and supervisors at every level of your organization. To get that kind of leadership you have to empower management to lead. Management 101  is a flexible, cost-effective curriculum of all the basic skills your managers and supervisors need to assume the mantle of leadership, with skill and confidence.

Leadership

• Role of the Manager

  • An introduction to the role of the manager designed for new supervisors. Two dimensions of management, task and people, are examined and a popular philosophy of management is described. Interpersonal Skills for people management are introduced. Participants learn skills for Giving and Receiving Feedback.

• Managing Time

  • Provides effective strategies for increasing on-the-job productivity through better use of time. Supervisors examine their major time wasters and complete a step-by-step process for reorganizing daily activities. They learn to set medium-term objectives and determine priorities. They learn how to translate their objectives into a daily "to do" list.

• Making Decisions

  • This step-by-step introduction to the decision making process provides a practical approach to any job related decision. Participants learn a six-step process for making decisions, how to weigh alternative choices and risks, and how to plan for delegating work.

• Planning Work

  • Provides the essential tools to plan all the tasks and duties required to meet the objectives of the work unit. In the context of their job, supervisors use proven job aids to set objectives, to learn how to negotiate with subordinates and managers, and to complete sample work and contingency plans and procedures for delegating work.

• Working with Policies , Practices and Procedures

  • Describes the company's administrative tools and why each exists. Supervisors research those policies and procedures that directly apply to their jobs. A number of scenarios are described, and participants are required to apply their knowledge of policies, practices and procedures to handle these situations.

• Managing Change

  • Provides a process for the management of change and stress. Focus is on the workplace, although consideration is given to other sources of change and stress, and their impact on an individual.

Communication

• Social Style

  • A special half-day version of The Tracom Corporation's highly acclaimed Social Style program. This module introduces a proven approach to managing human relations for maximum productivity. Optional Social Style exercises are available in most of the other Management 1 modules to provide reinforcement. Participants receive feedback from colleagues in the form of a profile processed by Tracom's software, incorporated from over 200,000 profiles.

• Gaining Acceptance

  • Supervisors encounter resistance from subordinates as well as misunderstandings with their managers. This module provides practical techniques for minimizing this resistance and teaches how to establish a more productive working environment. Supervisors identify current problems with resistance and determine ways of overcoming them.

• Controlling Work

  • How do you follow the progress of subordinates in completing work plans to ensure that desired results are achieved? Supervisors examine key components of their subordinates' performance and how they can be influenced, and learn concrete techniques for monitoring follow-up activities.

• Managing Complaints

  • Provides participants with skills in the analysis, resolution and prevention of complaints and grievances. Using a five-step technique, participants examine common complaints that occur in their work areas. Supervisors deal with strategies for resolving complaints and preventing their recurrence.

• Starting Employees

  • Provides effective techniques for employee selection and orientation. Participants learn skills in identifying important job requirements and selection criteria. This is followed by a review of interview techniques, including questioning skills and legal considerations of the interview process.

• Conducting Meetings

  • A concise introduction to effective techniques for planning and conducting job-related meetings. Using a step-by-step approach to plan for a future meeting, supervisors learn how to analyze the audience, select the meeting format, organize the agenda and manage the actual meeting.

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High Performance Team Development (click titles for more info)

The way in which people work together is vital to business success.  In this series of programs, teams learn to define and accomplish objectives while developing individual and collective leadership abilities, all leading to a high performing, outcomes oriented team.

• Team Learning Skills

  • The Team Learning Coach introduces team members to group skills: reflection, exploring each others' views, coming to consensus and brainstorming. Team members are introduced to 10 statements as they begin their journey to becoming a High Performance Team - In our team/work groups:
    1. people speak openly and honestly, without fear of criticism
    2. people honestly believe that it's okay to disagree
    3. different points of view are invited and respected
    4. we share a common vision of the future
    5. people are encouraged to question assumptions - their own and others'
    6. mistakes are viewed as valuable learning experiences
    7. it's a safe place to take risks
    8. people consistently use formal and informal means to share what they learn
    9. people are encouraged, even rewarded, for eliminating policies and practices that inhibit them or others in the organization
    10. people are committed to contributing and being actively involved in team activities (attending meetings, being on time, staying the course when things get tough)

• Team Learning Addressing Conflict

  • Team members learn the four conflict styles (avoiding, accommodating, competing or collaborating) identified by Thomas-Kilmann and examine their own individual preferences. The Team explores the value of the collaborating mode. Team members also explore their uniqueness and how valuing these differences can benefit the team. The differences between idea and belief conflicts are explored, with team members identifying subjects they agree will not be discussed in the workplace (creating a neutral zone). The team also creates team ground-rules for conflict resolution and personal action plans for becoming more collaborative.

• Team Learning Being Persuasive

  • Team members are introduced to the steps necessary for preparing and presenting a proposal as well as an action plan for implementing these new skills. They analyze the listener's needs, determine the conclusions the listener must arrive at and the proofs that will be required to be persuasive. In addition, team members identify work-related situations where they can apply these new skills.

