WorkSmart

WorkSmart is a suite of professional development activities designed for general staff at the University of South Australia.

opportunity

Utilising the expertise and knowledge of UniSA staff, along with external consultants and training providers, the WorkSmart program adopts a range of strategies to:

Help people sharpen and develop their skills and capabilities
Share knowledge among staff about good practice, enhance understanding of the University and its processes
Build collaboration and networks to support our efforts

** Please note staff must seek the approval of their supervisor before registering for any Worksmart programs. Spaces are limited so at least 48 hours notice must be given should staff become unable to attend a program. Should any staff member fail to attend on more than one occasion without notification, the relevant cost centre will be charged a cancellation fee of $50 per staff member, unless special circumstances apply.

WORKSMART PROGRAM 2008

Monthly Calendar
Workshop Details
Contacts

MONTHLY CALENDAR

Please keep in mind there will be other activities added to this program for specific staff groups including Technician’s Forums, Research Administrator Forums, and programs for emerging leaders. Please contact Megan de Lacy for further details.

ENHANCING YOUR EFFECTIVENESS AS A SUPERVISOR

Overview:

Do you take on too much and find it difficult to say ‘no’? Are you a perfectionist or do you like to control everything? Do you seek approval or excessively try to please others? Many people can relate to these behaviours that can limit our professional and personal effectiveness.

This program will give you the opportunity to explore key steps in maximising your effectiveness on your professional and personal life and discuss practical strategies to address some of the common behaviours that can get in the way of your success.

Audience:	Supervisors and managers who have an interest in improving their effectiveness in handling staff supervision, performance management responsibilities, and personal effectiveness.
Duration:	7.5 hours (9am-4.30pm)
Date, time and location:	Thursday 21st August AU3-03, Level 3 101 Currie St
Registration closes:	Thursday 14th August
Cost:	Nil

PERSUASIVE PRESENTATIONS – ‘STAND OUT WHEN YOU STAND UP’

Overview

Knowing how to communicate and present effectively is an essential for today’s professionals. Those who present well get noticed and the organisations they represent get results.

This workshop will provide participants with tools, competence and confidence to prepare, structure and deliver effective presentations. Participants will receive:

An understanding of the key issues in communicating with an audience.
Keys to preparing, structuring and delivering a presentation.
A template for delivering future presentations.
Advice on how to shape an argument and talk to key values.
A working knowledge of the essentials for effective and confident presentations

Audience:	This workshop is intended for professional staff who need to present information to work teams, managers or Senior Management Group in their day-to-day work.
Duration:	4 hours (9am-1pm)
Date, time and location:	Thursday 7th August AU3-03, Level 3 101 Currie St
Registration closes:	Thursday 31st July
Cost:	Nil

APPLYING PROJECT MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES TO YOUR WORK

Overview

The key principles to effective project management can be applied to any job, task or project. This course will give you a greater understanding of the strategies and tools you can use to successfully incorporate these principles to improve the daily operations of your role. The workshop will cover the following principles of successful project management:

The project management process - the most important steps.
Developing the scope of a project and where to from there.
Who are your stakeholders and what do you know about them.
People Management - hints and tips on managing your resources and teams.
Project management as a leadership role.
Templates, tips, tricks and traps of project management.

Participants are asked to consider at least 2 areas of project management skills they would like to develop by attending this workshop and be prepared to discuss these with the training group.

Audience:	Open for all professional staff who want to build their skills and confidence in managing projects or applying project management principles to their everyday work.
Duration:	6 hours (9am-3pm)
Date, time and location:	Thursday 28th August AU3-03, Level 3 101 Currie St
Registration closes:	Thursday 21st August
OR
Date, time and location:	Thursday 9th October AU3-03, Level 3 101 Currie St
Registration closes:	Thursday 2nd October
Cost:	Nil

INTRODUCTION TO PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT @ UNISA

Overview

This session is designed to provide an introduction to performance management and development at UniSA and assist managers in effectively facilitating the performance management and development process. The workshop will focus on providing a detailed overview of the University’s performance management and development framework, including useful tips and tools to assist managers to successfully conduct the process with their staff.

Please note this workshop will provide a foundation of knowledge for the other performance based workshops offered by the Worksmart supervisor series, including ‘Feedback that Works’ and ‘Developing the Coaching Relationship’.

