Brescia University’s Center for Employee Advancement Strategies (CEAS) now offers customized training courses to improve employee soft skills such as communication, decision-making, and critical thinking. Interested companies and organizations can partner with CEAS to provide a course for a cohort of 10-20 or 20-40 employees in virtual or hybrid formats.
Dr. Anna Kuthy spearheads the program and is the university’s director of the Ursuline Center for Teaching and Learning. She said the CEAS courses focus on any identified needs associated with the necessary soft skills of any group of employees at any level, ranging from managers and technicians to clerks and administrative staff.
“We cater the courses fully and specifically to the needs of the partner organizations,” Kuthy said. “We have built a robust, holistic development program for Owensboro’s population, businesses, and organizations, and we want to grow the initiative.”
The courses include many hands-on, active, practical, and synchronous elements. Kuthy said instruction can range from 1 hour of synchronous or face-to-face work per week to as many as 3-4 hours of guided work.
“The main goal of those courses is to build soft skills as habits that will stay with the employees throughout their careers, long after the course is over,” she said. “Therefore, one of the critical pieces of our courses involves building the mentality of a life-long learner amongst our participants.”
Kuthy added that they coordinate with the organization’s leadership to develop the course’s specifications. She elaborated that the initiative’s purpose is to advance an institutional shift towards a culture of transparency and effectiveness in communication, inclusive leadership, decision-making, and a team-based approach to community growth and well-being.
The program’s goals are outlined as follows:
- Contribute to building a culture of connectedness across the organization’s staff.
- Advance transparent, open, and effective communication in and across all areas.
- Improve inclusive and cooperative leadership and decision-making across the organization.
- Grow mutual understanding, appreciation of, and trust among and within all institutional levels.
- Contribute to the continuous development of communication, critical thinking, self-reflection, and life-long learning skills among all staff.
Kuthy expressed the importance of understanding the grand concept of time and place.
“We need to be well informed; we need to consider the positions of others and the impact those decisions and actions have on them,” she said. “At the end of the day, we are all members of our global community. Those actions and decisions will be effective only if they are well-thought-out, considerate of others and … communicated effectively. Otherwise, they will create new problems and issues. And we all know—unhappy communities mean unhappy individuals.”
Click here to learn more about the program. To determine if CEAS is a good fit for your organization, email Kuthy at [email protected] for a consultation.
