Activity Time: 20 minutes

Instructions:
• Divide into small groups of 4 – 6
• Determine who will be Mary (bully) and who will be the victim
• Review and prep: 7 minutes
• Practice speaking up: 5 minutes
• Switch and review roles: 3 minutes
• Practice speaking up: 5 minutes

Facts:
You are a senior-level employee, and you have been employed at your organization for over two years. As a result of a merger, a new Executive Director (Mary) has been named. On her first day, Mary sent out a memo highlighting her background and educational experience. Many of you noticed that although she had over 15 years of experience in management, she did not hold an advanced degree.

Ever since Mary has been assigned to oversee your department, she has consistently bullied most of the senior-level employees. (more…)

Think about this:
If you were a hotel…which one would you be?

• Who would you want to attract?
• How would you want guests to feel when they entered?
• What would you want them to say when they left?

Chances are that you would spend a lot of time on the front end, designing every little detail to create the overall effect you wanted.

People are the same. Those who are intentional and purposeful about the way they present themselves are the ones who get the results they’re looking for.

(more…)

Instruct participants to read the case study on the Handout, then to work with a partner for 2-3 minutes to generate ideas related to the questions. After giving them a period of time complete the questions, ask for brief suggestions for a course of action, allowing at least one response to be offered by each partner-pair.

Customize the handout below with the various questions provided, according to your training topic (communication, leadership, teamwork, problem-solving, etc.). (more…)

Have participants list the names of five people they don’t know well in the organization. Based on what they DO know about each of them, ask participants to write what they think each person’s unique background might be and what that perspective might bring to the table if they worked together on a hypothetical project. (more…)

It is important to clearly understand that 80% of the time, behavior that is considered bullying is NOT illegal. But even though legal action cannot be taken, bullying is a very serious issue and still requires action from employees who witness it or are victims.  If you are not clear where the line is between harassment and bullying, speaking up isn’t easy. Knowing where that line is begins by reviewing this handout. (more…)

Feel free to use this tip sheet / checklist as you tackle tasks and projects.

ACT AFTER YOU PLAN

• start with a written plan of action to avoid getting distracted
• keep your plan simple and straightforward
• start with the one thing you must get done today to feel productive
• should be a manageable item you can complete in 10-15 minutes
• break the day up into a number of “action sessions” for other tasks
• balance the time spent planning with time spent creating or doing
• avoid over-planning — another method of procrastination
• before ending your day, spend 10 minutes reviewing your progress
• take time to plan your actions for the next day (more…)