Abudi Consulting Group, LLC

Stakeholder Management Best Practices

ACG — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 22:35:47 +0000

Description

Working with stakeholders can be challenging. Each stakeholder has their own goal for the project and it is often difficult to understand each stakeholders’ particular needs and to match those needs to the project objectives. Developing strong relationships with stakeholders is essential to success in meeting their needs, and getting what you need from them.

This ½ day workshop will focus on helping you to better manage your stakeholders, from how to develop strong working relationships (before you need them!) to identifying and working with stakeholders to gather needs and understand their expectations, communicating with and engaging stakeholders throughout the project through to getting stakeholder participation in lessons learned debriefs.

Learn best practices for:

Identifying and working with stakeholders to gather requirements
Understanding stakeholder expectations
Communicating with and engaging stakeholders throughout the initiative
Developing effective relationships

Target Audience

Project managers/project team leads
Business line managers/functional managers
Program managers
Project team members
Anyone who works with stakeholders, whether internal or external

Best Practices for Socializing Strategic Human Resource Initiatives

ACG — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 22:30:12 +0000

Description

The Human Resources (HR) Group is the nuts and bolts of any organization – the initiatives in place within HR are essential to the success of the organization. However, all too frequently, strategic HR initiatives get "lost" within the organization – not enough people know what is going on and what the business is working on. When the initiatives are focused on policy and procedure changes or in cases of mergers and acquisitions, employees are worried about what that means for them. In such cases, it is difficult to get support and buy-in to ensure a successful implementation and acceptance of the initiative. In order to ensure success in HR initiatives, it is essential that the initiatives get socialized within the organization. And to be successful at socializing your strategic HR initiatives, it is essential that you build strong relationships in the business.

This ½ day workshop provides managers and leaders of HR with best practices and strategies for socializing their initiatives within the organization. Case study scenarios will provide participants in the workshop with best practices and "things to avoid" when socializing strategic HR initiatives, including – getting commitment from the workforce, getting executives and senior leaders involved in socialization of the initiative, finding time to socialize the initiative, managing negativity and keeping the lines of communication open. Participants will be provided templates to use and will take back to the job a variety of ways to engage the organization in understanding and supporting strategic HR initiatives.

Increase the success of your strategic human resource initiatives, regardless of their size or complexity, by:

Applying a simple process for socializing HR initiatives
Using a variety of best practices and techniques to “sell” the socializing process throughout the organization
Developing and sharing communication strategies to more effectively engage and work with stakeholders
Ensuring executive and senior leaders get involved in the process
Managing people expectations around change to keep them committed and engaged
Building relationships throughout the business
Getting and retaining buy-in and support throughout the implementation of the strategic initiative

Using Effective Communication Skills to Build Better Relationships

ACG — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 22:20:48 +0000

Description

This one-day program focuses on communication best practices and how to use communication effectively and efficiently to build relationships with co-workers, customers and others. Whether formal or informal communications, how you communicate with others makes all the difference in achieving results. Of importance is ensuring that communications are concise, clear and take into account the other party’s needs. Effective, positive, well thought out oral and written communications enable you to better manage conflicts, express needs, influence others and improve listening.

Case studies and mini scenarios are used to create effective communications; along with role playing to practice skills being learned in the workshop. Participants will create an action plan to improve their communication skills back on the job.

Participants should bring to the workshop a communication document they need to work on – whether oral or written – for use in hands-on activities.

Target Audience

Anyone who wants to improve their ability to communicate with others, including:
- Customer service personnel
- Administrative personnel
- Business professionals
Anyone who wants to learn to get their point across while conveying a professional, customer-service focused image

Topics

Understanding your audience
Listening to ensure effective communications
Managing difficult internal or external customers
Managing communications during change initiatives
Verbal and nonverbal behaviors that affect your communications and others’ perceptions
Using diplomacy, tact and ensuring credible communications
Handling difficult situations
Building better rapport to gain trust and confidence
Developing effective communication plans
Increasing your self confidence in how you communicate with others

Building and Managing the Virtual Project Team for HR Professionals

ACG — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 22:09:35 +0000

Description

This one day program focuses on how to effectively build and manage a virtual (or remote) project team. So much rides on the success of a project team – and when you have a virtual team (whether across the world, across the country or in the next state) there are many more challenges on a daily basis that affect team performance. In today’s world, most every organization needs to work across time zones. Poor team performance will ultimately affect the success of the project. This workshop is designed to provide participants with an understanding of the challenges around pulling together resources for virtual projects, managing communications among team members and assignment of responsibilities, assigning roles and overall management of a virtual (global) team.

