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TMP Course Descriptions: Period 1

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 The course schedule below is for March 24-28, 2025.

Period 1: 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM

Course Overview

Personalize your focus of study by selecting a course from the offerings below. Scroll down to read the full course descriptions and instructor profiles for each option.

Select One 
A1Excel as a New Manager
Led by: Marshall Gibson, PMP, Principal IS Project Manager, Providence St. Joseph Health
A2 The Science of Excellence
Led by: Robert Maurer, Ph.D., Science of Excellence
A3Strategic Project Design
Led by: Terry D. Schmidt, MBA, Management Concept Inc.
A4 Managing A Multigenerational Workforce
Led by: Chip Espinoza, Ph.D., Dean of Strategy and Innovation, Vanguard University of Southern California

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Full Course Descriptions

A1  | Excel as a New Manager

Learn to focus your technical strengths into powerful managerial skills in this highly interactive workshop.

Led by: Marshall Gibson, PMP, Providence of St. Joseph Health

This course provides participants and those aspiring to become a manager, or who have recently been promoted, with the skills and knowledge to become a highly successful organizational leader. The course begins by assessing participants’ current leadership capabilities and shows them how to “build on their strengths” to hone in and focus on the talents they already possess into powerful managerial skills. This course shows students how to set and clearly communicate goals for their organizations, build strong teams, nurture collaboration, guide the efforts of individuals and groups to perform at the highest levels, and focus and motivate their employees to successfully achieve the organization’s goals.

Specific skills are:

  • Defining your leadership vision and values
  • How to organize your staff and assign responsibility and accountability.
  • Building an effective hybrid workforce.
  • Identify the four basic communication styles.
  • How to run an effective meeting.
  • Managing dysfunctional staff.
  • Cultivate employee engagement and motivation.
  • Building and showing your department’s value and worth to your organization.
  • Develop and pitch a new and innovative product or service to management.
  • Exciting roleplay exercises that include task delegation, meeting facilitation, and holding a difficult one-on-one discussion with an employee.

 

Day 1
Introduction to the course and Leadership Styles, Vision, and Values
a. Introduction and what to expect from this course
b. Review of syllabus and daily agenda
c. What is leadership?
d. 4 Basic leadership Styles
e. What skills do you already have?
f. What skills do you need?
g. What makes a great leader?
h. Review various political, civil, spiritual, business, and scientific leaders.
i. Exercise: Establishing your leadership vision and values

Day 2
Organizational Management, Engagement and Motivation
a. 3 Levels of Management
b. Office politics, competition, and your position
c. Origination and Realities of your new management position.
d. Staffing and skillsets
e. Exercise: Assign and RACI matrix
f. Employee Engagement
g. Motivation and Influence
h. Hybrid Workforce
i. Motivating the team and staff
j. The surprising truth about what motivates us.
k. Case Study: Motivation

Day 3
Communication Styles and Task Delegation
a. Communication & personality traits
b. Review the Thinker, Director, Socializer, and Relator
c. Red-zone behaviors
d. Self-Assessment Exercise: Which communication style are you?
e. Developing team synergy
f. Earning and fostering trust
g. Sharing a vision with your department
h. Active listening
i. How to effectively delegate
j. Role Playing Exercise: Practice Delegation

Day 4
Performance reviews and meeting facilitation
a. The performance appraisals
b. Soft skills and difficult employee conversations
c. Role Play Exercise: Correcting poor performance.
d. How to run an effective meeting.
e. Typical meeting roles
f. Meeting mechanics
g. Zoom calls
h. Meeting dysfunction
i. Meeting close and next steps
j. Role Play Exercise: Running a Great Meeting

Day 5
Department value and develop an innovative product proposal
a. Managing in Difficult Times.
b. Inverted yield curve
c. Showing Value and working on the right projects
d. KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators)
e. Financial and project metrics
f. Being visible not invisible
g. Create a brand
h. Managing ambiguity
i. Entrepreneurial spirit
j. Exercise: Develop an innovative product and pitch the idea to the instructor

marshall gibson

Marshall Gibson, PMP
Principal IS Project Manager, Providence St. Joseph Health

Currently a program manager for Providence, a health care delivery organization, where he applies strategic project portfolio processes and streamlines IT service delivery and forecasting.

