Expanded Employee Development Classes

This course equips Miami-Dade County professionals with the tools, strategies, and mindset needed to deliver exceptional service that meets the evolving expectations of the residents, local businesses, and our many stakeholders. Unlike traditional customer service, Achieving Customer Success in government focuses on proactive engagement, personalized support, and long-term positive outcomes for the community.

Leadership Competency: Customer Service and Communication

The Art of Oral Presentation is intended to help you become an effective oral communicator. This class will foster your inner communication skills when speaking under pressure in front of residents, colleagues, in meetings or any other oral presentations you may encounter. The clinic will cover the following topics: presentation preparation, methods of delivery, overcoming stress, and tools to impress your audience. Each participant will get an opportunity to present a topic in class and receive on-the-spot feedback from your classmates.

Leadership Competency: Performance Management and Results Orientation

This dynamic course is designed to help professionals master language and communication skills while developing a confident, influential, and positive presence. Participants will build greater self-assurance, emotional resilience, and mental clarity, enabling them to articulate thoughts with precision and impact. Through practical techniques and guided exercises, learners will enhance their ability to engage others, earn recognition in the workplace, and influence outcomes effectively. By the end of the course, attendees will not only communicate with greater confidence but also command attention and inspire action in both personal and professional settings.

Leadership Competency – Communication

This workshop helps participants understand the foundations of good business writing. Review of grammar, punctuation, and effective sentence structure helps participants write with clarity and concision. Participants learn to strengthen their written messages by identifying the audience, tailoring the message, and practicing concise, "fat-free" writing. Practical exercises reinforce objectives.

Business Writing Level II may be substituted for this core writing requirement. If a participant chooses to take both workshops, Business Writing Level II will be converted to an elective.

Leadership Competency: Communication

This workshop builds on the writing mechanics of Business Writing Level I. Participants learn to use audience identification, concision, and channel selection to write effectively. Practical exercises include writing memos, e-mails, and letters. Emphasis is placed on positive, persuasive, motivational, and results-oriented writing. Note: Business Writing Level II can be substituted for Business Writing Level I as a core course.

Leadership Competency: Communication

This class highlights the most common types of difficult people. A thorough review of the communications process is conducted while identifying the importance of sight, sound and words. Identifying, understanding, and handling different difficult personalities through effective communication techniques are also addressed. This class includes interactive role play and group discussions.

Leadership Competency: Communication and Influencing and Negotiation

This workshop introduces supervisors to core supervisory skills that assist them in the management and development of people. Topics include Leadership; Motivation; Time Management; Delegation; Communication, Conflict Resolution; Problem-Solving/Decision-Making.

An additional key component in this workshop is the focus placed on the County's Results Oriented Government philosophy and strategic planning process. Videos and exercises reinforce course content.

Leadership Competency: Business Acumen and Entrepreneurship

This course equips professionals with practical tools to improve decision-making and self-management by understanding how our minds operate under pressure and in routine moments. Grounded in behavioral science, the course explores the two systems of thinking—fast and intuitive versus slow and deliberate—and how they influence our choices, habits, and reactions. Participants will learn to recognize and overcome common mental traps, manage distractions, and apply strategies that enhance focus, self-control, and long-term goal alignment. By building greater awareness and mental discipline, attendees will be better prepared to make sound decisions and follow through on what matters most in their work and personal lives.

Leadership Competency – Decisiveness

Leading Beyond the Title: Transforming Managers into Leaders is an engaging, purpose-driven leadership development course designed for public service managers, professionals, and supervisors ready to evolve from managing tasks to leading with impact. This interactive 4-hour training challenges traditional views of leadership by emphasizing service, self-awareness, and values-based action over hierarchy. Participants will explore the core differences between managing and leading, identify their leadership style, and learn how to adapt it in service of team and community goals. Through practical tools and reflection, they will build skills in emotional intelligence, decision-making, and servant leadership, while crafting a personal mission statement and growth plan to carry their leadership forward with clarity and intention.

