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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 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.

Conflict Management Series

Conflict Management: What is Conflict?
Conflict Management Skills Week 1:
Any time individuals are involved, whether manager to employee or team member to team member, conflict will inevitably occur at one time or other. Personality differences and opposing conflict management strategies can be the source of the conflict. This week will begin with a look at different perceptions of conflict. If you are a manager who is currently dealing with conflict or knows you will have to manage conflict, please join on our LinkedIn Live series titled What Managers Need to Know on April 22nd at 10 am CDT.

Conflict Management: Good and Bad Aspects of Conflict.
Conflict Management Skills Week 2:
Conflict has both positive and negative aspects. To a great extent, the difference lies in your perspective and how you handle conflict. Negative consequences of conflict that is not managed well can include a toxic environment and staff attrition. But conflict managed well can be very positive, leading to increased creativity and productivity. This week we will consider both aspects of conflict. If you are a manager who would like a better understanding of how to minimize the negative consequences and maximize the positive consequences of conflict, join us on our LinkedIn Live series What Managers Need to Know on April 29th at 10 am CDT.

Conflict Management: Shark and Turtle Strategies.
Conflict Management Skills Week 3:
There are five basic conflict management strategies. They vary in terms of their focus on achieving goals and maintaining a positive relationship. This week we will analyze the behavior, underlying rationale, and when it makes sense to use or not to use the conflict management strategy of the Shark, who competes, and the Turtle, who avoids conflict. If you are a manager who uses these strategies or interacts with someone who does, join us on our LinkedIn Live series titled What Managers Need to Know on May 6th at 10 am CDT.

Conflict Management: Teddy Bear, Fox, and Owl Strategies.
Conflict Management Skills Week 4:
There are five basic conflict management strategies. Some are more effective than others in helping to find an amicable resolution to a conflict. This week we will analyze the behavior, underlying rationale, and when it makes sense to use or not use the conflict management strategies of the Teddy Bear, who accommodates, the Fox, who compromises, and the Owl, who collaborates. If you are a manager who uses these strategies or interacts with someone who does, join us on our LinkedIn Live series titled What Managers Need to Know on May 13th at 10 am CDT.

Conflict Management: Why We Respond the Way We Do.
Conflict Management Skills Week 5:
We all have conflict management styles that vary, based on our upbringing, our life experience, and our values and beliefs. But we may not be aware of what motivates our responses to conflict. Those responses may be effective or ineffective. So, the more we know why we react the way we do, the more we will be able to adjust how we respond when others are in conflict with us. If you are a manager who faces conflict regularly or worries about facing conflict with employees or peers, join us on our LinkedIn Live series What Managers Need to Know on May 20th at 10 am CDT.

Laurel Learning Tips

Get out of a toxic workplace because your job is worth dying for.

Tip #1077: Your Job Isn’t Worth Dying For

This Tip describes what it’s like being in a toxic workplace and states that your job isn’t worth dying for. What You Can’t Do in

Read Tip »

May 12, 2025

Nonprofits should stop burning money by having unskilled new managers and boards.

Tip #1076: Stop Burning Money!

This Tip asks nonprofits to stop burning money by having new managers and boards that lack the necessary skills. Stop Burning Money! If you are

Read Tip »

May 5, 2025

How to annoy your HR manager can be done in at least eight different ways.

Tip #1075: How to Annoy Your HR Manager

This Tip explains how to annoy your HR manager in eight situations that we hope you will actually avoid setting up! I drew this Tip

Read Tip »

April 28, 2025

Soft skills are the keys to job success, including leadership and creative thinking.

Tip #1074: Soft Skills are the Keys to Job Success

This Tip discusses findings that five soft skills are keys to job success, including analytic thinking, leadership, and self-awareness. Soft Skills are the Keys to

Read Tip »

April 21, 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