Find greater success in the workplace with courses and workshops in communications, leadership, project management and process improvement.

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Upcoming Workshops, Courses and Training

Leadership Courses

During this virtual lunch and learn series, you will have the opportunity to experience a variety of different leadership topics. The series consists of 10 different topics. Topic include Preventing Burnout - Self-care and Self-awareness Focus, Preventing Burnout – Team Focus, Leading Across Generations, Transitioning from Peer to a Leader, Change Management & Rooms of Change, Bringing New Employees into the Organization, Workplace Resilience, Colors Personality, The Art of Active Listening and Crucial Conversations. You are welcome to sign up for the topics you are interested in.
Online Live, ongoing through 3/28, Friday, 11:30 AM-12:30 PM Instructor: Mary Bjorklund
Enhance Your Leaderships Skills and Performance. The Madison College Leadership Academy will help you understand human behavior, improve productivity and manage relationships effectively at all levels of your organization. Learn how to address challenges and find opportunities with practical tools and strategies you can apply right away. The Academy consists of eleven leadership topics.
#67147 and #67149, Fort Atkinson Campus, 2/12-4/23, Every Other Wednesday, 8 AM-4 PM Instructor: TBD
#67177 and #67179, Reedsburg Campus, 4/2-5/7, Wednesday, 8 AM-4 PM Instructor: TBD
Engage in a Leadership Bootcamp focusing on trust, productivity, loyalty, teamwork, and positive culture. Learn to mitigate low-trust impacts, build collaborative relationships, shape organizational beliefs, and enhance delegation, team leadership, and emotional intelligence skills. Learn strategies for better outcomes, team development, autonomy, and conflict reduction. Develop skills to lead and facilitate productive team meetings and harness the power of EI to manage and utilize emotions effectively, thereby enhancing leadership capabilities and reducing workplace conflicts.
#67856, Comm Ave Campus, 3/6-3/20, Thursday, 12:30-4:30 PM Instructor: TBD

Communication Courses

Have you faced conversations that are challenging, complicated or downright unpleasant? Whether it’s with your manager, coworker, or spouse, there are specific techniques you can start using today that will help you manage conversations that are uncomfortable, helping you to relieve stress and get your desired goal. At the end of our time together, you will…Understand the different styles of communication and which one is most effective, Learn a five-step formula to stay focused and keep your conversation on track, and Practice using a specific template to help deliver your message clearly.
#67858, Main - Protective Services Building, 4/3, Thursday, 6-9 PM Instructor: Nancy Depcik
Be empowered with the essential skills to communicate with impact and navigate conflicts successfully in both personal and professional contexts. By the end of this course, you will have gained a holistic understanding of effective communication, honed active listening skills, developed strategies for conflict resolution, and acquired the tools to lead and navigate crucial conversations with confidence and success.
#67855, Comm Ave Campus, 4/1-4/3, Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday, 12-4 PM Instructor: TBD

 

Workshops and Skill Development

As an overall collaboration of (standard) leadership resources and practices, the essentials of leadership addresses the practical behaviors and experiences associated with leading individuals and teams in day-to-day operational functions. The essentials serve as the foundation for more advanced applications of leadership practices, incorporating the various styles of leadership, applications of appropriate leadership traits, and the flexibility necessary to recognize the individual needs and talents of the leader and his/her reporting domain.
#66739, Online Live, 1/29, Wednesday, 12:30-4 PM Instructor: Tim Glaeser
Reclaim control over your daily life. Discover strategies for shedding the burden of too many decisions by optimizing your routine, organizing your day and week for success. Learn the art of handling tasks promptly by eliminating or postponing actions. We'll also explore the power of single-tasking to increase your focus and productivity. Say goodbye to decision fatigue and welcome a more streamlined, efficient, and less stressful way of approaching your day.
#65540, Online Live, 2/12, Wednesday, 5-6 PM Instructor: Mary Okon
People are the most dynamic and complex aspect of any workplace, and successfully managing interpersonal relationships is one of the most challenging, yet essential, skills for leaders. This engaging and interactive session is designed to help you navigate the diverse personalities in your work environment with confidence and understanding. By fostering awareness of individual differences, you can create a more tolerant, harmonious, and productive workplace. Key Takeaways: Understand Personality Types, Enhance Team Dynamics, and Practical Management Tips.
#67927, Online Live, 2/13, Thursday, 11 AM-12:30 PM Instructor: Amy Johnson
Master your time and unlock your potential with this dynamic course designed to help you boost productivity, reduce stress, and crush your personal and academic goals. Rooted in the Full Focus framework, you'll discover game-changing strategies for calendar mastery, building powerful habits, cultivating a high-performance mindset, and managing your energy like a pro. Get ready to take control, stay on track, and thrive in every aspect of your life!

