For those of us in the training profession, there is good and bad news. The good news: Organizations continue to pour millions of dollars into training. The bad news: Much of the training done in organizations is not directly linked to improving performance and produces no measurable return on investment.

Sadly, HRD professionals typically command little respect within corporations. ASTD’s 2000 Trends Report says, "All too often, HRD is not considered a part of the solution when senior management is addressing critical strategic issues. The result is that management and HRD professionals alike often ignore the potential-and real-contributions of HRD to the organization's bottom line."

To make meaningful contributions within organizations, professionals in the Training and Development field must grow into something beyond their traditional training roles to focus on performance. We must find ways to link our role-and the services we provide-to bottom-line business performance.

In this session we look into this new role, you will assess how you stack up against the new competencies you'll need, and you will walk away with practical tools to use as you tackle your next project, not as a trainer, but as a performance consultant!

Dan Vetter
Vetter Solutions

Dan founded Vetter Solutions in 1994. He works with organizations that want to run better. Dan's personal mission is to make people successful. He jokingly refers to himself as the Organizational Chiropractor, because he seeks to eliminate the pain organizations experience from misalignment. He works to ensure that leaders, employees, and processes are cleanly aligned with what the customers want.

Dan has over 15 years experience in process and human performance improvement. He began his career training and supervising student leaders in a college residence setting. After completing a Masters in Counseling and Guidance from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, he worked full time as a therapist specializing in group facilitation.

For 12 years Dan worked inside a Fortune 500 company where he facilitated workshops for thousands of participants on topics including: leadership, communication, business presentations, customer service, teamwork, process improvement, and quality. During 7 of those years he worked hands-on with leadership and employee teams to discover and implement business process improvements. Most recently, he was part of an innovative corporate team that functioned as an internal consulting group serving all business units within the 18,000 employee First Data Card Services Group.

Dan is the Past President of ASTD-Cascadia Chapter and a board members with Oregon ODN. In 1996 he received the ASTD President's Award for outstanding contributions to the Nebraska Chapter. Additionally, he serves as an adjunct faculty member for Portland State University, Bellevue University, and Drake University, facilitating programs in the areas of Quality, Human Performance Improvement, and Training.

A fad? Our future? What is all the buzz about coaching and how does it connect with training and development? What are the skills and strategies you will need to integrate coaching into your work?

Two trainers with extensive coaching experience team up to bring you this practical and provocative session. David has taught coaching skills to over 1,000 managers and service professionals and Larry has coached numerous executives and teams. By the end of this program you will have a foundation in the pedagogy and steps of coaching, understand the differences between coaching and training, learn about its current and future applications in the workplace, and practice a few of the core skills one uses as a coach.

This program is designed for people seeking to enhance their professional competence and opportunities through the development and use of coaching skills.

We will look at the impact of the emergence of coaching in our profession so you can take the appropriate actions to position yourself for the growing opportunities. We will be using your comments and experiences as input for this session. 

Larry Briggs
Briggs Consulting

Larry is President of Briggs Consulting and has been coaching CEOs and their direct reports for more than 15 years using his V2A (Vision to Action) methodology. He makes extensive use of 360 feedback instruments and has used temperament-typing tools along with his coaching to assist his clients in achieving what is truly important in their careers. As a consultant and coach, Larry has seen the positive effects of coaching as an integral part of the organizational development and change process.

Larry has a BA from the University of Puget Sound and has taught at George Fox University, PCC and Mt. Hood Community College.

David Drake, PhD
Catalyst Communications

David is the founder and President of Catalyst Communications in Portland, OR. He has served over 75 clients in the past 10 years - ranging from Head Start and the State of Oregon to Nike and Intel. He specializes in helping organizations integrate coaching skills into work practices, develop collaborative ventures, and manage knowledge and change.

David is a nationally recognized trainer and leader in the fields of mentoring and coaching. He has taught over 1,000 people using his coaching skills program, and he recently had an article on coaching vs mentoring published in a newsletter of the US Dept. of Health and Human Services. He also developed the curriculum for an intercultural coaching institute and serves as the co-director and lead trainer for that program. He has provided his expertise in support of the development of a mentoring program within the U.S. Veteran’s Administration. His book on the psychological research behind effective coaching will be published this year.

