Category: Development and Training

Avoiding stress in times of change and transition tends to be easier said than done. Whether it be at work or at home, those changes can be difficult to cope with. Organization and Employee Development Consultant Carrie Galdes is offering a new class, “Don’t Let Change Stress You Out,” on Tuesday, November 6. Although it’s new to Human Resource Development (HRD), Galdes has been teaching classes on stress for many years. People who have taken it in the past have told her the class is like taking a break from life.

“It’s taking a time-out to reassess your priorities in life,” she said.Continue Reading… Don’t Let Change Stress You Out

Libraries and IT Services Training has partnered with the East Lansing New Horizons training location to offer a reduced-cost Custom Microsoft Technical Club Membership for MSU staff. This membership enables participants to attend any Microsoft Technical Class listed on the East Lansing New Horizons training schedule.

The class categories include:

• Business Intelligence
• Exchange Server 2010
• Lync Server
• .NET Programming/Application Development
• Office Communications ServerContinue Reading… MSU Teams with New Horizons on Microsoft Training Package

Last week, we shared with you the first two tips in the four Fs to great leadership. Director for Organization and Employee Development Dawn Hecker helped us finish this list with the remaining two tips. As she said before, there are hundreds of tips for becoming a respected and effective leader.

1. Firm

Being firm means maintaining accountability. Have respectful and direct discussions about a problem in order to give proper feedback about your expectations. Start with the facts of the event that occurred, make sure there’s an understanding among all parties, explore possible solutions, try one out and then evaluate. If you are firm with what you want, employees will respect your expectations.Continue Reading… What Does Leadership Look Like? Part 2

Entering a new leadership position may be intimidating if you’ve never been in one before. Director for Organization and Employee Development Dawn Hecker says there are probably hundreds of tips on how to be an effective leader, but here are two of four simple and easy-to-remember tips to start better communicating with and leading your coworkers.

1.       First

Before you begin working with a group of people, you must model the behaviors you want in them first. Set some standards and expectations at the pace you want before delegating anything. Focus on the mission at hand rather than a specific task and remember to keep a positive attitude.Continue Reading… What Does Leadership Look Like? Part 1

• Did you know that you can “pin” your most used applications, folders, websites or files to the task bar at the bottom of your screen? For an application, right click the application and choose “pin to task bar.” For websites, files or folders, drag them to the task bar and let go. Then to access your “pinned” items, right click the pinned program used to create them to show a “jumplist” of your pinned items along with the most recent or frequently accessed items.

• I know we have all done this: in the middle of composing an email, you realize you accidentally hit caps lock? All caps are like YELLING in an email so you delete it all and start over.  An easy way to fix that is to highlight the text and hold SHIFT then hit the F3 function key (in the top row of the keyboard that few ever use). This will change the text from upper to lower case or vice-versa, and a third time changes it to title case, capitalizing the first letter of each word. This works in most Microsoft programs.Continue Reading… More Windows 7 Tips (until Windows 8 is upon us)

Disagreements can stem from anything, but many of them could be avoided with better listening. HRD Facilitator Rosemary Ward explains how being a better listener with your co-workers, or any other peers, may keep you from misunderstanding each other and help you find better solutions to problems. Check out the video here.

To learn more, consider attending Rosemary’s new class, Listening Communication Link on Tuesday, July 24. Visit the EBS Portal to register or view other course offerings.

Do you feel good about yourself and your work? We all get into mental ruts, but with the right attitude, we can improve the way we feel and work. Today, Karen Corley from Residential and Hospitality Services offer tips from her personal development class, Building a Better You. Check out the video here.

Building a Better You covers personal growth, leadership skills, attitude and goal setting. The class will be offered again on Wednesday, July 18. Visit the EBS Portal to register or look at other upcoming courses.

Have you ever wished your presentations looked as good as the slides from a meeting you attended? Did you know that Communications and Brand Strategy has created PowerPoint templates to help all of look like experts? Go to http://cabs.msu.edu/toolkit/powerpoint-templates.html to view all three options.

Once you decide which template set to use, click on Download and then Open with Microsoft Office PowerPoint. The Template will open in Slide Master view. Click Close Master View, select the Design tab and expand the section as shown above. Select Save Current Theme, assign a name and click Save.Continue Reading… PowerPoint tips for the rest of us