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Stay Sharp with Professional Development Courses

Registration is open for spring slate of Learning & Organization Development courses

A group takes part in a session of the Crucial Conversations course offered by Duke Learning & Organization Development.
A group takes part in a session of the Crucial Conversations course offered by Duke Learning & Organization Development.

During her first 11 years as director of Duke’s Nonprofit Management Program, Nancy Love rarely missed opportunities to learn.

She took the three-day Guide to Managing at Duke seminar and was in the 2017 class of the Duke Leadership Academy.

But last fall, while taking the Situational Leadership II course offered by Duke’s Learning & Organization Development (L&OD), she had her eyes opened to even more new ideas about how to do her job.

“It helped to understand how different things could be based on leadership styles,” said Love, whose office is part of Duke Continuing Studies. “There are different people, different styles of leadership. You can address things in different ways and get good results. But you have to be able to understand differences and how to direct.”

Duke employees can have similar epiphanies this spring as L&OD offers an array of courses on software training, leadership and management development, and professional development certificate programs. In all, there are around 70 courses and programs offered by L&OD through June. Online registration is now open.

The curriculum is modified each semester in response to feedback from employees and supervisors. With few major changes to this spring’s course list, L&OD will stick with what’s working.

The Administrative Assistant of Excellence and the Executive Assistant of Excellence certificates, as well as the Situational Leadership II course, were introduced in the fall and will be offered once again.

“They’ve gotten a very good response,” said Keisha Williams, L&OD assistant vice president.

Designed to make difficult conversations more productive, the Crucial Conversations course has been popular since it was introduced last spring. After offering two sessions in the fall, there will be three this spring.

“I’ve been here a long time, but I learn something new in each of the classes,” Love said. “You can’t know it all, as much as you want to.”