1999 CPA Corporate Leadership Series

Professional Development Programs for Members

The CPA Corporate Leadership Series is designed specifically for CPAs who are part of the corporate community and who have general management or financial responsibility. The workshops are designed as an integrated series of programs that concentrate on topics of interest to corporations and their CPA managers and analysts. The intent is to help this group achieve a corporate environment that is vision-led, goal-directed, and customer-driven. We find that both management and non-management have participated and benefited from these offerings. We have also had attendees from public accounting firms. They comment that the topics are highly relevant for their organizations as well.

All workshops and keynotes are offered nationally to State CPA Societies as part of their continuing education program and to corporations for in-house use. This Series was developed by Applied Synergistics, Inc., and N.E. Fried and Associates, Inc. in conjunction with the Ohio Society of CPAs.

Following you'll find descriptions of each of the five workshops (Corporate Leadership; Courageous Leadership Strategies; Process-Centered Leadership; Sex, Laws & Stereotypes; and How am I Doing). Participant feedback and sample catalog write-ups follow the descriptions.

CPE - Corporate Leadership Series Corporate Leadership Courageous Leadership Strategies Process Centered Leadership Monday Night Football Sex, Laws & Stereotypes How Am I Doing? Commitment to Quality Course Evaluations Sample Catalog Write-ups

Corporate Leadership Workshop

This one-day workshop provides a compelling framework for understanding how the forces of change really work. When armed with this knowledge, participants can create a powerful new road map for the future. The content and activities reflect the most current thinking on change, organizational learning, leadership, and collaboration, which are critical for surviving and thriving in today’s turbulent times.

The workshop provides participants with key strategies, skills, and behaviors to support both personal and organizational visions and team effectiveness. The modules are designed to expand leadership capabilities and increase organizational effectiveness combining theory, practice, and fun.

• Identify the skills and behaviors that individuals and organizations require to realize their visions and achieve long-term success in a highly volatile business environment.
• Apply these skills and behaviors within each member’s corporate environment.
• Measure, evaluate, and adjust actions to achieve each member’s corporate vision.
• Review the benefits of collaboration, examine the characteristics of high-performing teams, and address the facilitation skills needed to insure team success.
• Examine why leaders who integrate relationship building skills and core values with the decision-making process develop sound judgment and make wiser choices for their organizations.

This is a one-day offering. The agenda is described on the following pages. Each of the modules consists of multiple elements. Examples of elements are:

• An interactive presentation using animated graphics
• An engaging workshop activity
• An entertaining video-tape example
• A group discussion resulting in conclusions and action plans

These elements are combined in a very powerful way. They show participants how to apply what is learned in the workshop to their respective corporate environments. These elements also allow participants to actually experience and practice new skills and behaviors. Inherent in the module design and implementation is an approach that continually brings out a need to be customer-driven, support employee participation, develop teamwork, and assure that leadership comes from throughout the organization.

The modules described and the exact implementation may vary due to class size, available time, or changing and additional requirements. Participants are seated by table groups.

Agenda:

Setting the Stage – After reviewing the session objectives and the agenda, we immediately engage participants in an interactive activity. This allows all participants to introduce themselves, identify their roles in their organizations, and share some personal thoughts and ideas about those individuals they view as extraordinary leaders. This activity generates discussion and demonstrates the linkage between leadership and change. Here we depart from conventional wisdom and present concepts on the New Physics of Change. How change has changed. We demonstrate this by comparing traditional and evolving world views, with specific attention on their differences regarding what causes change and what drives it forward.

Growth-Curve Model – Here we create the foundation for understanding the cycle of organizational development and the skills and behaviors required for long-term individual and organizational success. We include examples that relate to a variety of organizations. After establishing this framework, we focus on the common characteristics of organizations that not only survive, but also thrive in an environment characterized by unpredictability, uncertainty, and vulnerability. This includes a brief discussion of the roles of mission, purpose, principles, and vision. Then, we examine how successful organizations and individuals apply these vehicles to shape the future.

Our Beliefs – Here participants develop a working understanding of the terms Mission, Vision, and Values. We crisply define the role of each and focus on strategies that organizations used to gain desired outcomes. We look at how other successful organizations and individuals apply these vehicles to shape the future. We also entertain a brief discussion on the meaning of Greatness for an organization and why organizations who are truly great continue to enjoy success significantly above and beyond those of their competitors. Then we shift our focus to participants’ experiences with vision statements and their potential effectiveness in terms of influencing actions and the success of their respective organizations.

Collaboration – In this module we make a case for collaborative efforts by examining the results produced by teams versus individuals. Participants review the characteristics of high-performing teams and effective collaborative efforts. We address the stages of team development related to participants’ experiences working with teams. Both team skills and facilitation skills are explored. This module demonstrates how everyone can be a more effective team member. Learning points come to life through the use of an engaging workshop activity, Acid River, which is described below.

Acid River – Our Acid River provides the setting for participants to overcome obstacles by applying leadership and collaboration in a challenging workshop activity. Participants most solve the problem of creating a method for crossing a river while hindered by specific materials, time and cost constraints. Behaviors leading to team success are practiced and reinforced, observations are made, and insights are gained. The River activity leads participants into sharing personal team member or team facilitation experiences during the debriefing session.

