Overview:

During this interactive workshop, we will examine and discuss the struggle we often have in balancing our needs while maintaining or improving the working relationship. In looking at this “Negotiator’s Dilemma,” we will look at the effect our assumptions have on the way in which we interact with the other party during a negotiation.

We will explore a number of strategies for “creating value” for both sides by using the concept of “interest based negotiation,” and contrast that with the less effective traditional “positional bargaining” we often use. Participants will be provided with a template that can be applied to any negotiation and will be invited to participate in 2 case study negotiations.

Learning Objectives:

Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Manage the struggle with meeting our needs in the negotiation to maintain or improve the working relationship

• Explain how our “assumptions” affect the way in which we interact with the other party during a negotiation

• Recognize the differences between traditional “Positional Bargaining” and the more effective “Interest Based Negotiation”

• Apply a format for the negotiation, provide structure during the actual negotiation and evaluate the process for the session debriefing

• Differentiate between alternatives, interests and concerns, options, benchmarks, standards of fairness

Gary McDougall

Gary is a retired police officer who served the law enforcement community for 25 years, where his focus was in the area of communication and, more specifically, hostage and crisis negotiation. In 1997, Gary successfully completed a Certification Program to become a qualified Hostage and Crisis Negotiator. Between 1997 and 2006, Gary was involved in 47 high-risk hostage/crisis situations.

Upon retiring from law enforcement in 2006, Gary formed a company called Conflict Solutions and is currently on the speaking circuit, delivering workshops and interactive seminars in effective negotiation skills, conflict management, dealing with difficult clients, ethics in the workplace and workplace violence issues.

Gary has also acted in a consulting role for the FBI in the area of Hostage/Crisis Negotiations. Gary is both a graduate of the FBI Hostage Negotiators Training School and has also served as an Instructor at the FBI Training Academy in Quantico, Virginia.

Overview:

All industries can best cope with the demands of today’s continually changing environment through management by project. Project management techniques have been used successfully in a wide range of fields such as engineering and construction projects, product development, entertainment events, software development and organizational change.

The purpose of this course is to introduce an effective project management framework which can be usefully applied to technical and non-technical projects.

Learning Objectives:

Upon completing this seminar, participants will be able to:

• Formulate and communicate project plans effectively

• Develop project schedules, cost estimates and responsibility charts

• Apply techniques of project controls such as schedule control and change management

Participants will have an opportunity to discuss the use of several tools that are essential for successful project management with focus on the front-end planning, communication and alignment. Using case studies, workshops and class discussions, participants will apply their knowledge of project management tools and skills to practical problems.

Dr. George Jergeas, P.Eng.

George is a Professor of Project Management in the Schulich School of Engineering at the University of Calgary, where he has been involved in both the teaching of and research into project management since 1994.

He has over thirty-five years of experience, principally in infrastructure projects and claims and disputes. He is also an active project management consultant for both public and private sector organizations in Canada and has provided extensive project management training to many Canadian, American and international companies.

George’s research and teaching focuses on improving project alignment and building and sustaining project teams, productivity and contractual arrangements. He also works as a coach and trainer for managers and executives. He assisted project teams in oil sands developments, hospitals, roads and bridges, tunneling, LRT expansions and mining projects. As a claims consultant investigating many construction projects, both in Canada and the USA, George gained insight into the fundamental causes of project success and failure. Through his experience and research, George has developed a strong interest in improving project success founded upon improving the effectiveness of project teams.

Overview:

For many Members in Training (MITs), getting a job that makes use of their education and gives them the experience they need to get a license is the primary professional goal upon graduation. After that, the question becomes “What’s next?” This workshop examines the professional challenges and opportunities that MITs are likely to face over the first few years of their careers. It provides insight into the unwritten rules of organizations so that participants can determine how to direct their professional efforts in a direction that takes into consideration both their interests and the overall economic conditions. Participants will leave this workshop with concrete tips and suggestions that they will be able to apply immediately in their work.

Learning Objectives:

At the completion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Describe the unwritten rules of Canadian organizations

• Recognize the impact of economic conditions on their professional options and plan their career accordingly

• Identify the steps they need to take to create an effective professional network

• Identify the direction they want their career to take

• Create a professional development plan that takes their career in a direction that matches their goals and personality

Lionel F. Laroche, Ph. D. (Registered as a P.Eng. in Ontario)
President, MCB Solutions

Over the past 12 years, Lionel Laroche has provided job search and career management services to over 5,000 people on four continents. Lionel specializes in helping technical professionals and organizations reach their professional objectives in rapidly changing and unfamiliar environments. He has written two books, “Managing Cultural Diversity in Technical Professions” and “Recruiting, Retaining and Promoting Culturally Different Employees”, which have both sold over 5,000 copies.

Lionel has worked with many organizations in the resource and energy sectors (Syncrude, Total, ConocoPhillips, Kinross Gold, Goldcorp, etc.) as well as engineering consulting firms (SNC-Lavalin, WorleyParsons, etc.). His work makes extensive use of his 12 years of international experience as a product / process development engineer.

Born in France, he obtained his “Diplôme d’Ingénieur Polytechnicien” from the Ecole Polytechnique de Paris, France and his Ph. D. in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, USA.

Overview:

Your career, reputation and future are largely dependent on the decisions you make. These decisions may be large or small, business or personal, technical or commercial - they will affect your future and the future of those around you. This workshop focuses on the more significant professional decisions we make or might make in the future. We will use several sources, including good practice and neuroscience as inspiration and founts of information to provide different perspectives to what lies behind the human decision-making process, including why you decided to attend (or not) this workshop.

The workshop will use a few activities for the basis of discussion around the following topics with a view to better understanding the decision-making process and how we might make better decisions.

• What is a decision? And what makes it significant (or not).

• Are we more inclined to make a particular decision one way because of our heritage, education, wealth or other influencing factor?

• Which decisions are controlled or influenced by others, such as regulators, professional associations, the law, politics, culture, environment and so on?

• What is happening in our head when we make a decision? How does a decision affect the mind - and vice versa.

Are fast or slow decisions better? There is a correct answer to this question!

Most of us make decisions without really stopping to think about how we make those decisions. This workshop gives us a bit of time to think about this critically important function of our brains.

Learning Objectives:

At the completion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Explain how the brain processes decisions

• Apply this knowledge to make better decisions in the future

• Examine past decision-making situations to determine how you have arrived at decisions in the past

• Recognize situations that lead to safe decisions versus those that might induce bad decisions

• Develop “decision quality checks” that can be applied in the future to validate or test a decision before committing to it and the consequences
  

Dr. Francis Hartman, P.Eng.

Dr. Francis Hartman heads a small management consulting practice (Quality Enhanced Decisions Inc.) that specializes in complex project management. He has over 35 years of international experience in industry. He was a Professor and the Endowed Chair in Project Management and past Director of the Project Management Specialization at the University of Calgary. He has held Adjunct Professorships at the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia, as well as Sydney University in Australia. He has working relationships with a number of other universities and research institutions around the world. Dr. Hartman has held various executive positions in industry in engineering, construction and high technology enterprises in Canada and the United States.

Dr. Hartman’s contributions through journal articles, books, chapters, invited papers, presentations, conference proceedings and reports number well over 220 from the past two decades. Dr. Hartman serves on the editorial boards of several journals in North America and Europe. He is currently working on his fifth book. Dr. Hartman has been recognized for his contributions to the fields of management, engineering and education through fellowships from professional associations as well as awards from government, industry and not-for-profit organizations.