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Management Training Academy

Management Training Academy logo
UNLV Management Training Academy

UNLV Management Training Academy (MTA) is a foundational training series designed to provide clear, standardized expectations and development opportunities for all university personnel who manage non-student employees. The eight-week program includes live seminars, interactive time with colleagues, panel discussions, and online seminars taught by UNLV faculty and community professionals

“Trainers in the MTA are not only subject-matter experts but also dynamic speakers. They employ instructive activities and share real-life examples to keep us engaged and help us strengthen our management skills.”

Tondra De, Chief of Staff, Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost

Employees who spend time at work learning are 23% more ready to take on additional responsibilities, and 21% more likely to feel confident and happy.

— Source: LinkedIn

Competencies and Courses

UNLV recognizes that effective management directly impacts work quality, productivity, morale, and engagement and is therefore interconnected with the success of the university. MTA contributes to building adaptable leaders who leverage their strengths and address their challenges by focusing on four measurable competencies:

1. Active communication and listening

2. Holding yourself and others accountable

3. Resolving conflict

4. Conducting performance management

Each course will touch upon one or more of these core competencies.

Management Essentials: Roles and Responsibilities

Join your colleagues for a dynamic training on the four primary functions of a manager, planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. High engagement activities provide impactful experiences that will motivate you to implement new behaviors and better understand your responsibilities to UNLV and your employees.

Trainer: Dr. Kim Stott,  Managing Director of HR Humanist Consulting

Kim Stott, PhD, SPHR

Kim Stott, is the Managing Director of HR Humanist, a people-focused HR consulting firm. She is a seasoned human resource professional and academician with over twenty years of experience leading the HR and training functions for organizations in a variety of industries, including higher education, healthcare, government, hospitality, and manufacturing. Kim has a doctorate in educational leadership with specializations in higher education and adult and organizational development. She is an Associate Professor at the University of Maryland University College and has served as a faculty member for Drexel University, Temple University, and the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Kim’s expertise lies in curriculum design and facilitation, new hire orientation, management and leadership development, succession planning, strategic HR alignment, policy and procedure development, performance management, employee engagement strategies, wellness programming, service excellence, and employee relations.

Learn more about Kim and connect with her by visiting her page on Linkedin

Listening Better, Making Difficult Conversations Easier

Listening Better, Making Difficult Conversations Easier

Communication between supervisors and those they supervise continues to be the most-reported issue on campus. Good communication starts with good listening, and this workshop will share four tips that will help you become a more empathetic listener. By listening more effectively, you will gain a greater understanding of others’ concerns and a new appreciation for their story—which may make your own story more relatable to them.

Even the best work relationships involve difficult conversations—discussions about sensitive subject matter or with very high stakes. It could be a performance evaluation, reorganization, or bad news that must be shared, but these conversations are never easy. That doesn’t, however, mean they have to be awful for either party. Having tackled listening skills, we will then explore—using case studies and interactive role plays—how to make difficult conversations less stressful and more productive.

Trainers: David G. Schwartz, Ph.D., Ombuds, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is a skill that allows us to read the style of individuals and adjust our communication accordingly. This course will focus on the five core competencies of emotional intelligence: self-management, self-awareness, self-regulation, self-motivation and empathy. Participants will learn to develop and implement these competencies to enhance their relationships in work and life by increasing their understanding of social and emotional behaviors, and learning how to adapt and manage their responses to particular situations.

Trainer: Rhovine Small, MS, Senior Consultant at DRI Consulting

Trainer: Dr. Makesha Spence, Principal Consultant at DRI Consulting and Managing Partner, DRIC Jamaica

Leading with DEI

This interactive session will discuss what leading for equity in higher education involves. Core concepts related to equity and specifically equity in the higher education context will be discussed, including equity in review of faculty and equity gaps in student achievement. The discussion will include a review of institutional data.

Facilitator is:

Seval Yildirim, Vice President for Diversity Initiatives and Chief Diversity Officer

Overview of Discrimination and Harassment Concerns

Overview of Discrimination and Harassment Concerns

Brainstorm responses to a number of sample scenarios that will help you better understand what to do when someone you supervise or know expresses concerns about discrimination or harassment. You will walk away from this session with a clear list of strategies that contribute to a healthier work environment and campus climate.

Trainer: Michelle Sposito, director, equal employment & Title IX, UNLV

Motivation in the Workplace

Motivation in the Workplace

What motivates us at work? How does this affect employee engagement? How does employee engagement impact success? The answers may surprise you! Engage in a lively discussion to discover your personal strengths and learn how to use them to motivate your team. You will leave the session with a list of 2-3 self-identified behaviors to help you create a positive, encouraging work environment.

Trainers:

Corrective Action and Discipline

Corrective Action and Progressive Discipline.

Providing corrective action and discipline to direct reports can be confusing and sometimes scary. Come and learn about the purpose, the responsibilities, and the processes for implementing corrective action and discipline from employee relations experts. Let us help you take the guesswork out of these tricky situations. 

Facilitator: Jared Christensen, Director of Employee Relations, HR, UNLV

Performance Evaluations

Performance Evaluations

As we strive to build a performance management culture, come and hear from the UNLV HR Employee Relations teams and learn the differences between performance appraisals and performance management, as well as tips on how to conduct a productive performance conversation. Also, the team will share the most important aspects of conducting a performance evaluation and the different timelines for employee types."

Facilitator:Jared Christensen, Director of Employee Relations, HR, UNLV

A woman writing on her notebook.

Registration

To manage participant volume, registration will take a phased approach. Employees who supervise non-student employees will receive an email letting them know when registration opens for their assigned cohort and how to sign up.

Contact mta@unlv.edu with any questions.