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ASET-ABRET Leadership Academy

Training Volunteers Today to be Tomorrow’s Leaders

 
The Leadership Academy is a joint collaboration of ABRET – Neurodiagnostic Credentialing and Accreditation and ASET – The Neurodiagnostic Society to address the needs of both organizations to prepare volunteers to move into leadership positions by providing instruction in leadership skills. The mission of the academy is to develop the volunteer leadership necessary to ensure the long-term growth and advancement of both ABRET and ASET, and of the neurodiagnostic profession. While many of the skills you will learn through the academy will prove useful in your workplace professional development, the focus of the academy is on “volunteer” leadership training and the “business” of the two organizations.
 
The Academy is composed of a series of on-line modules, presented via ASET’s E-Learning portal. Enrollment is open throughout the calendar year. Interaction with faculty varies from course to course. At the end of each course a brief quiz is provided to confirm your grasp of the concepts presented. When you have completed the full curriculum, you will be asked to complete a brief evaluation form so that we may continue to make program improvements.
 

THE FOLLOWING IS A DESCRIPTION OF THE 11 MODULES COMPRISING THE ASET|ABRET LEADERSHIP ACADEMY PROGRAM:
 

Introduction to ASET and ABRET (must be completed first)
This course will provide an overview of ASET – The Neurodiagnostic Society and ABRET – Neurodiagnostic Credentialing and Accreditation. The vision, mission and objectives for each organization will be reviewed. Each organization’s structure, including governing boards, committees and task forces will be described along with roles, responsibilities and workflows. An overview of the governing philosophy and policies of each organization will be provided. Opportunities for member and volunteer engagement in each organization will be reviewed.
 
Instructors: Kevin Helm, MBA, CAE, ASET Executive Director and Janice Johnson, MS, R. EEG/EP T., CAE, ABRET Executive Director
 
Strategic Thinking
One of the most important roles and responsibilities of organization leaders is to set the direction for the organization. Strategic planning is a management tool used to help an organization define its direction, set goals, identify actions to achieve the goals, and make decisions for allocating its resources to execute the actions. It is the strategic framework that gives coherence and direction for the actions of the organization. Without a strategic plan, it is likely that there is no consensus on what is to be accomplished.
 
In this module participants will define strategy, strategic planning, and strategic thinking; outline the planning process; understand the differences between the internal and external environmental influences; demonstrate skills in utilizing common techniques for setting priorities; and learn some tools to guide the reflective process.
 
Concepts and skills will be presented through PowerPoint presentation, assigned readings, and discussion board.
 
Learning will be assessed through Independent and collaborative activities assigned to reinforce each lesson.
 
Instructor: Judy Ahn-Ewing, R. EEG/EP T., CNIM, CLTM, FASET, BA
 
Corporate Compliance
Regulatory or corporate compliance describes the goal that corporations or public agencies aspire to in their efforts to ensure that personnel are aware of and take steps to comply with relevant laws and regulations. ABRET and ASET each have adopted sets of policies to insure that they are in corporate compliance and that provide rules and guidelines for the way that business is to be conducted, whether it be in a committee or task force, or by the governing boards. This course will review those policies and principles under which volunteers and elected leaders are to operate, including code of conduct, conflict of interest, anti-trust, apparent authority, and whistleblower policies.
 
Instructor: Kathy Johnson, R. EEG/EP T., RPSGT, FASET
 
Goal Setting
This course takes the student through a historical prospective of goal setting and the roots in which the notions of goal setting are derived. It further analyses some of the more modern theories of goal setting and looks at a series of research studies to determine effectiveness of goal setting strategies and common underlying themes in the studies. Because the roots of goal setting come from Behavioral and Cognitive Psychology as well as Motivational/Personal Development literature, there is an individual component to goal setting underlying the primary notions; that is, the way we set goals and how we achieve them is partially determined by the individual’s orientations and motivations. The primary focus is on how these theories and ideas can be used in nonprofit, voluntary organizations such as ASET and ABRET. Finally it focuses on prioritizing and time management and strategies that can be utilized in accomplishing our goals
 
Instructor: Mark Ryland, R.NCS.T., RPSGT, R. EP T., AuD 
 
Communication
Communication skills are some of the most important skills that you need to succeed
Whether it is in the workplace, committee work or a board position. In this course, the instructor will go through speaking skills as well as non-verbal skills to help you become a better communicator
 
Instructor: Pat Trudeau, R. EEG T., CLTM, FASET
 
Team Development
The ability to recognize character in individuals is beneficial during the selection process of committee members. Care must be taken to choose those close to the task at hand. Selecting committee members for the wrong reasons can result in team failure.  Once the team is chosen, ongoing assessment of those on your team is crucial in order to encourage them if you feel they are overwhelmed and praise them if they achieve beyond your expectations.
One must know what to expect out of committee members chosen and need to be careful not have unrealistic ideas of performance.  Most team members who work on committees within volunteer organizations have full time jobs and must carve out personal time to do the tasks at hand.
In this module the instructor will address elements that are crucial in selecting and leading a team to achieve success while working in concert on projects for volunteer organizations such as ASET and or ABRET.  This section will highlight the leader in action and describe how to best achieve success as a team while carefully balancing group selection, delegation and accountability.
 
