Personal and Professional Development

One of the hallmarks of Pairadox Consulting is our commitment to meeting with you and personally tailoring all of our work so that it directly meets your unique needs. We will never provide a “canned” program.

All of our workshops provide fun, informative, insightful and thought-provoking activities focused on issues few people realize are there. The participatory hands-on sessions include discussion, simulations, group-work, and role-play. Participants compare their beliefs with the latest research and learn strategies for immediate use in the workplace.

Workshops that we have provided for our clients are listed below:

All businesses are facing similar challenges. Workforces are growing more divergent, markets are broadening beyond our own cultures and borders, and business entrepreneurs are an increasingly diverse group. In this environment, it is increasingly valuable for organizations of all sizes to recognize, understand and benefit from all styles of success…It is important to understand the management styles of both men and women entrepreneurs so that we can benefit from their differences as well as their similarities.

Topics include an investigation of personality and work-style, how we see ourselves and how we view others, and what is needed to create productive and dynamic work groups, teams, and organizations.

Face it! Your face says it all! If we are to learn to improve the quality of our leadership, we need to understand that it often starts with our face…not what it looks like, but what it is “saying.” Our face is the tool by which many people begin to judge our likeability; and likeability is a key to getting our point across and leading others. This workshop will help you learn how to establish likeability and get your message across for maximum impact…from your face and other body language, to your verbal expression and delivery skills.

Topics include the techniques of “likeability,” the factors that affect conversation and the elements for improved public speaking

Why are some meetings more productive than others? Chances are the answer lies within the process of the meeting and not the participants! This workshop investigates Margaret Wheatley’s concept of “leaderful organizations,” and how to plan and implement a process for productive meetings. Aspects of this workshop include: setting the climate, using dialogue, the ladder of inference, selecting tools to encourage divergence, identifying strategies to define issues, dealing with participants who want to dominate discussion, using processes to clearly focus, and making action plans to follow through on decision making.

Topics include the process for creating meaningful meetings, the principles of leaderful organizations, and the acquisition of tools for meeting facilitation

Much as been written and discussed about gender differences, but have you truly looked at the issues relative to your organization? Research tells us that men and women have radically different ideas of what it means to be a team player. Additionally, men and women differ in their meeting behaviors, body language, and spoken words. An investigation into this fun and enlightening topic will allow your organization to improve its productivity overnight!

What attracts the best employees to a company and what makes them stay? These are two of the oldest questions in the business world, and maybe the most important. This interactive workshop investigates the characteristics of outstanding employees,. It opens the dialogue about what is in the employees’ control and what role the organization plays in creating the core elements needed to attract and keep the most loyal, productive, and talented people. Understanding the implications of these core elements will allow leaders to create more meaningful interview processes, performance evaluations, and employee training. Topics include how to improve your hiring success, which factors most affect employee performance, and the elements needed to retain the best people.

Making the sale, getting the job, or winning the promotion are all based on likeability. But how does one become “likeable”? Research tells us we have seven seconds to make a first impression, and once that impression is made, it is extremely difficult to change. Learn the tools that create that first impression along with the skills to understand what your customer is really looking for.

The objective of this activity is to develop a visionary, results-based plan. That plan is characterized by a vision of the short and long-range future of your industry, a concentration of effort through a focused mission and measurable objectives, full organizational involvement, implementation through individualized accountabilities, with on-going action plan reporting, and an annual evaluation, modification, and renewal of the plan.

Is it about “leadership” or is it “managing”? Is that question just a matter of semantics or is there truly a difference between leading and managing? In this workshop, the interaction between leadership and management is investigated through the understanding of organizational change and the transitions in society as reflected by culture and gender. Fundamental to this workshop is the development of each participant’s understanding of themselves in relationship to their own personality style and basic beliefs about the mission and vision of the organization.

Every organization has a culture/climate that is either intentionally created or haphazardly inherited. As you investigate the culture you would like to create in your organization, we will facilitate the process to help you create the journey to obtain your goal. Following input by all levels of the organization, you will create a document that can be readily understood by everyone, and defines the way your organization will operate on a daily basis – both within the privacy of your office and in full view of the interactions with your customers.

Based on the Seattle Fish Market, imagine a workplace where everyone chooses to bring energy, passion and a positive attitude with them each day. Imagine an environment in which people are truly connected to their work, to their colleagues and to their customers. Impossible? Not at all. FISH is a tool to help you lead people toward creating that environment. Explore the world of Fish Philosophy: Play, Make Their Day, Be There, and Choose Your Attitude.

