Professional Development Training at the Groves Center

Employee development and skill building has been a core mission of Kalamazoo Valley Community College for more than 30 years. Services and staff, based at their Groves Center, deliver programming driven by the demand of regional business and industry. Today’s announced programs meet national standards, reflect best practices and offer exceptional quality and value for businesses of all sizes. Training is delivered using real-world scenarios which allow workers to apply what they learn in their work setting.

“We offer training in a seminar format, which allows small numbers of employees to participate in a course. We appreciate calls from employers who are looking for a specific program, because we are often able to assemble others with a like need to attend the training and share the cost.” Renae Skutnik, KVCC Groves Center.

Register for these and other courses at GrovesCenterTraining Upcoming courses include:
Introduction to MS Excel 2010, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 3. The $200 fee includes lunch and training materials.

Participants will learn the basics of using Microsoft Excel 2010 to build, edit and format worksheets They will also learn how to create basic charts based upon their spreadsheet data. This course is ideal for participants who are new to spreadsheets, or those who are upgrading from an earlier version of MS Excel.

Root Cause Analysis - 8D Problem Solving, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on April 9. The $175 fee includes lunch and training materials.

This 8-hour program is designed to cultivate analytical problem-solving thinking and the development skills to apply the structured 8-D Corrective Action approach at the individual and team level.

Upon completion, participants will be able to: Identify the benefits of the team approach to problem solving; Discuss the use of problem solving tools e.g. Fishbone diagrams, why-why analysis; Follow the structured problem solving process utilizing the 7-D and 8-D format; Properly document the 7-D and 8-D problem solving process; Determine the usefulness of statistical tools (Gage R&R, Process Capability Studies, Design of Experiments) for investigation and corrective action verification; and Report on the findings from their team's investigative research and corrective actions.

Managing People, Thursdays from 9 a.m. to noon, April 17 - May 8. The $450 fee includes continental breakfast.

The Managing People program provides managers at all levels, in any organization, an understanding of the basics of human behavior at work and a managerial approach that gets results in today's workplace. Participants will learn how to develop employees who successfully perform the technical aspects of their jobs, solve their own day-to-day work problems, and make improvements to their own work processes.

A variety of concepts and approaches will be explored for identifying employee skill and ability needs, develop greater competencies in their employees, and handling chronic under-performers.

Upon completion of this program, participants will be able to: Understand individual employee motivations and needs; Effectively coach employees in numerous ways and situations; Teach effective problem solving skills to employees; Communicate effectively with employees; Effectively analyze employee performance deficits; and Council under-performing employees to resolve issues.

Generations at Work, 8:30 a.m. to noon, April 23. The $85 fee includes continental breakfast.

For the first time in history, there are four generations working side-by-side in the workplace: Traditionalists, Boomers, Gen Xer's and Millennials (or Generation Nexters). This presents employers with the challenge of how to recruit, manage, and motivate employees in an age-diverse environment.

This interactive and engaging program will provide you with insights for understanding the unique strengths and weaknesses of each generation, and offers best practices for supervising each of the specific generations. It will help you determine if your workplace is cross-generation friendly, and provide you with creative strategies to recruit and keep millennials as new hires and encourage Xer's to move into upper level positions.

Topics to be covered include: Recognizing stereotypes and actualities about all four generations in the workplace; Discussing case studies of cross generational work situations; Supervising strategies for each generation by each generation; Determining if your workplace is cross generationally friendly; and Marketing to potential "millennial" employees.

Generations At Work integrates research, case studies and humor to help provide you with practical and effective, generational-specific approaches to help you cultivate a more harmonious and productive work environment.

Intermediate MS Excel 2010, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 24. The $225 fee includes lunch and training materials.

In this hands-on course, students will learn intermediate Excel 2010 techniques for use in the office setting. At the conclusion of this course, students will be able to: Manage workbook data; Use tables; Analyze table data; Automate worksheet tasks; Enhance Charts; Share Excel files and incorporate Web Information.

Dental Radiography is offered on May 9, 10, 16 and 17 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The fee is $550.

Dental radiographs are essential in the diagnosis of dental malformations and diseases. Taking high quality radiographs can help ensure an accurate and timely diagnosis. As new techniques are developed, the dental practitioner must remain well-informed of new techniques and be capable of performing radiographic procedures proficiently. This course is designed to help prepare dental assistants on the basic principles and current techniques of dental radiography.

Topics covered in this course include: Radiation history, biology, and safety; Dental x-ray equipment; Film types and processing; Darkroom errors and common technique errors; Anatomical landmarks; Intraoral and Panoramic radiographic techniques.

For more information, or to register, contact Renae Skutnik, rskutnik@kvcc.edu or 269.353.1257.

Registration deadlines and maximum class sizes vary so please register early to assure seat availability. Discount pricing may be available for multiple attendees. Call 269.353.1253 for details.