All participants will be provided templates to use back on the job. A case study example is used throughout the program which is customized for the client’s business.

Target Audience

HR professionals who need to work with virtual teams

Topics

Building the team whether you pick the team members or they are chosen for you
Best practices for “kicking off” the project team
Effective project planning with your team
The five stages of team development
Building the project team to ensure diversity
Managing and communicating best practices for remote teams
Managing conflicts and problem solving when you can’t be face-to-face
Motivating and engaging virtual teams
Providing feedback keeping in mind cultural differences
Building cohesive and committed virtual teams
Communication best practices including developing team communication plans collaboratively, and using communication tools effectively

Best Practices for Working on Change Management Initiatives

ACG — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 12:03:19 +0000

Description

Change is necessary and provides the organization opportunities for growth. It is constant and can be stressful for nearly everyone in the organization; but everyone needs to be involved in supporting and moving forward the change initiative in order to enable for continuous growth of the organization, effective competition in a global environment and to meet client expectations. The biggest challenge for individuals in most organizations is how to effectively champion and support change initiatives. They must successfully help others to accept the change that needs to happen, and come to terms with the change themselves.

A case study is used to apply what is being learned in the classroom, along with mini case studies and discussion topics. All participants will be provided templates to use back on the job.

Target Audience

Anyone who needs to champion and support change initiatives, regardless of the size of the initiative and the impact within the organization.

Topics

Types of change initiatives
Understanding the process of change and the change cycle
Effects of change on the organization and the individuals
Embracing change as a part of organizational growth and increased competition
Obstacles to change and how to overcome them
Adapting to change and helping others to adapt to change
Supporting others in the department and throughout the organization
Managing your feelings during the change process
Clarifying and communicating the impact of the change initiative
Dealing with uncertainty and helping others to deal with uncertainty
Best practices for working on change management initiatives
Managing non-stop change that impacts you and those around you

Cultural Diversity: Working Across Boundaries

ACG — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 11:59:01 +0000

Description

We all have certain perceptions of those around us. Those perceptions come from our environment, the region/country in which we were raised, our cultural background, and what we learned from friends and family. Those perceptions affect how we work and interact with others of different cultural backgrounds. By understanding others’ cultural backgrounds, we learn how best to interact with those individuals and we learn to speak with them as individuals – not as someone from a particular culture or our perception of their culture. The better you understand those around you, the more effective your communications and interpersonal interactions. While no individual completely represents their cultural background – we are all unique – this workshop provides information that enables for improved communications and interactions across boundaries, improving how the work gets accomplished in an organization.

This one day workshop provides participants with knowledge and an understanding about various cultures, enabling them to:

Improve teamwork
Build stronger relationships
Improve communication
Meet goals and objectives
More effectively interact and work with others

A variety of discussion topics, mini case studies and problem solving activities will be used in the workshop.

Target Audience

Anyone who works with individuals from other cultures, whether co-located or virtual/remote.

Topics

Best practices for working with others
Understanding cultural orientations – values and attitudes
Value systems: our basis for behaviors in working with others
Common business practices – effective communication , decision making and negotiation
Protocol in working across cultural boundaries
Understanding the impact and benefit of cultural differences on your initiatives/work group
How to reduce cross-cultural misunderstandings and ensure positive, productive working relationships
Tips and strategies for specific countries

Building, Managing, and Nurturing the Virtual Team

ACG — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 11:53:16 +0000

Description

This full day workshop focuses on how to effectively build, manage, and even more importantly, nurture a virtual (or remote) team. So much rides on the success of a team – and when you have a virtual team (whether across the world, across the country or in the next state) there are many more challenges on a daily basis that affect team performance than if the team is co-located. In today’s world, most every organization needs to work across time zones. Poor team performance will ultimately affect the success of the project and poor team performance is so often attributed to poor management and nurturing of the team. This workshop is designed to provide participants with an understanding of the challenges around pulling together resources for virtual projects and initiatives, managing communications among team members and assignment of responsibilities, assigning roles and overall management and nurturing of a virtual team. All participants will be provided templates to use back on the job. A case study example is used throughout the program which is customized for the client’s business.

