DVA Leadership and Development Training

DVA Games: DOUGH - Effective Communication Training You could work with play dough or plasticine clay.  Break your group up into smaller groups or teams.  The activity is to be done in silence, with no prior preparation. The dough (at least one lump per person) is placed on a table.  The “initiator” of each group starts to make something with the dough, with his/her back to the rest of the team. Give them just one minute to create something. Once done, the creator moves to another place, away from the team. The next person has to add value to the creation. At no point should there be any communication between team members, verbal or non-verbal.  Once all are done, the different creative visions are shared, from the first team member to the last. Besides being great fun, it brings out the radical differences in perception, distortions in linear communication and the complete skew in execution that can happen.  

Today the DVA Leadership and Development website goes live.  Visit us @ www.dvatraining.org We're excited about our growth and expanding our service reach. The DVA website is designed to be an interactive platform for our clients and the workforce community.  We want to hear your stories of workplace challenges and share real solution for change.  Recently, we heard a story from a young woman working in non-profit management about her lack of trust in her staff to communicate effectively to their client base. As a result, she did more work and failed to hold her staff accountable for what was clearly spelled out in their job descriptions. This shouldn't happen in today's workplace.  An effective communication plan for her team with tips on  how and what  to communicate would save her team and increase productivity.  Great people are doing lousy jobs due to a lack of good talent management. Businesses struggling with retention are losing talented people for lack of skill dev

I recently read an article that said, 'speak, present and communicate with poise and persuasion.' Effective speaking ability distinguishes one executive from another. Speaking effectively is a critical component of every executive's success but how much of that expectation is being pushed down?  Are executive teams arming their talent (who speaks on behalf of them everyday) with the skills necessary to communicate the organization's message effectively? Do we know what our employees are communicating to our customers? Is it in line with our mission and vision? Do you have the tiniest fear that your customers or potential clients are being disrespected, treated unfairly or being turned away? Truth is, many executives don't know if their staff are prepared to communicate effectively on behalf of the organization or business. They are sometimes 3-5 positions removed from the staff with direct contact to the customers being served. When things are moving s

Can you read the colors you see? Brain games with DVA Leadership and Development Training.  Let us know how you did-leave your comments here. 

Having your learners demonstrate what they've learned is important.  Here's a quick and fun way to debrief every session.  Allow your learners to take their or others' stickers with them to be reminded of new key concepts they've learned.  Tip: With today's technology, have people take a picture for quick reference. This option keeps things moving and allows for additional debriefing processes.   For additional debriefing ideas, contact a training specialist at DVA. 

 BULLYING 101 TRAINING DVA Leadership & Development Training is partnering with Proviso West High School in November and December to provide its 2014 freshman class with educational development on Bullying.  School District 209 - Proviso West High School has more than 500 students in its freshman class from multiple feeder communities. DVA  staff worked with Proviso West principal, Oscar Hawthorne this summer to start a Peer Mediation program. Bullying is next on a list of youth and professional development strategies Hawthorne has planned for his students, staff and parents this school year. Bullying is defined as unwanted, aggressive behavior that involves a real or perceived imbalance of power.  It is negative, aggressive behaviors that are repeated with the intent of harm from one youth to another. Traditional forms of bullying like physical aggression, hitting, pinching, pushing and property damage remain an issue however in today's technological age, we're fac