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Public Employee Training

Contact

Employee Relations
651-438-4435

Available EDGE Courses


**NOTE:
  Enrollees must withdraw at least 72 hours prior to the class to avoid being charged.  Dakota County reserves the right to charge the cost of the class if an employee does not withdraw 72 hours prior to the class.
 
 

 General Courses

 
  • Course Name Date Time Location Fee Register
    Holding Candid Conversations in the WorkplaceApril 30, 20138:30-11:30NSC 110B$85 Register
    Taking Time to Be Innovative & CreativeJune 19, 20138:30-11:30NSC 110A$85 Register
    Motivate & Influence Yourself & OthersJune 25, 201312:30-4:00WSC L139$85 Register
    Apply Lean Thinking Tools & Techniques to Your JobJune 27, 20138:30-11:30WSC L139$85 Register
    Understanding the Brain Science Behind Your Customer InteractionsJune 4, 20138:30-11:30NSC 110A$85 Register
    Dispelling the Myths: Deaf & Hard of HearingJune 5, 20131:00-4:00NSC 110A$85 Register
    Good to Great…Making the LeapMay 1, 20131:00-4:00NSC 110C$90 Register
    CPR for Healthcare WorkersMay 14, 20131:00-4:00WSC 104$85 Register
    Understanding Your Muslim ClientsMay 22, 20138:30-10:00NSC 110B$75 Register
    Building Relationships & Rapport with Your CustomersMay 29, 20138:30-11:30NSC 110C$85 Register
    Working Well in Ever Changing TimesMay 7, 20138:30-11:30NSC 110B$85 Register
    Foundational Principles of ManagementMay 8, 20138:30-11:30NSC 110A$90 Register
 

 Technical Courses

 
  • Course Name Date Time Location Fee Register
    MS Visio BasicsApril 25, 201312:30-4:30NSC 120$75 Register
    MS Word BasicsApril 30, 201312:30-4:30NSC 120$75 Register
    Intro to Dakota County GISJune 11, 201312:30-4:30NSC 120Free Register
    MS Excel Databases & ListsJune 20, 20138:30-12:30NSC 120$75 Register
    MS Excel BasicsJune 6, 20138:30-12:30NSC 120$75 Register
    Intro to Dakota County GISMarch 28, 201312:30 - 4:30NSC 120Free Register
    MS Access BasicsMay 15, 20138:30-12:30NSC 120$75 Register
    MS Word Documents & ReportsMay 21, 201312:30-4:30NSC 120$75 Register
    Intro to Dakota County GISMay 8, 20138:30-12:30NSC 120Free Register
 

 General Course Descriptions

 
Holding Candid Conversations in the Workplace
Candid conversations are not just something managers have.  Everyone is today’s workplace needs to develop the ability to have open and honest conversations around difficult issues.  We will address the issues of why it is so difficult to speak up and get at missed expectations and failed commitments.  This exercise filled session will lay out the steps you need to take to be able to hold effective candid conversations, and stay in dialogue, making it safe to get at the heart of the issue.  What is your preferred ‘stress response’ in such situations?  You will take a short quiz and find out.  Finally, we will explore how to handle really difficult situations like how to have a candid conversation with your supervisor. 
 
Good to Great…Making the Leap
Current status as a manager or supervisor of employees.
What make a great leader? What sustains greatness? Why do some leaders never attain that status? Truly great leaders have a specific blend of skills. But they also possess something else; certain characteristics which are harder to define. If you're in a leadership role, then you've likely wondered how you can move to that "next level," going from good to great leadership.
 
What distinguishes top teams from the rest? High-performing leaders aren't the result of happy accident. Research shows they achieve superior levels of participation, cooperation, and collaboration because their employees trust and have confidence in their leader.  During this session, we will look at what makes a leader move from “Good To Great” and the strategies you can implement to move up to this level of leadership.
 
Working Well in Ever Changing Times
Once upon a time, workers prepared to gain a job, settle down for stability, continuity and eventual retirement.  More recently, workers prepare for going to work knowing they will be working in environments of rapid change.  Adjustments of attitude and ways of working are, therefore, required.  In this interactive session, participants will explore ways of working that match with current work environments.
 
Foundational Principles of Management
Current status as a manager or supervisor of employees.
It is common in every workplace for individuals to be hired or promoted into supervisory and management positions, and then be left to fend for themselves in developing quality management skills and practices.  Many do well but most would profit from ongoing education and training in the basics of supervision.
 
