Introductory Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) Assessment Workshops. OKA built its reputation by presenting the MBTI assessment as a tool for unlocking the complexities of communication, team dynamics, leadership and decision making. Our client-site events bring the power of type to both new and intact teams and organizations. Half-day workshops include an introduction to the MBTI assessment, exercises illustrating type preferences, receipt of individual reports, and action planning. Full day and multi-day workshops enhance this introduction, exploring group-specific needs and applications.
Frequently Requested Application Workshops. Here's a core list of frequently requested training workshops, based on common needs our clients bring us. Each pairs a common workplace need (such as communication and conflict management) with a proven tool, combining personal insight with concrete action plans.
Recent Customized Workshops and Projects
Using Type for Better Teamwork. A geographically dispersed federal agency wanted its large team of acquisition and contracting personnel to experience workshops that stressed teamwork through the lens of type/MBTI. Given a large audience and unavoidable scheduling pressures, OKA responded with a series of MBTI workshops, offered both by webcast and in face-to-face workshops across the country: all within three weeks of contract award. This project leveraged OKA's ability to respond nimbly to a client's scheduling challenges, while still maintaining the highest quality standards for MBTI delivery.
Strategic Planning and Teambuilding. OKA was asked to design and facilitate a joint strategic planning and teambuilding session with the administrative branch of a small government agency. After a scoping interview with the group's senior team, OKA designed a two-day workshop that integrated planning sessions, team development activities, and personal insight using the Leadership Spectrum Profile (LSP). The result was a highly experiential event, with alternating periods of content-rich planning and team exercises. Through this, the group identified behaviors that both supported and hindered their effectiveness, and then immediately applied those insights in their planning work.
Delivering Effective Feedback: Tips and Tools for Managers. Providing constructive feedback that balances both strengths and development needs is one of the most important tasks that managers perform in today’s workspace. This popular workshop provides attendees with concrete strategies and tools for more effectively engaging in feedback discussions, both in formal performance reviews, and in daily informal interactions. This session includes a self-awareness component and a practical and systematic feedback model, to help participants comfortably engage in a two-way feedback process, both to maximize strengths and to help bring employee performance in line with team and organizational goals. (This workshop is available in both face-to-face and webcast formats for distributed teams.)
Teambuilding and Customer Service Workshop. The Accounts Payable Department of an investment firm wished to enhance their interpersonal dynamics, and develop strategies for coordinating work among team members more effectively. They were also interested in developing stronger influencing skills and internal customer service approaches. In response, OKA designed a two-part action-driven workshop using Reversal Theory, during which the team identified a number of steps they could take to achieve their goals.
Professional Skills and Tools Workshop. A government agency wanted to provide a cohort of selected "next generation leaders" with practical training in professional and supervisory skills. In response, OKA designed and delivered a three-day experiential training program using a variety of exercises and tools, including the MBTI, the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode approach, and a variety of team development exercises. A follow-up workshop focused on emotional intelligence, project management and change management.
Project Management and Communications Workshop. A small consulting organization wished to provide its program managers with customized training in project management and communication skills, given its diverse scientific and technical client base. In response, OKA designed and delivered a two-day workshop that focused on the practical aspects of project management and communications - including tips for avoiding the most common mistakes in stakeholder management and project planning.
Large Corporate Meeting MBTI Workshops. A large consulting firm wished to incorporate an introduction to the MBTI assessment in a high profile annual meeting. With hundreds of people, this event required careful coordination of training and the ability to deliver high-impact training on a large scale. In response, OKA mobilized its team of Associates for concurrent training sessions, leading to a shared understanding of type fundamentals across the full organization.
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Longer-Term Consulting and Training Projects
Leadership Development Program. For the U.S. Air Force, OKA developed and is delivering a leadership development program with a group of 80-100 Military Training Instructors. This ongoing project has included a comprehensive assessment and gap analysis; curriculum design; training development and delivery; and individualized leadership coaching. This work is being completed under OKA’s MOBIS contract, and leverages the power of the MBTI.
Workgroup and Strategic Planning Facilitation. Since Fall 2007, OKA has supported a variety of teams across the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service. This work has included facilitating Federal-State partnership meetings, AMS-Industry sessions, two AMS Senior Leadership retreats and several strategic planning workshops. Supporting activities have included preparing session minutes and action plans; contributing to the drafting of program level strategic plans; providing editorial support for the agency-wide plan; and working with agency leaders to plan out how strategic plans will be implemented and how progress against them will be assessed.
Relationship Awareness Workshops. OKA recently completed a contract to deliver Strength Deployment Inventory (SDI) workshops to teams across the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), both at its headquarters and in regional offices. These workshops included an introduction to the SDI, and application modules focusing specific topics of interest to each team, including communications, leadership, decision-making, and strategic planning. By the end of the contract, more than 500 people in more than 30 teams received SDI feedback and applications training. In addition, OKA created a self-paced online SDI training module for those who could not attend the workshops.
Training Capability Development. For a large federated family-of-systems project at NIH, OKA provides targeted expertise related to outreach and training materials development. OKA's work helps ensure that systems under the banner of the federated program have effective training and outreach materials that carry a common look and feel. As part of this program, OKA facilitates a virtual team of training developers; structures and produces webcasts; and creates training guides and tutorials for the federated community.
Organization Development Subject Matter Expertise. Under sub-contract for a Defense University, OKA provided organization development and training subject matter expertise to a five-year research program investigating the personality and team dynamics of Information Technology work teams. OKA’s contributions included training researchers in the use of study instruments, designing a group observation instrument and developing and delivering team and leadership development curricula.
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