Instructors & Staff

Free training for public sector employees

Free training for public sector employees

Free training for public sector employees

Learn more about the Capability Maturity Model.

This month’s article discusses the differences between the two concepts and contains 2 suggestions for how to be an empathetic affirming coworker.

Advancing in your career can provide new opportunities to learn, grow, and taking on more responsibility. Not everyone is motivated by the same factors regarding advancing a career.  It is not always about the recognition and status that come with a higher position.  You may be looking for increased earning

DEI is not just the right thing to do, it's also good for business. DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) is crucial for businesses today, for ethical and practical reasons.  By creating a workplace that embraces diversity, equity, and inclusion, you can unlock many benefits that will help your company thrive

Business architecture is critical for a business. Business architecture is like a well-designed map for your organization. It helps you navigate the complexities of your business, make informed choices, and reach your desired destination of strategic goals. Business Architecture Blog How Mature Are You? | A Workplace BlogLearn how as

Leadership Makes Strategy Work Think of strategy as a brilliant plan - on paper, but it's strong leadership that translates that plan into action. Leaders effectively communicate the strategy to employees, motivating them to work towards goals. They also delegate tasks, track progress, and make adjustments as needed. Leadership &

Learn how as little as 15 minutes or having 2 or 3 conversations can determine where you are on the capability maturity model can save you time, money, and frustration.

Explore why DEI initiatives and policies are essential to your companies’ holistic success.

While there are benefits of having a curmudgeon on your team, curmudgeonly behaviors have their limits. Learn more here….

You can contribute to a positive workplace environment by learning some team lessons from the restaurant kitchen.

New research is debunking the myth that the always-happy employee is your most productive employee.

Research says a team should have at least one grumpy coworker on your team or in your department. Read about four of the reasons.

Explore experiential learning, a tool that leaders can use to build the skillsets of their team and connect learning directly to work application.

Learn how you respond to change and how to keep others moving.

Explore the philosophy of Ubuntu and unlock the power to change your team and make a lasting impact in the world.

Instructor, Institute for Professional Development

Inclusive language builds an inclusive and equitable workplace! Learn applicable strategies to approach DEI issues in a non-shameful way.

My most successful resolution occurred about 10 years ago when I resolved to wear eyeshadow every day. I ended up losing 60 pounds.

Be aware of how holiday celebrations may affect your staff and coworkers in different ways to help reduce the stress of the holiday season.

We are not working on an island. We need to teach people to work interdependently, ask for help early, and work with others to dream big and solve large problems.

Learn more about value streams role and position in the larger business architecture framework.

Ignite a spark for the Minnesota Public Sector to collectively promote ourselves as a great career option! Be disruptive and innovative with these links to organizations and events.

Inclusive language is critical and can transform your workplace culture in meaningful ways.

While almost every industry sector is suffering with the challenge of the Great Resignation, public sector is suffering more than others. Learn six Talent-Recruiting Actions to Find Public Sector Employees in Minnesota

Explore the core business architecture that DHS is leveraging to integrate service delivery and develop an enterprise portfolio of products.  

DEI policies often fall short in bereavement policies. Ensuring employees can grieve is essential for a company’s health and longevity. Learn more…

Instructor, Institute for Professional Development

In this webinar, four challenging project management situations will be addressed with solutions.

Communications Manager, Institute for Professional Development

Inclusive language in our workplaces is essential. Learn three ways to improve the use of inclusive language in the workplace.

It’s Beyond What You Can See. Part 2 of Who’s Sitting at Your Table?

Stop spending your whole day analyzing risk by learning how and when to use a risk register.

By: Destyn Land, M.Ed.   Imagine that you were personally invited to a dinner party hosted by one of your favorite celebrities (for me this would be the late Chadwick Boseman). Upon your arrival, you realize the table you were assigned to sit at has seats that you do not

While the “D” in DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) gets the most attention, the “EI” (Equity and Inclusion) are fundamental for creating an environment that supports diversity.