This class offers a “refresher” for current supervisors and managers to check their skills and management styles against basic tenants and principals of supervision.  The instructor will lead the class in discussions of the characteristics of good supervisors, key responsibilities, and how to recognize and reward “excellence”.  There will also be discussion of performance review, ethics in the workplace, dealing with difficult performers, approaches to bullying, the politics of management, and much more.
 
Upon completion of the course, attendees will be better equipped to manage and supervise employees on their team as they strive to provide quality service to the citizens of Dakota County.
 
CPR for Healthcare Workers
Learn how to deal with a respiratory emergency and give first aid for a cardiac emergency!  This class focuses on injury prevention, recognizing an emergency and basic first aid.  Following discussion and demonstration, participants will perform CPR techniques on mannequins and learn FBAO removal (foreign body airway obstruction) for infant, child and adults.  Also, participants will learn how a defibrillator works and its importance in life threatening situations.
 
Understanding Your Muslim Clients
Why do some Muslim women wear head covers and some don’t? What are the 5 daily prayer times? Do Muslims keep “kosher”? To what extent do I have to accommodate religious requests? With an estimated population of 150,000, the Muslim presence in Minnesota is growing. CAIR-MN’s “Understanding Your Muslim Clients” seminar will provide participants with a basic understanding of the religion of Islam and common religious practices that often arise in the employment context. This is an opportunity for participants to ask uncomfortable questions and receive knowledgeable answers so that Muslim residents can be served in understanding, respectful, and appropriate ways. 
Building Relationships & Rapport with Your Customers
 
Dispelling the Myths:  Deaf & Hard of Hearing
Did you know that over 38 million Americans have a significant hearing loss?  There is great diversity found among people with a hearing loss.  Come and learn more about people who are Culturally Deaf, "little d" deaf, late-deafened, DeafBlind, and hard of hearing.   In this training you will learn more about the vibrant Deaf Community – its history, values, norms, traditions, and the impact of deafness in everyday life.  By partaking in a simulated hearing loss and speech reading exercise, you will develop a keen awareness to what it is like to live with an acquired hearing loss.  Upon the completion of this training, you will have several resources to assist you in communicating and working more effectively with your client, family member, friend or co-worker.
 
Taking Time to Be Innovative & Creative
In today's stressful world, it's important to make time to focus on creativity and innovation.  This course presents skills for creating more quality time in your day to focus on innovation and creativity. Participants will also learn how to apply tools for solo innovation and facilitating creativity in group settings.
 
Motivate & Influence Yourself & Others
Each day you have the need to motivate others to take action.  A successful outcome depends largely on your approach and your ability to influence others. Students will identify the characteristics and relevance of two types of power in the workplace, understand yourself and your own preferences for communication, and learn to connect with others to build trust and rapport. Students will also learn how to connect with others to increase confidence, and review key principles for encouraging and engaging other, promoting ideas, and managing change. Inspiring others is not easy.  People do things for their own reasons, not yours.  Simple strategies will help you strengthen relationships, develop camaraderie, and achieve the results you desire.
 
Apply Lean Thinking Tools & Techniques to Your Job
In today's competitive environment, employees at all levels have to take on an increasing workload without the luxury of increasing headcount. Many organizations are finding that using lean concepts and tools empower employees to work smarter without working harder. Essentially, lean is the practice that considers the expenditure of resources for any goal other than the creation of value for the end customer to be wasteful, and thus a target for elimination. Simple, lean is centered on preserving value with less work. This course is designed for those who need a practical hands-on approach to managing projects, without it getting “heavy”. The purpose of this training is to introduce and/or familiarize you to practical lean process improvement skills and techniques that you can use to make your job easier and your time, used more efficiently and effectively.
  
Understanding the Brain Science behind Your Customer Interactions
Ever wonder what your brain is going through when you’re serving customers?  Have you ever felt like your mind is working overtime when trying to help difficult customers?  Has your head ever hurt due to customer interactions?  Would you like to learn practical ways to combat the stress and emotional toll that comes from being a public servant?
 
The Understanding the Brain Science behind Your Customer Interactions Workshop is uniquely designed to help you understand how your brain works when serving customers.  It will help you prepare for and serve even the most challenging of customers.
 
In this 3-hour interactive workshop you’ll:
See how hard your brain works to help you serve customers.
  • Learn what parts of the brain are firing when you’re serving customers.
  • Refocus your thinking from emotions to solutions when under fire.
  • Prepare for your workday by feeding your brain to think more clearly.
  • Consider new ways to protect yourself from the stress caused by difficult customer situations.
  • Increase your job satisfaction by discovering your passions for serving customers and how to express those passions.
 
