March 21 business seminar to cover assertive skills training

Many people wish to be more assertive in the workplace, but they find it hard to embrace confrontation. It could be because of learned behaviors that avoid confrontational situations, or they have trouble distinguishing the difference between being assertive and being aggressive.

"Assertive Skills Training," a half-day interactive seminar on March 21 presented by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Business Seminars Program, is designed to help participants identify and understand their own ways of interacting, and then identify and address situations and people with whom they may want to be more assertive.

"Behaviors, such as being assertive or being passive-aggressive, are learned practices, and they can be learned or unlearned only over time," said Tom O'Connor, session leader, and founding director of the E. J. Faulkner Writing and Speaking Lab in the UNL College of Business Administration.

The seminar will be from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the Ferguson Center, 700 S. 16th St. The registration deadline for the seminar is March 14. To register or for details, call the Business Seminars Program at (402) 472-0860 or (800) 203-1523, e-mail business.seminars@unl.edu, or visit www.mds.unl.edu.

This seminar can count toward completion of a UNL Business Seminars Management Development Certificate. Information on the three levels of certificates offered is available by telephone and on the Web site. Participation in the certificate program is not a requirement to attend this seminar.

CONTACT: Tamera Ellis, Department of Management, (402) 472-0860 (business.seminars@unl.edu)