Chamber Happenings

The Group Leader Certificate Program has been developed to address the needs of front line leaders. Courses focus on responsibilities specific to a Group Leader by developing skills in areas such as Coaching, Leadership, and Business Practices.

• 4/1/2025: Kick-Off/DiSC Assessment
• 4/15/2025: Train the Trainer
• 4/22/2025: Stress Strategies
• 4/29/2025: From Peer to Direct Report
• 5/6/2025: Basic Employment Law
• 5/13/2025: Kaizen
• 5/20/2025: Rational Problem Solving
• 5/27/2025: Habits of Successful People
• 6/3/2025: Easier Said Than Done
• 6/10/2025: Top-Notch Teams/Wrap-Up/Graduation 

A recent article features on WebMD’s Stress Management Health Center offered the following statistics on stress:

• 43% of all adults suffer adverse health effects from stress.

• 75% to 90% of all doctor’s visits are for stress-related ailments and complaints

With stress having such a harmful impact on so many of our lives, it is worth exploring ways to lessen the amount of stress we deal with on a daily basis.

Program Deliverables:

• Define stress and its effect on the body

• Understand the relationship between personal needs and work needs

• Incorporate characteristics of stress resistance/relaxation into daily life

Decisions, decisions. Sometimes, they can be quite difficult, especially when they involve an entire company. This training session is designed to help you in the decision-making process. Areas such as inventory control, production integration, quality, and optimization of process operations will be discussed. Assessments, analysis, and anticipated consequences of decision making are emphasized. You should decide to enroll in this one!

Program Deliverables:

• Correctly assess changing situations in a modern business and industrial environment.

• Make decisions based on correct analytical assessments.

• Identify risk and potential problems.

According to a 2013 survey, 77% of Americans believe that society is becoming more rude and less civilized. Unfortunately, this trend can be seen in many workplaces as well. “Business etiquette” is typically a set of unspoken expectations in the workplace that most people either meet – or find out when they do not meet them. In this course, you will learn how not only to improve your own manners, but also to positively influence your co-workers.

Program Deliverables:

• Understand how to use basic courtesy and manners.

• Practice common business etiquette to build and maintain relationships.

• Interact in a respectful manner with coworkers and subordinates.

Renowned Project Management expert Cornelius Fichtner once said, “The ‘P’ is a much about ‘People’ management as it is about ‘Project’ management.” A project can be differentiated from ongoing business operations in that it is a “a temporary endeavor to create a unique product or service.” (Chatfield and Johnson, 2000) Within this short definition can be found the basic “project triangle:” time, cost, and performance. In this course, you will explore the “art” of project management – the continual balancing of these three areas throughout the process of planned and unplanned events to arrive at a successful completion.

Program Deliverables:

• Understand the basic principles of project management/project teams.

• Evaluate likely project risks and develop appropriate response strategies.

• Monitor the key project issues of schedule, budget, and performance deliverables and develop problem responses.

This course teaches blueprint reading for novice level employees. This course covers basic math, types of drawings, Glass Box, Multiview drawings, orthographic projection, line types – their applications and precedence, dimensioning and tolerancing, title blocks, materials, drawing change systems, section views, auxiliary views, detail views, assembly drawing, sketching, and isometrics.

How many times have you thought, “There’s just not enough hours in the day!” By learning to manage your time more effectively, it’s almost like you’re adding those extra hours! Studies have shown that the average American worker currently wastes approximately 32 percent of his/her time on the job and wasted time reduces productivity. In this course, you’ll learn easy and applicable ways to get more out of your day, starting now!

Program Deliverables:

• Learn productivity and time management techniques

• Explore a how-to approach to time management

• Understand how the company/plant atmosphere contributes to effective use of time or promotes time theft

Inventor Henry Ford once said, “If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.” Learning how to boost your skills as a leader has the potential for profound effects, not only on yourself but also on your direct reports. In this session, you will focus on leadership style, directing employees and the basic expectations and the differences between the past and new fundamentals in leadership.

Program Deliverables:

• Understand basic supervision styles, concepts, and issues

• Learn how to create a positive climate for worker performance

• Explore different leadership styles and how to develop them

Achieving a harmonious balance between professional responsibilities and personal life is essential for overall well-being and productivity. This course is designed to help participants understand the importance of maintaining a healthy equilibrium and provide practical strategies to achieve it and gain insights into how to effectively manage their time, set boundaries, and prioritize their well-being.