Marshall Gibson has extensive experience leading large and complex projects. He specializes in project management for information technology and computer infrastructure operations. Mr. Gibson has over 25 years of experience in high tech industries. He has been a manager in various IT companies leading infrastructure, transformation and cloud initiatives. Currently a program manager for Providence, a health care delivery organization, where he applies strategic project portfolio processes and streamlines IT service delivery and forecasting. He manages the suite of chartered programs and initiatives for Providence including asset and incident management, cloud migrations, device and network infrastructure, and business applications. He has also worked at 3Com, Hyundai, Tandem, University of Georgia, and The Walt Disney Company. He has managed many large projects including company acquisitions, corporate legacy system migrations, Oracle and SAP/ERP upgrades.

Mr. Gibson received his project management certificate from the University of California, Berkeley. He holds additional certifications in ITIL, Lean Six Sigma, and as a PMP® (Project Management Professional). His bachelor’s degree in computer science is from the University of Georgia.

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A2 | The Science of Excellence

Learn how research has enlightened us to the skills necessary for success in work, health, and relationships. We will reveal the four most essential skills for effective leadership, and how to use them.

Led by: Robert Maurer, Ph.D., Science of Excellence

Psychology has traditionally studied individuals, couples, and organizations in difficulty. Most theories and therapies are based on the work with these groups. But this problem-oriented focus has limited the usefulness of psychology in helping people to create and sustain success. There is a body of research that has sought to understand the traits and behaviors of people and organizations that succeed in the areas of career; building healthy, productive work relationships; and maintaining good physical health. The studies reach surprisingly consistent conclusions regarding the skills that allow us to create, maintain, and enhance success. In this hands-on course, you learn the skills of creating and sustaining excellence in the workplace through a lively mix of lecture, film, live demonstrations, case studies, and role-play scenarios.

Topics include:

  • The 4 Skills of Successful People and Organizations
  • How Successful People Change
  • Strategies for Coping with Adversity in the Workplace
  • The Essential Skill to Look for in an Employee or Colleague
  • Preventing Conflict and Maximizing Collaboration
  • Dealing with the Emotional Challenges of Managing People
Robert Maurer

Robert Maurer, Ph.D.
CEO and Founder, Science of Excellence

Robert Maurer is the CEO and founder of the Science of Excellence, a consulting firm. His clients include American Express, Costco, Disney, Mazda, Wellpoint, Pepsi, the U.S. Navy and Air Force, as well as local government throughout the UK.

As the director of Behavioral Sciences for Family Medicine, Spokane and a faculty member with the University of Washington School of Medicine, Dr. Maurer has studied how individuals, families, and organizations sustain their excellence in health, relationship, and work. He is also an Associate Clinical Professor at the UCLA School of Medicine.

Dr. Maurer has appeared on ABC’s “20/20” in connection with his work on conflict resolution. A Los Angeles Times article profiled Dr. Maurer’s seminars on creativity. His book on creativity and change, One Small Step Can Change Your Life, was published in the fall of 2004 and now appears in 14 languages.

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A3 | Strategic Project Design

Turn your best ideas into executable projects to reach big goals faster and more efficiently. Develop a ready-to-use action plan for your chosen topic.

Led by: Terry D. Schmidt, MBA, Management Concept Inc.

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to appreciate the wisdom of NASA’s Rule #15: “A review of failed projects and project problems indicates that the disasters were well planned to happen from the start. The seeds of problems are laid down early. Initial planning is the most vital part of a project.”

This course features a strategic approach to initial project planning that is missing from conventional Project Management methods. The Logical Framework Approach (LFA) offers a powerful interactive planning/action tool and a step-by-step process to successfully tackle complex problems, projects, issues, and opportunities of all types.

The LFA combines key concepts from Strategic Planning, Project Management, Team-building and the Scientific Method into a practical system that adds exceptional value and clarity in virtually any setting.

This flexible system enables you to:

  • Get great ideas off the ground faster to achieve results quicker
  • Eliminate project–stopping problems in advance
  • Get everyone on the same page and focused on key Objectives
  • Clarify success in advance to reduce finger-pointing and blame­­­­­­
  • Improve cross-functional teamwork and accountability
  • Reduce the stress and frustration
  • Develop achievable plans everyone can believe in and follow
  • Increase ability to execute and multiply the odds of project success.
Schmidt profile picture

Terry D. Schmidt, MBA
President, Management Pro

Terry Schmidt is a business strategy consultant who helps leaders and teams set clear goals and execute projects which achieve great results. 

