Please see below a selection of the recently most delivered training. Please click on each training title for a brief description and contact Involve International for detailed outlines. Most training would be tailored to meet the exact needs of clients. However, the training topics listed below are also available as they are:
Leadership and Management
Involve Leadership Program - Essential skills for leaders
The purpose of this training program is to provide leaders in managerial roles with the conceptual understanding of leadership concepts and the practical skills and techniques to implement them. It focuses on leading and managing people at work with all challenges that are part of that role from diagnosing needs to taking sustainable action.
The training program is organised in five or six one-day modules that run over several weeks to ensure people are able to commit work time to their development and also to allow to time for instant application of the new learning between the modules.
The training program is organised in five or six one-day modules that run over several weeks to ensure people are able to commit work time to their development and also to allow to time for instant application of the new learning between the modules.
Successfully managing change
Due to high demand across many sectors, this training has been re-designed in 2016/17 to match best practice in change management. The way change is managed has a significant impact on staff engagement and productivity, and on the success of the implementation of a change itself. The higher the degree of change, the more a change process needs active leadership and engagement of stakeholders and staff in order to get people on board during the transition and to lock in final decisions. This one or two-day training updates managers at all levels on the key principles and strategies of successful change management. It provides practical step-by-step guidance how to lead the organisation and its people towards the sustainable “new”.
Essential skills for emerging leaders
This training program is a variation of the Involve Leadership Program. It targets groups of managers and team leaders who just have grown into that role with little or no prior training. It is suitable for people who are supposed to take on a managerial role in the near future, so that they start equipped with the conceptual understanding of leadership as well as the practical skills and techniques to lead and manage people at work.
Stakeholder engagement
Most organisations almost likely have to engage with a variety of internal and external stakeholders. An engagement process can be quite complex when diverse cultures, interests and influencing powers are to be brought together. The ability to communicate and liaise with this variety of stakeholders is a key capability in order to successfully run a business, an organisation or project.
This training program focuses on both the planning of a stakeholder engagement process as well as the actual communication and dialogue with stakeholders. It provides a deep understanding of the challenges in stakeholder engagement and techniques to manage them. Depending on the final outline, it also equips participants with a practical communication toolbox to conduct consultations and negotiations with stakeholders in a local, national or international context.
This training program focuses on both the planning of a stakeholder engagement process as well as the actual communication and dialogue with stakeholders. It provides a deep understanding of the challenges in stakeholder engagement and techniques to manage them. Depending on the final outline, it also equips participants with a practical communication toolbox to conduct consultations and negotiations with stakeholders in a local, national or international context.
Practical communication skills for managers
Communication is considered as one of key factors for successful management and leadership. Although many people may know the basics of communication, that alone may not ensure that managers navigate themselves through day-to-day communication situations with staff, peers and superiors. This training provides a practical and effective communication toolbox and guidelines for the most relevant applications, e.g. communicating decisions, leading conversations, providing effective feedback, facilitating continuous improvement or negotiating agreements.
Engaging and motivating staff
Staff engagement is a key factor to manage current and future challenges with the existing or a reduced workforce. Engaged staff work harder and perform better, because they offer more personal energy to their employer and put more effort into a job. Managers at all levels play a key role in staff engagement, because they directly influence motivation and engagement. This one-day training program is designed for managers who want to increase the levels of engagement and motivation in order to enhance performance and productivity. Participants receive very practical tools and tips backed up by a deeper understanding and linkage of fundamental concepts of people’s motivation at work and how it can be enlarged by leadership behaviour.
Optimising and managing performance
One of the key challenges of a manager is to work day-to-day on the performance of staff in two ways: First, planning and agreeing on performance standards, objectives and indicators in advance and building a road-map with staff that lead to high performance and achievements. Second, reviewing performance periodically and providing recognition for achievers and dealing with under-performance of individuals and groups. The review part can involve difficult conversations and negative emotions, which many managers find very challenging. But also providing recognition and maintaining high standards sounds easier than it practically is. This half or full-day training program provides managers and team leaders at all levels with tools and techniques for all the challenging situations mentioned above.
Successfully developing and managing teams
Many managers, team leaders, supervisors and project managers face the challenge of not just leading individuals but teams who need to collaborate and perform as a whole. Bringing together different personalities, expertise and often mindsets and leading them to achieve desired outcomes need a deep understanding of team dynamics and processes and how to influence them. This one-day training provides participants with insights how groups work and how individuals integrate in teams. It equips team leaders with the knowledge of key team success factors and the practical toolbox to action them on a daily basis.