Instructor: Clare Gale, R. EEG/EP T. CNIM, F.ASNM
 
 
Coaching
The Leadership Academy really looks to make a positive impact with upcoming and new volunteers within ASET and ABRET. While these courses are primarily focused on the new and upcoming individuals, many of the modules that are taught could even be beneficial for more veteran volunteers as a refresher to some concepts or reinforcement to current practices. This course will focus on: coaching, who should coach and what can the coachee expect; mentoring, who should be a mentor and what should the mentoree expect; and performance feedback, how should it be received and how it should be delivered.
 
Coaching, mentoring and performance feedback are all necessary components in the development a strong, functional team. The intent is to focus not just on the short-term needs of committee or board work but to expand that horizon to look at both the short-term and the long-term needs or goals of each organization. While there are occasions where a coach and a mentor can be the same person, often times that is not the case. Both ASET and ABRET rely on volunteer commitment so it is imperative that people know how to grow and develop not only great volunteers for the present but also leaders for the future. 
There are numerous examples of outstanding leaders and incredible depth of knowledge in both organizations. In fact, it is often very humbling to be around such greatness. How great is it that we are all so fortunate to have this wealth of knowledge for us to draw from as we look to develop and strengthen our society for the future. We need to tap into the love and passion that they have so that it can be passed on to others.
The information in this course can be used not only for volunteering with ASET and ABRET, but it can also be used in the workplace.  It should be noted that each of these topics can be quite heavy and entire books have been written on each of these subjects.  The concepts taught here will be high level yet practical and informative, and hopefully will spur more interest to develop in the future.
 
Instructor: Adam Kornegay, R. EP T., CNIM, LPN, MBA
 
Conflict Management
This course on conflict management will cover two sections:
 
Section One: Understanding Conflict:
Lessons:
  1. Conflict recognition
  2. Stress factors
  3. Dealing with difficult people
  4. Management of conflicts
Section Two: Dealing with Conflict:
Lessons:
  1. Identification
  2. Resolution
  3. Awareness of emotions
  4. The good and bad of conflicts

The objective of this course is to enlighten the participant to as to how to identify internal conflicts in your office or laboratory and how to manage this conflict. Conflict within the workplace is the most basic cause for employee turnover, lost income, apathy of employees, and poor morale amongst employees. This course will add to your knowledge as to how to deal and identify with stress, emotions, recognition and dealing some very difficult people.  The outcome will be more enlightenment of how to recognize, diffuse, and resolve conflicts within your office or laboratory prior to conflicts arising.

Instructor: Margaret R. Walcoff, R. EEG/EP T., CNIM, FASET, MEd
 
Understanding Non-profit Financials
Since financial oversight is a core responsibility of the ASET Board of Trustees and ABRET Board of Directors, with each trustee or director having equal and shared fiduciary responsibility for the organizations, it is important that current leaders, and leaders-in-training, understand the content and significance of nonprofit financial statements. This course will review the types of financial statements that may be issued for nonprofit corporations, methods of accounting, and how to read and understand financial statements. Perhaps more important, this course will review information contained in the financial statement that will give you tips on whether the nonprofit is gaining or loosing ground and whether or not it is a healthy organization financially.
 
Networking For Success

As you strive to grow yourself as an ASET and/or ABRET leader, consider committee work. This course focuses on the opportunities available, and step-by-step guidelines of how to lead a successful committee. In addition to defining the various committees, task forces and workgroups, the instructor provide real-life examples of her experience leading the ASET Standards and Practices Committee.

Instructor: Anita Schneider, R. EEG/EPT., CNIM, CLTM, FASET

 
Leadership Skills – What Makes an Effective Leader? (must be completed last)
ASET and ABRET, much like many other professional health care organizations, rely on a core of volunteers to serve on their committees and boards to carry out their strategic mission of credentialing, establishing and maintaining the highest standards of practice, providing leadership, advocacy, education and resources to promote professional excellence and quality patient care in neurodiagnostics
Knowledge of one’s strength and skills is an important component of assessing readiness for a leadership position. At any given time in your professional or personal lives you may be called upon to step up and assume the role of a leader. What makes an effective leader in these particular circumstances
There are many skill sets deemed important for a leader. The traits below can be applied to organizational leadership and board leadership. The specific applications and strategies may differ slightly but individuals who have these traits can become successful
  • Character – integrity and honesty
  • Interpersonal skills – builds relationships, motivates and develops others, emotional intelligence
  • Effective communication – good listener, clear and direct
  • Personal capability – technical/professional expertise, problem-solver, innovates
  • Drives results – initiative and follow through, sets stretch goals
  • Manages change – strategic perspective, knows events in the outside world, focuses on customers and key stakeholders
In this leadership academy course, the instructor will discuss these competencies and attributes of a leader which are key to organizational success
  • Define leadership capacity
  • Enumerate the attributes and competencies of an effective leader
  • Discuss the meaning of each attribute and how these attributes are meaningful and helpful in board leadership
  • Identify any weaknesses or “fatal flaws”
  • Perform a self-assessment and identify strengths
Instructor: Adele Wirch, R. EEG/EP T., CNIM, FASET, MS

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