First class is be 2 hours 12-2 pm and the rest will be 1-2 pm. Students will meet in person on 2/20, 3/27, 4/24 and 5/15. Rest of the classes will be online live.
#67973, In-person at Commercial Avenue and Online Live, 2/20-5/15, Thursday, 1-2 PM Instructor: Jenna Piche
This course demonstrates how wellness is at the core of all successful leadership. Each week we’ll explore a new area of wellness, observe how it shows up in common workplace situations, practice implementing new tools to improve leadership skills, receive coaching to help navigate challenges and better understand the significance of wellness in leadership. Throughout the process you’ll learn how to become more present, better support yourself and those you lead, navigate challenging employee matters with increased ease and confidence and develop an employee leadership relationship that is based on mutual respect and teamwork.
#67153, Online Live, 2/26-4/9, Wednesday, 11:30 AM-12:30 PM Instructor: Mary Okon
The workplace has evolved, and leading remote or hybrid teams has become an essential skill for today’s leaders. Balancing productivity, motivation, and collaboration in virtual or blended environments can be challenging, but with the right strategies, you can create a high-performing and engaged team no matter where they are. This one-hour interactive session equips leaders and team members with actionable insights and tools to thrive in remote or hybrid work settings. From mastering virtual communication to fostering team cohesion and culture, you’ll gain the knowledge and skills to lead effectively in a distributed workplace.
#67939, Online Live, 2/27, Thursday, 11 AM-12:30 PM Instructor: Amy Johnson
Learn strategies and techniques to offer exceptional and effective customer service. Learn to deal with difficult situations as well as with difficult customers and how to handle difficult conversations. Gain a better understanding of why others act as they do and develop improved responses to help de-escalate awkward and difficult situations. Learn to anticipate responses and outcomes and how to propose appropriate solutions, fix bad customer experiences, and conduct proper follow-up.
#67159, Online Live, 3/11, Tuesday, 5:30-9 PM Instructor: Brent Kyzer-McHenry
What is technical writing and why is it so important? Professionals, technical experts, and managers all require communication skills at work. Learn how to effectively communicate with an intended audience to clearly convey your intended information. Apply the principles and guidelines for technical communication through the development and review of documents, graphics and visuals.
#66640, Online, 3/18-4/15, Instructor: Kara Vogel
Hiring the right people is critical to building a successful organization, but it takes more than instinct to identify the best candidate. This comprehensive course is designed for anyone involved in the hiring process. In this interactive training, participants will learn how to implement compliant and consistent hiring practices, create compelling job descriptions, master candidate sourcing strategies, and conduct effective interviews that uncover top talent. Whether you’re looking to refine your current hiring approach or build a process from the ground up, this course provides actionable tools and insights to hire right the first time.
#67928, Commercial Avenue, 3/20, Wednesday, 1-4:30 PM Instructor: Amy Johnson
#67929, Portage Campus, 3/19, Thursday, 8:30 AM-12 PM Instructor: Amy Johnson
From onboarding to crossboarding and upskilling, teams spend a good amount of time on training. Are you investing that time wisely? This full-day intensive workshop helps teams assess training strengths and challenges to better find strategies that fit their workplace. Participants will build coaching and performance management skills for common training scenarios and leave with more confidence to teach others.
#67925, Online Live, 4/2-4/23, Wednesday, 1-3 PM Instructor: Amy Johnson
