About the course
Most supervisors in manufacturing, health care and service businesses are promoted because they were good at the job, and then they are given a set of keys and no training. This course is designed for the first eighteen months in the role. It is practical and built around situations, and it is honest that some weeks are just hard.
Each session combines a short framework, a case drawn from a Valley employer with the names changed, and practice. The practice part matters most. In session five you hold a difficult conversation with a trained actor from Porter’s theatre program, who plays an employee with an attendance problem and does not make it easy. Between sessions, each participant works on a “floor problem” they brought from their own workplace and reports back.
Who should enroll
- Supervisors, team leads and charge nurses with less than two years in the role
- High performers whom an employer plans to promote in the next six months
- Small-business owners managing their first employees
Employers that send several people can ask for a private cohort through corporate training, scheduled around second and third shifts if needed. Managers looking for a credit option should see online organizational leadership.
Dates, format and fee
| Section | Dates | Meets | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winter | Jan. 14–Feb. 18, 2027 | Thursdays, 8 a.m.–noon | Commerce Hall 118 |
| Spring | Mar. 25–Apr. 29, 2027 | Thursdays, 8 a.m.–noon | Commerce Hall 118 |
- Format
- In person, six weekly sessions
- Contact hours
- 24
- CEUs
- 2.4
- Fee
- $895, including a workbook and a 360-degree feedback survey
- Seats
- 20 per section
What you will do
- From peer to boss. What changes, what has to change, and friendships on the floor.
- Expectations and standard work. Writing down what “good” looks like so you can hold people to it fairly.
- Feedback and coaching. Specific, timely and about behavior; recognizing good work without it sounding like a form letter.
- Attendance, documentation and discipline. Working with HR, not around it; what to write down and when.
- The hard conversation. Practice with an actor, then a debrief with the group. Phones go in a box.
- Safety, change and your own manager. Leading a safety culture, explaining decisions you did not make, and the 360-degree feedback results.
Instructor
Lorraine Pettit is a lecturer in leadership studies. She was a human resources manager at a Valley food plant for fourteen years and says she has “sat in on about 900 conversations that should have happened six months earlier.” She teaches in the leadership minor and the graduate certificate in manufacturing leadership.
Employer pricing and registration
The list fee is $895 per person. Professional Education invoices employers directly on net-30 terms and provides the completion letter and attendance record that tuition-assistance programs ask for.
| Enrollment | Price per person |
|---|---|
| 1–2 people from one employer | $895 |
| 3–5 people from one employer, same section | $806 (10% off) |
| 6 or more people from one employer | $761 (15% off) |
| Porter alumni (not combined with group pricing) | $806 |
| Private cohort of up to 16, at your site or ours | Quoted; usually 70–80% of 16 list-price seats |
Employers with fewer than 250 workers in Porter County and the five neighboring counties may qualify for a Valley Workforce Board incumbent-worker grant that covers up to half the fee. We will help with the paperwork. Register online or by phone. The full policy on cancellations, substitutions and weather is on the Professional Education page.
Fictional information
UW–Porter Falls is a work of parody. This course, its dates, fees, CEUs, instructors and the Valley Workforce Board grant are invented; there is nothing to register for and no certificate to earn. Lorraine Pettit, the actor and the 900 conversations are invented; this page is not HR or legal advice.