Based on the best seller by Spencer Johnson, this workshop investigates a simple story that reveals profound truths about change. This investigation into the very real and personal issues of change allows participants to learn more about themselves, their colleagues, and their organization. In this day and age, no one should continue on in his or her professional or personal lives without this knowledge and insight.

FOR EDUCATION-SPECIFIC INSTITUTIONS:

Based on the Stiggins model of “Purpose, Target, Method, Sample, and Bias,” these workshops are designed to develop skills in selecting, developing, and interpreting assessment methods that will provide reliable, valid, and fair measures of valued education achievement goals. Among many outcomes, participants will be able to identify characteristics of effective assessment tools, describe the strengths and weaknesses of various assessment methods, design assessments to enhance learning, and explain the purposes, results, strengths, and limitations of large-scale assessments.

Understanding ourselves is a key to enhancing the relationships within our buildings: adult to adult, adult to student, and student to student. By using the concept of personality profiles and typical gender differences, participants will investigate how their beliefs and actions come together to create their interactions within a school and classroom. After concentrating on the individual’s own persona, colleagues will have an opportunity to develop action plans to improve the work which is done in a variety of settings: faculty meetings, committee meetings, team and grade level meetings, classroom meetings, conferences with parents and/or students, etc.

Why do people (not just kids) act the way they do? What is the best way to deal with student misbehavior? How can we reduce conflict, motivate students, and build self-esteem? This workshop will enable participants to consider strategies for dealing with chronic student misbehavior through Linda Albert’s work, Cooperative Discipline. Spencer Kagan says, “Because so many youngsters today come to school with poorly developed social and behavioral skills, every teacher can make use of Cooperative Discipline’s powerful intervention and encouragement strategies.” A must for those struggling with “reluctant learners.”

Every school teaches within a framework of a “curriculum.” Finding out which curriculum is actually being taught, however, is a monumental task. Is it the “written curriculum” that is established in district curriculum guides, or is it a “taught curriculum” which is developed by each individual teacher based on their own experiences, beliefs, and or interests? Additionally, how does the curriculum (written or taught) align with the established state and/or local standards that have been identified as most important for children? This workshop investigates those questions and more, as educators use a model of alignment and evaluation that produces a school-wide focus and provides more available time to teach what is most important.

The “Home-School Connection” is the most important relationship there is! It is quite obvious that with respect to parent-school partnerships, the stakes are high. How can understanding the customer and supplier relationship help schools to build stronger connections with parents? Too often our inaction toward this issue is ruled by the old saying, "No news is good news!" Unfortunately, not paying attention to customer satisfaction means not having a way of knowing what dissatisfaction exists. This workshop investigates the myriad ways of discovering what your community truly expects from its schools, and the actions necessary to solidify the working relationship between home and school.

Is your understanding of how the brain works anchored in 100-year-old beliefs, or are you knowledgeable about the most recent brain research? These workshops focus on the development of an understanding of the individual as learner and teacher, and the implications for classroom instruction and student success. Participants will be able to identify the biological and psychological bases for learning and teaching along with the implications for today's diverse classroom. They will also compare, contrast and evaluate various theories of learning, and identify and apply individual personality, learning and teaching styles to classroom situations.

Aspects of this topic flow from many different areas---the teacher, classroom climate, learning theory and styles, teaching methods, classroom management, personality type, classroom community, motivation, rewards and punishments---basically everything that affects the learning environment!

Recent brain research tells us that teaching is a whole-part-whole endeavor. In fact, our natural system works that very same way. So, why do we continually seek to break our institutions down into smaller and more specialized parts? This workshop provides an understanding of the difference between one’s focus on the “parts” of a system and a focus upon the “whole” system. Through myriad activities, participants will investigate the theories of Clark, Wheatley, Senge, and Forrester and compare them to our current education methods. These hands-on experiences will facilitate the implementation of teaching/learning strategies that ensure success for all students.

All of us in education are leaders. Whether it is classroom discussions, committees, parent conferences, team meetings, or grade level meetings, etc., we are all participants in these vital activities. Why are some more productive than others? Chances are the answer lies within the process of the meeting and not the participants! This workshop investigates Margaret Wheatley’s concept of “leaderful organizations,” and how to plan and implement a process for productive meetings. Units of study include setting the climate and using dialogue, the ladder of inference, selecting tools to encourage divergence, identifying strategies to define issues, dealing with participants who want to dominate discussion, using processes to clearly focus, and making action plans to follow through on decisions.

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