#67926, Portage Campus, 4/10, Thursday, 9 AM-4:30 PM Instructor: Amy Johnson
In this 1-hour Work-Life Balance Audit class, we’ll explore how to create a more harmonious balance between your professional and personal life. If you often feel overwhelmed or stretched too thin between work and life commitments, this course is perfect for you. By the end of the session, you'll have a clearer understanding of where your time and energy are going and gain practical tools to prioritize what matters most, allowing you to achieve a healthier, more fulfilling work-life balance.
#67667, Online Live, 4/16, Wednesday, 5-6 PM Instructor: Mary Okon
Crowdfunding is an accessible fundraising strategy for start-ups, inventors, business ventures, non-profits, and individuals. Crowdfunding requests relatively small donations from a large group of donors/investors – your crowd. In this course you will learn about the types of crowdfunding and leading platforms, review other projects, learn how to plan for a campaign, strategize, and pitch and budget for a project. Crowdfunding has become a prominent mechanism of generating revenue, with billions of dollars raised each year in North America. Learn if crowdfunding is for you or your organization and what running a successful campaign involves.
#67173, Online, 4/29-5/20 Instructor: Kara Vogel
In this 1-hour Time Spend Audit class, we'll dive into the concept of treating time like money and explore how this perspective can transform our daily lives. If you often feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day or struggle to make progress toward your goals, this course is designed for you. By the end of the call, you'll gain a new awareness of your time management habits and learn to make impactful decisions to optimize your time effectively.
#67668, Online Live, 4/30, Wednesday, 5-6 PM Instructor: Mary Okon
The Life Cycle of Collaboration our collaboration framework. The course is a space where we learn the framework and become better at designing and leading intentional collaborations. In this workshop, we dive into why transformational leadership, facilitation, and conflict resolution skills are so important to this collaboration model. We will examine and practice using these skills to design, manage, and participate in more impactful collaborations. The life cycle begins when everything is possible and we empower idea holders. It ends when deliverables are finished in a clean, pretty package. Participants will finish this series curious and comfortable about their intentional collaborations while containing new insight and tools for how they show up as leaders in those collaborations.
Future offerings will be posted here.
Learn the fundamental differences between the top social media platforms, and how to identify the best ones for your business. Learn how to create an effective social media strategy and content, including running social media ads. Students will go through the process to create their own impactful social media plan.
#66793, Online Live, 4/26 and 5/3, Saturday, 9-11 AM Instructor: Kara Hanninen
In today’s fast-paced work environments, employee wellbeing is critical to maintaining a productive, engaged, and resilient workforce. Employers have a unique opportunity to promote mental health awareness and implement practices that support their employees’ overall wellbeing. This hands-on course designed to help leaders build a workplace culture that prioritizes mental health and addresses the challenges of stress and burnout. Participants will explore the impact of mental health on workplace dynamics, learn the roles team members can play in fostering a supportive environment, and create actionable burnout prevention plans using proven models and practices.
#67931, Portage Campus, 5/2, Friday, 8:30 AM-12 PM Instructor: Amy Johnson
#67932, Commercial Avenue, 5/9, Friday, 8:30 AM-12 PM Instructor: Amy Johnson

