Professional Excellence Series of Classes

The Naifeh Professional Excellence Series, a program of the Naifeh Center for Effective Leadership provides quarterly leadership development courses in Knoxville, Nashville, and Jackson.  One day of training includes two courses, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. 

Courses are provided from a library of 30 classes in a variety of Lominger Leadership competencies in three Naifeh Center domains:  self, relational, and organizational.  The library includes courses for individual contributors and frontline supervisors, to middle managers and executives. 

Transcript

Audio file

Professional Excellence Edited_mixdown.mp3

Transcript

00:00:03 Susan Robertson

The Naifeh Professional Excellence Series, a program of the Naifeh Center for Effective Leadership, provides quarterly leadership development courses in Knoxville, Nashville and Jackson.

00:00:14 Susan Robertson

One day of training includes 2 courses, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

00:00:20 Susan Robertson

Courses are provided from a library of 30 classes, and a

00:00:23 Susan Robertson

Variety of Lominger leadership competencies in three Naifeh Center domains, self, relational and organizational.

00:00:33 Susan Robertson

The library includes courses for individual contributors and frontline supervisors.

00:00:38 Susan Robertson

To middle managers and executives.

00:00:43 Susan Robertson

Hi and welcome to In Touch with Tennessee.

00:00:46 Susan Robertson

A podcast of the University of Tennessee Institute for Public Service.

00:00:51 Susan Robertson

Joining us today to talk about the Naifeh Professional Excellence Series

00:00:56 Susan Robertson

is Naifeh Center training coordinator Patrick Mills and MTAS administrative coordinator Joy Riddle, who has participated in several of the classes.

00:01:05 Susan Robertson

Thank you both for joining us.

00:01:08 Joy Riddle

Thank you for having me.

00:01:11 Susan Robertson

So, Patrick tell

00:01:12 Susan Robertson

us a little about the Professional Excellence Series, how was it formed?

00:01:17 Patrick Mills

Yes, the Professional Excellence Series was formed for our customers and alumni with limited time and limited money.

00:01:26 Patrick Mills

The courses are at a low cost of $150 for three hours of training.

00:01:32 Patrick Mills

And the courses are provided in three locations across the state, Jackson, Nashville and Knoxville.

00:01:39 Patrick Mills

We have made them really accessible for everyone statewide, and customers can choose from a library of 30 courses, 6 offered each quarter.

00:01:51 Patrick Mills

Also, the Pro Series offers courses for people new in their career, and also those with many years of experience.

00:02:01 Patrick Mills

The Pro Series was really just developed to give us more options for professional development training.

00:02:10 Susan Robertson

OK, so are these courses then available for anyone?

00:02:15 Patrick Mills

Yeah, these courses are available for anyone around the state, whether it be our #1 customer in state government or people in municipalities or county employees, and our certified public manager graduates can gain recertification hours upon completion of the courses as they're required to get 16

00:02:35 Patrick Mills

hours of professional development through the Naifeh Center every two years.

00:02:41 Susan Robertson

OK, what are some of the courses that are offered through the Excellence Series?

00:02:47 Patrick Mills

Like we mentioned, we

00:02:48 Patrick Mills

have over 30 courses.

00:02:50 Patrick Mills

Some of the ones that really stick out to us are the life work balance course,

00:02:55 Patrick Mills

The art of great communication.

00:03:01 Patrick Mills

Writing your own narrative and that is just a few of the courses that we're going to be offering all the way through 2024.

00:03:10 Susan Robertson

Sounds like a variety.

00:03:13 Susan Robertson

Joy, which of the courses have you taken?

00:03:16 Joy Riddle

I have participated in the life work balance course and the self-awareness course 

00:03:25 Joy Riddle

In the life work balance course, we talked about emotional, mental, physical, spiritual and financial health and health.

00:03:32 Joy Riddle

Those things affect your life and wellness, in addition to how your job.

00:03:36 Joy Riddle

affects your life and wellness and in the self-awareness course we prepared by taking the Gallup Strengths Finder assessment before the course.

00:03:46 Joy Riddle

So as the name suggests, it helps identify your strengths.

00:03:51 Susan Robertson

Right.

00:03:51 Susan Robertson

So how would you say that those courses

00:03:54 Susan Robertson

benefited you in your position?

00:03:58 Joy Riddle

If you'll notice.

00:03:59 Joy Riddle

The first course I mentioned is called life work balance, not work life balance, and that's because there's so many aspects to our lives other than work.

00:04:10 Joy Riddle

I mean, we do spend a lot of time at work, but we have a lot of other things outside of work that make up

00:04:15 Joy Riddle

their lives, so that course focused on how to address challenges in all the different elements, not just work.

00:04:22 Joy Riddle

And so when you're happier outside of work, it's easier to be happier while you're.

00:04:28 Joy Riddle

And the self-awareness course that was about identifying our strengths and when we identify our strengths that help us focus on the things we're naturally good at and work on maximizing those skills.

00:04:42 Joy Riddle

Because I used to try to strengthen areas I'm weaker in and I've learned the hard way.

00:04:47 Joy Riddle

that's not really the most productive way to go about things.

00:04:50 Joy Riddle

It's better to focus on your strengths and then surround yourself with people who are strong in different areas than you are, and that's the most effective way to build a productive team, and this can apply

00:05:02 Joy Riddle

at work and other areas of life.

00:05:06 Susan Robertson

Great, sounds very interesting.

00:05:09 Susan Robertson

So talk, Joy, about the convenience of the courses.

00:05:13 Joy Riddle

Well, for me it was very convenient because the courses were held in the building where I work.

00:05:21 Joy Riddle

It was very convenient and they provided lunch and it was just a

00:05:25 Joy Riddle

It was a lovely day.

00:05:26 Joy Riddle

It was great.

00:05:29 Susan Robertson

Patrick, tell us, tell our listeners how they can find out more information about the Professional Excellence Series courses.

00:05:38 Patrick Mills

So information can be found on our website at leadership.tennessee.edu and also we make frequent posts on our Facebook page,

00:05:48 Patrick Mills

the Naifeh Center Facebook page and customers should be on the lookout for MailChimp blast emails. We send those out pretty frequently just to let them know

00:05:58 Patrick Mills

about the upcoming courses and the schedule.

00:06:02 Patrick Mills

And always they can e-mail me directly at patrick.mills@tennessee.edu and I would be happy to give them any information they need.

00:06:12 Susan Robertson

Well, what would you say to someone who, you know, maybe has some doubts?

00:06:18 Susan Robertson

You know, I don't know if I have time for this or I don't know how this would help me.

00:06:24 Patrick Mills

I would say to that person that you know.

00:06:28 Patrick Mills

we've tailored these classes to where there's just three-hour blocks, whether it's the 9:00 AM to noon session or the 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM session.

00:06:41 Patrick Mills

Most people can find 3 hours out of their day, especially at the cost of $150 is extremely affordable for the level of training that you'll get in the Professional Excellence Series, and that the networking aspect also just the people that you can meet during the sessions are just as beneficial as the session could be.

00:07:02 Patrick Mills

We're really big on networking here at the Naifeh Center and connecting people with other people around the state.

00:07:11 Susan Robertson

Well, thank you both for joining us today.

00:07:13 Susan Robertson

This has been very informative.

00:07:16 Susan Robertson

Thank you and thanks listeners.

00:07:19 Susan Robertson

Be sure to follow us everywhere you find your favorite podcast.