• Team Learning Coaching Others

  • Team members explore the elements of good coaching: objectivity, feedback, respect and sensitivity to the type and timing of coaching. Team members practice the new skills on each other, learn to ask for coaching and develop an action plan to give and receive feedback more often, including a daily performance notebook.

• Team Learning Customer Service Standards

  • Prior to implementing this module, the organization must research the behaviors that WOW their customers. With the "delights" identified, the team uses this program to establish customer service standards to ensure that customers are delighted every time. The Team Learning Coach (using a special Coach Guide) then recaps the output from all teams for team review and evaluation based on whether they meet customer need, would not cause negative reaction, are possible to deliver every time, and are within the team's authority to implement. The standards rated highest are then adopted by the full business unit.

• Team Learning Effective Listening

  • Team members learn about closed and open questions, active listening and explore physical barriers to listening. Team members learn to use the effective listening worksheet and establish personal action plans for improved learning. The team also agrees on a Listening Contract.

• Team Learning Effective Negotiations (with software)

  • With the help of the interactive Negotiation Coach software, team members apply the skills taught in this program to an actual on-the-job negotiating situation. The team learns how to generate and analyze the information needed to effectively prepare for a negotiation, including developing a strategy and tactics appropriate to their situation and using interpersonal skills to establish rapport and develop a relationship with their counterpart(s). The team learns the importance of conceding and compromising skills in order to reach a solution that is mutually satisfactory to both parties, and the importance of preserving the relationship when it is not possible to reach agreement.

• Team Learning Giving Recognition (Employee)

  • Team members explore the power of giving recognition and identify areas in which they can recognize the performance of their colleagues. They benchmark their communications skills, discover the team's shared values and learn the guidelines for giving and receiving feedback (which are to be applied in subsequent team learning experiences as well as on the job). The team discusses what behaviors merit recognition, discover the most important factors to job satisfaction, discuss how those factors can be achieved and come up with new ideas for giving recognition. Using a Recognition Log, team members develop an action plan for providing recognition and assisting their colleagues to improve their performance.

• Team Learning Giving Recognition (Management)

  • Team members explore the power of giving recognition and identify areas in which they can recognize the performance of their staff. Using the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Worksheet, team members explore the effect their behaviors have on their staff. The team discusses what behaviors merit recognition, discover the most important factors to job satisfaction, discuss how those factors can be achieved and come up with new ideas for giving recognition. Using a Recognition Log, team members develop an action plan for providing recognition and assisting their subordinates to improve their performance.

• Team Learning Key Elements of Business

  • Understanding basic business practices and accounting principles can help team members read and evaluate business plans for their unit and the company. Working with actual business unit reports, team members learn basic accounting terms, how to read and analyze a balance sheet and income statement, how to interpret periodic results and how their organization monitors its business practices and measures success. Upon completing the unit, team members are expected to review the business unit's monthly reports to identify significant variances, explain the causes and identify corrective actions. Organizations are encouraged to customize the content of this unit to reflect the key elements of business relevant to their industry or business sector.

• Team Learning Making Decisions

  • The video in this program presents the difficult decision President Kennedy faced during the Cuban missile crisis. Team members complete each step of the decision-making process as if they were among the President's advisors. Team members learn the six steps to good decision-making: clarify the purpose, define success criteria, generate choices, troubleshoot the choice selected and identify actions to take to implement it (codified in the Go/No-Go Decision Form and the Making Decisions Form).

• Team Learning Managing Change

  • Being conscious of feelings and reactions to change and understanding that managing change requires deliberate action are vital parts of being in control of change rather than being a victim of it. Team members explore coping techniques to reduce stress and anxiety in each stage of the Transition Process: endings, neutral zone and new beginnings. The team takes concrete steps to help its members take control of their own situation in relation to a specific work-related and/or personal change situations.

• Team Learning Partnership Sales

  • Designed for Account Teams and individual sales people, this program focuses on the new realities of sales. It examines the fact that the "deal" is not over when the contract is signed but rather requires team support to deliver continuous customer service and partnering with the client to ensure satisfaction. The team will examine all phases of the sales cycle, as well as the customer's decision-making process, develop profiles of its customers, identify additional information needed and brainstorm ways to deliver value-added service.

• Team Learning Planning Work

  • Focusing on an existing work routine or practice, the team works to complete a Plan Protector, identifying people who will be affected by the plan, problems that might arise, solutions for potential problems and contingency plans. In the process, team members explore the elements of a plan, the specific objects that a plan must meet to be successful and how to accomplish those steps.

• Team Learning Problem Solving

  • Using the Problem Solving Process, the team learns nine steps to successful problem-solving: define the problem in terms of what is happening and what should be happening; do research and conduct a cause and effect analysis; determine the most likely cause of the problem; generate ideas for potential solutions; evaluate solutions systematically; choose the best solution; develop an action plan; implement the plan; and evaluate the results. Team members practice the techniques and new tools on real work issues. The video for this program features a Sherlock Holmes mystery. Watch how the famous Sleuth uses our problem solving techniques to solve " The Mystery of the Morgue".

• Team Learning Successful Meetings

  • "What a waste of ! arghh??" is an outcome of too many meetings. In this program, team members learn the basics of successful meetings, including preparing an agenda, leading the meeting, handlings disruptions and contributing as a participant.