Self-Paced Online Leadership Courses

Step into a safer, more respectful workplace with this essential course on bullying and harassment. Discover the key differences between these behaviors, the legal protections available, and the roles and responsibilities every employee and leader holds in preventing a hostile work environment. Gain practical steps you can take if harassment happens to you, and learn how to be a proactive ally in creating a healthy, positive workplace.
Online, self-paced
Good teams become great when members trust each other enough to prioritize ‘we’ over ‘me.’ Without trust, teamwork crumbles into doubt, low effort, and endless conflict. This course dives into the power of trust, guiding you to build positive, productive relationships with your superiors, peers, and direct reports. You’ll explore the 3 C’s and 5 Waves of Trust, learn to rebuild trust, and discover the impact of high-trust environments on team success.
Online, self-paced
Unlock the power of emotional intelligence (EQ) and transform the way you lead, collaborate, and succeed in the workplace. In this engaging course, you’ll dive into the four core competencies of EQ and discover actionable strategies to improve communication, build stronger relationships, and foster a positive work environment.
Online, Self-Paced
Ready to take your hiring process to the next level? This course will guide you through every step of conducting outstanding job interviews, from thorough preparation to impactful follow-up. You’ll learn how to design insightful interview questions, set a welcoming tone, and ensure a fair, positive experience for every candidate. Gain the tools to identify top talent while building a strong reputation as an employer of choice.
online, Self-Paced
Gain the skills, strategies, and insights to build and lead high-performing teams. Discover the traits that set successful teams apart from dysfunctional ones, and learn how to overcome common barriers to effective teamwork. You’ll explore the stages of team development, master techniques to lead teams with confidence, and uncover practical ways to elevate team performance. Get ready to inspire and empower your team to reach its full potential.
Online, Self-Paced
Every interaction with a customer is an opportunity to leave a lasting impression. In "Moments of Truth," we explore the key touchpoints where customer perceptions are formed and loyalty is won or lost. This course delves into understanding customer journeys, identifying critical moments that impact brand perception, and designing memorable, positive interactions. Perfect for professionals in customer service, marketing, and sales, this course will equip you with the skills and insights needed to turn everyday interactions into extraordinary experiences.
Online, Self-Paced
Unlock the skills to negotiate with confidence and effectiveness. This course covers essential strategies, including setting goals, understanding prerequisites, defining your Zone of Possible Agreement (ZOPA), and mastering the negotiation stages. Learn to prepare effectively by developing a strong Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA) and countering common tactics. Through interactive exercises and real-world scenarios, you’ll practice techniques to close negotiations successfully. Ideal for professionals seeking to enhance deal-making skills and build mutually beneficial agreements with partners, clients, and stakeholders.
Online, Self-Paced
Transform your meetings from time-draining obligations into focused, results-driven sessions. In this course, you’ll learn to plan and lead effective meetings that generate ideas, share information, and inspire action. Discover techniques for targeted preparation, purposeful agendas, and productive discussion. Master essential follow-up strategies to ensure accountability and momentum. Perfect for managers, team leaders, and professionals, this course will equip you to lead meetings that make the most of everyone’s time and energy.
Online, Self-Paced

Project, Process and Operations Courses

This course is a unique blend of key project management concepts and applied training that you can immediately apply to your projects. Gain specific tools for all phases of the project life cycle to successfully manage and deliver results at home, at work or in any project situation. Learn how to develop project plans and requirements, identify scope, develop milestones and action plans, prepare estimates, and monitor and manage projects.
#67099, Online Live, 4/15, 4/22 & 4/29, Tuesday, 5:30-8 PM Instructor: Leo Sedlmeyer
Green Belts solve problems by finding their root causes and then streamlining processes. This course meets today's changing business environment and is led by Lean Six Sigma Experts. Course offered in partnership with Ed2Go.
Online, On-demand. 50 hours, 6 months of access
Learn to streamline organizational processes through strategic improvement projects. This online Six Sigma training course will help you prepare for the Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certification exam. Help transform your organization by reducing costs, increasing revenue and improving collaboration. Course offered in partnership with Ed2Go.
Online, On-demand. 75 hours, 6 months of access

Noncredit to Credit Pathway

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Badge Series

Business Communications Series

Completion of this series of courses indicates study of and practice in skills associated with business communication. Topics and competencies include active listening, concise speaking, non-verbal communication and body language, managing difficult and crucial conversations, working with diverse others, bias, stereotypes, and workplace harassment, negotiation, networking, persuasive speaking, and conducting coaching and performance evaluations.

Emerging Leaders Series

Completion of this series of courses indicates study of and practice in skills associated with the two keys to effective management: results and relationships, in the context of the traditional managerial elements of planning, organizing, directing and controlling. Students learn techniques for problem solving, critical thinking, decision-making, delegation, motivation, change management, and apply these techniques through simulations, role-plays, and case studies. The course also emphasizes development of Emotional Intelligence (“EI”), including self-assessment, as well as learning and applying specific techniques to improve each element of EI.

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