Class Descriptions

Adapting Your Leadership Style

Within this course the student will learn to conduct the following: identify the qualities of an effective leader; make the mental shift from individual productivity to influencing others; recognize style differences in others and cater to their preferences; build rapport using verbal and nonverbal messages; and conduct constructive one-on-ones.

Administrative Reg. 142: Addressing Workplace Violence

Many factors have led to an increase in workplace violence within both the private sector and government workplaces. The City of St. Louis has a long-standing commitment to promoting a safe and secure work environment for all employees. This training will review the City policies and procedures for addressing workplace violence, and will review the risk factors and prevention strategies for dealing with incidents of violence in City worksites. This class is mandatory for all Appointing Authorities, managers, and supervisors.

Another seat at the Table

A basic, comprehensive diversity, equity and inclusion program. Know the natural role you play in building diverse and inclusive environments. This change helps in our efforts to bring change and acceptance into the workplace.

A New Kind of Diversity

Making the different generations on your team a competitive advantage.

Attitude Virus

It is contagious. It can spread in a matter of minutes, and before you know it the entire workplace can be affected. This course is a clever take on the problems a negative attitude can cause in the productivity of the work environment. Join the class and learn how to help promote a healthy work attitude that is related to motivation, work enjoyment, and increased productivity.

Balancing Priorities

In our increasingly competitive world, we all need to be more productive than ever.  Not only must we do our jobs in less time and with fewer resources, we often work for more than one boss and on more than one team.  This course will enable you to properly prioritize your obligations, allowing you to improve performance and productivity.  As a result, you'll also achieve a better work/life balance, minimize the stress related to managing your task efficiently, and, ultimately, improve working relationships.

Basic Communication Skills

This three hour, one (1) session course covers the basic elements of the communication process.  Communication models will be examined and participants will learn various communication styles that can assist them in improving their employee experience.  There will be lecture as well as scenario training.

BJC-EAP (Employee Assistance Program): A Tool for Managers/Supervisors           

This course provides an overview of the BJC-EAP program for supervisors and managers. Emphasis will be placed on how this comprehensive program provides consultation and guidance to supervisory personnel in dealing employees who have displayed inappropriate workplace behavior or performance deficiencies. Realistic case studies will be presented for discussion.           

BJC-EAP also provides an overview of their program on site for small groups. Please contact the Department of Personnel; Employee Relations section at 622-3563 to schedule an on site session.

Challenging Negative Attitudes

This course is designed to challenge the negative attitudes in ourselves, our coworkers and organizational norms. The course will increase your knowledge and ability to adjust your own attitude regarding work situation, control the impact of negative situations, work with negative people more effectively, and learn how to identify and eliminate the negativity present in your department or team.

City Policies and Procedures

This class is mandatory for all new supervisors and managers. This course covers many of the important Administrative Regulations and Sections of the Pay Ordinance. The class provides information about Administrative Regulation 117, Revised December 7, 2009. The rules and regulations of the disciplinary policy, the context of discipline, and the time lines for completing forms will be discussed.  This class also provides information about the newly revised Service Rating Manual effective June 24, 2007, and rules and regulations of the new rating forms and the performance appraisal process.  Copies of the regulations and policies regarding discipline, grievances, services ratings, FMLA, EEO, vacation, sick leave, disability leave, etc., with which all supervisors must be familiar, are distributed and discussed. This course is mandatory for new supervisors and managers. Current supervisors are also encouraged to attend every five years for a refresher update. Open to all employees on a space available basis.

Coaching and Counseling 

Coaching and counseling are core skills for managers and leaders. Done skillfully, coaching can move mountains of self imposed resistance and break down barriers that get in the way of actions and results. This class presents a focused methodology along with practical examples and exercises so that you can begin your development as an effective coach, counselor, and manager.

