Webinars for Professional Development

One thing is for sure, things will change. So it is in our best interest to get comfortable with it and learn how to manage and navigate through it. Join us for this free 30 minute webinar to brush up on change management 101 and why it's important. Let's discuss how it's different from project management and the questions we should consider so the right things are prioritized.

Recorded: May 2023
Presenter: Heidi Goettsch

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What does it take to be a great leader? Abilities and skills seem to change every day especially with changing times. During this 30-minute webinar, Heather Woody, one of our top leadership instructors, will review the top 5 leadership skills that organizations and recruiters are looking for today. Plus, we’ll share 15 more bonus leadership skills after the webinar if you attend.

Recorded: December 2022
Presenter: Heather Woody

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Not only has it been predicted there will be a leadership shortage in the next 5 years, there are other troubling signs ahead that we need to pay attention to before it’s too late. Join Heather Woody as she uncovers what she is seeing as concerning patterns that are evolving or not evolving in businesses in our region of Iowa today.

Recorded: December 2021
Presenter: Heather Woody

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Being a high performing individual is fantastic. You bring your best every day, strive for excellence, and continue to develop and hone your skills – skills that support the organization’s work. Do you want to be even better? Work as a high performing team, where each member uses their unique strengths and abilities to achieve high quality results together. You’re more than a group of employees. Join us to discover the mindset and qualities needed to operate as a true team.

Recorded: June 2023
Presenter: Brenda Meeker

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As the leader of your team, part of your responsibilities is training your team to make better decisions on their own. You want them to become self-reliant and highly accountable. How do you teach people to improve their decision making without you making the decision for them? There is a way!

Recorded: November 2022
Presenter: Sandra Flikkema

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Every year employees cite the need to develop leadership skills at their business. Do you know what to focus on and how to stay ahead of the game? We will share what research is telling us and things you can do now at your workplace to start developing potential leaders and sharpening existing leader's abilities to meet tomorrow's needs.

Recorded: December 2020

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In the workplace, there are a variety of ways in which people’s behaviors impact their productivity and interaction. With the four different colors, Orange/Blue/Gold/Green, it is essential to explore how each type manages stress and difficult situations. In this webinar, we will give an overview of each type and discuss ways to lead effectively.

Recorded: June 2020
Facilitator: Lisa Schaefer

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In this session, we'll introduce why leaders who embrace a reactive, "firefighting" mindset in their roles are setting themselves up for even bigger challenges. This fire fighting mentality has unintended consequences, and the impact on team dynamics and company culture can be crippling.

Recorded: October 2020
Facilitator:Joel Bennett

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What happens the day after, month after, or even the year after training or onboarding has finished? How will you handle the gap in your organization's knowledge as your employees retire? The unsung hero of your organization is the processes that make your operations function effectively and process documentation sets your team members (and organization) up for success!

Recorded: April 2023
Presenter: Nicole Soer

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In today's environment, workers are choosing companies that align with their values, see them as people and create an atmosphere of belonging. As humans, we are wired to belong. Creating an environment that fosters belonging decreases turnover, increases productivity, and increases work satisfaction. Learn how you can be key to bringing back belonging at work.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the importance of belonging at work
• Identify the four elements of belonging
• Plan practical steps to create belonging in your organization

Recorded: June 2023
Presenter: Molly Mackey

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Intelligence and common sense are two different things. We all know someone who is "book-smart, but they suffer from "street-smarts, or the practical knowledge on how the world operates. Some people think you are born with common sense or you acquire this early on when you are growing up. Join us in this 30 min webinar and find out how you can cultivate common sense now as an adult and as a leader in your team to improve decision making abilities. Come and learn how you can bring back common sense.

Recorded: November 2020
Facilitator: Sandra Flikkema

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You and your team are working your tail off, but are you making a difference? If we believe everything we do at work is important, why aren't we moving the needle? Join us to examine whether your team culture is focused on being busy or being productive and how you can tell the difference.

Recorded: February 2021
Facilitator: Joel Bennett

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Does it feel like you run from one emergency to another? Do you ever feel like your day is one crisis after another and you never make progress on anything important? If this feels like the norm and not the exception, join us for this free 30-minute webinar to assess your firefighting defenses and examine some simple steps to improve them.

Recorded: July 2022
Presenter: Joel Bennett

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Getting the most out of your “people power” is obviously a smart business strategy. But you can’t get the most out of your employees if they are holding back because they feel psychologically unsafe - worried about what they say and do at work will impact their job. When employees feel psychologically safe they outperform their counterparts in every dimension hands down. Not only are they more productive and creative, they are happier resulting in less sick days and turnover. Join our free 30 minute webinar to find out if your work group is psychologically safe and what you can do as a team member to improve the positivity in your work culture.

