We are thankful to be welcome on these lands in friendship. The lands we are situated on are covered by the Williams Treaties and are the traditional territory of the Mississaugas, a branch of the greater Anishinaabeg Nation, including Algonquin, Ojibway, Odawa and Pottawatomi. These lands remain home to many Indigenous nations and peoples.

We acknowledge this land out of respect for the Indigenous nations who have cared for Turtle Island, also called North America, from before the arrival of settler peoples until this day. Most importantly, we acknowledge that the history of these lands has been tainted by poor treatment and a lack of friendship with the First Nations who call them home.

This history is something we are all affected by because we are all treaty people in Canada. We all have a shared history to reflect on, and each of us is affected by this history in different ways. Our past defines our present, but if we move forward as friends and allies, then it does not have to define our future.

Learn more about Indigenous Education and Cultural Services

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Workplace Skills

Ontario Tech employees have many opportunities to develop the skills and knowledge they need to advance in their careers. Managers and supervisors are encouraged to support their staff in pursuit of professional development and personal growth in order to contribute to a positive and productive work environment.

January 2023

How's It Going? - An examination of workplace relationships
Date: Thursday, January 12, 2023
Time: 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Location: Virtual Synchronous, Zoom
Target audience: All faculty and staff
Company: Forward Working
Facilitator: Sara Luther

This workshop benefits anyone who values relationships. Why? Organizations are an interconnected web of relationships. Yet, we rarely dedicate time to be in conversation about the inherent conditions that can help or hinder our workplace relationships. Instead, we are often pulled into this discussion reactively when we find ourselves in conflict and distress.

This workshop provides the opportunity to proactively audit the critical relationships within your environment through Forwardworking’s Colours of Culture© model. The model links core values to the primary systems that set expectations on respect, incivility, harassment, discrimination and then layers on the reality of your current practices. What will emerge is a new awareness of the behaviours that you, and others in the community, engage in that ultimately create healthy and functioning relationships – or not. With this insight, actions can be crafted for individual and team-based relationships.

This workshop is interactive with a combination of teaching, experiential learning, and discussion. Participants leave with a completed Critical Relationships Map© and action plan that can be immediately utilized.

Workshop Objectives:

At the end of the workshop, participants will:
- Obtain a deep understanding of the interconnected layers within an organization that shape a workplace culture.
- Explore how to leverage the organization’s systems to create stronger relationships, or address relationships that are struggling.
- Reflect on their critical relationships and what is going well, and what needs to shift.
- Be oriented towards actioning relationships as a priority focus to ensure professional success.
Online Course Delivery:

The workshop is delivered via Forwardworking’s zoom account with the breakout rooms being a critical part of the experience. As such, the following instructions are critical:
- Please log on through a computer/laptop (not cell phone) to be able to engage in activities.
- Please attempt to have your video on during the full session, or at least, during the small group practice groups.
- Please be in an environment where the distractions are minimized, and you can gift yourself the opportunity to learn and grow with your leader colleagues.
Facilitator Bio:

Sara was an early talker and late listener.

Now, a seasoned facilitator and speaker, Sara can quickly create a sense of belonging in a room and provide a space where people can talk about hard things and listen when listening is hard. She’s got a sensible wit and a deep appreciation for group gatherings that is meant to start somewhere and go some place.

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February 2023

Building and Maintaining Relationships of Trust
Date: Tuesday, February 7, 2023
Time: 1 to 4 p.m.
Location: Virtual Synchronous, Zoom
Target Audience: All faculty and staff
Company: BluHelium
Facilitator: Nina Penner

Overview:

Without trust, our work environments can be stressful, and we can feel like we lack connection and collaboration with our coworkers. In this workshop, you will learn the specific behaviours that inspire trust and how to incorporate them into your work. Sometimes trust is broken or becomes eroded, and you will learn how to restore a trust based working relationship.