Audience:	New managers of professional staff with responsibility for performance management and development of one or more professional staff member/s, or existing managers who would like to refresh their knowledge of performance management and development @ UniSA.
Duration:	3 hours (9.30am to 12.30pm)
Date, time and location:	Friday 15th August Level 3, 101 Currie St
Registration closes:	Friday 8th August
Cost:	Nil

INTELLIGENT LEADERSHIP AND HONEST CONVERSATIONS

Overview

The aim of this session is to provide managers with the opportunity to express their concerns about managing people, ask question and understand what is expected of them as managers, and how they must model the way. They will also be encouraged to learn about themselves and be exposed to best practice theoretical leadership concepts.

At the completion of the session, participants will be able to:

Discuss different learning styles.
Relate the importance of emotional intelligence in regard to their role.
Understand situational leadership and identify appropriate actions.
Think about habits and their impact on leadership style,
Be aware of the need to be assertive.
Acknowledge and understand the consequences of not providing feedback.
Understand where feedback fits in with motivation of staff

Audience:	This session is designed for all managers of professional staff who would like to increase their understanding and application of best practice leadership styles.
Duration:	7.5 hours (9am to 4.30pm)
Date, time and location:	Tuesday 26th August AU3-03, Level 3 101 Currie St
Registration closes:	Tuesday 19th August
Cost:	Nil

MANAGING CHALLENGING BEHAVIOURS

Overview

Professional staff who occupy positions in Campus Central and School offices are often required to have daily face to face interaction with students, academic staff and their colleagues in other divisions. Confusion and frustration can sometimes lead to challenging behaviour, and this workshop will provide a great opportunity to become familiar with these types of behaviour, the possible causes, and how to best handle them.

Specific topics will include:

Causes of challenging behaviour
Assessing clients and their behaviour
Your rights and responsibilities
Ineffective and effective ways of handling challenging behaviours
Assistance and support available

Audience:	This workshop would be most valuable for professional staff who are often required to have ‘face to face’ interaction with several people in their day to day work, and would like to learn tools and strategies for effectively handling challenging behaviours.
Duration:	6 hours (9am-3pm)
Date, time and location:	Thursday 4th September AU3-03, Level 3 101 Currie St
Registration closes:	Thursday 28th August
OR
Date, time and location:	Thursday 13th November AU3-03, Level 3 101 Currie St
Registration closes:	Thursday 6th November
Cost:	Nil

PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION

Overview

The ability to communicate effectively is a skill that is critical to being successful in a professional environment. This session will assist you in learning about the principles that underpin effective communication, including the communication process, sending and receiving clear messages, active listening and handling difficult situations.

This session will provide participants will tools and strategies to improve their communication skills, and excel in communicating effectively with others through knowledge of communication principles including:

The communication process
Barriers to communication
Identifying your communication style
Exploring assertive, non-assertive and aggressive behaviour
Managing emotions in difficult situations

Audience:	This course will be valuable for those who want to strengthen their communication skills and enhance their ability to interact with others.
Duration:	7.5 hours (9am-4.30pm)
Date, time and location:	Wednesday 10th September AU3-03, Level 3 101 Currie St
Registration closes:	Wednesday 3rd September
OR
Date, time and location:	Tuesday 4th November AU3-03, Level 3 101 Currie St
Registration closes:	Tuesday 28th October
Cost:	Nil

WORK AND LIFE BALANCE

Overview

Are you juggling the demands of career/work and family? Are you caring for others and not doing enough for you? Are you spending too much time at work? Is your life “out of balance”?

Many people today are so busy juggling the demands of business/work/career/finance and family responsibilities, they can often feel they are out of balance, out of control and out of energy.

This one day workshop will give you the opportunity to reflect on what work/life balance means to you and provide practical exercises and strategies to help you create the unique work and life balance that is perfect for you.

By the end of the day, participants will have had the opportunity to:

Explore what work/life balance means to you and create your own vision of a balanced life
Identify your top 5 personal values
Identify activities which fuel you and give you energy
Identify activities that drain your energy and develop an action plan to eliminate one of them

Audience:	Professional staff members who want to learn techniques to effectively manage both their personal and professional lives effectively.
Duration:	7.5 hours (9am-4.30pm)
Date, time and location:	Friday 26th September AU3-03, Level 3 101 Currie St
Registration closes:	Friday 19th September
OR
Date, time and location:	Friday 27th November AU3-03, Level 3 101 Currie St
Registration closes:	Friday 20th November
Cost:	Nil

FEEDBACK THAT WORKS

Overview

This workshop has been designed to assist supervisors feel more comfortable with providing feedback to staff members as part of the ongoing performance management process. The program aims to inform participants of tools and strategies that can be used to give feedback in a way that will facilitate further development or improvement in staff members’ performance, and build effective working relationships.

