WORKSHOP PRESENTATIONS

Civility Experts offers training in: Civility, Social Intelligence, Building Social Capital, Cultural Competence, Relational Wealth, Communication Skills, Business Etiquette, Courtesy for Children, Civility Initiatives, Professionalism, Cross-Cultural Issues and Diversity, Managing Change, Etiquette Around the World and more…

Civility Experts offer workshops, keynotes, and training in the following areas:

• Civility at Work™
• Culture at Work™/Cultural Competence
• Social Intelligence/Social Capital
• Business Etiquette
• Communication
• Leadership

CIVILITY AT WORK™ WORKSHOPS

Sessions can be adapted to Presentation/Keynote, half-day or full-day format and customized to a specific audience.

1. The Business of Civility

There is no doubt that civility at work impacts the bottom line. And, most progressive organizations recognize that incorporating best practices that build trust, boost employee confidence, decrease stress, and foster effective communication, is essential to retaining both employees and market share. But how do you do all those things? By getting down to the business of civility- that’s how!

Join Lew Bayer, Canada’s leading expert on civility in the workplace and learn how to:

• infuse civility practices into existing training tools and best practices
• ensure a constant “drip” of civility theory and action in your organizations
• foster continuous buy-in and engagement
• maintain current levels of civility, and build on them, in hectic workplaces amidst stress, deadlines and multiple priorities

2. Building a Culture of Civility

Lateness, bullying, complacency, theft, gossiping, low service standards, dishonesty, poor quality, sloppy dress, cell phone interruptions….the list of rude behaviours experienced in the workplace is endless. Left unchecked, incivility is like a virus that infects our workplaces. This interesting and relevant workshop assesses your current workplace situation, and offers solutions for stopping the incivility virus from spreading in your workplace.

After completing the Organizational Civility Scale™, participants will engage in discussions and solutions-oriented activities towards:

• Understanding what civility is exactly, and learning why they should care about it?
• Identifying symptoms of viral rudeness in their workplaces
• Recognizing if/how they as individuals contribute to a toxic workplace
• Adopting behaviours that foster civility in the workplace

3. NEW – The Power of One: Workplace Civility Initiative Workshop with Comprehensive Toolkit Option

It just takes one minute to make a difference. One choice can change your life. One committed moment of courage can show your true character. And one person choosing civility can have tremendous, long-term impact on others. This practical and timely workshop is for organizations that are ready to take one small step towards fostering civility in their workplace by starting a civility initiative.

This interactive full-day workshop includes discussions, advice, instructions, tools and techniques for planning, implementing and sustaining workplace civility initiatives. Topics covered:

• Recognizing the tangible costs of rudeness to business?
• Leveraging civility; the benefits of introducing a workplace civility initiative?
• Understanding the elements of workplace culture
• Bridging personal and professional values
• Managing factors that contribute to incivility in the workplace
• Guiding principles for creating civility and conduct codes
• Best practices for fostering and maintaining civility in the workplace

Optional Toolkit Option includes:

• Planning Template for a Civility Initiative
• 2-day Train-the-Workplace Civility Trainer delivered on-site for up to 4 participants of your choice e.g., Human Resouce professionals, managers, workplace trainers, or employee designates
• Ready-to-use workshop content so you can begin teaching civility in house immediately
• Tools, resources and training materials.

Sample of Civility Initiative Tools and Content that may be included:

• The Civility Rubric™
• The Organizational Civility Scale®
• Quick and effective “Workplace Culture” assessments
• Social Intelligence Assessments to use when hiring
• Cultural Competence Suveys
• Toxic behavior assessments to use in performance reviews
• Civility Needs Assessment to use when outlining civility initiatives
• Civility vocabulary and how to infuse it
• Civility best practices e.g., Plain Language, elements of cultural competence, communication style guides

4. Civility in the 21st Century- is it Possible?

The world as we know it is changing at a rapid pace and these changes are impacting each of us- in our homes, communities, and workplaces daily. In a work-world where downsizing, recession, labour shortages, demographic and other issues are common how do we overcome feeling, tired, scared, overwhelmed, and stressed on a regular basis? Is there hope for kindness and civility?