Recorded: October 2021
Presenter: Celina Peerman

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Employee engagement doesn't need expensive training or big flourishes; it can start today for free. There are three simple and free things you can do to engage your employees today and every day. Samuel Fleming with show us three tools we can start using right now.

Recorded: January 2023
Presenter: Samuel Fleming

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Unless organizations are willing to provide what their most talented employees need and expect in a work culture, the best and brightest will seek opportunities elsewhere, leaving the company scrambling to replace them. How can we develop a more employee-centric culture in order to attract and retain today’s savvy, highly-sought employees? Join us to discover what your organization may be doing to turn off current and prospective employees; and what you can do to attract the talent you need to grow; and motivate the employees you have in your business.

Recorded: April 2022
Presenter: Lisa Schaefer

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Today’s state of upregulation, stress, and dissatisfaction in the workplace is at an all-time high. Businesses are trying their best to optimize their work environment but commonly place their focus unknowingly in the wrong direction. Join us and see the top 5 hidden culprits of stress that are often ignored or overlooked.

Recorded: October 2022
Presenters: Kayla Becker and Nick Kuhle

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Sometimes as managers we think we know the reasons why employees don't do what they are supposed to do because our requests aren't that demanding. Right? Well, oftentimes, the reasons why things don't get done aren’t what you realize. Join us for this 30-minute webinar and discover the five most surprising reasons employees don't do the things you ask them to do.

Recorded: March 2021
Facilitator: Kathie Rotz

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It's happening all over — the Great Resignation. Employees are taking new jobs, learning new skills, shifting to new careers, or just retiring or resigning altogether. Bottom line, it's changing the way jobs are structured, and how talent is recruited, motivated and retained. Join us and gain insight on what you can control and change so you are able to attract and hire the best people for your organization.

Recorded: February 2022
Presenter: Spencer Stumpf

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Hiring the right people is top of mind for many executives, leaders and organizations. Mis-hires crush morale, cost organizations a lot of money and have a massive ripple effect on organizations. Just like sports teams draft their teams using many data points, many organizations are leveraging data and science as one additional point of consideration in their hiring practices. Join us to learn how to get the right people in the right roles, ultimately maximizing people's potential to create cohesive and winning cultures.

Recorded:& March 22, 2023
Presenter: Heidi Goettsche

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Human Resources is one of the fastest growing careers in the next decade. Before jumping into a new career, find out some of the unknown facts and secrets that are part of this career choice before you make a full commitment.

Recorded: April 21, 2021
Facilitator: Karen Reynolds

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What are the top five costliest mistakes people make who are involved in human resources and how do you avoid them? We'll tell you. Also, get a sneak peak into a new, June training series designed for small-to-mid-sized businesses who don’t have a designated HR professional on their staff, but still need to have someone perform the necessary work.

Recorded: April 2020
Facilitator: Karen Reynolds

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It can be a fine line between being too blunt, offending someone and earning a reputation of being too aggressive, and “sugar-coating” your message too much that the person doesn’t receive the message and change their behavior. Join us and learn from communication expert, Dr. Sanders, two communication techniques that will get your message across in a direct and yet respectful manner.

Recorded: August 2021
Presenter: Dr. Vapordeal Sanders

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Does it feel like you run from one emergency to another? Do you ever feel like your day is one crisis after another and you never make progress on anything important? If this feels like the norm and not the exception, join us for this free 30-minute webinar to assess your firefighting defenses and examine some simple steps to improve them.

If you were a cell phone what percentage would your battery be at right now? Many people work themselves until they are running on empty, but it doesn’t have to be this way. There are effective and efficient strategies to manage time so that work gets accomplished and self-care gets prioritized. Join us and learn how you can balance your work and personal life.

Recorded: September 2022
Presenter: Molly Mackey

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Most people shy away from angry and upset customers. They're never easy to handle, but it's precisely the time you can make a real difference. Instead of never returning to their business again and spreading the word about your bad customer service, these "hot" customers are giving you a chance to make it right. In this 30-minute webinar, learn how to cool these hot situations down by learning a 3-step process.

Recorded: February 2020
Facilitator: Kelly Carman

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Your employer is expecting you to generate results every day. But there are days that it's hard to even hit the snooze button on your alarm clock. Join Kayla and Nick as they share some helpful, fun, and easy ways to build resilience into your life that will refuel your body and mind, inspire your spirit, and generate some enthusiasm back into your job and work environment.

