Site icon David Berman Communications

Successful Management of Creative Professionals

LATEST EVENTS LOCATION HOST/REGISTRATION FEE*
November 14, 2003 Winnipeg, MB ACI Manitoba

*Discount packages for non-profits, and travel subsidies available. Additional discounts available for groups over three people. If you refer at least four registrants to one of our courses, we’ll give you a complimentary registration to a course of your choice. Call (613) 728-6777 for details.

All prices, offerings, and dates subject to change without notice.

To register for a course given by our own organization, register online or call (613) 728-6777.

Event Schedule (all events)

Course Description

It is easy to assume that the most successful creative organizations are those with the most recognizable style or the most amazingly artistic portfolio of achievements. However, in truth, the firms that are able to deliver quality results year in and year out, succeed financially, with folk who regularly rest on weekends are the ones who successfully build a loyal, energized, interdependent team. These organizations are typically the ones which recognize that their greatest asset is their people.

This course provides a toolbox of effective personnel management practices and procedures to help organizations who produce creative results get the most out of their staff with the least amount of distraction. Take this course to learn proven techniques for getting performance problems off your desk so that you can focus on proactively building a team of loyal, motivated, high-performing, low-maintenance people. Our process addresses “human resource” management issues specific to creative personnel (and the people who support them) working under tight deadlines. You will become more valuable to your organization by equipping yourself with step-by-step approaches to build a fair, interactive and humane compensation system which will make your firm the place where the best people available will be lining up to work and stay for a long time. Each participant will receive a free, comprehensive manual of the material covered that is approximately 75 pages long.

“Knowledgeable and entertaining … all parts were excellent.”

– Guy Regnier, Deschenes Regnier
Calgary AB

What’s Wrong

The largest expense every creative organization has is its people. Yet, management will typically spend far more time researching the purchase of a $10,000 piece of equipment than they will a salaried team member costing 5 times as much every year. Most agencies recognize that the creativity of their people is their greatest asset. However, such organizations are not typically run by Harvard business grads: they are usually managed by professionals with no formal training in managing people effectively. The problem is further complicated by the special needs involved in motivating creative people who have to come up with wonderful ideas under crazy deadlines and with technology that doesn’t always cooperate.

Most managers know their field inside out, but hit a wall when it comes to effectively managing and supervising their team. Professionals who rise to roles as team leaders do not magically gain supervisory skills: they usually have to learn a series of expensive, disappointing lessons before getting a handle on how to keep everyone productive and happy.

“Superb. Thorough. I am motivated!”

– Dave Champion-Taylor, Guppy Design
Winnipeg MB

What Makes This Course Unique

There are many human resource management courses and specialists out there. However, this is the only course we know of tailored to helping creative organizations get the most out of their professional staff without having to have a dedicated human resources professional on payroll to make it happen. This course focuses on practical, proven methods to gain a handle on your situation, avoid problems before they arise, and turn every employee problem into an opportunity to build a stronger staff. The approaches you will learn includes tools you can start using right away, stated in simple language that both employers and employees can understand and implement enjoyably.

With the proper practices in place, your staff can grow professionally while contributing to the success of your organization in the long term – both are important in keeping the best people in a competitive market.

“A great job. Knowing print, electronic and production is not often found in one individual.”

-Terry Andryo, Palliser
Winnipeg MB

What You Will Learn

This course will provide a toolbox of skills to manage and nurture a group of creative individuals into an interdependent team. We dwell upon the importance of ensuring your people are clear on their roles, receive positive reinforcement and proactive course correction as you navigate together toward a strong, long-term win-win alignment of personal and corporate missions. You will know when they meet their objectives, and what to do when they don’t. Specifically, you will learn:

“I retained a lot of great insight and information. David has good techniques to help motivate personnel.”

– Pierre Lenoine, Taylor George
Winnipeg MB

Benefit
s of Attending

Increase your value and reduce your stress level by seizing on the potential of managing staff more cohesively and effectively, with less turnover and surprises and more room for innovation, creativity, and effective knowledge management.

Benefits to your Organization

Goals

At the end of this course, you will be able to:

Prerequisites

Some experience in having had stressful, challenging episodes with supervising staff will help you more fully benefit from the course.

About the Expert Speaker

Since 1989, David Berman’s firm has developed and implemented management information software and systems to help creative firms work more effectively. His systems and advice are in place in dozens of creative firms around the world.

David’s exposure to people and performance issues has been through his day to day experience managing human resources at David Berman Typographics and Herrera Berman Communications. He has provided strategic and practical work for the human resource branches of Industry Canada and the National Research Council. He has also worked with Human Resources Development Canada, the Canadian Labour Force Development Board, and the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum. Private sector clients include Rockhurst Careers Group, CareerQuest and a variety of design and publishing industry organizations.

David Berman, has more than 20 years of experience in graphic design and communications. He has worked extensively in the adaptation of printed materials for electronic distribution, including Web design and software interface development. As graphic designer, communications strategist and type director, David concentrated on new media, information design, advertising creative, and marketing strategy at Herrera Berman Communications Inc, among Ottawa’s most experienced design agencies.

David brings both graphic design and information technology expertise to his design work. As early as high school, he created and produced a magazine which was distributed in four countries. While training at the University of Waterloo in computer science and at Carleton University in psychology and typography, he became deeply involved with the student press, introducing microcomputers for the first time to the production of student newspapers in Canada. David also worked in the federal government as a computer systems analyst before turning his hobby of graphic design into his career.

He served as the first elected president of the Association of Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario, the world’s first accredited graphic design organization, from 1997 to 1999. He drafted the association’s constitution and Rules of Professional Conduct and authored Ontario’s accreditation examination on ethics and professional responsibility. In 1999, he was named a fellow to the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada, the second youngest in Canadian history. Presently, he is vice-president/ethics of the society. David has recently become a National Professional Member of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (CAPS). David has been featured in the Financial Post, Marketing, and Applied Arts magazines.

Who Should Attend

This course is intended for all principals, business managers, supervisors and executives who are involved in hiring or supervising a creative team. The course is targeted to those familiar with the industry that have no formal training in human resource management, as well as HR professionals who are not familiar with the creative industry.

CONTENT

Philosophy

Hiring

Compensation

Measurement

Staff Manuals

Job Descriptions and Employment Agreements

Orientation

Performance Review

Special Situations

Language: English

Duration: 1 Day

This course is also available customized and on-site for your organization. Please ask for more details.

 

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