Welcome to Laurel & Associates, LTD - Laurel and Associates Ltd

HELP YOUR NEW TRAINERS AND MANAGERS BECOME GREAT AT WHAT THEY DO!

Strengthen their skills so they can have a positive impact on your employees, your customers, and your company.

How Do We Help?

New trainers don’t know how to design and deliver skill-building training programs.
New managers don’t know how to lead, manage, and motivate their employees.
We work with you to identify their training needs and performance gaps.
Then we tailor our highly participatory skill-building training programs to meet your specific interests and needs.
Our train the trainer programs are internationally acclaimed. So are our management development programs.

Why Choose Laurel and Associates, Ltd?

Our training is practical, relevant and results-oriented
All programs are tailored to meet client needs and achieve behavior change
We use accelerated learning training techniques for whole-body learning
Our varied and creative learning activities are designed to build desired skills
Over 80% of the time is spent in hands-on learning activities
We have designed and delivered training for most industries
Participants enjoy learning in the engaging learning environment we create
We know how to transform reluctant employees into active participants
We follow up post-training to support learning retention
The participants’ managers are involved before and after the training to ensure results

Assessment for New Managers and Trainers

This two-part assessment is designed for you to evaluate the effectiveness of your new managers and trainers.

Download Your Free Assessment Here

In addition to facilitating train the trainer and management training, Laurel and Associates, Ltd. offers employee development training to maximize employee effectiveness and minimize their stress. Our other services include curriculum design and training audits.

Laurel and Associates, Ltd.’s Management and Team Development programs strengthen your leadership skills in areas like communication, delegation, motivation, and team building. We provide training that equips your managers to lead more effectively, fostering a productive and engaged workforce.

Laurel and Associates, Ltd.’s Management and Team Development programs are being converted into online training programs. We provide training that equips your managers to lead more effectively, by fostering a productive and engaged workforce.

Case Studies

Case Study 1

Introduction: A state agency sought to develop a more cohesive management team.

Challenge: Preliminary survey results and individual interviews indicated that there was a low level of trust and a lack of open communication both within the team and outside it.

Strategies: Facilitate a full day in-person retreat with highly interactive skill-building learning activities that enabled the team members to get to know each other better, develop team operating principles, and collaborate in a problem-solving activities.

Results: Participant evaluations indicated a positive response to the retreat. A survey conducted two months after the retreat indicated that the levels of trust and open communication had increased dramatically.

Impact: The team members felt that the management team now fostered a culture of collaboration and cooperation.

Case Study 2

Introduction: An international nonprofit organization needed to help its managers become more comfortable with coaching poor performers.

Challenge: The managers tended to avoid handling issues of poor performance.

Strategies: Facilitate a full-day in-person workshop with highly interactive skill-building learning activities that enabled the managers to learn how to give coaching feedback to poor performers and then practice their new skills to build a level of confidence.

Results: Participant evaluations indicated a positive response to the workshop. The effectiveness of the program convinced the nonprofit to provide the same skill-building training program to additional managers from around the world. They, also, learned how to give coaching feedback and then practiced their new skills.

Impact: Both groups of managers became more comfortable with coaching poor performers.

Negotiation Skills: Getting Past No Series

Getting Past No: Step #1- Relax
Getting Past No Skills Week 1:
The ability to stay calm is the key to effective negotiation. This is especially true when we are in a difficult negotiation. This week we will identify the six steps involved in Getting Past No. We’ll look at how to achieve the first step: Relax. This requires the ability to recognize when a provocative tactic is being used and to avoid taking it personally. We’ll discuss how to recognize stonewalls, attacks, and tricks, and act instead of react. If you are a manager who has to negotiate or mediate negotiations, please join on our LinkedIn Live series titled What Managers Need to Know on July 1st at 10 am CDT.

Getting Past No: Step #2-
Refocus Getting Past No Skills Week 2:
In difficult negotiations, emotions can get out of control. We want to calm down the situation so we can have a more effective and objective discussion. This week we look at the second step in Getting Past No: Refocus. The intention is to prevent conflict by using two practical tools: asking problem solving questions and actively listening to the responses. If you are a manager who would like to be able to convert potential conflict into a more rational conversation, join us on our LinkedIn Live series What Managers Need to Know on July 8th at 10 am CDT.

Getting Past No: Step #3: Reframe Getting Past No Skills Week 3:
Once we have identified that the other party is using obstructive, offensive, or evasive negotiation tactics, we need to know how to Reframe. This third step in Getting Past No involves responding in such a way that it directs attention back to solving the problem of satisfying both sides’ interests. If you are a manager who is often at the receiving end of stonewalls, attacks, or tricks during a negotiation and would like practical actions to take to get the other party back on a constructive track, join us on our LinkedIn Live series titled What Managers Need to Know on July 15th at 10 am CDT.

Getting Past No: Steps #4 and #5
Refine and Relate Getting Past No Skills Week 4:
If the first three steps (relax, refocus, and reframe) have been unsuccessful in creating a constructive discussion, it is time for Step #4. We want to Refine the situation by negotiating about the rules of the game. We are aiming to move the negotiation to get to yes through Step #5, which is Relate. This involves focusing on mutual interests or identifying objective standards. If you are a manager who finds that the first three steps don’t help to move the negotiation in a positive direction where the other party is now willing to work with you to find an acceptable solution, join us on our LinkedIn Live series titled What Managers Need to Know on July 22nd at 10 am CDT.