Program Deliverables:

• Define work-life balance and recognize its significance for personal and professional success

• Identify common challenges to achieving work-life balance in the modern workplace

• Assess personal work-life balance

• Develop time management skills

• Understand the importance of setting boundaries between work and personal life

• Recognize strategies to prioritize self-care and well-being, including stress management and relaxation techniques

• Explore best practices to achieve and maintain work-life balance and create an action plan to integrate into daily routines

• Identify and leverage support systems to help maintain balance and achieve personal and professional goals

The longer an employee works for a particular company, the greater the investment the organization has in that employee in terms of training, education, experience, problem-solving, etc. Some studies predict that every time a business replaces a salaried employee, it costs 6 to 9 months’ salary on average. Understandably, retaining goof employees is quickly becoming a top priority for many companies and agencies. This course will help you to understand how to promote retention at your company.

Program Deliverables:

• Understand the critical role that managers and supervisors play in keeping good employees.

• Recognize the key factors that contribute to job satisfaction and employee morale.

• How to motivate and challenge employees who appear to be on the verge of leaving.

The Frontline Leadership Academy is a facilitated, interactive workshop designed to foster concepts, habits, skills, and strategies for developing highly effective frontline leaders in the workplace. The course utilizes a combination of PowerPoint presentations, self-evaluations, surveys, and interactive exercises prepared by premiere instructors with subject-matter expertise. The Frontline Leadership Academy will engage and motivate participants, equipping each with essential leadership tools to prepare for corporate success!

Foundation:

• Creating the Leadership Perspective

  • Identifying, defining, and developing the character based core principles that are the foundation for creating leadership behaviors and habits and is the initial catalyst for the transformation to a leader’s mindset. The course includes examining the components necessary to supervise, coach, and mentor others.

• Everything DiSC Personality Assessment

  • Builds guiding principles by developing an understanding and appreciation for the various styles of people. This session provides learning that will maximize the strengths of each style while navigating the potential issues that can be associated with each style.

• Goal Setting & Customer Service

  • Goal Setting: Provides knowledge and development skills for creating SMART goals; utilizing technology, overcoming procrastination, identifying self-motivation and time management that are essential for effective team and organizational guidance. These techniques will help participants set accurate achievable goals aligning with corporate vision.

  • Customer Service: Provides insight and context into the roles and responsibilities within departments; including identifying new responsibilities of team leaders in the work environment. As well as defining the importance of support and reliability of the internal and external customer.

• Communication

  • Identifies the use of effective techniques that develop and/or improve the leader; s ability to inform and persuade. The course defines tools to equip leaders with effective negotiation skills, examine the attributes of motivation and communication in a variety of leadership styles appropriate for different managerial environments and identifies the use of effective communication techniques that increase interdependence in the workplace.

• Conflict Resolution

  • Addresses practical conflict resolution techniques and strategies that leaders can effectively utilize to guide workgroups through constantly changing and challenging environments in order to achieve organizational priorities.

• Accountability

  • Develops personal and professional accountability traits for leaders in the workplace. Course work examines the positive cultural effects of accountability as a healthy stabilizing cultural facet and brings the participants to an understanding and commitment to personal and professional accountability as a positive leadership attribute.

• Responsive Leadership

  • The course serves as a means to connect the entire Leadership Development Academy course work. Responsive Leadership reinforces all leaders to accurately interpret and effectively respond to their environment; thereby providing support for employees based on their current needs. This course will bridge the connection for all courses, providing daily application tools for leadership success.

Schedule:

• 6/17/2025 – Creating the Leadership Perspective, Part 1 (6 Hour)

• 6/24/2025 – Creating the Leadership Perspective, Part 2 (6 Hour)

• 7/8/2025 – Everything DiSC (6 Hour)

• 7/15/2025 – Communication (6 Hour)

• 7/22/2025 – Customer Service/Goal Setting (6 Hour)

• 7/29/2025 – Accountability (6 Hour)

• 8/5/2025 – Conflict Resolution (4 Hour)

• 8/12/2025 – Responsive Leadership Part 1 (4 Hour)

• 8/19/2025 – Responsive Leadership Part 2 (4 Hour)

Author Earl Wilson is quotes as saying, “Science may never come up with a better office communication system than the coffee break.” Can communication within an organization be learned or improved? Most definitely! This course examines ways to communicate more effectively, both verbally and nonverbally, with coworkers and clients.