When we think about our work lives, and the way that we engage with our colleagues, I imagine most of us (including me) would ask, “What’s love got to do with it?”

Learn how to leverage business models to define overall scope, map work tracks, track vendors & systems, and ensure end-to-end coverage.

Learn 6 workplace values sought be younger generations and 4 actions leaders can take to demonstrate those values and diversify their culture.

By Beth Schaefer IPD Director Last week I attended an annual holiday party with friends that I have been attending for 30-some years.  Fun!  It was a potluck, and I made a pretty ordinary salad – for about $35 dollars in grocery supplies – not fun.   While many of us

Learn a fresh approach by getting creative with how to help someone start a career in your organization.

Improve well-being, production, and creativity at work with one magical bullet that you are probably already doing … Chit Chat!

This article will discuss the 6 myths your organization should avoid if it wants to help those immediate supervisors maintain engaged employees.

Explore modern operating models for organizing different types of architects, along with approaches companies are taking to improve collaboration.

Discuss some tips and techniques for getting your business stakeholders to become your greatest champions.

This third and final session in Standing Up a Business Architecture Practice poses questions that should be considered when it comes to the governance of an enterprise-level business architecture practice.

Learn how to stand up a business architecture practice within an organization.

This is the third blog in the Employee Engagement Series. Are employees becoming a stronger factor in how you do business?

Learn more about how product managers can use business architecture in their roles.

Resources for Employee Engagement   Employee Engagement: It’s Time to Go ‘All In.’  Dale Carnegie.   Employee Experience vs. Employee Engagement: What’s the Difference?  Gallup.  Pendell.   Engaging in Healthy Debate Over Employee Engagement.  Association for Talent Development.  Leeds and Nierle.   Kahn’s 3 Dimensions of Employee Engagement: Still Good

This month, we continue our exploration of employee engagement – especially in the shadow of The Great Resignation- by defining what employee engagement is and what it is not.

Employers are dealing with exiting employees and being told employee engagement leads to retention, but is this a lot of mumbo jumbo?

Join IPD for the launch of a new type of Expert Insights: The Leadership Toolbox.

Take these actions to ensure a smooth career move.

Instructor, Institute for Professional Development

Director, Institute for Professional Development

While a record number of people are leaving their jobs (see the series introductory article: Is The Great Resignation Time for Your Career Transformation?), you may not have to leave to get a better deal. Because so many people are leaving, this may be a good time to negotiate a

The Great Resignation Is On! This series of blogs studies the impact through the personal lens of your career ladder. Series Introduction  Part 1: Should I Stay or Should I Go? (Coming in April) Part 2: You’ve Got Leverage (Coming in May) Part 3: Make your Move Before making any

To coincide with the IPD Expert Insights free webinar series on transforming the workplace using the Modernization Playbook, I thought I should take a look at workplace transformation on a personal level.   For the first time in quite a while, workers are in demand so it stands to reason that

This session will discuss the importance of change management in any transformation.

Learn how the playbook works in conjunction with maturity assessments.

This session focuses on the creation of the State of Minnesota’s Office of Transformation to standardize and assist state agencies with their modernization efforts.

Are you in need of a New Year’s Resolution, or a Performance Goal? If you are as old (mature) as I am, you will remember the craze around a little book by Robert Fulghum entitled All I Really Need to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten.   Now, we have the

Taters, Turkey, and TP Anyone? Worried about shortages in holiday gathering supplies? Now, more than ever, business architecture has a role to play.

A look at the COVID pandemic’s impact on corporations and the digital economy through the lens of business architecture.

  This month we are featuring a free webinar on how to solve problems so that you do not need to solve them again.   So, I took a quick look out on the world wide web, to see what obstacles people are facing to getting problems solved – especially

Considerations for when it comes to the governance of an enterprise-level business architecture practice.