Bring along your toughest workplace civility issue and join expert Lew Bayer in an information and interactive discussion on workplace civility in the 21st century. In this “open-forum” style workshop, some of the topics discussed include:

• Are we really more uncivilized or just less tolerant?
• Which, and how, do social trends that impact civility at work, e.g.,
  • Technology
  • Labour Market Issues
  • Sustainability as a core value
  • Transparency
  • Risky business
  • Immediate gratification
  • Mass mingling
  • Imbedded generosity
• How can organizations- big or small, survive the civility crisis?

5. Real-life Civility in a Virtual World

The benefits of social media are many. But the anonymity, convenience, accessibility and immediacy of social media have also provided an avenue for ranting blogs, tasteless “tweets”, cyber-bullying, bookmarked social bashing sites, and countless other opportunities for incivility. So how do we balance free speech and good manners? How can we infuse common courtesy and current social technology? Join civility expert Lew Bayer, and learn to practice real-life civility in a virtual world. Some of the topics discussed include:

• Social Media- What is it and what are the issues?
• Understanding the impact of “continuous partial attention” on civil communication.
• General etiquette for online communications.
• The “rules” for exhibiting emotion electronically.
• Virtual values; setting boundaries for privacy, ethics and morality.
• Best practices for fostering collaboration, community and civility through social media.

6. Setting Workplace Standards; Civility in the Workplace

Have you ever felt tied up in knots, wondering how to interpret something someone else said or not knowing how to say something you need to say? Is negativity and rudeness impacting productivity, loyalty or morale in your workplace? Effective, positive communication between co-workers, higher ups and clients is imperative in today’s workplace. Tight timelines, competition, and the struggle to find balance leave no place for rude behaviour, negativity, interpersonal conflict or a lack of clarity.

This session focuses on modern guidelines for civility in the workplace. Topics include:

• Defining “professionalism”
• Expectations for interacting with work teams
• Understanding the difference between “friendly” and “familiar”
• Communicating in a way that sends an impression of competence and credibility
• Choosing words and nonverbal cues that show respect and build confidence
• Knowing the expectations for mixing business and social responsibilities
• Consistently conveying high personal standard
• Practicing modern guidelines for courtesy and technology
• Navigating challenges and conflicts with grace and civility

CULTURE AT WORK™ WORKSHOPS

7. Navigating a World of Differences© – Building Cultural Competence With labour pool shortages looming in almost every industry sector, employer’s are increasingly reliant on recruiting and retaining immigrants and internationally trained professionals. This necessary influx of diversity in our workplaces creates an opportunity to embrace and build on the wealth of experiences, histories, customs and perspectives of others. But, to reap all those benefits, we need to be able to set aside our fears and biases and embrace change. To effectively retain diverse employee pools, organizations must reach beyond cultural awareness and consciously choose to build cultural competence.

With assistance from civility and culture expert Lew Bayer, participants in this workshop will engage in compelling self-assessments, interactive exercises and lively discussions, and learn to do just that. Topics covered include:

• Recognizing how the current immigration demographics impact your organization
• Differentiating between cultural awareness and cultural competence
• Identifying your personal biases, values, and assumptions and learning how these hinder your cultural competence
• Choosing respectful language that shows you value others
• Being attentive to culture-based differences in work style and motivation
• Having a stronger comfort and knowledge level in communicating and interacting with people of multiple cultures

8. Setting Your Workplace Culture Compass™

The face of the Canadian workplace is changing. By 2012 statistics show that almost 100% of the Canadian Labour pool growth will be New Canadians. Progressive businesses understand that in order to compete locally and nationally they need to prepare for these changes. This interesting and practical workshop assesses current organizational culture using the Cultural Compass Assessment Tool™, analyzes the outcomes and offers strategy and techniques for setting your workplace culture compass for success.

NOTE: This is an assessment workshop, delivered as a half-day session. After the session, the client is provided with an outcomes summary and recommendations for ongoing customized training.

9. NEW – Working around the World: Business practices and workplace culture

If you travel for business or if your organization interacts with organizations around the globe, fostering respect and understanding the business etiquette and culture of those you work with makes good business sense. For this workshop, you choose 4 countries of interest, and the experts at COCC will prepare a tailored workshop about the business practices and workplace culture of those countries. (*To allow for appropriate customization time, this session must be booked a minimum of 90 days in advance of desired training day)

10. Canadian eh! Fitting into the Canadian Workplace Culture

Starting a new job can be an adjustment for anyone, but for New Canadians including Internationally Educated Professionals, fitting into a workplace where the nuances of communication are not included in the company policy manual can be especially difficult. This session – intended for an immigrants and New Canadians audience, hi-lights aspects of workplace culture such as: nonverbal communication, elements of rank, gender issues, social expectations, workplace dress and decorum and other organizational culture subtleties that are specific to most Canadian workplaces.

