This is a great opportunity for you to utilize some time for professional development. TakingCharge-SkillPort is an eLearning program available to all regular full-time employees and it is host to a comprehensive catalog of more than 3,000 FREE non-credit on-line professional development courses, simulations and reference materials that are available anytime through an internet connection.
You can access Taking Charge – SkillPort by selecting the TakingCharge-SkillPort Access link on this page: https://intranet.highlands.edu/human-resources/taking-charge-skillport/. Once you have accessed Taking Charge-SkillPort, copy and paste course title into Search Box and launch the training.
Suggested Trainings:
Customer Service
Providing Customer Service Over the Phone: 31 minutes
Overview
When you’re providing customer service over the phone, without face-to-face interaction, it can be challenging to establish the right customer relationships. There are many techniques that can help you consistently deliver service excellence over the telephone. In this course, you’ll learn basic etiquette tips for answering, managing, and ending client service (CS) calls. You’ll also learn how to make a good impression by listening, using questions to probe for more information, minding your tone, and empathizing with the customer. Finally, you’ll learn ways of reflecting or adapting to your customer’s style.
Embracing a Customer-obsessed Mentality: 23 minutes
Overview
Today in the Age of the Customer, competitive advantage has been redefined. Customers are in control. They have more choices than ever before resulting in sky-high expectations. The only source of competitive advantage is the obsession with understanding, delighting, connecting with and serving customers. Organizations need people who are customer obsessed. People who are so interested and committed to the people they are creating and designing for that they are willing to spend time, take risks and admit that they personally might be wrong. People who are so customer obsessed that they never settle but are continually trying to understand what else they can do for their customers.
Working in a Virtual Environment
Establishing Effective Virtual Teams: 30 minutes
Overview
Building and managing teams is enough of a challenge when everyone is in the same location. Collaboration when working on a team that’s virtual requires even more commitment. In this course, you’ll learn about teamwork and team leadership when working on a virtual team. You’ll cover remote management and tactics for communication, assessment, and meetings for virtual teams.
Contributing as a Virtual Team Member:18 minutes
Overview
Companies often opt to create virtual teams in place of on-site teams. This allows employees to work from home or remote locations. However, if not managed appropriately, remote working may cause breakdowns in communication, collaboration, and teamwork.
In this course, you’ll learn how to develop the skills you need to show team leadership and be an effective member of a virtual team. You’ll explore personal traits that are useful when working on a team remotely. You’ll also learn strategies to stay connected with other team members, and ways to manage your time and overcome the challenges associated with managing teams remotely.
Performance Management
Managing Pressure and Stress to Optimize Your Performance: 26 minutes
Overview
People react to high pressure differently. Learning to cope with pressure and handling stress are very important, because you don’t want pressure to have a negative impact on your performance.
In this course, you’ll learn about managing stress and pressure, situations that trigger pressure, and how pressure can become stress. You’ll also look at how stress affects you emotionally and physically, and how to respond to it. And you’ll also learn strategies for managing stress by ensuring you have the right attitude, taking control under pressure, and using performance management to cultivate a “”success mentality.”” You can then optimize your own performance, and prepare to cope with stressed colleagues.
Reaching Goals Using Perseverance and Resilience: 27 minutes
Overview
You will have a hard time persevering without incorporating the benefits of trust and resilience into your efforts. Trusting yourself, trusting others, and having others trust you helps you build confidence, stay open-minded, and remove obstacles. Being resilient and able to get back up when you are knocked down helps you take the next step, continue on the planned course, and do so without harm to yourself or others. In this course, you will learn about earning trust and assessing your circle of trusted people, as well as developing resilience, and what to do to regain trust and rebuild resilience.
Managing Employee Development:31 Minutes
Overview
Smart companies have learned that supporting continuous learning and self-development among employees reaps dividends in productivity and employee retention rates. As a manager, you’re responsible for developing people, which includes developing talent in your direct reports. In this course, you’ll learn about the benefits of developing employees and assessing how their development needs can be addressed through organizational learning. You’ll then learn how to prepare for and conduct a development meeting that includes the necessary development plan characteristics and support for your employees.
Managing Multigenerational Employees: 22 minutes
Overview
Many influences have shaped the lives and work experiences of various generations, namely the Baby Boomer, Gen X, Millennial (or Gen Y), and Gen Z generations. Because each generation has its own distinct attitudes, priorities, needs, and work habits, managers can get the best from a multigenerational workforce by using strategies that recognize the differences.
In this course, you’ll learn about the best practices and successful techniques for managing these multigenerational employees in the workplace. You’ll also explore methods for overcoming multigeneration challenges such as ageism and stereotypes to ensure that all employees feel respected and can make a positive contribution to your organization.
Technology
Mac OS Sierra: Navigating the Environment:36 minutes
Overview
Just starting with macOS Sierra? Discover how to use and organize the Dock, Dashboard, and Desktops, and learn how to access and view system information.
Microsoft Office 365
OneDrive for Business: Signing in & Setting Up:20 minutes
Overview
OneDrive for Business, part of Microsoft’s Office 365 package, is used to store files to work on or share. OneDrive enables you to store your files and keep organized.
In this course you will see how to log in and out of your Office 365 account as well as access the OneDrive application. You’ll also learn how to identify the key interface features in order to get the most out of OneDrive for Business. With Windows 10, you can easily access and view your online OneDrive files.
Office 365: Getting to know the Office 365 web portal: 39 minutes
Overview
Office 365 gives you access to a suite of Office applications, cloud-based collaboration services, and online productivity tools. Explore the Office 365 web portal, services, spaces, and apps.
Excel Online: Navigating the Interface:19 minutes (Beginner)
Overview
To get the most out of Excel Online, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with its interface. Explore the ribbon tool bar and the Tell Me search box for locating tools, and discover how to use the view modes and zoom function.
Excel Office 365: Referencing Data:48 minutes (Intermediate)
Overview
Many times, you will use a cell value in a formula or another location. Discover absolute and relative cell references, using data across multiple worksheets, and formula auditing in Excel for Office 365.