In addition to offering custom training programs, we provide tailored processes, e-learning, "off-the-shelf" programs, distance learning, and blended learning solutions. Here are some of the programs and processes that are currently available:

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

Business Writing
Business Writing is a four-hour workshop designed to improve writing quality and efficiency. This program is recommended to anyone who writes memos, letters,
e-mails, or business documents. Participants will learn how to target their audience, give purpose to written communication, write quickly and effectively under time constraints, and to edit their own work. The logical steps of the writing process-plan, draft, and review are applied to real-life situations. Feedback and skill practice are important elements of this approach. Participants are required to bring samples of their writing to the training session.
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Coaching Others
In a perfect world, employees would all perform at their highest level day-in and
day-out. In the real world, most employees need guidance, at least now and then, to perform at their most productive level. This workshop focuses on giving supervisors, and managers, the wisdom and skills they need to improve the performance of their workforce through coaching. Participants in this workshop explore common coaching scenarios (customized to the client organization) and apply newly-learned coaching skills through role plays and interactive exercises. The workshop is one day in length.
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Communication Skills
This program is designed to help people communicate more effectively-both personally and professionally. The course addresses three major skill areas: analyzing and understanding yourself and others, listening productively, and asserting your thoughts and feelings in a constructive manner. This four-hour workshop helps participants to identify their preferred communication style and to learn to "flex their style" to improve relationships and to foster teamwork.
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Customer Service Skills
Service excellence is the foundation for building brand equity and client loyalty in today's competitive marketplace. This two-day workshop focuses on the needs of front-line service providers who interact with either external or internal customers. Participants learn to respond to the customer not just as a problem to be resolved but as a human being with needs, goals, and expectations that may lie beyond simply fixing the problem. The workshop uses interactive exercises, group discussion, and role-play to help participants apply a structured, though flexible, approach to developing empathy and resolving service issues.
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Employment Law for Supervisors and Managers
This four-hour course is designed to give supervisors and managers a basic understanding of the laws and regulations governing private-sector employment. Emphasis is placed on the most commonly made mistakes and areas of the law that most often create liability for employers. Topics to be covered include: discrimination, sexual harassment, wrongful discharge, employee handbooks, non-compete agreements, independent contractors, and overtime compensation. Employment Law for Supervisors and Managers is facilitated by a leading employment law attorney. The workshop is interactive and ample time is allotted for questions.
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Executive Coaching (A one-on-one coaching process)
Executive Coaching enables individuals to make a greater contribution to the organization. This results-orientated process helps to develop (and retain) top performers and high potentials. Coachees learn to create a better balance between work and family, transition into new roles, manage change, and to increase their job satisfaction and productivity. This program is tailored to each individual. Regular coaching sessions are scheduled with coachees on an as needed basis.
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Facilitation Skills
The purpose of this one-day workshop is to develop and enhance basic facilitation skills. Participants will learn how to conduct more participative meetings and to guide the group to accomplish the purpose of the meeting. Facilitation Skills teaches people how to ask the right questions, in the right way, at the right time. This workshop is recommended for group leaders, trainers, and anyone else who conducts meetings where there is a need for an exchange of ideas, high-quality decisions, and commitment from group members. Each participant has the opportunity to be videotaped and to receive feedback.
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Influence Skills
Influence Skills is designed to improve the interpersonal influence of employees at all levels of the organization. This workshop focuses on relationships where no formal authority exists but consensus is critical to achieving the objectives of the organization. Participants will learn principles and skills for influencing others in a productive and interdependent manner. The course includes a personal style inventory, small group exercises, role-plays, and feedback. The course can be delivered in a half-day or one-day format.
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Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills is a one-day program that provides people with the key information and skills needed to excel as an interviewer. Participants will learn how to improve the quality of the workforce through more effective interviewing. Course objectives include using an interviewing framework to master the interviewing process, developing a system of behavioral questions to gather useful information, and encouraging candidates to discuss specific experiences and accomplishments. Participants will also learn to determine which questions to ask, and when to ask them. This training program enables interviewers to improve their knowledge, and skills, by integrating their work-related situations into the workshop. No previous interviewing experience is required.
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Leadership Skills
This two-day Leadership Skills program increases self-awareness by providing leaders with feedback on their individual leadership styles and competencies. Topics include: the dynamics of leading people; leading in a global environment; cultural differences; individual feedback and coaching; strategies for improving group performance and providing group feedback; empowerment; goal setting; reward systems; and managing change. Leaders develop an action plan to maximize their leadership strengths and to overcome skill gaps.
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Managing Projects
Managing Projects is a one-day, hands-on course, which provides the foundation for this increasingly important competency. Participants will learn how to plan, schedule, estimate, resource, influence, communicate, report, and track progress on any project. Through interactive training methodologies, participants will develop the skills to manage themselves, and their work assignments more efficiently. Learn, practice, and implement are key elements of this program.
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Managing People's Performance
Rhema's workshop, Managing People's Performance, helps managers and supervisors master basic performance-management skills. This comprehensive workshop teaches participants how to use a seven-step process to increase employee satisfaction and productivity. Topics such as setting performance standards, writing performance goals, establishing clear evaluation criteria, counseling, and coaching are covered in this two-day program. Practical application of key learning points is an integral component of the workshop.
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Managing Your Career
Most people have never been taught how to actively manage their own careers. Many rely on their organizations, or their managers, to select and prepare them for future opportunities. Managing Your Career puts the responsibility for career development back where it belongs—with the individual! This one-day workshop teaches participants how to clarify their personal values; identify exactly what motivates them; assess their strengths and weaknesses; create a personal development plan; seek out opportunities for growth and development at work; build their personal and professional networks; partner with their managers to seize opportunities; increase their visibility to senior management; market their successes; and prepare for future career moves—while increasing their satisfaction and productivity in their current jobs. Managing Your Career is appropriate for anyone who wants to take control of his or her career development.
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Meeting Management
Agendas. Ground rules. Room set-up. Meeting evaluation. These are just some of the elements that are necessary to ensure a successful meeting. These topics, and many more, are addressed in this fun, fast-paced, highly interactive, half-day session. Participants will leave the session with the tools to ensure that their next meeting is a complete success.
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Mentoring Skills
Mentoring can be a highly effective way to assimilate new hires, develop people, groom high potentials, increase motivation, and retain valued employees. Unfortunately, many corporate mentoring programs lose momentum or fail completely.