Communications

This course covers the essential elements of the communication process. Communication is much more than words going from one person's mouth to another's ear.  In addition to the words, messages are transferred by the tone and quality of voice, eye contact, physical closeness, visual cues, and overall body language. Special emphasis will be placed on listening skills.

Communication Mystery Solved

This class is learning program in which participants complete a series of activities in which they learn communication skills, as well as uncover a murder mystery. The instructor plays both the trainer, as well as another role. The theme transports participants through assertive speaking skills, active listening skills and appropriate conflict resolution techniques, all the while trying to figure out the "who done it" mystery theme. It is an innovative and fun way to learn how to communicate

Conducting a Great Performance Review

We will examine performance review best practices and attempt to help managers refine how the process is planned, conducted and repeated.

Critical Thinking

Within this course the student will learn to conduct the following: define critical thinking; identify and adopt the characteristics of critical thinking; recognize and avoid critical thinking mistakes; identify assumptions; evaluate information accurately and thoroughly; and implement the critical thinking process in business situations.

Customer Service 

The purpose of this course is to help employees in a customer service role to recognize the components of customer service, practice techniques for taking control of difficult conversations and learn how to handle angry customers/employees. Through this class, employees will also learn how to implement strategies for staying motivated in a role where difficult conversations are part of everyday work.

DISC

This will be on a training on the benefits of the Maxwell Method of DISC. We will produce our individual DISC Report which will help the participants understand and improve team collaboration, leadership influence and connection through communication with results in improved work productivity, if applied. Please contact Carl Green at 314-622-577 or greenca@stlouis-mo.gov for more details about this training.

Defensive Driving

All employees who drive on the job are required to take the Defensive Driving course every three years. This includes employees who drive either a City vehicle or their own personal vehicle for conducting City business. The Defensive Driving course is designed to teach drivers how to avoid collisions, reduce traffic violations, and drive more safely at all times.

Developing Positive Relationships at Work

This course is set to base every working relationship on a common purpose with actions that build trust and avoid behaviors that erode trust. The goal is to manage, not manipulate relationships and to set boundaries and stand your ground.

Diversity Awareness

Traditional diversity awareness programs have focused on the treatment of women and minorities. However, differences arise from a host of other traits as well, including age, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, physical abilities, and educational background.

These traits or “profiles” cause people to make inaccurate assumptions, create separation, and, yes, treat people unfairly. The goal of diversity awareness is to promote an inclusive work environment.

Drug and Alcohol Seminar: Administrative Reg. 120 A & B

The seminar addresses the philosophy and directives of Administrative Regulation No. 120. Particular attention will be given to the indicators of drug and alcohol use, as well as how the EAP functions as a resource for supervisors whose employees have drug, alcohol, or other problems which negatively impact their job performance. Supervisory personnel are required to complete this training before they can refer employees for "reasonable suspicion" drug and/or alcohol testing.

Effective Interviewing

Let's face it, if you're like a lot of people, you feel that interviewing for a job is about as pleasant as a trip to the dentist. The process of interviewing is intimidating but, in our competitive job market, it is important to interview effectively. This class will help employees interested in a career advancement prepare for their next job interview.

Effective Supervisory Practice

This multi-session course covers a variety of essential basic supervisory duties, including leadership, communications, planning,  motivating, training and evaluating staff performance. A textbook and workbook prepared by the International City Management Association (ICMA) establishes the curriculum.

This mandatory course for all new supervisors and open to those aspiring to supervisory position on a space-available basis. 

Emotional Intelligence (EI)

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is a type of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one's own and other's emotions, to discriminate among them and use the information to guide one's thinking and actions. EI involves the following abilities: self awareness, managing emotions, motivating oneself, empathy, and handling relationships.

EI has become important as a part of leadership, group performance, managing change, interpersonal development, and coaching and conducting performance evaluations.

Everyone Communicates, Few Connect

It's not about power or popularity, but making the people around you feel heard, comfortable and understood. While it might seem like some folks are born with a commanding presence that draws people in, the fact is anyone can learn to communicate in ways that consistently build powerful connections.