 

 Technical Course Descriptions

 
 
MS Visio Basics
Prerequisites – This course is available to all employees currently using Visio for their job. Student is expected to use Visio to fulfill current job duties as assigned by your supervisor.
Upon completion of this course, student will be able to use templates to create drawings, use stencils to add shapes to drawings, position shapes in drawings and guidelines, and format shapes. Students will also be able to size and move shapes, add text shapes to drawings, and create basic work flow, flow chart, timeline, org chart, and map drawings.
 
MS Word Basics
Participants should have a solid working knowledge of basic Microsoft Word functions.
Upon completion of this course, student will be able to create and edit tables, set and revise tabs in a document, use advanced paragraph formatting such as indents, bullets and numbering, paragraph spacing, and paragraph borders.  The student will also learn how to set up page numbering and headers in footers in a document without sections.  Students will learn the use of Quick Styles, style sets, color sets, and font sets and how to create and use Quick Parts to insert commonly used text entries without typing.
 
Intro to Dakota County GIS
Dakota County GIS is for everyone!  You don’t have to be a GIS “User” or have any previous GIS experience.
 
Do you ever work with geographic, or location based data, like clients, service areas, or property?  Have you ever needed to know where something was, or whether it was near an area where you were working?  Would it be useful to know if other departments were involved in projects adjacent to yours? 
 
Dakota County GIS is a web-based GIS that allows city and county staff to explore a variety of county and regional data.  Dakota County GIS is available to all city and county staff, and provides access to much more than just property information.  With access to 300+ datasets, it is possible to identify geographical relationships and determine whether entities around the county may have an impact on your work.  Having all staff access the same GIS means that everyone is working from the same information.
 
In this hands-on course you will learn how to access tons of county data, look up parcel information, view air photos & Pictometry imagery, measure distances and areas, create custom site maps, generate mailing labels, and much more.
 
Note:  This course will be taught using DCGIS version 4.
 
MS Access Basics
Participants will gain knowledge and skills in working in databases.  This class will cover: learning the definitions involved in working with database using the Database Window, viewing data in the datasheet view, viewing data using the one-to-many relationships, entering and editing data in tables, sorting data, filtering data, and setting up basic queries.
 
MS Word Documents & Reports
Prerequisites- The student must have mastered the topics presented in the Intermediate Word class or equivalent.
Upon completion of this course, student will be able to use section breaks to subdivide a document, format sections, add custom headers, footers, and page numbers. Students will learn to create custom styles, use and edit styles to format a document quickly, use color and font schemes, create a table of contents, and add a cover page. Students will be able to use quick parts, how to copy data from Excel to Word, and add pictures, SmartArt and drawings to your documents.
 
ms excel basics
This course will introduce basic skills needed to create, revise, format, and print spreadsheets.  Users will learn to work with workbooks, Ribbons, and shortcut menus.  Procedures for moving around a worksheet, writing and copying formulas, and printing techniques will also be taught.
 
Intro to Dakota County GIS
Dakota County GIS is for everyone!  You don’t have to be a GIS “User” or have any previous GIS experience.
 
Do you ever work with geographic, or location based data, like clients, service areas, or property?  Have you ever needed to know where something was, or whether it was near an area where you were working?  Would it be useful to know if other departments were involved in projects adjacent to yours? 
 
Dakota County GIS is a web-based GIS that allows city and county staff to explore a variety of county and regional data.  Dakota County GIS is available to all city and county staff, and provides access to much more than just property information.  With access to 300+ datasets, it is possible to identify geographical relationships and determine whether entities around the county may have an impact on your work.  Having all staff access the same GIS means that everyone is working from the same information.
 
In this hands-on course you will learn how to access tons of county data, look up parcel information, view air photos & Pictometry imagery, measure distances and areas, create custom site maps, generate mailing labels, and much more.
 
Note:  This course will be taught using DCGIS version 4.
 
ms excel Databases & Lists
Prerequisites -MS Excel Basics (or solid working knowledge of basic Excel functions.)
This course covers working with larger workbooks including viewing options, hiding columns and rows, freezing titles, viewing multiple workbooks, creating databases, working with data tables, sorting data, filtering data, subtotaling data, using pivot tables to summarize data, and creating charts.
 

Last updated: 5/6/2013 5:54 AM