11. Building a Culture of Connectedness™

In a world where a click of a button creates global business opportunities and workplaces are increasingly more diverse, forward-thinking companies recognize that respecting our differences while focusing on what people all over the world have in common is the first step to improving business communication and overcoming demographic obstacles. Understanding that we are all ultimately focused on the business priority and making efforts to connect in a human, high-touch way builds long-lasting business relationships.

Join Canada’s Civility at Work™ Expert, author, and entrepreneur Lew Bayer and learn best practices for creating a culture of connectedness. Topics covered include: how different cultures handle some of the basics of civility in the workplace including: greetings and introductions, corporate and personal gift-giving, multi-cultural dining, guidelines for interacting and communicating during meetings and negotiations, professional attire and gender and other sensitive issues.

12. Building Capacity in Multi-Generational Workplaces

“People resemble their times more than they resemble their parents” Arab proverb.

There are at least 3 and in many cases 4 generations represented in most workplaces in almost every occupation, and in every sector. By understanding the expectations, experiences, and perspectives of co-workers and by addressing some of the issues that arise in multi-generational workplaces, we can reduce stress, increase productivity, build relationships, and impact the bottom line. The objective of this interesting and relevant workshop is to enable participants to be able to:

• Describe the four generations: Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X and Millennial (Gen Y/Nexters).
• Recognize influencers in each generation.
• Identify potential “hot buttons” in mixed generational work teams.
• Adopt strategies for leveraging generational differences.
• Apply best practices for recruiting, retaining, and managing performance of a multi-generational workforce.

Topics covered in this session include:

• Generational concepts and demographics.
• The values and expectations of each generational group.
• Generational work styles and impact in the workplace.
• Engaging and Motivating each generational group.
• Recommendations, Application, and Insights.

SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE WORKSHOPS

13. Boost Your Social Intelligence

Carl Albrecht declares that “More people have lost jobs, friends, and mates as a result of social incompetence than for any other reason.” He defines Social Intelligence as “The ability to get along well with others and to get them to cooperate with you.”

This interesting and practical presentation focuses on Social Intelligence – the new essential skill for success in the workplace. After attending this session, participants will be better able to:

• Understand the value of Social Intelligence
• Leverage their Social Intelligence to increase success in life and in the workplace
• Recognize Social IQ shortfalls
• Adopt techniques for boosting their Social IQ

Topics covered include:

• Defining Social IQ and discussing why it is important.
• Reviewing current Social IQ theories
• Evaluating our general Social Intelligence; Self-assessment
• Discussing what does Social IQ has to do with leadership?
• Understanding the role of Social IQ in collaborative workplaces
• Building connectedness and fostering respectful communication with Social IQ
• Appling 3 key techniques for boosting your Social IQ

14. NEW Leveraging Social Capital; The Value of Connections

Social capital refers to the extent to which trust, mutual understanding, and shared values and behaviors bind the members of an organization. When social capital in the workplace is high, there is a positive impact to overall communication, productivity, co-worker relationships and the bottom line. Understanding the value of social capital is one thing- building and leveraging it is another. This interesting and informative seminar is for middle and upper management. The content focus is on how to increase connectedness at work; via various modes of communication and across and among work teams and departments to pave the way to a more productive and positive workplace environment. Participants learn the foundations of workplace social and cultural competence- skills that humanize and harmonize the work environment and promote a powerful spirit of cooperation and productivity.

Topics covered in this interactive workshop include:

• Current culture shifts that are changing how we work
• How workplace demographics impact work styles
• How to navigate the new-age social landscape at work
• What social capital is and how fostering civility at work can help you build it
• How to marry workplace values with personal standards
• Strategies for making people a priority without jeopardizing productivity

15. Building Relational Wealth at Work

Some experts estimate that 15% of your financial success comes from your skills and knowledge, while 85% comes from your ability to connect with other people and engender trust and respect.

Whether at home, or in the workplace, relationships can be complicated. And in times when integrity and honesty seem to be at an all-time low, trust and accountability at work are often scarce- this can be problematic in workplaces where communication and team-orientation are necessary to achieve workplace goals. This workshop is designed for front-line employees.

