Business Essentials Program

Module 1 - Order, Disorder, Re-order...Embracing Change During Uncertain Times

Required

Change is constant.  The people side of change management is a critical component to successfully implementing a change management framework, whether it be small tweaks or large-scale transformational change. Change management process is a framework for creating new business practices, shifts in organizational structure or culture changes within an organization. 

Applying a framework and developing an implementation plan for change is beneficial when people require new roles, behaviors, skills or outcomes.  By formally addressing change as its own unique entity, implementing diligent communication and proactively seeking to understand people’s tolerance for the changes, you can establish credibility and embrace the discomfort of known and unknown changes.

In this module, participants will explore some models for assessing change tolerance and learn new skills to ensure stakeholders are more likely to buy into change and be committed to its implementation.

In this module, you will:

• understand the patterns of change and why its necessary;
• increase your ability to develop a change management plan;
• explore best practices for change management; and
• practice applying a change model.

Required

Do you find yourself struggling to understand the behaviour of others?  Is it “stressing you out”?  What is stress anyway? 

This module will provide participants with insights into the common causes of stress and why human beings respond as they do when things fail to go their way.  We will cover how personality influences stress levels and why different approaches to managing difficult situations can either amplify or reduce your feelings of stress. 

Within the module, you will also have an opportunity to explore the concept of resilience and some of the more common approaches to increasing your capacity to withstand the pressures of life. 

The intended outcomes of this module include:

• Gaining insight into identifying and managing triggers of stress in yourself and others;
• Learning to recognize how personality differences impact stress and methods of coping;
• Added insight into personal stressors and resilience levels; and
• Understanding of approaches to managing stress.

Module 3 - Using Crisis to Spark Process Improvement and Innovation

Required

 “To effect change, there must be a stimulation of a magnitude that means companies cannot do anything but make bold decisions to survive.” ABI's Chief Research Officer Stuart Carlaw – Mar. 25, 2020

During these unprecedented times, businesses and organizations have been forced to rethink how they respond to their customer’s needs and to provide their products and services in very different ways.  As new delivery methods emerged out of necessity to stay viable, many businesses began to challenge the exiting processes.  Were they the most efficient?  Did they actually add value for the customer, or do we do this just because we have “always did it this way”?

Sometimes it takes a crisis to jar us out of our habits, and look at things differently.  New ways of thinking and doing may actually increase quality, reduce response times, add more service options, increase service times, and reduce costs!

Process improvement involves the practice of identifying, analyzing and improving existing business processes to optimize performance, improve quality for the best customer or end-users experience.  Innovation is a new creative idea or new imagination in the form of a device or method arising from new business requirements, unarticulated customer needs, or changing market demands.  How can your organization or business take the incentive that has emerged out of the past few months and apply it towards the development of an improved and/or innovative process?

In this module, you will:

• understand what is meant by process improvement and innovation;
• learn the steps that can be used to improve processes;
• identify signs of poor processes causing waste; not adding value to the customer;
• understand what is needed for successful improvement efforts and avoid pitfalls; and
• practice some basic tools in process improvement to get you started.

Module 4 - Navigating Difficult Conversations

Required

Do you find some conversations too difficult to manage – or have you encountered situations where you wish you had handled a discussion more effectively? 

As we navigate new approaches to interacting, making certain our message is received as intended can be a significant challenge.  Moving from face to face conversations to virtual environments adds an additional layer of complexity that is often unfamiliar and can be riddled with potential pitfalls.

This module will provide you with an opportunity to explore different approaches to communication and to uncover personal triggers within difficult conversations.  You will learn about the importance of flexibility in approach, and why being curious can help move a conversation past disagreement.

The module will cover the following key areas:

• Personal triggers in difficult conversations;
• Assessing your communication style(s);
• Identify best practices for sharing perspectives; and
• Build new skills, gain knowledge, and learn tools to support effective communication.

Required

Businesses across the globe have felt the pressure to understand their customer experience at a much deeper level. With a major shift in the consumer purchasing journey, businesses have had to rethink strategies all while keeping safety and customer experience top of mind. 

Your customer experience is on center stage, now more than ever before. Customer retention is crucial to the long term sustainability of your business. As Consumers pull back on spending and ensure they receive value in a safe trusted environment, it is critical to examine the elements of customer retention, customer and employee experience in which to create the most conducive environment for your business to thrive.

In this two-part module, participants will explore customer retention concepts, introductions to the employee experience that help them understand how these impact businesses, employees and customers.

In this two-part module, you will:

• Understand customer retention concepts;
• Calculating your customer retention rate;
• Explore how customer experience and customer retention, impacts your bottom line;
• Introduce the employee experience and correlation to customer retention; and
• Introduce customer retention strategies which also include elevating the employee experience