• Team Learning Teams That Work

  • Team members learn the basic steps in team development: forming, storming, norming and performing. Using these principles, the team then develops Team Task Groundrules and Team People Groundrules to move their team forward. Team members also revisit the guidelines for Coming to Consensus, in great depth. The team then establishes a Team Goal and Action Plan for achieving the goal. If the learning team is not an intact work team, the Team Learning Coach can coach the team on using the principles to achieve individual goals.

• Team Learning Lab

  • This comprehensive two-day program brings the principles of Peter Senge's "The Fifth Discipline" into practice. It is designed to improve group performance and results by bringing the methods and tools of Systems Thinking, Mental Models and Shared Vision into the context of the team's work. Teams learn how to use the Mental Models tools to create open, honest and meaningful conversations. Systems Thinking enables the team to analyze, describe and picture the interrelationships at work in complex situations. Teams create a Shared Vision to get off the problem-solving treadmill. Finally, teams examine how to integrate these tools into their day-to-day work to accomplish their goals.

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Communication/Sales (click blue underlined titles for more information)

• Presentations That Work (PTW)

  • Most presentation skills programs teach delivery skills, but Presentations That Work goes a step further. PTW is based on the assumption that preparation is 80% of the job. Our presentation process is based on our philosophy that a communication must meet the needs of both parties to be successful.  In PTW, Participants learn how to develop the ideal content that will meet the needs of both the presenter as well as the audience.  Then participants learn how to structure their content for maximum persuasion, embellish it with effective illustrative material, and deliver it with style and confidence.

• Advanced Presentations Skills (follow-up to PTW)

• The Master Presenter (follow-up to PTW)

• Effective Negotiation & Effective Sales Negotiating

  • In today's highly competitive marketplace, a sale is more than a sale-it's a step toward a long-term customer relationship. So, when it comes time to negotiate, today's successful sales professionals know that they are working towards an outcome that works, not only for them, but also for their customers. They know a satisfied customer today means more sales tomorrow. In the past salespeople bargained; today they negotiate-or find a new career.

• Being Your Best (with programs in Career Planning and Manager as Coach)

  • Your employees will learn:
    » To identify their own unique potential
    » To carry out in-depth self-evaluations of their work today
    » To develop an accurate self-portrait as a person and as an employee
    » To create a comprehensive profile of their skills, preferences, and values
    » To understand their career within a whole-life, whole-person context
    » To set personal goals-logical, attainable objectives for who and where they want to be
    » To make informed choices which will take them there

• Coaching That Works

  • Improving the measured performance of a team is something that has to be planned. Unfortunately, even with a good plan, not enough managers have been taught to actively manage their employees' performance.  In this program you will learn:
    How to quantify performance
    » How to analyze performance in order to determine needs
    » The causes of unacceptable performance
    » Strategies to enhance performance
    » Step by step processes to achieve continuous improvement

• Effective Listening

• Effective Media Appearances

• Effective Writing

• Focused Interviewing Techniques

  • Good interviewing questions ask the setting under which the candidate was placed, the action they did or did not take, and the outcome of those actions. When all three components are provided in the candidate's answer, you'll have a complete example of past behavior which gives specific, job related information. We'll even give you sample questions that are designed to show you how to create your own.  You will learn:
    » Job analysis quick and easy-as basis for interviewing and making decisions on candidates
    » The importance of past behavior as a predictor of future behavior
    » Step-by-step behavior based approaches to ensure that the candidate hired is the best fit for the job
    » What to ask, how to ask it, and how to evaluate the answers
    » Techniques that allow several interviewers to share interview results and arrive at a consensus
    » Specific techniques that help bring as much objectivity as possible to the hiring process

• From Vision To Reality

• Giving and Receiving Feedback

• Interpersonal Communication Skills

  • The key communication skills for all your staff in two half-day experiential workshops. We'll introduce a simple communication process that you can institutionalize for all communications: one-on-one discussions, written proposals, group presentations, meetings, etc.  In this program you will learn:
    » How to communicate your ideas persuasively
    » How to recognize inefficient communication
    » To listen interactively, not just passively
    » How to send information clearly, and efficiently
    » How to understand and apply body language

• Managing Difficult Situations

• Partnership Sales

  • Partnership Sales reviews all the basics in traditional selling, then builds on them to teach advanced relationship techniques. Successful organizations worldwide know that long-term growth demands a different sales philosophy.  In this program you will learn:
    » To build a partnering relationship with clients throughout the sales cycle
    » Enhancements for each step in the selling process that give you the edge over your competition
    » To pro-actively raise issues as a partner and deal with them effectively
    » To help your customer champion your product internally
    » To use a Sales Call Planner to focus your sales call and evaluate your results for continuous improvement

• Problem Solving Machine

• Social Style

  • In this program you will learn:
    » How behavior patterns are formed
    » How to observe behavior
    » How to predict behavior
    » The impact of your behavior on other people
    » Strategies for modifying your behavior to relate more effectively to others
    » Versatility skills to help you communicate more effectively

4results is a primary distributor for
MR Communications Consultants learning programs

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