Background

The College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources is committed to making a difference for its students, faculty, and staff, and for its constituents. To do so, we will improve our ability to work together. (It's not a case of something being broken; it's simply we want every edge on our side as we maximize our impact for Hawaii.) Therefore, we intend to create and implement a program to increase our ability to work together, not only within the College, but within the University-and with our many constituents.

The program

Beginning in February through June 2003, we will offer The Results and Relationships Improvement Initiative, a training and consulting program designed to provide the relationships, processes, and skills for people to work together in a remarkable way.

The program includes:

• A two-day workshop on the skills and processes that guide how we work together,
  
• Consulting with groups and individuals on current issues and projects, and
  
• Follow up training and coaching over a six-month period to ensure progress.
  

Who should participate
Our intent is to begin with the leadership group for the College and other interested groups important to the future of Hawaii agriculture and higher education. This program is best suited for those people...

...Who have projects and goals they are not sure how to produce.
...Who love to learn and are open to coaching.
...Who believe things can be better and want to participate.
...Who can garner a critical mass of people from their unit or organization.

We truly want this to be voluntary. Our expectation is that the program will be highly successful, more than enough people will choose to participate and, therefore, we will be able to effect the change we desire. It's also fine if people don't participate. We recognize people have different interests and needs.

The programs and consulting will be provided by Paul Axtell, a trainer and consultant who works with corporations and universities, and a few of his selected colleagues. On the other side of this sheet is a description of the components we expect to be a part of The Results and Relationships Improvement Initiative.

What will be available to you

---By Paul Axtell, Contextual Program Designs

Conversational Skills training
This two-day training is the core blockbuster because it alters and shapes the way people relate to one another and work together. Once your organization reaches a critical mass of trained people, you may expect different norms when people work together. Although most people consider the concepts we develop in Conversational Skills to be "common sense," they are skills and awareness usually missing in most organizations. For example, the course addresses important, practical dimensions of listening and speaking, commitment and follow-though, meetings, integrity, and context. Because these are about common sense, participants find them easy to "get" and easy to implement.

Follow-up training to Conversational Skills
Most participants find Conversational Skills training opens their eyes to what these practical ideas can do for them-and it whets their appetite for more. People often request a chance to return so they may ask questions and reinforce what they learned. Follow-up sessions also provide an opportunity to expand on some of the ideas first introduced in Conversational Skills. These 2-3 hour sessions are partly debriefing what people have tried or learned since the initial training, and partly new work.

Listserv notes and access
Another way of reinforcing what people have learned is a voluntary listserv. About every two weeks, those who have attended training programs (and who have asked to be on the listserv) receive reminders that develop concepts and practices they have learned. Although only the trainers may originate messages to those on the listserv (thus avoiding overuse), participants do have individual electronic mail access to the trainers.

Individual coaching
On those occasions when people in your organization feel they need individual support and a place to think through issues with someone outside the organization, individual coaching is available. These can be one-time ad hoc conversations when issues arise; or they can be planned as a series of conversations over time. In other universities, we've used coaching with new department heads or deans who want to get off to a great start. We've also used it with individuals who are committed to turning around some situation. It's always voluntary-almost always highly successful.

Group or unit intervention
Groups such as academic departments, senior administrative bodies, and constituency organizations often want to get their relationships-and their results-to new levels. For them, we create individually tailored sessions to increase their competency in working together. Typically, these combine training with work on the group's own important projects or issues.

Observation and coaching of meetings
Meetings are the heart of effective organizations. While outside facilitation for large meetings or difficult subjects can be useful, effective organizations need not rely on outside skills. With what they learn from some coaching "on the fly" during their meetings, your groups will find they can make dramatic progress toward consistently successful meetings. We also provide design help for people who want to be better at designing and conducting their own meetings.

Additional training programs
Depending on the needs, other training programs may be warranted. In the past, we've trained people to design and manage meetings, to be coaches, to listen in new ways, to oversee projects effectively, and to lead. Tailored training can add velocity to your organization.