The MPP/Chairs Professional Development Series, which began in fall 2020, is returning this semester with three workshops for managers and department chairs that focus on cultivating effective communication with employees. The series begins on April 7, is open to all current MPPs and department chairs at Fresno State, and will be facilitated by Joshua James Smith, interim manager of Organizational Excellence.

Read series and session descriptions and/or register in CSU Learn.

Series workshops:

• Managing to Needs: A Key to Unlocking Employee Engagement
  • 3 - 4:30 p.m.  Wednesday, April 7
• The Power of Active Listening
  • 3 - 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 21
• Effective Performance Feedback
  • 3 - 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 5

Although attendance for the entire series is strongly encouraged, you may register for individual workshops if you are unable to attend all sessions.

Managing to Needs: A Key to Unlocking Employee Engagement
Recognizing the powerful human needs that motivate the actions and behaviors of our colleagues is a key component to professional success and effective management. This session will provide a framework for recognizing and managing to five basic human needs; we will also explore how a needs approach can help to overcome misunderstanding, re-engage your team, and energize individual performance.

The Power of Active Listening
Effective listening is considered one of the most critical and career-boosting skills a manager can possess. However, most supervisors confess spending very little time honing their ability to listen well. During this seminar, we will review best practices for active, reflective, and empathic listening and will engage in hands-on exercises that will give you the opportunity to practice a style of listening that will allow you to connect better with your colleagues, quickly de-escalate emotionally charged conversations, and improve communication on your team.

Effective Performance Feedback
The skill of giving performance feedback is a powerful and often underutilized management tool. Delivering feedback effectively has been shown to increase employee engagement, encourage team collaboration, and directly contribute to more meaningful and productive conversations during performance reviews. During this session, we will learn a simple framework to improve the quality of your performance feedback, along with strategies to hack the psychological and physiological responses that often derail performance conversations.

Please note, these workshops are only for managers and department chairs.