Returning to “Normal” After the Pandemic Sailing Out of the Pandemic Eye How come returning to “normal” seems to be so much harder than pivoting to pandemic status?   First, I have to say, it has been awhile since I have heard anyone use the word “pivot”- in spring of

What can leaders can do to ease the fear of returning to work after Covid? Many people are dreading the return to work: the commute, unnecessary in-person meetings, sitting a cubicle, eating lunch at their desk…   For over a year, public health messaging has been that the safest place

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) are not just buzzwords. To save time, I researched what makes a good DE&I trainer and combined the information into five key criteria.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month Things You Can Do Now To Improve Your Organization’s Mental Health – Even While Working From Home In the past, I would have dismissed this topic as something that is so distant to me, I would not even need to glance in its direction.

Learn the difference between fixing and solving problems so problems are solved the first time.

Get started on the journey to incorporate conflict in your workplace and experience innovation and problem solving.

Previously Recorded Webinar Watch the Video Here 2020 demonstrated the criticality of a business’s ability to pivot and respond to a rapidly changing environment.  Business strategies are now fluid, and business architects need to adapt.  The session will focus on practical tips and methods for how business architects can take

“The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence – it is to act with yesterday’s logic.” John Drucker For this article, I am taking a quick glance at how our workplace environments are likely to change in the long-term as a result of the pandemic.  It is a

Learn more about change and the effect it has on you, and others.

Cover the basics that must be established before even starting to think about a formal business architecture practice.

Does Your Company Need More Convincing to Send You to Business Architecture Certification Training?

Register Now For Our Upcoming FREE Expert Insights Webinar Wednesday, March 24, 2021 12pm Noon-1pm CENTRAL TIME Using Conflict to Build Inclusiveness Does An Ideal Workplace = A Conflict Free Workplace? The goal is to be both diverse and inclusive, not to just avoid conflict.  During this short webinar, our

Satisfy the workplace needs and personality traits that every generation has.

Look Beyond For Joy By: Beth Schaefer    Director, Institute for Professional Development Normally, this is the time of year that I write about the “New Year, New You” and how training classes at IPD can help with that. However, 2020 was not a year of normal, and the first

Instructor, Institute for Professional Development

Register Now For Our Upcoming FREE Expert Insights Webinar Title: Beyond Business – Business Architecture for the Social Sector Wednesday, June 3, 2020 12pm-1pm CENTRAL TIME Join IPD Instructor Bao Do as he discusses the response of various countries around the world to COVID-19 and how pandemic management capabilities highlight

Instructor, Institute for Professional Development

"Business Architecture In Uncertain Times" An Expert Insights Webinar From the Metro State Institute for Professional Development Originally Aired: May, 2020 This presentation covers: How Business Architects Can Help Their Companies Navigate Through Uncertainty Learn tools that guide tactical and strategic decision making in a dynamic environment Prepare for future

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Instructor, Institute for Professional Development

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Is Pocket Agile a Thing, or Did I Just Invent It? Or – Is it OK to be Agile Lite? By: Beth Schaefer    Director, Institute for Professional Development I hesitate to say that I am practicing Agile because I have not been formally trained in Agile. And, I work

By: Beth Schaefer    Director, Institute for Professional Development It happened again last week.  I was at a meeting where a policy revision was announced.  As the policy changes were being laid out, several people in the room had questions that did not have answers.  It became clear to me

As a leader, do you create the space for High Impact Trust Advisors’s to flourish?

Why you should always be networking. Call IPD today for more information on how to grow your career. 612-659-7230

Instructor, Institute for Professional Development

Instructor, Institute for Professional Development

Director, Institute for Professional Development

Instructor, Institute for Professional Development

These are the real reasons people resist change… Call IPD today if you would like to learn more about our change management classes – 612-659-7230

Sign up to receive discounts on Institute for Professional Development Courses.

11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, September 2, 2015.

Seven actions to remain relevant and propel your career.