Topics that will be covered include:

Characteristics of effective and ineffective feedback
How to give positive feedback
Tailoring feedback to the individual
How to give developmental feedback
Handling difficult feedback situations

Audience:	Professional staff supervisors who want to develop their skills in effectively providing feedback. Please note this workshop will operate on assumed knowledge of the UniSA Performance Development and Management Framework
Duration:	3.5 hours (9am-12.30pm)
Date, time and location:	Tuesday 23rd September AU3-03, Level 3 101 Currie St
Registration closes:	Tuesday 16th September
Cost:	Nil

WORKING ACROSS CULTURES

Overview

This interactive workshop will provide an opportunity for staff to share and discuss their experiences in working with different cultures. It will include:

Assessing your cultural awareness
Understanding and pronouncing Asian names
Strategies for working with international students and staff from overseas with English as a second language

This workshop will be facilitated by the Learning Connection team. All team members have an excellent understanding of the intercultural environment at the University of South Australia, and while guiding the discussion, will ask participants to share their thoughts and experiences of cultural diversity in the workplace.

Audience:	Any professional staff member who wants to develop their knowledge and skills to be able to deal more effectively with students and staff from other cultures.
Duration:	3 hours (9.30am-12.30pm)
Date, time and location:	TBC – Please contact Megan de Lacy to express your interest
Registration closes:
Cost:	Nil

PROFESSIONAL WRITING HEO 3-5

Overview

‘It is a writer’s responsibility to be clear, not the reader’s responsibility to understand’ - This workshop is designed to develop your writing skills to build your ability to prepare well for writing, and to write effectively in a professional environment.

Facilitated by a professional writing specialist, this session will focus on developing skills around the following:

Distinguish between effective and ineffective writing styles
Refresh knowledge of some of the basic rules of English grammar and punctuation
Discuss the purpose of, audience for, and styles appropriate for writing done by UniSA staff
Acquire some skills to evaluate your own work critically
Sentence construction, tenses and active/passive voice
Reporting on meetings (e.g minutes)

Audience:	This session is most valuable for professional staff who would like to develop their professional writing skills, and/or have responsibility for recording minutes of meetings.
Duration:	4 hours (9am-1pm)
Date, time and location:	Wednesday 17th September AU3-03, Level 3, 101 Currie Street
Registration closes:	Wednesday 10th September
Cost:	Nil

PROFESSIONAL WRITING HEO 6-8

Overview

This workshop is designed for professional staff occupying HEO 6-8 positions, with responsibility for preparing high level pieces of writing for committees such as Divisional Executive and Senior Management Group. It will develop skills in areas such as developing an argument or case for discussion, interpreting complex data into meaningful reports, being succinct and getting the impact required.

Other issues to be covered include:

Minimising inappropriate use of jargon/acronyms
Use of University language
Knowing your audience
Summarising complex or large volumes of information to save the reader time

Audience:	This workshop will be most beneficial for professional staff in HEO 6-8 positions who would like to develop and improve their ability to prepare pieces of writing for the consideration of management at UniSA.
Duration:	4 hours (9am to 1pm)
Date, time and location:	Thursday 22nd October AU3-03, Level 3 101 Currie St
Registration closes:	Thursday 15th October
Cost:	Nil

DEVELOPING THE COACHING RELATIONSHIP

Overview

Coaching is increasingly being recognised as an important skill for managers and team leaders to have, as we increasingly move away from authoritarian models of leadership and move towards more collaboration, cooperation, empathy and creativity in our leading and managing of others. What differentiates coaching from on the job training is the emphasis on the relationship between the coach and the coachee, and the skills of quality specific feedback, really listening and the art of questioning to draw the knowledge from the coachee, rather than a one way flow of telling and instructing or always providing the answers.

The upcoming workshop “Developing the Coaching Relationship” facilitated by Helen Alm, will give participants the opportunity to further develop these skills, explore four different coaching styles and how they can apply them to their own team members and practice “solution focussed coaching” using the simple, practical and highly effective coaching model “ GROW”.

Audience:	This session is designed for managers of professional staff who would like to develop their skills as coaches to enhance their abilities in the performance development and management process.
Duration:	7.5 hours (9am to 4.30pm) + 2 hour optional follow up (9am to 11am)
Date, time and location:	Thursday 2nd October + Friday 17th October AU3-03, Level 3 101 Currie St
Registration closes:	Thursday 25th September
Cost:	Nil

LIFTING THE PERFORMANCE OF STAFF

Overview

Improving performance is a challenge that faces every manager at some point. Know-how and the capability to improve performance are therefore an integral part of any manager’s skills set. This program will enhance managers’ understanding of the causes of underperformance and provide tips and techniques on how to effectively manage under-performance.

