How do you prepare for negotiations? In this audio-only course, adapted from the Negotiate Anything podcast, Susan Borke, a former attorney at National Geographic and current Principal at BorkeWorks, covers the best ways to get ready for your next negotiation. Susan goes over the cycle of negotiation, then explains in detail the three R’s of preparation: research, rehearsal, and review.

Note: This course was created by the American Negotiation Institute. We are pleased to host this training in our library.

Everyone wants to feel heard. The costs of ignoring important voices can range from office mishaps to massive global crises. In this course, adapted from the podcast How to Be Awesome at Your Job, learn how to increase your impact by sharpening your listening skills. Oscar Trimboli, the host of the award-winning podcast Deep Listening, shares the crucial steps you must take to prepare your mind to listen. Since people rarely capture their thoughts with the first thing they say, Oscar provides questions you can ask to help others get to the heart of the matter. He explains how deep listening can give you key insights into your conversation partner's inner life, delves into the key differences between "how" and "why" questions, and more.

This course was created by Pete Mockaitis of How to Be Awesome at Your Job. We are pleased to offer this training in our library.

In order to grow your network and advance your skills, you need to attend conferences. In this course, business expert Bianca Lager walks you through how to make the most of attending one. Bianca explains how to stand out with your personal interactions at conferences. She emphasizes the importance of preparation, presence, positivity, and setting achievable goals. Bianca goes over how you can maximize networking opportunities before, during, and after a conference. She shows you how to prepare a plan ahead of time, as well as analyze how to project power through your positivity and appearance. Bianca concludes with useful tips for those running the conference, for first-time conference attendees, and more.

This course was created by Madecraft. We are pleased to host this training in our library.

Sometimes it can feel like you’re working on everyone's else's to-do list instead of your own. How can you make space for accomplishing the goals that are important to you? Join best-selling business author and consultant Dorie Clark as she shares practical advice on how to prioritize effectively so that you can get meaningful things done.

Dorie shares techniques that you can leverage to get clarity on what to prioritize, as well as how to take action when you find yourself unsure of your next steps. She explores well-known frameworks, including the Eisenhower matrix and the Pareto principle, that can help you become more effective. Along the way, she shares how to find the motivation to get yourself going, maintain your momentum, and make it all the way to your goal.

Don’t underestimate the impact of self-care on your productivity and well-being. Self-care is a requirement for resilience. Overcoming obstacles while you’re feeling low only makes things harder than they should be. In this course, adapted from the podcast How to Be Awesome at Your Job, Anne Grady teaches methods to manage anxiety, build resilience, and stay positive. Anne goes over the parts of the brain and how they are impacted by mindfulness. She also takes a look at negativity bias, explaining why this powerful survival tool can deeply color your experience and memories. Plus, Anne provides a few helpful tips to help you get your brain back online after a stressful event, discusses how mindfulness training puts you in control of your focus, and more.

This course was created by Pete Mockaitis of How to Be Awesome at Your Job. We are pleased to offer this training in our library.

Regardless of role or level, employees often want to speak up against offensive/racist comments or questionable practices, but they don't know how to do it. In this course, Dana Brownlee, an expert in communication effectiveness and facilitation, shares specific techniques and practices that anyone can use to address these uncomfortable situations with clarity, focus, and impact.

As remote work has become the norm in today’s workplaces, many workers now enjoy previously unheard-of levels of freedom and flexibility. However, these new benefits also come with new concerns and problems. Not only is it more difficult to connect with colleagues casually—much less create memorable interactions and experiences— it can be easy to feel like you're lost in the shuffle. In this course, Bianca Lager shows you how to stand out as a remote employee (for good reasons). Bianca starts with the basic logistics and tools you need for success, from organizing your workspace into a camera-ready environment, to making sure all your hardware and software functions as it should. She also shows how to create a plan, set proper boundaries, improve communications, deal with conflict, and improve your relationship with your manager. Finally, Bianca shares specific remote working tips for leaders and managers.

This course was created by Madecraft. We are pleased to host this training in our library.