David has a Ph.D. in Human and Organizational Development from Fielding Graduate Institute. His research was on the use of narratives to understand and support adult development.

Working as an internal consultant requires a special set of skills and strategies that include gaining credibility and wielding influence  - all without any authority. This program will show how to influence and work closely with others in the organization to implement strategies and programs. Karl will introduce theories related to internal consulting, and engage participants in developing strategies for use in their environment.

Karl Hunrick
BPA

Karl has over 25 years experience in employee and organizational development working with diverse industries such as intermodal trucking and warehousing, steamship operations, public transportation, private and contract HR consulting, high tech, and energy.

He has a BS in Human Development, an MA in Organizational Management, and holds the SPHR certification. Karl’s work as the Corporate Business Line Lead functions as an internal consultant, and his clients include the Chief Operating Officer, the Business Operations Board (includes the Sr VP’s of the Transmission Business Line and the Power Business Line, the Chief Financial Officer, and the Chief Information Officer) that oversees internal operations, and the Senior VP for Employee and Business Resource

At the very heart of OD work is the consultant’s capability to design and implement interventions that fit the needs of the organization. This highly participative and hands-on session will focus on:

• What you need to know about the organization
• Your role as consultant versus your client’s role
• How to practice the art and skill of creating effective designs
• How to ensure successful interventions
• Who should be involved…when…and with what issues

In preparation for this session, Sharon e-mailed elders around the country and gathered a collection of wisdom from founders and shapers of the OD field. She will share the sometimes surprising results of this survey at the session.

Sharon Thorne
Thorne and Associates

Sharon brings a broad range of experience to the role of OD Consultant. She’s been an internal corporate OD specialist, manager, adjunct professor, and, for the last twenty years, an external consultant. Clients have come from corporate and public sectors including: ExxonMobil, Eastman Kodak, Toyota, Tektronix, City of Eugene, British Telecom, Mentor Graphics, US West, BPA, and the Center for Creative Leadership among many others.

She has designed and implemented interventions that improve teams, develop leaders, revamp organizational structures, enhance productivity, and encourage participation and learning.

In the mid 80s, Sharon was elected head of the national Organization Development Network, a professional association for about 4,000 consultants. She led the Network for ten years.

This session will examine what it means to be a “learning organization” from both a theoretical and practical standpoint. The presenter, Gary Ewer, has been instrumental in making Platt Electric a successful model of the learning organization. Gary will share the philosophy and the actions that have made their program successful. Company CEO Harvey Platt will join the discussion to share his role in instilling the LO philosophy into daily work life. Learn about Platt University – the organizations ongoing program of education and learning. Assess your own organization in terms of where it is and how it might become more of a learning organization.

Gary Ewer
Platt Electric

Gary has been with Platt Electric Supply for 20 years. As the Director of Education, he is responsible for the training and development of 700 employees at 70 branch locations in six western states. Platt University delivers training programs that meet diverse adult-learning styles through a blended approach to learning that includes on-the-Job, classroom, and Web-based training.

Gary has a passion for teaching adults and finds great satisfaction and fulfillment in seeing adult-learners begin to invest in themselves in processes that build self-esteem, self-worth, and confidence. 

Gary received his MS in Education from Portland State University. He is on the adjunct faculty at Portland Community College and Clackamas Community College.

Parking information will be sent to registrants in their confirmation email.

Our thanks to Regence for hosting this program at their facility.

For directions, use www.mapquest.com.

To receive credit, you must attend at least 4 of the 5 sessions including the last session (mandatory) and be prepared to do a paper as determined by the lead instructor. Students taking the course for graduate credit must take the course for a letter grade and must achieve at least a "B" grade in order to the credit to be transferable into the graduate program.

This course is an elective for the PSU Training Certification program.

Registration is limited to the first 20 who sign up for the entire series. Individual session registrations will be made available if space allows.