Supervisory Skills Certificate
a noncredit Chancellor's Certificate Program

Curently offered as a customized in-house program.

Standout as a supervisor by guiding your people to perform at their highest level. As a leader, your people turn to you for their direction, support, and motivation. If they don ’t get it from you, they will move on. Don't lose good people. Let our knowledgeable instructors, with their real-world planning and leadership experience, teach you the art of effective leadership.

This comprehensive, competency-based certificate program focuses on skill building and practical applications of the most up-to-date management models. It will give you the confidence and the knowledge you need to be a successful supervisor. By participating in this certificate program, you will learn how to:

• plan for success.
• develop a range of strategic leadership styles.
• manage time, projects, and multiple priorities.
• set goals--the right way.
• delegate intelligently.
• lead effective meetings consistently.
• build your team broadly and specifically.
• manage conflict proactively.
• discern and utilize nonverbal cues appropriately.
• initiate and sustain a dialogue when the stakes are high, emotions run strong, and differences are deep.

Who should pursue a Supervisory Skills Certificate?

* New or recently promoted team leads with less than three years of formal leadership experience
* Experienced supervisors or managers reentering the job market and looking to update their resumes
* Business owners, administrators, or general managers in small to mid-size organizations desiring to increase their knowledge and skill base
* Informal leaders who have an unofficial supervisory role leading teams of coworkers or volunteers
* Individuals whose career plans include becoming a team lead, supervisor, or decision-maker in the near future

Sample Topics

• Planning and Organizational Effectiveness
>> Managing Time and Multiple Priorities
>> Goal Setting, Delegation, and Accountability
>> Managing Projects
>> Leading Effective Meetings

• Working with People Successfully
>> Working with Different Behavioral Styles
>> Team Building
>> Managing Conflict
>> Managing the Diverse Workforce

• The "Coach Approach" to Leadership
>> Coaching vs. Commanding and Controlling
>> Communication Styles
>> When NOT to Use the Coach Approach
>> Making Points with Brevity and Precision

Comprehensive List of Topics

Managing Time and Multiple Priorities

* Basic principles of time management and work-life balance
* Becoming more effective by using time management strategies
* Setting and prioritizing personal goals so you can make the most of your time
* Clarifying and establishing criteria for handling multiple priorities at work

Goal Setting, Delegation, and Accountability

* Setting clear and measurable goals for staff performance
* Assessing your delegation skills
* Knowing when to delegate and what not to delegate
* Delegating tasks to others, focusing on clear accountability and boundaries
* Keeping your boss informed

Managing Projects

* Project management techniques, tools, and processes
* Integrating people and activities to produce results
* Managing cross-functional projects and tracking work activities
* Using project delegation and accountability vehicles

Leading Effective Meetings

* Designing and leading productive meetings
* Facilitating effective teleconference or Internet meetings
* Leading group problem solving and decision making
* Creating an environment that encourages participation
* Handling disruptive or inappropriate behavior

Working with People Successfully

Working with Different Behavioral Styles

* Assessing your behavioral style
* Watching for blind spots in your behavioral style
* Working with people with different behavioral styles
* The impact of style preferences on work relationships and effectiveness

Team Building

* A model of team development
* Practical tools that will enhance your team building efforts
* The roles of the leader and members in a project team
* The stages of team development: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning
* A hands-on experience of the team building process

Managing Conflict

* Understanding your personal conflict management style
* Identifying the five types of conflict
* The goals and long-term term benefits of conflict management
* The functional and dysfunctional components of conflict
* Identifying levels of conflict within a group or an organization
* How to address and resolve conflict in various situations

Managing the Diverse Workforce

* Understanding cultural and ethnic diversity
* Understanding social identities such as age, disability, sex, gender orientation, and religion
* The influence of diversity on our communication and behavior at work
* Understanding group differences and meeting the resulting challenges
* Basic issues and the laws that govern workforce diversity
* Identifying forms of harassment
* A supervisor's role and responsibility for preventing harassment

The "Coach Approach" to Leadership

* Where coaching fits in an overall Performance Management System
* The distinctions of a "coach approach" vs. a "command-and-control" leadership style
* Distinctions, distinguishing dialogues, crucial conversations
* Communication styles and subsequent impacts and results
* When NOT to use the "coach approach"
* Domains of life
* Personal context
* Building your capability to use the "coach approach" by observing a master coach
* Making coaching points with brevity and precision

Note: Course content is subject to change.

Certificate Requirements

Complete the 36 hours of training, and you will be awarded 3.6 Continuing Education Units and a noncredit Chancellor's Certificate in Supervisory Skills by the Chancellor of the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

This page last updated December 11, 2008 .