Recorded: March 2023
Presenter: Kayla Becker and Nick Kuhle

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Are you frustrated with challenges to your focus, memory, problem-solving, or creativity? Do you find that you have good days and bad days in these areas? During this interactive session, you will discover several simple choices and actions that can impact your brain’s performance. You will leave with practical actions you can take to have your best brain at work!

Recorded: March 2022
Presenter: Melanie Hoffner

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Do you wish you could get more done during the workday? We all do! Do you know what you could eliminate from your environment to reduce distractions to be more productive? Our presenter, Kathie Rotz, will share the top five things we can do right now to make us less distracted during work. Join us for this worthwhile 30 minute free webinar by registering in advance.

Recorded: June 2021
Facilitator: Kathie Rotz

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Have you been asking yourself lately, “When will this end?” or “How much strength do I have to go on?” These are difficult times, and we are growing tired. Compassion Fatigue is when we grow physically and mentally exhausted and it leads to us having a diminished ability to emphasize or feel compassion for others. And this doesn’t happen to just healthcare workers on the front line. If you are helping others alleviate their stress during this pandemic, perhaps helping your children with online learning, or bringing meals to your elderly parents or neighbors, or talking to more upset customers at work who lost their income, you may be experiencing Compassion Fatigue too. Join us and learn some healing things you can do right now to claim some sanity and bring some organization, calmness and purpose back into your life.

Recorded: January 2021
Facilitator: Kathie Rotz

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Everyone deserves to accomplish, to feel accomplished and to have a high quality sense of well-being at work. It take an intentional set of mindsets and behaviors to make this happen, it doesn't just happen. People go to work each day just choosing to "show up", go through the motions and just get it done. That is a hollow experience. In this session, we will have a great and highly accountable discussion about bringing an intentional spirit to work that will align and allow each individual to dramatically improve how they feel and what they do at work immediately. You deserve it!

Recorded: May 2025

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One thing that became more obvious during the pandemic was the need to understand and use technology to get your job done. But with so much out there, do you know which technologies and digital skills will keep you at the top of your game? Sandra Flikkema will share with us what tools and techniques you should be honing so you are on the pulse of the most needed work skills today.

Recorded: September 2021
Presenter: Sandra Flikkema

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We all know the importance of using data to make better decisions, but according to recent research,* "over half of businesses say they still rely on gut feel or experience more than on data and hard facts to drive their decision making. Interesting, however, 2/3 of those same companies believe future decisions will be made primarily by data."

Join us for this free 30-minute webinar to learn how you can get ahead of this curve by becoming more data-driven. Plus, we will provide a sneak peak of a new training program that will start in October on Data Analytics.

*Source: www.bi-survey.com

Recorded: September 2020
Facilitator: Kevin Kuznia

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In a world of instant access to information, many people question if it’s really necessary to learn? … Yes! This session will explain the importance of training, tacit knowledge, knowledge retention, and wisdom. Also, we’ll show how to drive people’s behavior to locate accurate and verifiable resources instead of looking up and trusting information online.

Recorded: February 2023
Presenter: Molly Mackey

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No, we’re not talking about losing weight. We’re talking about being more efficient — cutting out unproductive tasks, reducing redundancies and errors, eliminating wastes and maximizing strengths and potential. Although the LEAN methodology has been around for a while, especially in manufacturing, have you applied it to your office environment? Join us and learn where and how you can make your office space more efficient, saving you time and money.

Recorded: November 2021
Presenter: Todd Hutcheson

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Cybersecurity is not just an IT issue as every employee within a manufacturing plant can make the security of the operations vulnerable. Even something as simple as clicking on a suspicious email link can impact daily operations greatly. One of the lowest hanging fruits with greatest potential to compromise your system is what’s called phishing.

• Definition of term with example supported by a real-life example the audience can relate to.
• Statistics of damage.
• Steps to take to minimize impact of a phishing incident

Recorded: January 2022
Presenter: Jesse Farris, Director of Technology, VGM Forbin and/or Nick Dideriksen. Senior IT Analyst, VGM Forbin

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What's true and what's false about marijuana in the workplace? What are qualifying medical conditions for Iowa's medical marijuana (cannabidiol) program? What's legal and illegal? There are lots of myths and misconceptions about marijuana. Let's clear the smoke and answer some of your questions.

Recorded: January 2021
Facilitator: Jackie Preston

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