Key benefits:
- Enhance collaboration
- Open lines of communication
- Deepen working relationships
- Increase morale and motivation
- Enhance credibility and influence
- Improve performance and results
Participants will learn:
- Why trust is important
- The important elements of trust
- How to build trust with your coworkers, leaders and stakeholders
- What to do when others enter the working relationship lacking trust
- How to rebuild trust once it is eroded or broken
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Professional Writing
Date: Thursday, February 16th
Time: 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Location: In person, SHA018
Target Audience: All faculty and staff
Company: The Soft Skills Group
Facilitator: Diana Kawarsky
Do you write letters? Email? Memos? Reports? Are you interested in fine-tuning your written communication skills and style? This is an important addition to every professional writing tool kit – continued input and learning over time. Build on your writing skills by learning the fine-tuning techniques of professional writers: how to produce professional writing quickly and craft effective documents.

Learn how to refocus on your readers’ needs; organize your thinking to approach every document with clarity from the start. Receive valuable feedback on pre-workshop and post-workshop writing samples.

In this workshop you will learn to:
- efficiently write whole document drafts quickly and easily
- place the document purpose where your readers will find it – every time
- capitalize on your writing as an ambassador to your business relationships; influencing your success over time
Register

March 2023

Change Management
Date: Tuesday, March 7
Time: 9 a.m. to noon
Location: Virtual Synchronous, Zoom
Target Audience: All faculty and staff
Company: Gary Slye
Facilitator: Gary Slye

This is an online program to introduce managers and leaders to change management and creating the conditions for change adoption. The program uses scenarios to illustrate change.

Participants will learn to:
- Understand what is meant by change management and how individuals adopt change.
- Apply impact assessment to determine how individuals are affected by the change.
- Utilize a framework to apply a change approach based on the impact assessment.
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Structured Conversations
Date: Tuesday, March 14
Time: 9 a.m. to noon
Location: Virtual Synchronous, Zoom
Target Audience: All faculty and staff
Company: Gary Slye
Facilitator: Gary Slye

Structured conversations provides a method and process for developing meetings with one or many individuals that are based on facts (vs. perceptions), isolate what is important and what action to take. Many meetings or conversations today end without action, commitment to act or decisions. This approach utilizes critical thinking to support problem solving, developing opportunities, reacting to new information and coaching situations. The structure helps build consensus, drives towards decisions or action, and increases post meeting participation.

Participants will learn:
- Understand the benefits of a structured approach to a conversation or meeting
- Understand the methodology behind a structured conversation
- Apply the method to design and build a sample structured conversation
- Understand how to lead a structured conversation
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April 2023

Feedback to Move Forward

Date: Wednesday, April 12, 2023
Time: 9 a.m. to noon
Location: Virtual Synchronous, Zoom
Target Audience: All faculty and staff
Company: The Soft Skills Group
Facilitator: Diana Kawarsky

Want to Give Feedback? Rather Try Feedforward!

Focusing on solutions, rather than mistakes, on the future, rather than the past, will enhance the self-image of business leaders and employees alike and propel them on the road to success.

This is a high impact 90 mins online Zoom session where you will learn how to transform feedback into feedforward information. Your work relationships will improve when you orient your words to emphasize the future, leverage time effectively and ensure mutual understanding.

Upon successful completion you will be able to learn how to accept and learn from both positive and negative feedback; create clear, concise feedback messages that will be heard and understood; and rephrase blunt wording for improved communication.

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May 2023

Setting Meaningful Goals
Date: Tuesday, May 2, 2023
Time: 1 to 4 p.m.
Location: In person, SHA018
Target Audience: All faculty and staff
Company: BluHelium
Facilitator: Nina Penner

Overview:

We all struggle with goal setting and achieving the goals we set for ourselves. Sometimes objectives are not clear, expectations are unrealistic, or we lack the belief that we can achieve our goals. To stretch our capabilities and remain excited about our ambitions, there are specific principles to follow for setting our goals and seeing them through. In this workshop, you will learn those principals so you’re able to approach goal setting in an energized and confident manner and consistently reach your targets.

Key Benefits:
- Successfully integrate new behaviours and skills
- Increase clarity in day-to-day work
- Boost productivity
- Improv capacity to meet and exceed targets
- Strengthen ability to overcome challenges
- Enjoy greater job satisfaction
- Improve alignment with team members, leaders and organization
Participants will learn:
- What makes S.M.A.R.T.E.R. goals
- Why it is so important to set goals
- The elements of S.M.A.R.T.E.R. goals
- What to include in your S.M.A.R.T.E.R. goals
- How to communicate your goals
- How to continually evaluate, reassess and ensure success in reaching your goals
REGISTER