Training Seminars

We will custom design and deliver training seminars in a number of areas. Our main area of practice is total quality people management, whether it be between manager and employee, (reducing liability through effective management intervention, optimizing employee performance, effective discipline and termination, employee to employee (sexual harassment prevention, dealing with difficult employees, conflict resolution for staff) or manager/employee to customer (defusing angry and hostile customers). Please see our sub-page on training services by clicking here. There you will find details about:

• 1) Performance Management
• 2) Conflict Management
• 3) Liability Prevention and Management

NEW Professional Conduct Train-the Trainer Program

For the first time, we are introducing our award-winning Professional Conduct training as a train-the-trainer program. Learn how cutting edge companies like Nokia, Radio Shack, the Salk Institute and Reckitt Benckiser have turned sexual harassment prevention training into a management development opportunity.

“The genius of communication is the ability to be both totally honest and totally kind at the same time.’

“I developed our Professional Conduct Training series after over 20 years of working with employers and seeing the disconnect between management development and compliance training.

An effective compliance program requires interpersonal skills many managers are lacking – the ability to get through to their employees, to give negative feedback, to prevent their own stress from adversely impacting the workplace. Too often, employers see compliance as a necessary evil, without taking the opportunity to teach – and reinforce – effective workplace behavior.

Psychological research has long shown that the best way to convince people not to do something is to teach them how to do something that’s more effective.  Our Professional Conduct training provides state-of-the-art harassment/discrimination prevention training with communication tools that help managers and employees relate more effectively.”

Joni E. Johnston, Psy.D.

Forensic psychologist and President/CEO of WorkRelationships

Why offer a train-the-trainer?

The complexity of contemporary human resource management has become daunting.  It’s rare, if not impossible, for one person to keep current of all facets – equal employment opportunity, affirmative action, health and safety, employee relations, and a host of other compliance issues.  At the same time, increased employment liability is putting pressure on HR to educate managers and employees about potential legal risks – sooner, faster, and more effectively.  It’s no wonder that, in a 2003 survey of HR professionals, 90% believed that outsourcing some of their HR functions would allow them to focus more on strategic and value-added activities.

That’s where we come in.  When done right, a train-the-trainer can tackle both of these challenges.  Our Professional Conduct train-the-trainer allows you to take advantage of our expertise while retaining the freedom and control to apply it whenever and wherever it’s needed. It transforms a check-the-box-because we-have-to-be-here training into an interpersonal skills development curriculum while satisfying best practices in compliance training.  You can also rest assured that, after we’ve finished training your staff, they will not only know the training curriculum, they will have mastered the real challenge of harassment/discrimination prevention training – how to win over a tough audience.

Why choose WorkRelationships?

We’ve been in this business for twenty years and have seen and done it all.  We’ve worked with a wide variety of industries and bring a myriad of perspectives to the development of this curriculum.  For example, our CEO, Dr. Johnston has:

This diversity of experience allows us to understand, and represent, a diversity of perspectives in our training programs.  In addition:

• As far as we know, we’re the only HR consulting firm that combines communication skills with compliance training.  Because our programs are developed by a clinical/forensic psychologist and labor law attorney, you can be sure that our programs always keep the “big picture” in mind; behavior that disrupts work relationships will ultimately harm the bottom line.

• Our workshops are revised on a regular basis with input from instructors, past participants and research into “state-of-the-art’ materials to make sure the content is current, reliable and fresh.

• Our train-the-trainer instructors ‘model” what they teach and train through demonstration of each technique rather than by lecturing about it.

• All instructors are senior trainers with a wealth of experience.  They consistently receive rave reviews.

• Instructors incorporate your organization’s real issues and develop action plans and materials that your employees can relate to.

What is included in our Professional Conduct Train-the Trainer?

Our three day train-the-trainer program begins with trainees participating in the program as a participant to see what it’s like to be on the receiving end of the program.  Having received the training materials in advance, trainees attend at least two full sessions as participants – one for managers and one for employees.

The trainers then attend a separate session to discuss unique challenges and opportunities for training on tough topics – best ways to introduce the training, how to get a resistant audience involved, how to handle tough questions, what to do with a heckler, etc.  Trainees will also do a self-assessment to evaluate their own feelings/potential biases about the sensitive topics discussed.

Finally, each trainee will be required to present a significant portion of the training class as if s/he were presenting to employees.  Typical and challenging questions will be planted in the audience, giving the instructor the opportunity to practice fielding issues that are likely to arise.

All training materials for the trainers are provided and include Professional Conduct training manuals for both employees and managers, participant manuals, and power point presentations.  This two manual set enable trainers to set up sexual harassment training programs for all employees in a number of days rather than the months usually required. Our training materials are the result of twenty years of research and training involving hundreds of companies and organizations.  They are “how to” manuals, with specific and detailed instructions for implementing the entire training effort from beginning to end.

Here’s what just a few of our past participants have said:

“After receiving consistently enthusiastic feedback about this course as both a highly effective briefing on Sexual Harassment in both its obvious and subtle forms and an unusually engaging sensitivity training in the cultural diversity between genders, we expanded our program. WorkRelationships has now provided training for many levels of our organization throughout the country. This has become the most highly praised and recommended course I have ever sponsored.”

Donna Mize

Manager, Human Resources

East Region

Ericsson Radio Systems, Inc.

“Each session received very good compliments from everyone attending, including most of those who believed that they had no problems with the topics the presentation addressed.  Due to the nature of my position with UAP, I attended four of these seminars. WorkRelationships’ professional approach and ability to communicate with the participants made each session enjoyable for me, even after the third time!  The trainer’s real life examples and consistent delivery makes this seminar one that becomes meaningful to anyone who is responsible for managing or working with people on an every day basis.”

David Smith

Director,

Career Development Services

United Advertising Publications

“Participants have had nothing but rave reviews for the material as well as for Dr. Johnston. Her topic is not one that many people enjoy going to, yet she has the ability to make the material interesting and fun to learn . . . throughout that time, she has been a consummate professional, always looking to improve the session, being cost sensitive on her expenses, and willing to tailor her material based on our needs. In short, I can think of no one I would rather have conducting these sessions.’

Frank R. Wilson

HRD Manager

Nokia Americas, Inc.

How do I get started?

Professional conduct training simultaneously helps you avoid and defend harassment claims and aid your managers in becoming effective communicators.  It can help eliminate the possibility of punitive damages and improve and maintain employee morale. Inappropriate training will only further mire employers in the litigation quagmire.

The first step is to contact us.  A senior member of our team will then contact you to do a brief needs assessment and to develop a no-cost, no-obligation proposal designed to meet your organization’s needs.

As we move forward, we will customize your Professional Conduct training materials to meet any legal mandate (California, Connecticut, and Maine) and interpersonal requirements of your organization. The latter will depend upon who you will be training (managers, employees, or both), your industry, the skill level of your managers/employees, and so forth.

Contact us today to see how we can make your life easier and your workplace more productive.