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.
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.
Roles and Responsibilities of Management
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: Tim Furlong
Feedback and Communication
Communication & Feedback
According to Forbes, "82 percent of employees appreciate positive and negative feedback.” Join Dr. Mark Guadagnoli from the UNLV School of Medicine as he provides effective, practical strategies that will allow you to more confidently have feedback conversations with your direct reports. By practicing and applying the “Good, Better, How” method, you will be better able to provide your direct reports with clear, kind feedback to help them grow and be more productive.
Trainer: Mark Guadagnoli, Ph.D., professor, Department of Neuroscience and Neurology, associate dean, Faculty Affairs, director of learning and performance, UNLV School of Medicine
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: Dr. Makesha Spence, Principal Consultant at DRI Consulting and Managing Partner, DRIC Jamaica
Trainer: Dr. John Fennig, Executive Level Manager and Consultant
Trainer: Rhovine Small, MS, Senior Consultant at DRI Consulting
Cultural Intelligence
Join nationally recognized cultural intelligence expert, Dr. Barbee Oakes, as she leads activities that demonstrate the importance of being culturally intelligent. By learning the impact cultural intelligence has on you, personally, and UNLV, as an institution, you will acquire skills that will help shift your cultural perspective and develop an intercultural mindset.
Trainer: Barbee Oakes, chief diversity officer, UNLV
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:
- Lisa Sandoval, leadership development consultant
Corrective Action and Discipline
Corrective Action and Discipline
What is a Memorandum of Expectations? What is a Letter of Instruction? What about an NNR? NCT? What do these have to do with corrective action and discipline? Providing corrective action and discipline to direct reports can be confusing and scary. Come and learn from the employee relations experts about when it is appropriate to provide corrective action and progressive discipline and how the processes are different, depending on the employee's job classification by playing Jeopardy! and working through surprising example scenarios.
Trainer: Maria Langley, senior specialist, employee relations, HR, UNLV
Panel Discussion
Workplace Issues: Panel and Participant Questions
Do you still have questions whose answers will strengthen your management style? Join us and your colleagues to pose questions to a panel of MTA trainers to clarify content and further discuss topics presented during MTA sessions.
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.
UNLV Learning and Development Alliance
The development of MTA was a collaborative, cross-campus initiative lead by Erin Collier, UNLV director of organizational development and the UNLV Learning and Development Alliance (Alliance), an advisory body that provides support, strategic advice, and dynamic perspectives. Alliance members attend quarterly meetings and participated in a beta MTA cohort. Please see below for a list of Alliance members:
- Abbas Badani, Marketing & Brand Integration
- Erin Collier, Organizational Development, HR
- Tondra De, Executive VP & Provost, Faculty Senate
- Heidi Erpelding-Welch, Continuing Education, Educational Outreach
- Juanita Fain, Ph.D., Student Affairs
- Ruben Garcia, School of Law
- Mark Guadagnoli, Ph.D., School of Medicine
- Pat Hawthorne, University Libraries
- Kyle Kaalberg, Ph.D., Strategy and Strategic Initiatives, Office of the President
- Mike Lawrence, Administration, Business Affairs
- Jennifer McCarthy, Space Management, Executive VP & Provost
- Vivek Sah, Ph.D., Lied Institute for Real Estate Studies, Lee Business School
- Kelly Scherado, Employee Relations, Absence Management, Staff Development, HR
- David Schwartz, Ph.D., Faculty Affairs, Executive VP & Provost
- Craig Topple, Document Management Specialist, Document Imaging & Storage Services
- John Tuman, Ph.D., Liberal Arts
- Rama Venkat, Ph.D., College of Engineering
- Marion Wiseman, Talent Acquisition and Development, Philanthropy and Alumni Engagement
- Nicholle Zarkower, Ph.D., Strategy and Strategic Communications, Business Affairs
Additional Resources
MTA Friday Virtual Discussion Groups
During remote operations, university managers and supervisors are invited to participate in bi-weekly virtual discussions about different workplace topics. The discussions combine pre-session assignments, brief presentations by subject matter experts, and breakout sessions in which participants share collective wisdom. Below are key takeaways from these discussions.