Does anyone love meetings? Let's face it—meetings have a bad reputation, and we probably all know why. They can waste time, add confusion, and lack clear takeaways. The good news is that they don't have to be this way. In this course taught by creativity-productivity expert Samantha Bennett, Sam explains the various ways in which you can make meetings more impactful. She walks through how you can set a clear meeting purpose based on the stakeholders and the type of meeting, and how to get aligned on a direction and ensure all voices and perspectives are heard. She also imparts her rules for effective meetings, how to follow up, and how to hold folks accountable after your meeting. If you take the time to watch this course, you might just find yourself making more of your time in your next meeting.

This course was created by Madecraft. We are pleased to host this training in our library.

In this course, author and ally Maxie McCoy shares practical advice for uplifting and supporting marginalized colleagues, especially women. First, Maxie explores how four ways of being generous to your connections yields generosity back, as well as how a scarcity mindset can keep you from supporting others. Maxie then discusses recognizing your own privilege and using it in support of marginalized colleagues. She teaches you that by focusing on what you can uniquely offer, you're able to provide meaningful support, versus overpromising and underdelivering. She lists the three Rs of meaningful support: ritualized, repeatable, and regular interactions. Maxie concludes with a small but impactful challenge that should inspire you to offer support based on where you are now and what you have to give in the moment.

Managers face sometimes-daunting tasks. When your employees are struggling with burnout, stress, work-life imbalance, and other life challenges that may impact their performance and productivity, how can you support them? In this course, UK-based instructor Amy Brann provides specific tools based on brain science to help you be a source of strength and support for your employees. She discusses your role in your employees’ well-being and how you can positively impact your employees’ experience at work. Amy explains how to recognize, address, and prevent employee burnout. She points out questions you can ask a struggling employee to create honest discussions and practical, science-based tools to support struggling employees. Amy concludes by describing ways you can communicate effectively and create psychological safety to promote happiness and well-being in the workplace.

In order to become a professional speaker, you don’t need a special formula, years of research, or an advanced degree. To be a professional speaker, you just need a compelling story. Entrepreneurs are uniquely equipped with captivating stories of their startup journey—which makes them the perfect fit for professional speakers. In this course, learn how to take the story of your entrepreneurial endeavor and turn it into a keynote speech that will make an impact and an income. Jess Ekstrom—founder of Headbands of Hope and inspirational speaker—explains how to hone your message, structure your talk, and start selling your services as a professional speaker. She helps you uncover the unique aspects of your journey and position yourself so that your story can help and inspire others.

Most organizations are drowning in data but are thirsty for understanding. An abundance of information doesn’t do you any good if you’re not able to understand it or communicate its significance. If you’re among the 99% of business professionals who don’t create data visualizations for a living, join Steve Wexler in this course as he takes you through the basics of data visualizations so that you and your organization can have informed, intelligent discussions about data. He covers topics like how data visualization can help communicate and persuade, the best ways to utilize color in charts, how the right visualization can reduce the time to insight, and the pros and cons of various types of charts. As Steve makes clear, knowing how to decipher, understand, and see the value of charts and dashboards will give you a graphic literacy that will help you thrive in today’s data-rich world.

Being persuasive can help you improve your life. In this course, instructor TJ Guttormsen presents techniques and strategies that will help you achieve your goals in discussions and make effective arguments. TJ begins with communication techniques, such as how to listen during disagreements, create the conversations you want, get conversations back on track, and more. He explains the benefits of “I” statements, then describes how pacing and leading can make you more convincing. Next, TJ covers useful tips and techniques to use when you are dealing with difficult people and disagreements. He shows you how staying solution-focused, winning compromises, and creating an informal contract can help you to your ideal solution, then concludes with action steps you can use to practice the skills he has presented.

Note: This course was created by TJ Guttormsen. We are pleased to host this training in our library.