Getting Past No: Step #6
Resolve Getting Past No Skills Week 5:
Hopefully, either through identifying mutual interests or objective standards, you have persuaded the other party that it is in their best interests to Resolve the matter, which is Step #6. It’s now time to invent options for mutual gain. However, the other party may be hesitant to agree because they’re concerned about losing face with their constituency. They don’t want them to think they have given in. So, we need a way to help them save face. If you are a manager and you find yourself at this point in resolving a difficult negotiation, join us on our LinkedIn Live series What Managers Need to Know on July 29th at 10 am CDT.

Laurel Learning Tips

There are many ways to get virtual participants to participate actively in a virtual training program.

Tip #1085: How to Get Virtual Participants to Participate

This Tip looks at a variety of ways to get virtual participants to participate actively in a virtual training session. How to Get Virtual Participants

Read Tip »

July 14, 2025

Communication choices can make or break a business. Here, the lack of communication has negative consequences.

Tip #1084: Communication Choices Can Make or Break a Business

This Tip compares an excellent manager and a poor manager where communication choices can make or break a business. “Management is about arranging and telling.

Read Tip »

July 7, 2025

Tip #1083: How Serious Is Your Company About Training?

In The Ultimate Sales Machine, Chet Holmes poses six questions to determine how serious a company is about training. How Serious Is Your Company About Training?

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June 30, 2025

Tip #1082: The Often Thankless Job of an HR Manager

The job of an HR manager is constant and often thankless. It’s easy to feel tired, worried, distressed, frustrated, burnt out, and upset. The Thankless

Read Tip »

June 23, 2025

Testimonials

I have learned more from your 1-week course than from any other communication training I could remember. And the tools you have shared will come so handy… excellent! Thank you so much!

Dora Alicante LeonCSR Supervisor, Trident Equatorial Guinea, Inc.

Deb is an amazing instructor and curriculum developer. Her Train the Trainer program helped to solidify my love for adult learning and coaching. Deb’s innovative methods and logical templates have helped me design many successful training programs. She is a wonderful facilitator, educator and coach.

Shelly WeberProgram & Policy Analyst at Department of Workforce Development

It’s my absolute pleasure to recommend the services of Deborah Laurel. Deb has worked with Compressed Air Challenge since its inception in the mid 1990’s. Without her expert training and advise, all our workbooks, and training material used today would not have occurred. Deb took the knowledge many of our engineers and turned it into an amazing training that has been successful and still going strong today. Both a fundamentals training and an Advanced Training were created. In her work with us, Deb took a bunch of engineers who thought they could easily relay technical informant and taught us how to teach adult learners. To deliver the material in small doses so the attendees fully understand each lesson. This was not an easy task, yet Deb pulled it off brilliantly. I would absolutely recommend the services of Deborah Laurel to anyone interested training or curriculum design.

Frank Moskowitz CCASS at Compressed Air & Gas Institute (CAGI)

In my nearly 20 years of training, this program gave me more clarity and useful tools for facilitating and designing programs than any other I have attended. The level of learning was phenomenal. The tools and tips are something that I can use immediately. The feedback was very insightful and again, something that I can put into practice. I recommend this program to all trainers, regardless of their experience level.

Jackie HardyTraining Director, CUNA Credit Union

You have a gift for delivering and designing learning. Not only did I have a blast in your workshop, the interactive nature of your workshop design ensured that I retained far more than I would have with more traditional learning methods. I have used so many tools from that workshop in my job. You are a natural for designing learning. You very quickly can identify the goal of the training, can work through powerful learning objectives, and then rapidly put together effective interactive activities to ensure knowledge transfer. Your approach to learning is clear, logical, and compelling. Thank you for sharing your gift for delivering and designing training with me! I feel blessed to have a mentor with such skill available to me as a new learning and development person. I would love to continue to learn from you!! Because of your training techniques, I enhanced my training and facilitation skills 100%. No kidding! I used what you taught and would recommend your training to anyone who needs to learn how to train, facilitate or needs to learn anything.

Thank you Deb for all the great learning!!!

Kim Robinson Manager of Learning and Development, Sage Publications

Thanks for the promised materials – your class is going to be SO helpful in making our training classes more fun and productive. We have 4 PowerPoint presentations that we give one after the other and I have had the hardest time doing these presentations because I have found them so boring. Now I am breaking them up with Jeopardy and worksheets and brainstorming in hope of keeping the class as well as myself awake. Your class will make a big difference in how we present our information.

Kathy FraserTechnical Trainer, Data Innovations North America

I have known and worked with Deb Laurel for over thirty years. She first taught for the Small Business Development Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison when I was the director. I was so impressed with Deb that when I was putting together an advanced 5 day Train the Trainer for an Open Society program in Croatia I asked her to do the program. The students not only learned solid pedagogy but also accelerated learning curriculum design. She was invited to return to JJ Strossmeyer University in Osijek, Croatia to help them develop the first student-centered MBA in Entrepreneurship in Eastern Europe. She trained the faculty how to use participatory training methods instead of traditional lecture. Since that time, Deb has been my go-to trainer for the CUNA Management School, the Government Financial Officers Association, and the Walker Broadcasters Management Institute. I highly recommend her for curriculum design, facilitating training, and train the trainer programs.

Joan GillmanEmeritus Director, Special Industry Programs, Wisconsin School of Business, UW Madison