Pit Stop series for experienced managers
Many managers, especially on senior levels, do not attend training because they perceive that they don’t need it (“done it already”), would loose face when going to training (“why do I need training”) or simply don’t find the time to do it. A solution is to introduce a Pit Stop series for experienced managers to update against best practice – a series of ½-day sessions up to four times a year. It is designed to provide an opportunity to refresh concepts and techniques for relevant leadership and management topics, to reflect on own and organisational current practice and exchange experiences with colleagues to nurture the leadership culture and performance of an organisation.
Personal Skills
Influencing without authority
One of the key challenges we face in many organisations is that the old way of “command and control” to get things done may not work, because we don’t have the formal authority to give orders, especially across units, departments, other institutions and external organisations. To achieve our objectives we need the support of our suggestions, proposals, agendas, policies, activities, projects, initiatives, etc. But how can we influence without having or applying positional power and still get the desired outcome? Influencing without authority is a key skill that we need in order to collaborate with and engage others cross-organisationally. This one or two-day training program provides the knowledge, skills and strategies that will equip participants for the challenging situations that they face in their daily work within and outside an organisation.
Practical and effective everyday communication skills
Communication is considered as one key factor for successful collaboration and work performance. Although many people know the basics of communication, that alone may not ensure that people navigate through day-to-day communication situations with staff, peers and superiors. This one or (better) two-day training focuses on concrete practical skills like questioning, listening, clarifying and especially making assertive statements that convey clear messages whilst maintaining the relationships. It will equip participants to deal with conflict situations, difficult behaviours of others and everyday negotiations. The two-day version is highly recommended to allow plenty of practice, practice and practice.
(International) negotiation skills
Many managers and project officers are involved in multiple internal and external negotiations. Especially external negotiations with institutions, partners, clients or suppliers require skilful preparation and leadership to reach agreements on outcomes. Being able to initiate dialogue and lead a negotiation, advocating the own interests whilst integrating those of negotiation partners, are essential skills to successful negotiations. This training program focuses on both the concepts that help individuals to prepare the negotiation strategy and tactics as well as the skills to navigate their ways through challenging situations during negotiations. It is designed to provide both conceptual depth and very practical techniques in an active learning environment. Adding international negotiations to this training can help people dealing with people and organisations from different cultures or in different countries.
Leading efficient and effective meetings and consultations
Many people in different roles facilitate or chair both internal and external meetings, consultations, workshops and project briefings on a regular basis. However, many people complain about meetings being too inefficient or not reaching the desired outcomes. Being able to initiate dialogue, summarise, focus and lead a group discussion and reach final conclusions or decisions are essential skills combined with tools for planning and structuring meetings. This one or two-day training program focuses on strategies that help individuals plan the processes before and after meetings, and the skills to navigate their ways through challenging situations during meetings. It is designed to provide conceptual depth and very practical techniques in an active learning environment.
Staying productive and resilient during change
In times of organisational change, the productivity and morale of people are widely affected by discussions, thoughts and emotions. In order to stay productive each employee needs capabilities to handle uncertainty, conflicts and stress. For an organisation that is going through change it is vital to maintain employees’ strengths, resilience and therefore the productivity of the whole entity. This half or full-day training program supports staff at all levels to manage their own productivity and remain strong despite changes that affect them. It will provide practical tools and techniques for effective responses to change situations and for developing resilience at work.
Collaborating with colleagues everyday
One of the key success factors of organisations is the ability and willingness of its people to collaborate with others, internally and externally. To work together successfully everyday, the way we relate to others, how we communicate and resolve conflicts and how we deal with different personalities are key factors. This training focuses on concrete practical skills like initiating and leading a constructive dialogue, being assertive whilst maintaining the relationships and reaching agreements with colleagues. It promotes the understanding of successful teamwork and collaboration. It will equip participants to deal better with conflict situations, behaviours of colleagues and everyday negotiations, not just in the workplace, but also in their private life and in the community.
Working productively in teams
Many employees work in teams on a daily basis, either in their own units or in cross-organisational projects. While the benefit of teamwork lies in the combination of a variety of skills and expertise, the diversity of personalities, individual needs, mindsets and in particular cultures puts up barriers on the way to successful teamwork. This one or two-day training program provides participants with insights about how groups work, how individuals prefer to work in a team environment and the dos and don’ts of own behaviours in order to contribute successfully to group outcomes. This training can be combined with Team Management Profiles.
