Program Descriptions

Supervisor Leadership Certification Program

The Supervisor Leadership Certification Program is a competency-based program. Certification requires completion of 8 core courses, 2 electives and an "on-the-job" project (the Practicum). The program is open to all Facilities and Operations (F&O) managers, supervisors and staff with the approval of their supervisor and the FUN (Facilities Users Network) Group. Each participant working towards certification is encouraged to attend the optional Practicum Project class and meet with Plant Academy consultants to select and develop their Practicum projects at the beginning of the program.

Non-certification candidates may attend any program approved by their supervisor.

Core Courses - Required: Applied Leadership Customer First Employee Selection Process Ethics Introduction to Facilities Management: An Overview Law and Policy Practicum Project Supervisor Tools for Leading Change

Electives - Must Take Two: Clear Concise & Accurate Business Writing Crucial Confrontations Building a Better Work Environment through Motivation, Recognition and More Professional Presentation Skills Seven Habits of Highly Effective People University Financial Systems Workplace Diversity

Applied Leadership

Course Description:

What leadership skills do you possess and how can you best apply them in the everyday practice of supervision? What aspects of leadership are you poised to develop? This workshop will examine leadership characteristics, skills and behaviors and focus on strategies for building leadership strengths.

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Customer First

Course Description:

This highly interactive seminar will emphasize the importance of communicating with our customers in order to maintain good working relationships. In the interest of promoting improved internal communications and teamwork in support of our customers, all classes will have a diverse mix of staff from Zone Maintenance, Central Shops, Work Control Coordinators, the Plant Ops Call Center, and the Key Office. Staff will have an opportunity to share with each other their views on improving communications and best practices in providing quality customer service.

The participants will discuss ways to:

1. Develop and maintain a relationship with the customer
2. Better understand the customers position
3. Communicate positive and helpful information through a variety of processes and procedures

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Employee Selection Process

Course Description:

Perhaps the most important decision, a Supervisor makes is during the hiring process. A good hire can add strength, character, camaraderie and technical depth to a supervisor’s work group. A poor hiring decision can lead to work group conflict, disciplinary problems, poor technical performance and lower customer satisfaction.

This program will focus on good practices in employee interviewing and selection. Among the topics covered: How to determine job qualifications, screen applications, design an interview, write interview questions, how to conduct and interview and how to check references before extending an offer of employment.

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Ethics

Course Description:

Ethical behavior in an organization earns the respect and trust of its employees, customers, vendors, and others. Just as unethical behavior has the potential to hurt an organization, ethical behavior has the potential to contribute importantly to achieving organizational excellence. This workshop will introduce supervisors and others to the elements for working with employees in ways that support an ethical climate.

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Introduction to Facilities Management: An Overview

Course Description:

The facilities management professionals and their staffs have the decision-making responsibilities that cover a wide range of business, management, and technical areas. The facilities management field demands knowledge and skills in the areas of planning, finance, administration, project design and implementation, human resource development, and operations and maintenance. This course will provide you with an overview of facilities management at the University of Michigan. (Note: this class is the prerequisite to the Introduction to Facilities Management Series.)

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Law and Policy

Course Description:

Although as a manager or supervisor you don't have a law degree, you are expected to make decisions and act within a legal environment that is very complex and ever changing. This course will broaden the understanding of laws policies and guidelines that govern the decisions and act within a legal environment that is very complex and ever changing. This course will broaden the understanding of laws, policies and guidelines that govern the University and are central to the work of managers and supervisors in Facilities and Operations.

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Practicum Project

Course Description:

A practicum project is required for graduation in the Supervisor Leadership Certification Program. The student selects a project that will contribute measurable improvement in their work unit and applies their knowledge and skills to develop an improvement plan or innovation. An optional "Practicum Project" class is offered for participants to hear, first hand, how to create and implement a project. Additional support for the success of a project selection and implementation is offered by appointment in a one-on-one consultation at Plant Academy. Specific timelines must be followed in order to complete the practicum for graduation.

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Supervisor Tools for Leading Change

Course Description:

Supervisors are faced regularly with a variety of changes in the organization. It is then up to them to support and lead their shops and offices to move forward. What does "leading change" mean? In this workshop, participants will learn a structured process for leading change, tools for each step and an understanding of the skills and behaviors that leaders need to lead change.

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Electives - Must complete (2)

Clear Concise & Accurate Business Writing

Course Description:

Designed to teach strategies for clear, concise and accurate business writing, with an emphasis on e-mail and resources for other documents such as letters, reports, memos. Planning, editing, maintenance of professional tone, layout, sentence control and overall organization of information will be covered.

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Crucial Confrontations

Course Description:

This method for resolving conflict has been successfully piloted in Plant Operations and across the nation. Based on solid research focused on effectively solving troublesome behaviors in the workplace, the authors encourage us to 'never walk away from another conflict again'. Hands-on tools for resolving violated expectations, breaking agreements, and unprofessional behavior are adaptable to most challenges we meet in addressing other employees.

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Building a Better Work Environment through Motivation, Recognition and More

Course Description:

Most people inherently want to do a good job and perform at a high level. The great majority are quite enthusiastic when they begin a new job. A recent study indicated that in about 85% of companies, employee morale sharply declines after the first six months and continues to slide for years afterward. This workshop examines why employees lose motivation and what supervisors can do to begin recapturing the motivation and enthusiasm that people inherently bring to their jobs.

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Professional Presentation Skills

Course Description:

This presentation was recommended by fellow Plant Operations employees who were completely impressed with this class at an outside conference. In this class, you will learn to build your mind, your voice, and your body towards becoming comfortable and confident in doing presentations whether one-on-one or to a group. This class is about building the confidence to speak. You may find it useful to also take the Business Writing class which offers tips on how to organize information into a clear and focused format, and apply it to your speaking.

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Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Course Description:

This personal renewal program focuses on personal effectiveness with an inside-outside approach beginning with "self." The program aims to help individuals across a wide range of personal development levels to attain self-mastery, build effective relationships, and sustain growth over time.

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University Financial Systems

Course Description:

An elective for participants who are not enrolled in the Practical Supervisor Learning Track. The ultimate objective of this workshop is to develop a foundation of skills and knowledge to enable participants to manage their own budgets in a manner that meets department expectations. An overview of the University's financial systems will be given, in addition to some tools pertinent to different financial needs within Plant Operations.

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Workplace Diversity

Course Description:

Plant Operations Diversity Community (PODC) has monthly brown bag presentations by a variety of speakers or group discussions. Plant Academy has added to their schedule an elective credit towards certification for attending three (3) brown bag presentations over any period of time. The presentations are during the lunch hour and last for 30-minute with a 15 minute discussion. Check out PODC website to get more information on this *new* option and how to register.

PODC Website
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Content modified: August, 2007

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