Skills for Success – This final module demonstrates that sound, regret-free decision making occurs when one consistently applies the core values of open, honest communication and genuine commitment to professional, business, and personal relationships. During periods of constant change, people need to be assured that they are dealing with others who retain the same values of a trusting, committed relationship. We explore what types of skills are necessary to support open, honest communication and genuine commitment and how participants can achieve the goal of establishing such relationships with others. We find that participants are deeply affected by this module because it touches their inner belief system. The presentation is followed by a stimulating, thought-provoking discussion.

Wrap-up – The day is concluded by asking each participant to share with the entire group how they benefited from the session and what they are going to do to Make a Difference. This stimulates thinking, builds enthusiasm, and positions everyone to take meaningful actions.

Courageous Leadership Strategies^TM Workshop

Values go beyond the basics of honesty, trust, mutual respect, integrity, and professionalism. Values are powerful tools in determining success. Organizations sell more successfully to customers who share their values. Shared values also contribute to individual growth and success, and personal relationships thrive in an environment of shared values.

What values should individuals and organizations be concerned about? How are values shifting as we prepare for the next century? How can you benefit from this knowledge? This workshop shows how world-class organizations and highly successful individuals find power through value congruency to thrive and succeed in a future of constant change.

• Assess specific values that identify your attitude toward embracing or resisting change.
• Apply techniques and strategies to enable you to achieve value congruence to succeed in today’s changing business environment.
• Adopt interviewing procedures to help you select candidates who thrive in an environment that requires flexibility, adaptability, and top performance.

This is a one-day offering. The agenda is described on the following page. Each of the modules consists of multiple elements. Examples of elements are:

• An interactive presentation using animated graphics
• An engaging workshop activity
• A entertaining video-tape example
• A group discussion resulting in conclusions and action plans

These elements are combined in a very powerful way. They show participants how to apply what is learned in the workshop to their respective corporate environments. These elements also allow participants to actually experience and practice new skills and behaviors. Inherent in the module design and implementation is an approach that continually brings out the types of values required to succeed in an environment of constant change and offers strategies to increase adaptability and flexibility. The topics described and the exact implementation may vary due to class size, available time, or changing and additional requirements. Participants are seated by table groups. 

Agenda:

Setting the Stage – After reviewing the session objectives and the agenda, we immediately engage participants in an interactive activity. This allows all participants to introduce themselves and identify their roles in their organizations. They also share some personal thoughts and ideas about when they experienced a values conflict at work and how they managed it. This activity stimulates thinking, generates discussion, and demonstrates the linkage between values and success in an environment of change. It raises preliminary issues about why value dissonance or confusion can lead to business failure or thwart opportunities for expanded success.

Assessing your Values – Here we create the foundation for understanding why specific values are required to survive and thrive in a volatile business environment. Participants complete a values clarification instrument and privately assess their own values. In this thought-provoking module, we present what types of values are required to succeed in a changing business environment and why. We also demonstrate that conflict can be an excellent vehicle for improving quality, building relationships, and achieving open, clear communication. Then, we establish the linkage of these functional values to the core values of honesty, integrity, and accountability. After establishing this framework, we focus on specific transformational strategies and techniques. We suggest ways for participants to transform values that have been applicable to stable business environments to those that align with current environments of change.

Selection Procedures – This practical module applies the values for a changing business environment concept to interviewing techniques. We demonstrate why it is critical that candidates retain specific values to increase the probability of success with the company. Determining a skills match is easy. Identifying value congruence takes greater facility. We provide a set of specific questions that targets critical values. Participants use these questions to expose a candidate’s values in such areas as disclosure, willingness to take responsibility for actions, and flexibility.

Wrap-up – The day is concluded by asking each participant to share with the entire group how they benefited from the session and what they are going to do to Make a Difference. This stimulates thinking, builds enthusiasm, and positions everyone to take meaningful actions.

Process-Centered Leadership Workshop

Reengineering was just the beginning. If your company expects to thrive in today’s ever-changing business environment, it must shift its focus from tasks to business processes. In process-centered organizations, everyone concentrates on a common goal that emphasizes results. With this shared philosophy, traditional workers conduct themselves as professionals, and conventional management roles evolve to those of process leaders or coaches.

How can process-centering help an organization add value to customers, its own operations, and planning? How does process-centering transform workers to professionals, add value to your customers, and enhance your strategic planning process? This one-day workshop shows you how leading organizations who focus on their processes remain ahead of the pack. Concentrating on processes provides the basis for making both long-term and short-term business decisions. It helps you gain new insight about how to expand, refine, and create new products and services. Process-centering also aids in extending your existing markets as well as identifying and entering new markets. Your organization’s future success depends on it!

Objectives:

• Identify and name your critical business processes.
• Develop methods for communicating the importance of process to the enduring success of your business.
• Measure and manage the performance of the process.
• Transform your thinking about how people work, what managers do, how businesses compete, and their effect on society.
• Apply specific techniques to develop business strategies based on your processes to better serve customers, enter new markets, deliver additional services to existing or new customers, create new goods or services with existing processes, and create new processes to provide new products or services.