Managing my workload and my energy
With high workload and even increasing demands, the need for efficient self-management increases. How can I use my time for the most important things and eliminate other tasks? How can I increase my own productivity to get more things done in the time available without compromising on quality? How can I sustain my own energy and self-motivation in daily work life? This one-day training program provides concrete techniques and tips to increase people’s self-efficiency, to priorities tasks and to better manager the own personal energy during a working day/week. It also includes advice for managing workload and setting priorities for teams, sections or units both from a managerial and team member perspective.
Effective and engaging group facilitation skills
In many roles people are required to facilitate consultations, focus groups, workshops, project reviews or continuous improvement sessions. They need both a range of communication skills and a variety group work techniques to lead a group through multiple work stages. This training program (duration depending on number of participants – practice in small groups) focuses on both aspects and provides participants with a toolbox of facilitation techniques and structures as well as dialogue skills to lead group work processes and achieve outcomes. This highly active training involves participants in session design and facilitation including feedback and practical tips.
Delivering engaging presentations
Many of us are required to deliver presentations as part of our role, both with extensive preparation or ad-hoc in business meetings. However, some presentations are overloaded with content, text and often presented in one-way communication that does not engage the audience. To be successful, presenters should not only focus on facts and the creation of PowerPoint-slides, but on the delivery (influencing) process to get the message across to a particular target audience. That includes appropriate body language and expressions as well as a logical structure and powerful conclusion, which is essential for influencing decision makers and receiving their support for your cause. This training program (duration depending on number of participants – practice in small groups) covers the skills and techniques of effective presenting and provides a practical learning experience with individual feedback (incl. video) and practical tips for improvement.
Train-the-trainer – designing and delivering engaging training
Many training sessions at work are delivered by experts, whose core expertise is technical, and who are only occasionally required to provide training and may not have a proper knowledge how to structure and design training processes. It often ends in lectures and front presentations rather than in engaging training. The purpose of this training program (duration depending on number of participants – practice in small groups) is to provide those trainers with the conceptual understanding of adult learning and training processes as well as the practical skills and techniques to deliver those training sessions at work. The training program can be tailored to the specific needs for training of specific groups (e.g. multicultural groups, technical experts). The training process is highly practical and provides feedback and tips to make the training services of the participants more professional.
Successfully dealing with conflicts at the workplace
Conflicts are part of our normal work and private life where differences occur. They key questions are how to prevent them to some extent or, if conflicts arise, how to handle them constructively, so that negative impacts can be prevented (e.g. on relationships or work productivity). This one or two-day training program enables participants to diagnose a conflict situation and manage the pathway to conflict resolution with more self-confidence to overcome barriers to dealing with conflicts. It also provides tools to prevent conflicts or at least intervene early when conflicts arise.
Assertiveness: the art of saying 'no' and creating space for 'yes'
Many people suffer from one question: “How to say what I honestly want to say without offending the other or getting in trouble myself?”. Especially difficult for many is how to reject a request and to say “no”. In those situations some people tend to stay passive and give in, which they later regret. Other people tend to become defensive or aggressive and risk damage to relationships and own reputation. This half or full-day training program equips participants with a practical toolbox to act assertively with confidence without offending others. It provides day-to-day negotiation techniques that enable people to access the “space between yes and no” and negotiate agreements that meet both parties needs and interests whilst maintaining sustainable relationships – at work and in private life.
Dealing with cultural differences
Due to globalisation and multiculturalism there is a high likelihood that people work with others from different cultural background – colleagues, customers, stakeholders, project partners, staff. Having a high intercultural competence means to deal effectively with people who think and communicate differently. But what actually are those differences? This one-day training program explores the main cultural differences and commonalities and their implication for communication and collaboration at work. It creates an awareness of how to interpret certain behaviours and of the dos and don’ts of acting in a multicultural workplace. It can be tailored to address specific cultures (Involve International regularly facilitates training workshops on German-Australian business culture) or to focus on specific work challenges (leading a multi-cultural team or workforce, cross-cultural projects, etc).
The art of networking: how to build sustainable relationships
Many professionally experienced and successful people share an insight that it does not just count what you know, at least equally significant is who you know. What do you do to build and maintain relationships? How do you nurture your network? Often solutions to a problem are just a phone call away. But if you haven’t built the relationship over time, you can’t call. How would you react if a person wants something from you who haven’t contacted you for ages?
This short and concise half or full-day training program provides participants with both strategic and practical advise on how to build and sustain their network of professional relationships within ethical values and boundaries. It delivers a set of checklists and templates that enables the participants to plan and manage their networking and self-marketing activities in a productive way. This training program can be tailored to accommodate specific personal or organisational needs and can be delivered as coaching.