An ongoing feature of the CRG ASSOCIATES e-newsletter is our "Collaboration Corner"... In each edition you will find forward-thinking options made available to you through collaborative and creative approaches to value-added services for you and your workforce.

At this time, we would to offer you one of our most popular collaboration opportunities - to "try on" one of our workshops - at a minimal charge to you. In exchange, we ask only that you provide the facility and purchase the the materials for the group. There will be no facilitation fee for this session.

You may choose one from the following options:

• DiSC®: What is Your Workstyle?
• DiSC® Customer Service Action Planning
• Team Dimensions®: Team Process and Results

This workshop is for you if you or your employee is...

• In a job that has been expanded to include training and development responsibilities
• Leads a team and must train on day-to-day job skills
• New to the trainer and / or facilitator role
• Responsible for training but has no "formal" trainer development

Take advantage of this opportunity to develop a full range of training and presentation skills in our workshop series that has been very popular since its kick-off early last year. Plan to attend all five workshops in the series this year for maximum impact and earn a Certificate of Achievement in support of your professional development! The complete series includes:

• The Essentials for Trainer Excellence
• Communication, Feedback, and Coaching Skills for Trainers
• Practical Program Design for Success
• Facilitation Techniques for Impact
• Presentation Skills for Lasting Impact

Some of our most recent participant feedback identifies the real value and ROI resulting from attending our series:

"I just wanted to let you know what a wonderful training session we had today with Irene. It was one of the best training classes I’ve ever been to. She did a fantastic job with the material and getting us all to talk about our struggles with giving constructive feedback and opening up the discussion so we could help each other. It was very valuable and I think everyone who coaches and gives feedback needs to attend this session. I took a lot out of it and I know this will help me immensely in my job. Thank you!"

"...I'm following up from last week's Train the Trainer Workshop One. I very much enjoyed the session last week and had a lot of great takeaways...

You can now register and pay online - or by check; our next series begins on October 18th! We look forward to seeing you soon!

You may be familiar with the powerful assessment software and multi-source feedback tool utilized by CRG ASSOCIATES: the 20/20® Insight GOLD assessment software and related consulting services. As a licensed associate of the Performance Support Systems organization of Newport News, Virginia we can now offer our clients the new 20/20® Insight GOLD enhanced version 4.0, which has several new exciting features and became available to us in early August.

Developed as a 360 feedback tool, the program has been expanded so that it not only offers state-of-the-art online 360 assessment and reporting, but also offers a variety of individual skill and competency assessments as well as organizational and team multi-source customized feedback.

Clients in the retail, financial and real estate industries have realized outcomes that include an increase of of 17% in "management concern for the wellbeing of employees" and a 13% increase in the "modeling of organizational values by management" as measured over an 18-month period. The significance of these statistics are supported by the Gallup Group's findings of the strong link between these types of measures and an organization's retention level and business results.

Coupled with our training programs and learning resources, we have launched new "Train-to-Ingrain" initiatives with clients who are serious about measuring results over time. Call and ask about this special approach - it may be exactly what your organization needs to "make the difference" between the status quo and long-term results.

Let us help you measure and achieve similar results; call or email now for your free CD solutions demo and to learn more about our "Train-to-Ingrain approach!

HPI Offered Again in New England! The Center for Business and Industry at Worcester State College has partnered with the Central Mass Chapter of the American Society for Training and Development (CMASTD) to present the only New England offering of the Certificate in Human Performance Improvement (HPI).

The goal of the HPI program is to help professionals transition from the traditional training role to one that encompasses a variety of human performance improvement interventions. The HPI program delivers cutting-edge information that no other program covers as thoroughly. Upon completion of the program, practitioners will be able to identify the training and non-training interventions needed to close performance gaps in their organizations. And, for those practitioners who continue on in a classroom training capacity, this program will enable them to make recommendations about non-training activities that will further their classroom efforts and increase the value of those training efforts to the organization.

Chris is pleased to announce that she is once again co-facilitating this National ASTD HPI series along with her colleague, Debbie Bercume, of Bercume Associates.

Please contact either Chris Gatti or Dan Nicholes at dnicholes@wsc.edu at Worcester State College to hold your space!

As the incoming President for the Central Mass Chapter of ASTD, I am pleased to announce that our Program Committee is hard at work confirming impactful new programs for the 2006 - 2007 season. You can keep updated on the upcoming program by visiting the CMASTD website soon; we hope to see you this year!