Imagine that your entire business has shifted beneath your feet. As an HR professional, your employees are looking to you for answers. But when the road ahead is murky, how do you determine what to say and when to say it? In this course, instructor David Oates shows you how, explaining what it takes to guide teams from one side of a disruptive event to the other. David shares the must-haves and should-haves for a solid employee communications program. He details how to communicate throughout a disruptive event, explaining when to start talking, how to keep folks engaged and assured, and how to solicit feedback. Plus, discover how to ease your team back into their normal routine and prepare for future workplace disruptors.

It's been a tough year of work for all of us. We've established new routines and ways to connect with our fellow employees. HR departments have shifted policy and engaged with workforces in ways they never imagined. As we move back into offices, new challenges await. In this course, instructor Pat Wadors guides you through determining what will work best for your organization. Pat addresses balancing productivity pressures with employee expectations, then explains how belonging can lead to comfort, connection, contribution, and co-creation. She goes over how to restructure work in ways that help employees feel their best and perform their best. Pat describes ways to develop in your workforce the resiliency, creativity, emotional skills, and more that they will need. She concludes by discussing HR’s growing role in delivering greater business value and helping organizations and employees to adapt.

Flexible work isn't a temporary benefit that can be ripped away once the COVID-19 pandemic is in the rear-view mirror. To retain employees and create more equitable work opportunities, HR leaders must continue to offer the ability to work remotely in some situations. In this course, Catherine Mattice Zundel details the business case for flexible work, as well as how you can successfully implement a flex work program in your company. After discussing the benefits and challenges of flexible work programs, Catherine shares tips for balancing employee and employer wants and needs, identifying workforce needs, and facilitating manager success in a virtual environment. Plus, learn how to properly communicate policy and set appropriate boundaries around flex work.

Even if your product or service is truly original, the app or site you build for it is going to share elements with every other app or site on the planet. Take, for example, the humble navigation bar, which your users need to find their way through your site. In this course, instructor Jen Kramer demonstrates how to create beautiful, accessible navbars using HTML and CSS techniques that work in any web context. Jen starts by detailing the proper markup for a nav bar and the box model associated with its elements. She then goes over how to style both vertical and horizontal navigation bars—including how to put a logo right in the middle of a horizontal navbar. Finally, Jen shares a few advanced tricks, including how to create dropdowns and mobile layouts with hamburger buttons with CSS, no JavaScript required.

Hyperlinks are the foundation of the World Wide Web, but they come in many different flavors. Do you want to link to a specific point in a document? Make a phone call, or send an email? Link from images or dedicated navigation bars instead of text? In this course, instructor Jen Kramer gives you all the tools you need to make those tasks easy. Jen goes over basic links, linking to different files and resources, and linking from images, headers, text, and more. She shows you how you can style links and individual link states using CSS selectors, then goes into how you can make exceptions and create different styles. Jen covers the steps you should take to maintain links and redirect them when necessary.

Every company has people problems. Managing them is one of the core responsibilities for human resources. So how should an HR professional approach the inevitable conflicts that can arise in the workplace? In this course, JoAnn Corley explains the role of an administrator—enforcing policy and legal rules—as well as the need and role of an advisor—coaching and viewing problems as opportunities for growth. First, get an overview of the most common employee problems and why they can present a legal risk to your company. Then learn why, as with most HR functions, problem management starts by putting a good process in place. Discover the importance of training and documentation, and find out how to circle back to the employee handbook when problems occur. JoAnn also explains how to move from the administrator to the advisor mindset by having conversations with employees and partnering with their managers to move situations forward. She shares real-life scenarios that allow you to see how to handle problems in practice, and possibly even anticipate problems before they happen.

The field of project management is evolving rapidly. Successful project managers know how to leverage predictive approaches, such as waterfall, as well as more adaptive, agile ways of working. But how can you combine those methods to bring a hybrid project to the finish line? In this course, instructor Cyndi Snyder Dionisio shows you how. Cyndi defines hybrid project management and shows how to use methods from different project delivery approaches to start up a project, organize and prioritize scope, develop estimates and schedule work, collaborate with the team and other stakeholders, and apply effective measures to reflect the project status. After completing this course, you'll be equipped with a variety of strategies that can help you confidently tackle projects with either a well-defined or evolving scope.