Services & Seminars
Pacific Western Training offers years of expertise in quality management, strategic planning, team building, conflict resolution, collaborative leadership skills, and personal growth. We will create or tailor courseware to meet your needs--from broad concepts to specific issues.
Facilitation Services
Customized Training & Facilitation
Customized facilitation and training packages, which incorporate portions of any of the listed trainings. Ongoing direction provided for the purpose of individual and organizational development. Sessions are interspersed with facilitated process sessions to ensure that organizational issues and needs are being addressed.
(Written materials are provided at each session, leaving the customer with information for review and referral.)
Meeting & Event Facilitation
Pacific Western Training consultants provide meeting facilitation on an event-by-event basis. The facilitator will regulate the flow of conversation, inviting people to suspend their assumptions and treat each other as colleagues. Facilitators work with meeting organizers to ensure knowledge of subject matter and to assist with establishing and communicating desired meeting outcomes and related agendas. Post-meeting reports and evaluation can be provided.
Team Design & Development
Teams develop in a variety of ways. These include, but are not limited to, sharing a common purpose, utilizing resources, procedures, creativity, and evaluation. Pacific Western Training's objective is to facilitate the design and implementation of work teams, special project teams, and self-managed teams. Developing a sense of shared leadership and balanced roles while creating a climate of trust is an additional aim. Ongoing coaching is provided to assist team leaders and team members in taking on internal facilitator responsibilities.
Conflict Resolution
The Chinese combine two characters to form the paradox of conflict. The first character represents potential danger and the second conveys hidden opportunity. By using a variety of techniques, it is possible to turn potential danger (conflict) to hidden opportunity (resolution). Helping individuals and groups gain perspective and clarity on the issues and understand their own reactions to stress and crisis is part of this facilitation process. Likewise, specific actions are developed and agreed upon by all parties and incorporated in a written follow-up plan.
Assessment & Development Services
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator will help identify the strengths and unique gifts of each individual. The information gained can be used to better understand and appreciate our coworkers and customers.
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) looks at eight personality preferences that all people use at different times and in different ways. This training acknowledges employee differences and similarities. The MBTI training identifies areas that can develop more healthy and productive ways to approach tasks, communications, problems solving, leadership, conflict resolution, teamwork, career choices and more.
Basic sessions include overview of concepts of personality and personal assessment to determine each participant's type.
(Can be expanded to include exercises and discussion which address specific issues in the organization.)
Process Observation
Skilled observation and professional feedback is provided by trained facilitators to help organizations identify areas of strength and opportunity in various settings. Neutral parties can be valuable in such areas as trainer evaluations, team processes, leadership coaching, and conflict resolution. Observation and evaluation results may be kept confidential or shared collaboratively.
Strategic Planning
Strategic planning is important for reaching intended objectives. Organized and facilitated planning sessions for groups or entire organizations are essential to be effective in business today. Evaluation of internal and external environmental factors and analysis of organizational strengths and weaknesses becomes the basis for developing operational and strategic goals and objectives.
Pacific Western Training offers step-by-step guidance through the Vision and Mission Process. This process includes working to deepen the introspection and creativity of those involved, enabling a clear and concise Vision to emerge.
Employee Interviewing
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Results, job descriptions, and/or in-depth interviews are used to assist employers with determining the suitability and best fit of a potential employee.
Leadership Skills Training
Facilitation Skills
Training for facilitators of team or organizational meeting environments such as planning sessions, decision making, or problem solving. Principles taught include facilitative leadership, observation skills, listening techniques, and effective inquiry. This training helps create an understanding of various roles and behaviors of facilitators. It builds knowledge of group dynamics and adult learner characteristics and their influence on change and learning environments.
Includes lecture/discussion, self-assessment, and group exercises, along with role-play and formalized feedback from other group members.
Presentations with Impact
Whether communicating the results of a study, conducting training, or selling ideas and products, the ability to organize and deliver the message with impact is vital. The focus of this training provides skills in:
Preparation - assessing the situation and the audience, development and compilation of the material to be presented, and personal preparedness.
Organization - Developing the content in an ordered, logical fashion, including the introduction, body, and conclusion. Setting objectives and preparation of support material to emphasize key points.
Delivery - Personal delivery skills, managing anxiety, using visual aids, and handling the question/answer segments.
Includes lecture, discussion, self-assessment, group exercises, videotaped simulations, and feedback. Can be adapted for a train-the-trainer environment.
Developing Leaders for the Future
Broad spectrum of training for managers and supervisors. Builds learning around assessments of personal leadership styles and management effectiveness.
Includes concepts of situational leadership, motivation, empowerment, delegation, communications skills (including facilitative behaviors), conflict resolution, performance management and progressive discipline.
Application and action planning is incorporated from the outset. Can be delivered in a four hour modular format over a period of several weeks or in sequential days (e.g. Monday through Friday)
Situational Leadership
Follows Ken Blanchard's Situational Leadership to teach the principles of leading though empowerment to collaboratively maximize employee development. Includes basic concepts of Directing, Coaching, Supporting, and Delegating. Dovetails with Performance Management training and other basic leadership skills.
Personal & Organizational Development Training
Successful Meetings
Provides information, techniques, and guidance for planning and leading efficient and effective meetings. Focuses on establishing outcome based agendas. Includes some facilitative skills.
Performance Management (Planning & Evaluation)
Most people want to do the right work and do it well. Competence and commitment are addressed in this course. A basic model for implementing performance improvement is presented. This includes setting individual goals/expectations, providing on-going feedback, and conducting the formal appraisal.
Involves lecture, discussion, and simulations. Can also include skill building and coaching for success.
Communication Skills
Organizational effectiveness in today's environment requires two-way information flow and understanding. This workshop addresses verbal and non-verbal communication techniques, and emphasizes reflective listening and asking questions as powerful motivators for increased responsiveness and accountability in information sharing.
Conflict Resolution Skills
Increased collaboration in the workplace places more emphasis on surfacing and resolving conflict. This workshop clarifies the nature of conflict and provides tools and techniques for dealing with conflict in a group, one-on-one, or with a third party. The sessions also include assessment and evaluation of personal approaches to conflict.
Teamwork Training
Leading & Facilitating Your Team
Provides organizational concepts, team development, coaching and leading techniques, team structure and team roles to help leaders and supervisors establish their team process for maximizing individual contributions and team problem solving and decision making.
Building Your Team
Overview of team composition, informal team member roles and responsibilities, and team decision-making styles. Includes participatory exercises. Team members will work together to strengthen individual and team skills.
Dynamics of Teams
Team development is based on the assumption that any group is able to work more effectively if its members are able to answer such questions as:
How can this collection of individuals work together more effectively?
How can we better use our resources?
How can members communicate with one another to make better decisions?
What is impeding the team's process?
Specifically designed for actual work and project teams, team members will work together to improve individual and team skills that increase effectiveness and potential for success.
A team's success can be attributed to a basic awareness of teamwork, understanding the value of diversity, interpersonal communications, shared problem solving and decision making, and an ongoing evaluation of collaboration vs. competition. Topics are discussed using the experiential learning cycle. This group interaction and assessment of those interactions increases the knowledge, understanding, and ability to apply these key concepts.
This class can be expanded to include meeting skills, conflict resolution, team member style assessment and the use of basic problem solving tools to address the team process issues.