Mentoring Skills is a program that teaches mentors how to develop rapport; demonstrate commitment to the relationship; discuss and agree on expectations; encourage open communication; respect individual differences, plan developmental opportunities; and promote shared responsibility for the success of the process. Participants in this half-day workshop learn proven techniques that increase their comfort level and their desire to mentor others. It is the responsibility of current leaders to mentor future leaders. Mentoring Skills equips mentors with the tools they need to help others succeed.
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Negotiation Skills
Most people think of negotiating as a skill for sales people—or a useful tool when you're buying a new car! The reality is that everyone needs to master the art of negotiation. In this half-day workshop, you will discover the techniques that work best for you. Topics include overcoming fears; creating "win-win" agreements; learning what you do well (and what you can do better) in bargaining situations; influencing others; preparing for the negotiation; and preserving the self-esteem of others in the process.

Whether you're closing a sale, dealing with a vendor, asking for a raise, buying a new home or bargaining with your boss, Negotiating Skills will increase your confidence and your success rate!
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New Employee Orientation
At its most successful, new employee orientation is a process of bringing employees into a relationship with an organization. The process is threefold. It begins by aligning employees with the mission and values of the corporation, continues with fostering an understanding of how the employee fits into the broader goals and structure of the organization, and creates an understanding of the organization's business vision and direction. Our approach to developing a new employee orientation program focuses on these three areas. The program will range in length from one-half day to a full day, or longer, depending on the needs and goals of the client.
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On-The-Level: Communicating About Performance
McLagan Learning Systems' one-day On-The-Level: Communicating About Performance (OTL) workshop improves the frequency and the quality of day-to-day conversations about work and performance.

There are real barriers to performance communication in all organizations. Some are functions of the organization (the system, the politics, the culture, etc.), while others are personal in nature. The personal barriers are by far the most formidable.

Many people are afraid to talk about performance. Some lack the skills; others lack the confidence to use the skills they have. One result is that too few performance discussions take place, and too many of those that do happen are ineffective or even counterproductive.

