Friendly Persuasion: How to Get the Things You Want and Need
Duration: 45–60 minutes • Target audience: Employees looking to improve their skills in persuasion
Persuasion is a skill that everyone in the organization uses to accomplish goals. Used effectively, persuasion can lead to solutions that work in everyone’s best interest. This session provides practical communication techniques to help you get the results you want and need.
Learning objectives
- Describe how to assess your own persuasive abilities and identify steps that will make you persuasive.
- Describe how listening well can contribute to your ability to persuade others, including questioning techniques.
- Describe ways to make sure you get feedback during a persuasive dialogue.
- Create a personal action plan to improve your persuasive abilities.
Communication Influence Goal-setting
How to Deal With a Difficult Person
Duration: 45–60 minutes • Target audience: Anyone wishing to improve their ability to communicate with others
Interactions with difficult people can affect confidence, mood, and focus. Learn to recognize common difficult behaviors and apply strategies that make challenging encounters more manageable.
Learning objectives
- Identify common difficult behaviors and what motivates most difficult behaviors.
- Identify distinctions between passive, aggressive, and passive/aggressive behaviors.
- Describe how to maintain composure and defuse aggressive acts in the workplace.
- Describe methods for resolving conflict and identify tips for improving communication.
Conflict resolution De-escalation Communication
Time Management Tools: To-do Lists, Calendars, Smartphones and More
Duration: 45–60 minutes • Target audience: Anyone looking for tools to help them manage their time
Between work and life demands, it can be hard to stay organized. This session helps you sort through common tools—digital and paper— and choose systems that fit your workload and working style.
Learning objectives
- Describe tools for managing appointments, including advantages and challenges of different calendaring systems.
- Describe tools for organizing tasks and responsibilities, including best practices for creating to-do lists.
- Describe how priority grids can be used and how to create them.
- Identify ways to ensure mission-critical tasks do not get lost, using reminders and technology effectively.
Productivity Planning Organization
Learning to Say “No”
Duration: 45–60 minutes • Target audience: Anyone wishing to improve their ability to say “no” in a respectful manner
Saying “no” can bring up guilt or fear of displeasing others, but it is a critical skill for defining what you will and will not do. This session addresses how to respectfully say “no” to build and maintain healthy self-esteem.
Learning objectives
- Identify reasons why it is important to say “no.”
- Describe distinctions between passive, aggressive, and assertive behavior.
- Identify the most common obstacles to saying “no” and the real and imagined consequences.
- Describe several templates for saying “no” and how to effectively employ them.
Assertiveness Self-management Communication
Personal and Professional Boundaries
Duration: 45–60 minutes • Target audience: Anyone who wishes to understand and maintain appropriate boundaries
Interpersonal boundaries shape all relationships. This session focuses on recognizing when boundaries are too porous or too rigid and learning techniques to communicate limits in ways that support healthy, productive relationships.
Learning objectives
- Describe interpersonal boundaries and recognize when they become problematic.
- Consider vulnerabilities that contribute to problematic boundaries.
- Change the way you communicate boundaries both personally and professionally.
- Practice setting limits and expectations in your relationships with yourself and others.
Boundaries Communication Well-being
Managing Up for Professional Success
Duration: 45–60 minutes • Target audience: USM employees who partner closely with leaders
Managing up is about strengthening your working relationship with your supervisor through clear communication, shared expectations, and proactive support of mutual goals.
Learning objectives
- Clarify priorities, decision points, and preferred communication rhythms with your supervisor.
- Communicate constraints early and propose solutions when timelines or capacity are tight.
- Provide proactive updates that support planning and reduce last-minute surprises.
- Build trust through consistency, follow-through, and meeting readiness.
Partnership Communication Professional growth