Mr. Schmidt is president of ManagementPro.Com, a Seattle-based virtual organization with a world-wide roster of associate consultants. He earned his BS in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Washington and his MBA from Harvard.

Terry has worked in 42 countries and his clients include Fortune 100s’s, fast-growing smaller companies, the national research laboratories, and virtually every federal government agency. Before starting his own company, he worked for Boeing, NASA, the US Department of Transportation, and USAID/Thailand.

Terry’s nine published books topics include career/life strategy, marketing, and business strategy topics. His most popular is Strategic Project Management Made Simple (Wiley), included in this course.

He teaches strategy and execution at leading corporate universities and in executive management programs worldwide. He is the senior instructor in the UCLA Technical Management Program and also teaches at the MIT Professional Institute. Terry has trained over 25,000 professionals, and his programs have earned a reputation for being lively, innovative and effective.

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A4 | Managing A Multigenerational Workforce

Technical managers are often promoted into management due to technical skills. They will learn how to challenge themselves to lead and take responsibility for the work of others. 

Led by: Chip Espinoza, Ph.D., Dean of Strategy & Innovation, Vanguard University

Outline of the Course

Day One

The Why: Establishing a theoretical framework for thinking about generations

The course begins with exploring the 'why' of the generational phenomenon. You will prepare to articulate the need for organizational adaptation (recruiting, training, processes, procedures, knowledge transfer, mentoring, and other dynamics).

 

Day Two

The What: Discussing current challenges presented in a multigenerational workforce

Once we gain a perspective on generational differences, we will identify specific challenges organizations and course participants are experiencing. The list of challenges that emerge from class discussion will inform real-world intervention strategies for leading today's workforce.

 

Day Three

The How: Discovering management competencies that lead to effectiveness

We will learn the competencies that differentiate effective managerial leaders from those who struggle with a multigenerational workforce. Participants are invited to suspend their perspectives and explore the values behind the behaviors of the various generations in the workforce. Participants will consider how their management approach is reflected or not reflected in the list of competencies.

 

Day Four

Discussing current challenges, young professionals face

We will discuss young professionals' challenges when they enter careers and how managers can help them overcome career barriers. The session will be significant for onboarding and developing young professionals.

 

Day Five

Preparing emerging leaders

We will identify personal challenges young professionals face when transitioning into management and how to help them negotiate the fear of disappointing their boss or isolation from former peers they experience. The ability to deal with ambiguity and decision-making will be a focus.

 

Team Project Assignment: Role-Play Exercise

Role-play: To act out or perform the part of a person or character, for example, as a technique in training.

 

Objective:

Learn how to apply the core competencies to real-life situations or help young professionals overcome a challenge they face in the workplace. Please refer to your notes for competencies and challenges. Select one of the nine competencies or one of the challenges and create two role-plays in which you use a competency or challenge in a work situation. One role-play will be utilizing a competency to engage the employee effectively. The other role-play will be an example of what not to do. The role play should be 5 to 7 minutes.

 

Course Learning Outcomes:

  • Explain the dynamics at play in a multigenerational workforce
  • Describe the theoretical framework for thinking about generations
  • Use nine competencies critical to managing today's workforce
  • Describe the challenges young professionals face when entering the workforce and how to coach them for success
  • Recognize and address personal and organizational bias
  • Develop emerging leaders
  • Work cross-generationally
Chip Espinoza

Chip Espinoza, Ph.D.
Dean of Strategy & Innovation, Vanguard University

Chip Espinoza is a nationally recognized expert on the Millennial generation, a content expert for CNN on the subject of Millennials in the workplace and a consultant for The Boeing Company, Microsoft, Schneider Electric and Special Olympics, among others.

Mr. Espinoza has been featured on Fox News, CBS Radio, Fast Company, Fortune, and Harvard Business Review and serves as the academic director of the Organizational Psychology and Nonprofit Leadership programs at Concordia University Irvine.

He was recently named a top 15 global thought leader on the future of work by the Economic Times. Chip co-authored Managing the Millennials: Discover the Core Competencies for Managing Today’s Workforce, Millennials@Work: The 7 Skills Every Twenty-Something Needs To Achieve Greatness At Work, and Millennials Who Manage: How To Overcome Workplace Perceptions and Become A Great Leader.

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Links to other course description and instructor bio pages:

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female instructor in front of class

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