Target Audience

Team leads interested in learning how to better manage virtual or remote teams – whether global, nationally or regionally distributed.
Team members interested in learning how to work more productivity within a virtual or remote team.
Business unit/functional managers who work with distributed teams or with other business units/functional managers who are not co-located.
Anyone who works with project teams.

Topics

Building the team to ensure diversity
Best practices for “kicking off” the team
Effective planning with your team
The five stages of team development
Managing and communicating best practices for remote teams
Managing conflicts and problem solving when you can’t be face-to-face
Motivating and engaging virtual teams
Providing feedback keeping in mind cultural differences
Building cohesive and committed virtual teams
Collaboration for success
Communication best practices including developing team communication plans collaboratively, and using communication tools effectively

Effective Sponsorship of Projects

ACG — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 11:36:19 +0000

Description

This two (2) hour session focuses on best practices for effective sponsorship of projects. As a sponsor of a project – regardless of the size of the initiative – there are several responsibilities you have. The project sponsor provides a variety of support to the individual leading the project, such as:

Securing funding for the project
Assisting in the development of the project scope and charter
Securing resources for the project – human resources, facilities, equipment, etc.
Assisting with identifying the stakeholders for the project
Clarifying any questions regarding the project scope once the project is underway
Monitoring the progress of the project
Assisting the project manager by getting involved in making key go/no go decisions, solving problems that arise, and helping to secure additional resources for the project if necessary

The sponsor of the project works closely with the project manager to measure the project’s performance against the project baseline, identifying any variances from the project plan in areas of cost, scope, schedule and quality.

Bottom line – when the project sponsor gets and stays involved in the project – the chances of overall project success increases.
In this two (2) hour session, learn how you can effectively support project initiatives within your organization – providing the project manager with what is needed to ensure their success and the success of the project. Examples of client projects are used to understand the role of the sponsor and how it impacts the project’s success. This workshop is tailored specifically for the client’s business.

Target Audience

Managers/Leaders/Department Heads
Anyone responsible for sponsoring projects within the organization

Supporting Change Initiatives

ACG — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:32:31 +0000

Change is necessary and provides the organization opportunities for growth. It is constant and can be stressful for nearly everyone in the organization; but everyone needs to be involved in supporting and moving forward the change initiative. The biggest challenge for individuals in many organizations is how to effectively champion and support change initiatives they are assigned, or which their boss is leading. They must successfully help others to accept the change that needs to happen.

This workshop provides attendees with best practices for championing and supporting change efforts within the organization, including helping others to see the value of change.

Topics

Effects of change on the organization and the individuals
Obstacles to change
Adapting to change and helping others to adapt to change
Dealing with uncertainty
Being a change agent

Making Presentations with Confidence

ACG — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 01:34:29 +0000

At some point, regardless of their role within an organization, an individual is asked to make a presentation. It may be to one individual (your manager or an executive in the organization), to a small group, or to a larger audience. Of key importance in delivering presentations, whether formal or informal, is to clearly and concisely present your message to your audience in the time allotted.

What You Will Learn:

Determining the message your audience wants to hear
Focusing your message for the most effectiveness
Using storyboarding techniques to create your presentation
Creating your opening and closing statements
Using PowerPoint effectively to convey your message
How to present various types of data
Effective use of graphics
Managing the audience
How to prepare for your presentation
Maintaining your composure
Responding to questions and challenges

Through the optional use of videotaping and feedback, this workshop provides best practices for making presentations and practice in developing your skills.