Q:Would you tell me a little bit about culture at Sauer-Danfoss?

Julia:About nine years ago, Dave Pfeifle, President and CEO had a vision for us to change our culture. We, at one time, were part of Sundstrand Corporation, and as such, over time, had evolved into a company that was fairly autocratic and not very customer focused. It was not only Dave’s vision for that to change, but it was also a time when our customers were beginning to let us know that if that was way we were going to do business, they were going to need to find other companies to provide same type of product that we provide. Dave’s vision then became what is now known as Reaching for Excellence. It is not a program. It is our company’s vision statement. It represents our philosophy of who we are. There was not a training program here at that time. Part of Dave’s vision was to have a learning base to help promote and support that kind of cultural changes. It’s really been an evolutionary process over last eight or nine years. It is something that CMOE has played and integral part in.

Q:How did your relationship with CMOE begin?

Julia - One of first things we did was to preview Coaching Skills Workshop in California. We decided that it was a class that we wanted to bring in-house. That class and a Customer Awareness Class, that I created, were really cornerstone classes for what now has become one of our core courses in whole training program. As time evolved, we continued to build on that foundation of learning with other classes such as Teamwork I and Teamwork II and other types of learning. So there was a lot of internal training going on.

Q – Can you tell me about how Facilitation Skills came about?

Julia – About five years ago, I was getting feedback from team leaders, facilitators (supervisors), and when I sat in on meetings, it was clear that we were still struggling. We had structured ourselves into teams throughout organization, but we struggled, when we got people together, to make those meetings as effective as possible. From (my) observation and from feedback, it was very clear that we needed to be doing some thing to build on Coaching Skills training to give these people some skills on how to facilitate a group. Coaching, I think does a superior job of giving people skills for one-on-one coaching situations. You can even apply a lot of those skills to a group session, but we really wanted something that was more specific to facilitating groups. So a couple of managers went with me to Des Moines to preview a two-day class on Facilitation Skills, and we found that it was pretty typical of what is out there in industry. We wanted more of what I would call soft side or behavioral side of group facilitation. In other words, when people were facilitating groups, they wanted to enhance involvement, help to focus group without directing group, how to help group feel good about what they were doing and actually have fun with it, while helping group be more effective and efficient.

If above statement sound like you then you could benefit from getting yourself a part-time job or a Saturday job.

Lets review you!

Get a pen and piece of paper and list all skills that make you who you are, these can include things like;

* A good listener

This is when you are good at taking information in by reading something or listening carefully to what is being said. It also shows that you can provide accurate information either by speaking or producing a document.

* Application of number

This is when you are confident with numbers and can use them effectively. You will be comfortable about using them and able to solve problems quickly and accurately.

* You are good on computers (IT)

This is when you are able to deal with new technology, use computers and other technical equipment to produce and present accurate data.

* You are good at solving problems

This is when you can use your own initiative to work and solve problems. You will be able to provide information and describe problem and be able to recognize a problem when it occurs.

* Your a quick learner

This is when you have ability to learn new things quickly.

* Can speak other languages

This is when you have ability to speak fluently in another language.

* Good written communication skills

* Good verbal communication skills

This is when you are good at taking information in by reading something or listening carefully to what is being said. It also shows that you can provide accurate information either by speaking or producing a document.

* The ability to work in a team

This is when you can show that you work well using your own initiative as well as being able to work well as part of a team. You will have great interpersonal skills, you are good with people from a wide range of backgrounds and will be able to manage your own workload and recognize when and where improvements can be made.

* The ability to work independently

This is when you can show that you work well using your own initiative.

* Prompt and reliability

This shows that your are always prompt (on-time) and you are reliable enough to do job at hand.

* Improving own learning & performance