Leadership Competency – Ethics, Integrity, Honesty, and Teamwork

This course will help employees understand the dynamics of change within the public sector, while offering a comprehensive framework for navigating continual transformation. Whether they're in a leadership role or part of a team, the employee will gain the tools and effective strategies to support, embrace, and foster change. Throughout the course, there will be practical exercises and open discussions in addition to learning components for optimal employee engagement during times of change.  This course will help navigate organizational changes by introducing a comprehensive change model that helps the employee develop key skills such as communication, empathy, and effective problem-solving. These skills are essential for fostering collaboration and reducing resistance during times of transition. By the end of the course, the employee will be equipped with the confidence, skills, and a tangible game plan needed to be an active and effective change agent at any level within the organization.

Leadership Competency – Communication and Adaptability

Are you struggling to get ahead at work and maintain your home, family, and friendships? Do work and life feel out of balance?

Find out how shifting your focus can help you to achieve the right work-life balance. You will learn techniques to reduce your stress, promote better health, create time, and feel more in control. You will also learn specific techniques like imagery, meditation, exercise, and journaling.

This 3.5 hour seminar includes self assessment exercises to help you focus and find the right work-life balance for you.

Leadership Competency: Continual Learning

This 4-hour workshop provides Miami-Dade County employees with practical time management techniques. It includes guided discussions, group activities, role-play scenarios and creating a Personal Action Plan to apply their newly acquired skillset to be more effective in managing their time.

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Identify personal & systemic time management challenges in public service
• Determine what Time Traps they may be experiencing and how to avoid those in the future
• Apply proven time management techniques to real-world public sector scenarios
• Identify the Top 10 Time Management Techniques and apply “The Core 4” Time Management Techniques for Public Servants
• Practice prioritization, delegation, & boundary-setting through role play
• Understand the importance of both meeting and communication discipline and how they affect effectiveness in the workplace
• Leave with a personalized action plan to improve time management

Participants will learn how to recognize and prevent sexually harassing conduct in the workplace by understanding the applicable laws and County policies related to sexual harassment, complaint reporting procedures, and consequences of misconduct. Through real life examples, interactive exercises and case studies.

This workshop introduces supervisors to the best practices of structured interviewing. Participants learn to develop effective structured interviews that yield the best qualified candidates. Participants receive practical information on the hiring process including planning interviews, developing questions, devising rating/scoring systems, and screening resumes. Participants learn a defensible process that complies with Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidelines.

Leadership Competency: Business Acumen and Entrepreneurship

This course will help participants better understand unconscious bias– where it comes from, how it manifests itself, and its negative impact on the workplace. The training also covers best practices for confronting and overcoming unconscious bias in the workplace.

Leadership Competency: Diversity Awareness and Management

The Power of POISE: Next Level Emotional Intelligence for Leaders is a dynamic, interactive class designed to help leaders harness emotional intelligence as a powerful tool for influence, connection, and composure. Participants will deepen their understanding of key emotional intelligence concepts through the lens of leadership and apply practical strategies from Emotional Intelligence 2.0 to enhance self-awareness, empathy, and communication. Through guided reflection, real-time activities, and peer interaction, leaders will learn how to maintain poise under pressure and navigate challenging situations with confidence. The class concludes with the development of a personalized EQ action plan to support ongoing growth and impact.

Leadership Competency – Decisiveness and Adaptability

This workshop introduces supervisors to Miami-Dade County performance appraisal procedures and forms. The class focuses on the purpose of performance appraisal, how it differs from discipline, supervisor objectivity, and performance appraisal interview techniques. The importance of documentation and follow-up action is emphasized. A video on performance monitoring and motivation reinforces the practical application of the performance appraisal techniques.

Leadership Competency: Performance Management and Results-Orientation

This workshop introduces the County's policies and procedures on violence, risk factors, high-risk occupations, sources of violence, associated costs, and prevention programs. A video and group study highlights preventive measures.

Leadership Competency: Teamwork and Group Leadership

This course helps participants learn how to identify, prevent and respond to any disrespectful workplace behaviors, including workplace incivility—those seemingly insignificant behaviors that are rude, discourteous, or disrespectful, have a negative effect on the work environment, and can ultimately lead to claims of unlawful discrimination or harassment.