UpSwing rung in the New Year by rolling out a four hour workshop designed and developed for the Laclede Group. The workshop, entitled Essential Skills for Working Foremen revolved around the unique issues experienced by union-represented supervisors that manage union-represented employees. The training provided attendees with communication-based techniques and conflict resolution skills for successfully navigating a union-represented supervisor-employee relationship. 

On February 19th UpSwing successfully completed GOING PRO—Professional & Proactive Customer Connections, a training initiative designed, developed, and facilitated for Ameren Missouri. The state-wide initiative, which began in October of 2015, focused on Ameren Missouri field operation employees’ customer interaction skills. The communication-centered training emphasized key skills such as improving listening ability, communication style comprehension, and professionalism.

In January, we began GOING PRO workshops, a sister initiative specifically tailored toward Ameren’s Illinois field operations employees. The program’s highly successful completion on March 24th, marked UpSwing’s largest comprehensive training initiative to date with nearly 100 sessions in 32 different Illinois locations. 

UpSwing employees and leadership celebrated this landmark wrap-up with a festive luncheon. Employees from the Saint Louis area and San Diego alike were in attendance.

This Leap Day our President & CEO, Ms. Stephanie Dollschnieder, delivered a half-day workshop to Parkway West Middle School’s Character Council. In the workshop, Exploring Effective Personal Leadership, students explored the qualities of personal leadership related to the school’s ‘Character Traits’ which make up the acronym PRICE: Perseverance, Responsibility, Integrity, Cooperation, Empathy. With a nod to UpSwing’s Mission to give back to the community, the workshop was presented pro bono.

 This quarter UpSwing was back at longtime client Nestlé Purina PetCare for the beginning of the 9th year of new editions of THE BOOK SERIES, our monthly leadership development series centered on influential leadership authors and their works. Selected titles this quarter included All In: How the Best Managers Create a Culture of Belief and Drive Big Results by Adrian Goldstick and The Politics of Promotion: How High-Achieving Women Get Ahead and Stay Ahead by Bonnie Marcus.

 

 

 



On April 4th, Stephanie Dollschnieder, CEO and Mandy Meininger, VP Operations, delivered a comprehensive executive debriefing to some of the Ameren Missouri Executive Staff.   The debriefing included feedback and evaluation of the course/initiative from more than 900 participants.  Elements included the key behavioral changes that will be made as reported by participants of the GOING PRO, customer service training initiative.   The course was designed, developed, and facilitated by UpSwing during the first quarter of this year.  Recommendations for maximizing the return on investment were also included in the debriefing and executive summary. 

In May & June, UpSwing’s Janice Vietor, Senior Trainer/Facilitator, conducted the presentation and group discussion for the Nestlé-Purina PetCare, BOOK SERIES book,So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love by Cal Newport.  The sessions addressed strategies from the book, and personal application concepts for developing a fulfilling career. 

Earlier in the quarter UpSwing’s, Tina Carroll, Senior Trainer/Facilitator guided BOOK SERIES participants through a stimulating exploration of ideas from the book,The Politics of Promotion: How High Achieving Women Get Ahead and Stay Ahead by Bonnie Marcus.

Spire Energy (formerly, The Laclede Group) was provided with an executive debriefing presentation highlighting the effectiveness, key points and ROI for the training initiative entitled, Essential Skills for Working Foremen.  These workshops have been facilitated by UpSwing trainers in February of this year.  The course was designed and developed by UpSwing for union-represented supervisors, supervising union-represented employees within Spire. 

Attendees of the Raymond James Financial Services National Conference held in Nashville, TN were treated to an engaging one-hour presentation entitled Team Building is NOT Cliché. In the presentation, Stephanie Dollschnieder shared seven dysfunctional and seven beneficial team behaviors, and outlined steps forteam collaboration.  The audience of Branch Professional were then assigned “homework” to take back to their office: provide colleagues with meaningful feedback. Those who completed the assignment were sent a copy of Ms. Dollschnieder’s book, Contact, Care, COMMUNICATE: How Interpersonal Skills Are the Foundation of Genuine Customer Service.

Stephanie Dollschnieder delivered a presentation to the Ameren Illinois Leadership Team, (ALT) in June.  The presentation included a distilled version of results from the Ameren IL training initiative GOING PRO…Professional & Proactive Customer Connections.  Hard numbers and supporting data which offered measurable training success for the more than 1200 participants were also provided.  The UpSwing team also put together an Executive Summary as a take-away resource that illustrated the concrete changes being implemented as a result of the training.

In mid-May, Ms. Dollschnieder delivered Behavior Styles and Effective Teams, a three-hour workshop designed for Nestlé-Purina PetCare’s Corporate Communication and Public Relations Organization personnel as part of the team’s Spring Break-Away. The job-specific workshop focused on behavior styles, beneficial team behaviors, team building tips, and collaboration strategies.



2016 First Quarter Newsletter

​April 2016

Press Contact
Mandy Meininger 
info@UpSwingPi.com
+ 1 (636) 230-5773

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