The Relationship Building Pathway can be completed in the Professional Development Pathways Organization in Blackboard.

Purpose

Completion of this pathway indicates that a university employee has specialized knowledge required to do the following:

• Create cultures of inclusion, acceptance, and community in the workplace
• Improve communication and collaboration across campus
• Build better teams that leverage group strength
• Build self-awareness skills that better aid in building relationships
• Use constructive conflict resolution techniques

Guidelines

• Pursuit of a pathway is primarily for building knowledge and skills related to success in current position
• Employees across all OHIO Campuses can participate in the program
• Employee and Supervisor should discuss requirements and participation prior to beginning a pathway program
• Employee and Supervisor should discuss how learning experiences can be shared and/or applied
• A pathway does not mean that a person has all skills required for a position. Experience is also important.

Core Requirements

Conflict Resolution in the Workplace

This course provides an overview of conflict resolution styles, stages of conflict escalation, and strategies for resolving conflict at different stages.

Communicating with Confidence

In this course, you'll learn about being an effective speaker. You'll discover ways to prepare, techniques to avoid being nervous and how to use your voice and body language to communicate with self-confidence.

Active Listening

This course introduces participants to various techniques associated with active listening, with an emphasis on in-workshop active practice and reflection.

Overcoming Unconscious Bias in the Workplace

Participants will learn about unconscious bias and practice strategies to combat unconscious bias in the workplace through creating an anti-bias approach to their interpersonal and organizational relationships.  Participants will also learn how to lead anti-bias change in their own units.

Trust-Building through Effective Communication

Participants will learn how clarity in communication is crucial for building trusting relationships with others.  This course brings together verbal, non-verbal, and active listening skills to help improve levels of trust between individuals.

General Electives

Anger & Conflict

This course provides an examination of how anger can impact how individuals approach conflict and difficult conversations.  Emphasis is placed on identifying one’s own sources of anger and how to mitigate negative emotions in difficult interpersonal situations. 

Managing Difficult Conversations

Participants will have the opportunity to develop their understanding of how to fully utilize these skills in difficult conversations.

Difficult People: Strategies to Keep Everyone Working Together

Participants will learn about interpersonal strategies that help when working in team-based environments.  These strategies include ways to manage difficult behavior and ensure that team members are aligned with project goals, how to use feedback effectively, and how to use conflict management to make collaborative work more productive.

Effective Team Communication

Participants will learn how to avoid bad habits and ineffective communication amongst team members through a focus on using team membership and active listening skills.  Participants will have the opportunity to practice these skills within the eLearning course.

Encouraging Team Communication and Collaboration

Participants will learn how to effectively support active communication and collaboration across team members.  Dedicated focus is spent on both face-to-face and virtual work environments.

Being an Effective Team Member

Participants will learn about the important contributions strong team members can make.  This course provides an examination of strategies to become a more valued and effective team member through collaboration and communication-related skills, as well as positive psychological techniques that help strengthen team-based efforts.

Building and Sustaining Trust in the Workplace

This course assists in building trusting relationships by exploring the nature of trusting relationships, recognizing impact of trust in the workplace, and identifying specific actions to build, rebuild, and sustain trust.