Harassment/Discrimination/Social Media

This course will incorporate the changes to Administrative Regulation 113 and is designed to explain and examine the legal aspects of harassment in the workplace. Special emphasis will be placed on recognizing how the workplace climate contributes to the occurrence of sexual harassment and strategies to prevent this behavior. With the use of case studies, vignettes and group activities participants will understand their rights and responsibilities in the workplace.  All employees.

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

The City is required to comply to HIPAA legislation and its privacy and security regulations. This course is provided to meet HIPAA training requirements so that employees that access individually identifiable health information in performing their job responsibilities provide the necessary protection for the confidentiality of this information and understand the important legal issues regarding it.

Employees in EMS, Health Dept., Employee Benefits, City Counselor's Office, Lead Inspection, and ITSA employees with access to confidential health information are required to attend unless training is offered by the department or office.

Influencing Change

The purpose of this class is to teach employees the skills they need so that others will grant them the power to affect outcomes. The class approach is to teach employees how to develop and maintain rapport, how to resolve conflicts and handle difficult situations, and how to recognize others’ needs and support them in meeting their needs while meeting their own as well (win-win).

Employees will learn about the qualities that influential people have and will have the opportunity to assess themselves in these areas.

Know What You Are For

For our organization to be more successful it all comes down to two game-changing questions. We will discuss these questions and how to close the gap between the two and to unlock lasting growth for our organization, team and our world.

The Leadership Game

This game is a strong assessment evaluation tool. The game is a fun, interactive and edifying way to assess communication, address difficult topics and identify strengths and weaknesses. Through thought provoking questions, individual reflection and ideological debates, we will understand one another more deeply in order to perform more effectively.

Leading Others Through Change

Leading others through change successfully requires thoughtful planning and innovative options  This course will provide you with a clearer understanding of what happens to people when an organizational change initiative occurs.  It also introduces the tools and techniques you can use to more effectively lead change efforts in your organization.

Listening

The benefits of effective listening are building relationships, increasing productivity, solving problems, and avoiding unnecessary conflict. This class aims to help employees learn the skill of listening by teaching how to identify barriers, how to implement the steps of “active listening”, and learning to uncover hidden messages in emotional situations.

The purpose of this class is to increase information flow to enhance productivity in the workplace.

Mastering Difficult Conversations

The objective of this course is to explore how to have a difficult conversation with one’s boss, peers and direct employees.

The class will teach the skills and tools needed to master difficult conversations: how to stay focused on what is important, ability to identify your hot buttons and how to manage them, and how to recognize statements and behaviors that can escalate/de-escalate emotions.

Those who attend the class will also have the opportunity to practice the skills learned and create strategies that will help defuse strong emotions during difficult conversations.

Multi-generational Workplace

This training will review the four generations found currently in the workplace and the characteristics of those employees and examine the stereotypes of each generation and identify challenges faced within the workplace. The goal is to demonstrate techniques to foster respectful communication and develop an action plan to connect all generation in the workplace.

Navigating Difficult Conversations

Difficult conversations are inevitable in any workplace.  Those conversations can create unhappiness, stress, and tension.  They can also impair and even destroy relationships.  Developing the ability to handle these challenges will pay off in terms of reduced stress, increased confidence, improved relationships, increased trust, fewer problems, better teamwork, higher productivity, and better career opportunities.

Office Basics

These two hour courses will reintroduce employees to some of the more commonly used functions of Microsoft Office Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.  Along with Microsoft Office we will explore some of the basic applications of Google Mail (Gmail).  

Each session will focus on only one of these applications at a time to ensure an effective transfer of knowledge.

Performance Management

This course will look at performance management as a systematic process in which supervisors and managers involve employees, as individuals and members of a team, in improving organizational effectiveness in the accomplishment of departmental goals and objectives.  