Redesigning or tinkering with "the system" (i.e., the appraisal process, the form, etc.), usually doesn't help. No "system" can make individual fears or skill shortcomings go away. The frequency and quality of performance discussions will increase only when fears are minimized and skills are improved. Systems or forms can't do that. The OTL workshop can.
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A Practical Approach to Quality
A Practical Approach to Quality lives up to its name by providing people with easy-to-use tools to eliminate errors and reduce cycle time in all of their processes. Participants engage in hands-on, interactive exercises designed to help them identify their internal and external customers; describe the products/services they provide to their customers; use a process flow chart to illustrate their processes; identify cycle time and improvement opportunities in their processes; identify defects in their processes and opportunities to eliminate or reduce defects; and describe how they can personally contribute to improving quality in your company. This two-day course has been successfully implemented in both manufacturing and service organizations.
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Presentation Skills
The ability to present ideas, in a dynamic and convincing manner, is a critical skill in today's complex business environment. This practical workshop is full of specific skills and techniques to help plan, develop, rehearse, and deliver presentations. Group discussions, practice, and feedback sessions with video analysis are used to ensure that presentations are clear, concise, and impactful. Topics include knowing your audience, organizing the presentation, preparing and using notes, creating and utilizing visual aids, handling questions, managing nerves, and using effective body language. This one-day workshop is recommended for all employees who make (or want to make) informative, persuasive or impromptu presentations to groups.
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Productive and Respectful Workplaces
Productive and Respectful Workplaces (PRW) breaks down the walls that erode teamwork and decrease productivity. PRW is designed to increase awareness of the impact of sexual harassment on organizational success. PRW has consistently received praise from clients for being "informative," "interactive," "thought-provoking," and "effective." PRW can be delivered as a half-day or a one-day session. This workshop is recommended for employees at all levels of the organization.
Click here to view the course outline.
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Respect as a Business Imperative
Respect as a Business Imperative (RBI) enables managers to create and maintain professional, productive work environments. RBI increases awareness of the importance of complying with company policies and the spirit and the letter of employment laws. RBI uses case studies to address a broad spectrum of issues including hiring practices, managing a diverse workforce, accommodating people with disabilities, and the appropriate use of company computing networks such as e-mail and the Internet. RBI is delivered as a two-hour management overview or a half-day workshop for managers and supervisors.
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Sales Skills
Generic sales-training programs are usually not flexible enough to meet the needs of specific organizations—or even industries. Sales Skills is a custom program, which identifies, and builds, the specific skills necessary to achieve results in your company. ML&A, Inc. will partner with your company to develop a program that works with your products and services, customers, and culture. We focus on critical skills such as understanding your company's vision and business strategies; determining your customer's needs; aligning customer's needs with organizational capabilities; adjusting to your customer's buying style; developing a sales strategy; building the skills to implement your strategy; mastering consultative sales techniques; finding new markets; managing key accounts; and closing deals.

Sales Skills teaches participants how to manage the planning process, the buying cycle, and decision makers. This program can be delivered as a workshop, a CD-ROM training program, or a blended-learning solution.
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Supervisory Skills
Explore the three critical skills to becoming a successful supervisor: diagnosis, flexibility, and partnering with your employees to meet performance goals.
Supervisory Skills is a one-day program that looks closely at each of these skills and how important they are in any work environment. Learn what it takes to ensure every employee reaches the highest level of performance as well as how to give work direction and praise, encourage self-reliant problem solving, delegate, and deal effectively with performance problems. Participants will learn to work with their employees more effectively to support the organization's leadership principles and create a more productive work environment.
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Teambuilding
Teambuilding focuses on the skills and knowledge required to become effective team members and leaders. Participants learn how to plan in a group, solve problems, make decisions by consensus, deal with disagreements and conflicts, and create action plans with measurable goals. The workshop provides opportunities to practice teambuilding and to learn a simple process for overcoming obstacles to the team's success. This course is designed for all employees who wish to develop or improve the skills needed to work more effectively in a team. Teambuilding is offered as a one-day interactive program or a two-day experiential workshop.
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Time Management
This four-hour course focuses on helping participants increase personal organizational skills by applying the principles of good time management to everyday work activities. Participants are encouraged to bring their current calendars and "to-do-lists" to the workshop. Course objectives include using an organizer to plan more effectively, handling interruptions, setting priorities, retrieving information efficiently, and implementing time-saving techniques.
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Training-the-Trainer
This program provides platform trainers with the theoretical grounding and practical skills to perform needs analysis, design and develop classroom training and job aids, and deliver training that is dynamic and interactive. The program is customized to the needs of each client, emphasizing or de-emphasizing content elements as needed. As such, its duration will vary, from three to five days in length.
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Valuing Diversity (CD-ROM)
Valuing Diversity is a dynamic, award-winning CD-ROM, which was originally developed by Gravity Shift Solutions and the New Jersey Department of Personnel's Human Resource Development Institute. Packed with high-quality audio, video, and thought-provoking interactive exercises, the course guides users through an examination of their own attitudes and feelings about people who are "different." In a non-judgmental way, it helps users understand the benefits of being tolerant and accepting of others. Because privacy is required to ensure that users honestly explore their attitudes, responses are stored on the user's personal floppy disk and removed from the machine. Menus automatically update to show which sections are complete and users can bookmark their progress from session to session through this two-hour course. Valuing Diversity is an extremely effective way to change workplace attitudes, boost cooperation, and increase productivity. An online version of this program is in development.
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Valuing Diversity (Workshop)
This one-day workshop explores the positive power of cultural differences. Topics include gaining knowledge about cultural diversity, understanding the change process, learning how to fully utilize diversity in the workplace, creating a high-performance organization, and accomplishing organizational goals through people. Participants will learn that diversity, and empowerment, are key elements in fostering an environment where every employee has the ability to achieve his or her full potential.
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