This is a one-day offering. The agenda is described on the following page. Each of the modules consists of multiple elements. Examples of elements are:

• An interactive presentation using animated graphics
• An engaging workshop activity
• A entertaining video-tape example
• A group discussion resulting in conclusions and action plans

These elements are combined in a very powerful way. They show participants how to apply what is learned in the workshop to their respective corporate environments. These elements also allow participants to actually experience and practice new skills and behaviors. Inherent in the module design and implementation is an approach that continually brings out a need to rethink the conventional approach to strategic planning. It demonstrates that process-centering begins with examining what the company does well, and then looks to see if it’s worth doing. The topics described and the exact implementation may vary due to class size, available time, or changing and additional requirements. Participants are seated by table groups.

Agenda:

Setting the Stage – After reviewing the session objectives and the agenda, we immediately engage participants in an interactive activity. This allows all participants to introduce themselves, identify their roles in their organizations, and share some personal thoughts and ideas about their most successful business processes. This activity stimulates thinking, generates discussion, and demonstrates the linkage between business process and strategic planning. It raises preliminary issues about why conventional approaches to strategic planning can deplete the health of an organization, especially in an environment of constant change.

Moving Toward Process-Centering – Here we create the foundation for understanding the four cornerstones of business process management:

• Identifying your processes and naming process owners
• Communicating to everyone in the organization why process and its success is importance to the health of the organization
• Measuring the performance of processes
• Actively managing the process

After establishing this framework, we focus on the transformation necessary to shift one’s view of how people work, what managers do, how businesses compete, and how societies are affected. This includes discussions of the organizational structure, the roles of the process owners, and the new roles of managers. Then, we examine how successful organizations and individuals apply these vehicles to ensure their continued success.

Techniques for Developing Business Strategies – This enlightening module addresses how to capitalize on existing processes that can expand and strengthen the organization’s capabilities for offering goods and services. It also examines the risks and rewards of creating new processes to meet the demands of current customers or new markets. Our underlying theme is the need for organizational agility. Discussions and activities center around the importance of an organization’s ability to adapt to an environment of constant change by applying specific techniques, such as strengthening, extending, expanding, conversion, innovation, and diversification of business processes. Participants have an opportunity to select one of these techniques and apply it toward an existing process in their own organizations.

Wrap-up – The day is concluded by asking each participant to share with the entire group how they benefited from the session and what they are going to do to Make a Difference. This stimulates thinking, builds enthusiasm, and positions everyone to take meaningful actions.

This one-day workshop goes beyond the basic foundation of sexual harassment law. It espouses a proactive, values-driven approach to policy development and provides solid prevention strategies and procedures to help organizations stay out of court. By applying techniques for recognizing., confronting, and stopping sexual harassment, managers can avoid personal and corporate exposure. This requires managers to take the complaint procedure seriously and develop solid skills and techniques for conducting thorough and objective sexual harassment investigations.

The workshop provides participants with key strategies, skills, and behaviors to recognize and prevent sexual harassment behavior in the workplace by combining theory, practice, and fun.

• Identify the difference between quid pro quo and hostile environment sexual harassment
• Review recent case law and its implication for existing sexual harassment law
• Develop policies and procedures that reflect the organization's values about respectful employee behavior and fair treatment
• Recognize specific actions that may lead to or are considered sexually harassing
• Apply skills to confront and prevent inappropriate behavior
• Conduct a sexual harassment investigation that is impartial and thorough

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This is a one-day offering. The topics are described on the following pages. Each of the modules consists of multiple elements. Examples of elements are:

• A pretest to identify prior knowledge
• An interactive presentation using animated graphics
• An engaging workshop activity
• An entertaining video-tape example
• A group discussion resulting in conclusions and action plans

These elements are combined in a very powerful way. They show participants how to apply what is learned in the workshop to their respective corporate environments. These elements also allow participants to actually experience and practice new skills and behaviors. Inherent in the module design and implementation is an approach that continually brings out a need to be create a work environment that values mutual respect.

What Participants are Saying!

CPA Corporate Leadership Series

Presented here is participant feedback and comments from recent workshops.

Please contact us for specific details and further references.

Overall Results:

Please indicate your level of satisfaction about: RESULTS

General Comments:

What was of greatest value to you?

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Are there any topics which you feel we should add, change, or delete?

What is your overall feelings about the pace of the day?

 

Comments about the Pace:

Sample Catalog Write-ups

The following are representative write-ups used by some CPA Societies to describe these offerings in their annual catalog. Included are write-ups for the Corporate Leadership Workshop; Courageous Leadership Strategies Workshop;  Process Centered Leadership Workshop; Sex, Laws & Stereotypes; and How Am I Doing?

. We hope these are helpful.

Additionally, we have sample brochures, news releases and newsletter write-ups which you may find helpful in publicizing these offerings to your members. Text and graphics are available from us in various desk-top publishing formats. Please contact us for this additional material.

(Corporate Members Series)

(Corporate Members Series)

(Corporate Members Series)

(Corporate Members Series)

(Corporate Members Series)

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