The session will cover critical issues in managing performance, including:

Understanding and identifying the underlying causes of under-performance
Getting to know and understand the individual, including understanding motivation
Managing under-performance within the context of ‘good’ performance management practice (setting clear objectives, providing regular feedback)
Challenges and skill development (dealing with resistance and defensive behaviour, having difficult conversations, developing accountability of issues through facilitative questioning skills)

Audience:	Managers, supervisors and team leaders who are interested in improving the performance of their staff, and want to address current challenges in this area, allowing confidential discussion of these issues.
Duration:	4 hours (9am -4.30pm)
Date, time and location:	Thursday 23rd October AU3-03, Level 3 101 Currie St
Registration closes:	Thursday 16th October
OR
Cost:	Nil

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE WORKPLACE

Overview

In this workshop, you will learn the basic principles of emotional intelligence, and how to best utilise emotional intelligence strategies in the workplace to build strong working relationships and communication practices to maximise workplace harmony and effectiveness, and achieve goals. Topics covered in this workshop will include techniques for building confidence, communicating confidently and effectively handling conflict in the workplace.

Audience:	Any professional staff member who would like to improve their understanding and use of emotional intelligence strategies to be more effective in the workplace.
Duration:	4 hours (9am-1pm)
Date, time and location:	Thursday 30th October AU3-03, level 3 101 Currie St
Registration closes:	Thursday 23rd October
Cost:	Nil

PERSONAL EFFECTIVENESS IN THE WORKPLACE

Overview

Do you ever procrastinate, worry excessively or get stuck in non action? Are you a perfectionist or do you like to control everything? Do you doubt yourself or not do things you would like to do, due to lack of self confidence? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are not alone. Many people can relate to these behaviours that can limit your effectiveness in the workplace.

This workshop will provide an opportunity for participants to increase their level of effectiveness in the workplace, and will cover:

What does ‘being effective’ really mean?
What is important? What is essential?
Time Management
Self Management
The art of flexibility

Audience:	Professional staff members who would like to develop skills to improve their personal and professional effectiveness
Duration:	4 hours (9am-3pm)
Date, time and location:	Friday 21st November AU2-02 & AU2-03, Level 2 101 Currie St
Registration closes:	Thursday 13th November
Cost:	Nil

BEING MORE ASSERTIVE

Overview

This workshop is designed to develop your skills in being assertive in a professional environment. It will cover key techniques to developing more confidence (self talk, not comparing self to others, dealing with fear), challenging limiting beliefs and attitudes, and action planning for change. Issues that will be discussed include:

How to say ‘NO”
Negative assertion
Negative inquiry
Fogging
The Five star plan

By the end of the program, participants will have:

Identified personal challenges/faced in being more assertive
Identified the different behaviours and body language associated with aggressive, passive and assertive behaviours
Identified situations in which to use the different assertive techniques covered
Created an action plan to assist them in being more assertive in their personal case study

Audience:	This session would be valuable for professional staff of all levels who would like to improve and develop their skills in being assertive.
Duration:	6 hours (9am to 3pm) + optional follow up session (10am to 12pm)
Date, time and location:	Thursday 16th October + Tues 28th October AU3-03, Level 3 101 Currie St
Registration closes:	Thursday 9th October
Cost:	Nil

CONTACTS

Megan de Lacy
Program Officer: Organisational Learning and Development
Phone: 8302 1636
Email: megan.delacy@unisa.edu.au

Kerry McLaren
Human Resources Administrative Officer
Phone: 8302 1835
Email: Kerry.Mclaren@unisa.edu.au

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WorkSmart

WORKSMART PROGRAM 2008

MONTHLY CALENDAR

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

ENHANCING YOUR EFFECTIVENESS AS A SUPERVISOR

PERSUASIVE PRESENTATIONS – ‘STAND OUT WHEN YOU STAND UP’

APPLYING PROJECT MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES TO YOUR WORK

INTRODUCTION TO PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT @ UNISA

INTELLIGENT LEADERSHIP AND HONEST CONVERSATIONS

MANAGING CHALLENGING BEHAVIOURS

PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION

WORK AND LIFE BALANCE

FEEDBACK THAT WORKS

WORKING ACROSS CULTURES

PROFESSIONAL WRITING HEO 3-5

PROFESSIONAL WRITING HEO 6-8

DEVELOPING THE COACHING RELATIONSHIP

LIFTING THE PERFORMANCE OF STAFF

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE WORKPLACE

PERSONAL EFFECTIVENESS IN THE WORKPLACE

BEING MORE ASSERTIVE

CONTACTS

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