Ascend Welcome Spring
MARCH 2015 Newsletter
Welcome to Ascend Training Solutions
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Spring has sprung here in Southern California and many of us find ourselves thinking of new ideas, new directions, and new beginnings. We at Ascend Training Solutions are no different. As we present our final Competency of Effective Supervisors, Providing Direction, we are preparing for a new direction in our communications with our readers. Beginning in May 2015, we will begin our new series of case-study focused newsletters delivered on a bimonthly basis. We will present you with examples of how our clients choose to develop their human resources, our role as a partner in the process and the outcomes that we see. If we can inspire and encourage other organizations to develop their employees and create an empowered, positive and vision-focused staff, then we will have done our job!

If online learning is of interest to you, I would like to inform you of some online learning opportunities which I have recently developed. In April, two online MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courseware), developed in collaboration with University of California, Irvine Extension will be available on Coursera.com. The courses are Business Writing and The Art of Negotiation. Both are designed to be entirely self-directed, are designed as four modules (2-4 hours of work each), available to anyone, anywhere, and best of all, free. Sue will also be teaching two online, credit-based courses through the University of California Extension online: Modern Business Writing and Influence, Persuasion and Negotiation. Each of these 2.5 credits, asynchronous online courses is associated with certificate programs offered by UCI Extension but can be taken without being part of a certificate program. For more information:
 
UCI Extension Courses: https://unex.uci.edu/courses/

(These courses will be available during the summer quarter)

This month, our final Supervisory Competency is Providing Direction. I hope you find it informative and useful. And, whatever your personal and professional development goals are this Spring, I wish you the joy and inspiration of new learning!

Sue 

 
In This Issue
TIP OF THE MONTH
Clarifying Organizational & Departmental Vision

 

An important aspect of providing direction to others is to promote a clear vision.  Most organizations have a vision and/or mission statement, and so should each department or division.  Leaders must take time to develop a vision for his or her area of responsibility and clearly communicate that vision with the team.

The department or division leader's vision should be:

▶▶In alignment with the overarching vision of the organization

▶▶Realistic and attainable by the team

▶▶Easy to understand - brief and to the point are most effective

Your Vision

▶▶Commonly understood and create a shared sense of purpose

▶▶Inspiring - strong vision statements have emotional appeal

▶▶Meaningful - should guide decision making, prioritization, goal setting, and determining the allocation of resources

Every team member should clearly understand the department/division/organization's vision and how he or she can continuously contribute to and support the realization of that vision.


 
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Competencies of Great Supervisors

Part 16 - Providing Direction     

Providing Direction This month we continue our article series by taking a close look at the critical supervisory and leadership skill of Providing Direction.  Effective leaders know that in order to build and maintain high-performing teams, they need to provide their direct reports with more than just a list of duties, tasks, and projects to complete, but must also provide them with direction.  Clear direction must come from a team's leader in order for its members to have a firm grasp of her and the organization's overarching vision, priorities, expectations, and to understand how specific tasks and/or projects fit into the big picture.   

Communication is obviously king when it comes to providing direction and supervisors must figure out the most effective way to relay information to their teams so they are actually strengthening the partnership and not just asserting their authority. 


Here are a few tips for supervisors to consider adding to their effective communications quiver in providing teams with direction:


1)  Take Time to Think Ahead.  Be clear about what you want to say prior to speaking with employees. You might want to make a list of items you would like to address and how you want to cover each.  If you need to talk with an employee regarding behavior at work, clearly define the behaviors that need to be modified and the expectations you have for improvement. The clearer you are about what needs to be accomplished and how you see it being done, the more effectively you will give direction to your employees.


2)  Consider the Best Medium for Your Message. Communicate with employees in writing or in person. Consider the culture of your office. If you hold regular team meetings, use those meetings to communicate with and direct employees as a group. 

 

 Read Entire Article....
MARCH Spotlight  

Spotlight on Appreciative Inquiry 

In the Competencies article of this newsletter, I mentioned the importance of leading with the positive. We wholeheartedly support leading with a positive tone and demeanor and are adding components of Appreciative Inquiry to a number of our soft skills training programs to encourage this type of leadership.  Appreciative Inquiry focuses on finding the best in people and helping them to use their strengths to function more effectively in their work and everyday life.  Leaders using Appreciative Inquiry focus less on negativity and criticism and more on individual strengths, personal discovery, and professional development in their leadership and coaching conversations.

Sue Robins - Training

While Appreciative Inquiry is typically taught to managers and supervisors as a means of addressing leadership challenges, we believe a focus on strengths and positive opportunities is of benefit to everyone in an organization.  Recently, Sue led a workshop focused on effective workplace communication for administrative support staff, which was focused on the use of Appreciative Inquiry in developing positive workplace relationships, collaborations and solving problems. The group was highly engaged in our discussions and developed some inspiring and empowering approaches to some of their more common workplace communication challenges. We agreed at the end that approaching workplace communications with a positive, strengths-based approach makes for a much more pleasant and productive work environment for everyone involved. At the same time, the strategies we discussed also encourage and enable professional development at all levels.  

 

 
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