We will examine five key components of the performance management process (list them).  In effective organizations, supervisors and employees practice good performance management intentionally, executing each component of the process well.  

Goals are set and work is planned routinely.  Progress towards those goals is measured and employees get feedback.  

High standards are set, but care is also taken to develop the skills needed to reach them.  Formal and informal rewards are used to recognize the behavior and results that accomplish the mission.  

We will look at how the five components--working together and supporting each other--enhance effective performance management.

The Four Dimensions of Culture

Most leaders would agree culture is the most important thing in business, yet few can define what it is or explain how to create a healthy culture that blows by the competition.

We will discuss exactly how culture gets created and the critical role leaders play in shaping it.

Project Management

 Project management is the combined art and science of planning, organizing, and managing resources to get a particular project done on time, within budget, and with the results that the organization set out to achieve. There are many types of project management designed for different scenarios and different industries. This course will focus on the traditional method, used by the Project Management Institute, which follows five process groups.

Safe Zone Training (LGBTQ + AWARENESS)

TODD is pleased to announce the addition of a new training class to gain insight regarding LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer/Questioning +) individuals and identities. 

Material for the class has been developed and furnished by the Safe Zone Project curriculum. TODD’s goal is to ensure training is available to employees to increase awareness and understanding. 

The training also gives more knowledge about gender/sexuality identities and/or issues employees might not be aware of prior to partaking in the nationally-recognized Safe Zone training.

The training also re-enforces the City’s Administrative Regulation to ensure all City employees are treated with respect and dignity and free from harassment, discrimination or retaliation in the workplace.

Stress Management

Stress in our work and personal lives is a major contributor to destructive lifestyles, diseases, and premature death. Learn how stress impacts your performance, productivity, and health; learn how to manage mental, physical, and emotional stress.

You will create a personal stress management action plan and evaluate your own performance, productivity, and health.

Taking Control of Conflict

Conflict can be an obstacle to organizational success and personal job satisfaction.  When two or more people work together, conflict is almost inevitable.  Although you may not eliminate conflict entirely, you can take control of it-that is, create a positive working environment in which conflict is dealt with maturely and collaboratively.  This course will show you how to identify the source of conflict and implementing effective resolution strategies.  You will learn how to successfully handle conflict and even prevent unnecessary conflict from occurring in the first place

Team Building

One way to work together is to work in teams. Successful work teams get things done. This class will give you background on how to work together; why teams are so popular; what you can expect from them; and a chance to compare traditional working arrangements and work teams.

Using a series of useful interpersonal skills, you will learn how to be more effective in both individual and group interactions.

The Art of Effective Communication

Communication is the building block of all organizations. An organization will see a boost in employee morale, productivity and commitment when they are able to communicate effectively up and down the organizational chain.

This course offers insight into different communication styles, provides the tools to work through disagreements and avoid unnecessary conflict, and helps employees develop a Personal Communication Action Plan to practice the effective communication skills learned in this course. 

The Art of Influencing Others

Within this course the student will learn to conduct the following: build rapport and develop genuine relationships; improve communication skills, including verbal and nonverbal messages, to be more effective with others; recognize common barriers to communication; understand and use communication styles to tailor your communications; and resolve conflicts by

Who Am I? A Study of Personality and Communication Styles

In this class, participants will take a personality inventory and learn about their own personal communication style. The class will give employees an insight on their own strengths and weakness and how to learn from the strengths of others.

Work-Life Balance

Work-life balance is essential to combat stress, ensuring both employee and employer  success. The stress associated with unbalanced lifestyles is costly; it damages productivity and increases individual health risks. The course will focus on providing employees with the tools needed to balance both their professional and personal lives. 

The overall goal is  to lead to a happier, healthier, and more productive lifestyle. 

15 Invaluable Laws of Growth

You will discuss topics designed to help you reach your potential. These discussions will you understand how personal growth really works and how can develop yourself to become a more effective and fulfilled individual.