After the session, participants will be better able to:

• Understand how social bankruptcy impacts individuals at work.
• Acknowledge and leverage their capacity to build relational wealth.
• Assess his/her own people skills.
• Create greater value for the people around them at work.
• Learn how to balance relational giving and receiving.
• Apply relational wealth concepts to the workplace to build organizational social capital.

BUSINESS ETIQUETTE WORKSHOPS

16. Just Plain Rude

Do you know someone that you prefer not to be seen in public with because of how he/she behaves? Do you have a co-worker who doesn’t realize that they come across as aggressive at work? Or, do you sometimes catch yourself wishing you could take back something you said or did because the situation got away on you and maybe you were rude? Incivility directly impacts our self-esteem, our relationships, and even our health. Join Canada’s leading civility expert Lew Bayer and learn about behavourial accountability, the costs of rudeness, and strategies for increasing civility at work.

After attending this session, participants will be better able to:

• Understand the difference between being rude and just being mean
• Recognize when rudeness becomes assertiveness
• Keep their own rudeness in check; assessing habits that can cost your reputation and the respect of others
• Adopt strategies for addressing rudeness in any situation

17. Corporate Courtesies

Whether you’re picking a client up from the airport, hosting a company golf tournament or entertaining suppliers at a sporting event, you are expected to present a polished and professional image of yourself and your company. This means knowing what is appropriate dress, what food or beverage to provide, how to make guests comfortable and what the guidelines are for mixing business and pleasure in any situation. Attention to the details and surpassing clients’ expectations is key to creating a memorable positive impression.

18. How to Avoid Being a Cocktail Weenie™ – Mixing Business and Pleasure

After this entertaining and practical keynote, you’ll understand why the executive standing by the shrimp tree might leave having satisfied their appetite but they’ll have missed out on meeting key clients. If you have ever been fearful about walking into a room full of strangers but want to learn how to make the most of every schmoozing situation, this humorous and experiential session is for you.

19. Corporate Dining and Entertaining for Business – Shaken not Stirred!

Think how much more business you could accomplish if you weren’t worried about which fork to use. Polished dining and corporate entertaining skills contribute to an overall image of competence and confidence. During this very entertaining and informative session which is presented over a meal, attendees learn the basics of business dining, how to present themselves competently in social situations and how to effectively mix business and pleasure. Anyone who meets or entertains for business would benefit from this presentation.

COMMUNICTION WORKSHOPS

20. Communicating Confidence and Competence

Can you imagine how much simpler life would be if everyone said exactly what needed to be said when it needed to be said? Whether verbal, nonverbal or in print, our communications send an impression. The experts at COCC speak with humor and insight about communicating with clarity and polish, the role of grammar, the nuances of modern technological etiquette, listening skills, non-verbal messages and how to talk to anyone, anytime, anywhere!

21. Writing for Results*

This practical business writing session focuses on modern guidelines for professional writing. Today’s reader expects clarity and conciseness. If you want to learn how to ensure your business letters, emails, memos and reports are read, you need to write for impact. The experts at COCC show you how in this informative session. Anyone in a position that requires he/she write for business or anyone with supervisory responsibilities who is required to manage the work of others through written communications would benefit from this session.

*The writing course is typically customized using the client’s workplace documents. Courses in grammar, effective email communication, persuasive writing, and business conversations when English is an additional language are also available.

LEADERSHIP WORKSHOPS

22. Action-oriented Leadership for Business Professionals

Respectful, accountable adults in business know that true leadership has nothing to do with job titles; leading is something you do…everyday.

In this reflective half-day session, participants will assess their leadership skills and learn techniques for:

• exhibiting character
• being consistent
• communicating effectively
• making good choices
• choosing to be active leaders.

23. The Integrity Project: Personal Character Development

Life is stressful. With the seemingly insurmountable demands of juggling our personal and professional lives most of us are stretched to the maximum and functioning at a minimum level of fulfillment. To achieve a balance and live a rewarding, healthy life it is increasingly important to assess and redefine our personal character. What motivates you, how you set limits, what hinders your professional development or defines your interpersonal successes are all aspects of personal character development. Self-assessment and introspection can help us find balance and learn to maintain our integrity while reaching our potential. This session will help you to focus on what self-respect and being polite to yourself means to individual professionals in achieving their personal goals.