Program Deliverables:

• Understand core communication concepts.

• Communicate effectively with coworkers, customers, teams, and managers.

• Establish guidelines for face-to-face and electronic communication within an organization.

The Supervisor Certificate Program is a competency driven program that will assist in building general supervisory skills as well as the basics of leadership behavior. The program consists of core competence-based classes that focus on improving others, improving processes, and improving self in order to increase an organization's productivity, improve efficiency, and enhance employee morale.

• 7/3/2025: Kick-Off and Supervisory Pre-Assessment. 

• 7/10/2025: Supervisor Skills: Building a Strong Foundation

• 7/17/2025: Beat the Clock: Successful Time Management

• 7/24/2025: Conducting Energized and Effective Team Meetings

• 7/31/2025: The Times They are a Changin’ – Adapting to Workplace Changes

• 8/7/2025: Emotional Intelligence: What’s Your EQ?

• 8/14/2025: “No Fear” Public Speaking

• 8/21/2025: Rational Problem Solving

• 8/28/2025: Secrets to Successful Employee Coaching/Counseling

• 9/4/2025: Leadership Lessons: Enhancing the Leader Within

• 9/11/2025: Discipline Done Right

• 9/18/2025: Fair and Square: How to Maintain Fairness as a Supervisor

• 9/25/2025: We Can Work It Out: Resolving Team Conflicts

• 10/2/2025: From Baby Boomers to Millennials: Understanding Generations

• 10/9/2025: Developing a Proactive Workstyle

• 10/16/2025: Top-Notch Teams/Teambuilding

• 10/23/2025: The Power of Motivation

• 10/30/2025: Program Wrap-Up, Supervisor Post Assessment, and Graduation

Is AI the future of your company? This session will explain what AI is and how it can be used to enhance your business strategy. The focus will be on how AI can augment and enhance the efficacy of your business or organization while still retaining the human element that is always critical to overall success.

Program Deliverables:

• What AI is, including its historical development, current utilization and potential future applications

• What AI can do – and what it cannot do – for your business or organization

• The legal/ethical issues associated with AI

• The potential pitfalls of using AI in your business or organization

• How to develop an action plan using AI in your business or organization

  Important considerations in implementing your AI action plan

The Foundations of Health course is designed to introduce participants to the five essential pillars of wellness: mindset, hydration, nutrition, physical activity, and sleep. In this interactive session, participants will learn key strategies to improve each area, set a realistic health goal, and leave with a personalized action plan to implement small, effective, impactful, and sustainable changes in their daily lives.

Program Deliverables:

• Understand the power of a positive mindset

• Adopt simple hydration tips

• Make healthier food choices

• Engage in short, effective physical activities

• Improve sleep quality with routine adjustments

• Discover easy bedtime habits to support restful sleep

The Excel Certificate Program provides a practical, hands-on approach to learning how to use a powerful productivity tool that is generally already available to employees. Courses are designed to build competency with increasingly sophisticated features in a way that allows employees to apply them immediately and effectively in the workplace. The program will consist of 5 courses: Excel I: The Foundation, Excel II: Formulas and Features, Excel III: Functions and Formatting, Excel VI: Manipulate and Analyze Data, and Excel V: Problem Solving.

Does your job require you to work with Microsoft Excel? This class sets the foundation for Excel. Participants will learn important features, such as how to customize the Quick Access Toolbar, how to use Excel’s Backstage view, and how to access the Excel Options window to make changes to the spreadsheet. Participants will learn the Excel window, the seven shapes of the mouse and what each one does in Excel.

Learning Outcomes:

• Create a spreadsheet and do simple calculations.

• Learn how to use the 5 functions: Autosum, Average, Count, Maximum, and Minimum

• Understand how to modify a spreadsheet by inserting rows and columns.

• Demonstrate how to format the spreadsheet for appearance and put it on the page before printing.

• Practice creating headers, footers, and page breaks.

This course will introduce you to the rules of writing formulas in Excel and how to work with both relative and absolute formulas. You will also learn how to fix errors using the formula auditing feature as well as linking formulas in a spreadsheet in workbooks. With Excel, you’ll learn to work smarter, not harder!

Learning Outcomes:

• Work with Excel functions, countif, sumif, and averageif.

• Understand how to bring an Excel chart into PowerPoint.

• Practice using Sparklines.

• Demonstrate how to protect cells and workbooks.

• Understand linking worksheets and linking workbooks.

• Learn more tips and tricks.