Programs for Individuals
Join us for a one-day seminar, a four-day certificate program, or create your own training experience.
Whatever path you choose, HDO Professional Training gives you the knowledge, the skills, and the network to create your competitive advantage.
Upcoming Seminars
Behavior Change & Influence
April 26, 2022
Just Stop: Zen, Stress, Anxiety, and Uncertainty
April 27, 2022
The Heart of Leadership: Moving Forward Through Change
April 28, 2022
Upcoming Certificate Programs
Communication & Leadership Certificate Program
March 29-April 1, 2022
Personal Leadership Certificate Program
April 26-29, 2022
One-Day Professional Seminars
HDO seminars combine cutting-edge research with real-world application to provide practical and immediately relevant tools for solving key organizational problems.
Businesses and nonprofits often bring outside specialists on board to improve their organization’s overall efficiency, creativity, and productivity. Participants in our seminars learn to function as “internal consultants,” equipped with new skills and insights to enhance their existing expertise and institutional knowledge.
By exploring specific human, cultural, and communicatory aspects of organizations alongside professionals from a diverse range of industries, participants leave HDO seminars more effective, well-rounded employees.
Four-Day Certificate Programs
Built on strong academic fundamentals and real-world relevance, HDO Certificate Programs are designed to enhance the portfolios of mid-and upper-level professionals.
Over the course of four days, you will gain immediately applicable tools and skills to accelerate your career, whether your goal is advancing in your current organization, deepening your capacities to excel in your existing role, or developing additional skills for a transition to a new position.
During your four-day experience, you will learn alongside and network with experienced professionals from a diverse range of industries. If you cannot commit to four consecutive days, you can also create your own program over the course of a semester.
If you are interested in obtaining employer support for your HDO Professional Training experience, please visit our Employer Support Resources page.
Dr. Richmond-Garza was highly engaging and able to transmit an incredible amount of material to us in only a day’s time. The organization of the material and use of theater techniques was very interesting and useful. This seminar will enable me to pursue a more cognizant and consistent approach to understanding motivation.
I’ve been in Executive Management for over 20 years. The courses I took in the HDO program helped me to gain a fresh perspective on management; specifically, on how people work. I highly recommend taking a seminar or obtaining a certification in this program.
Caryn Carlson, a Professor of Psychology at UT Austin, has been teaching in our Professional Training programs since HDO was created in 2011.
In this video, Dr. Carlson highlights how training participants will benefit from incorporating an understanding of human psychology into their professional toolkit.
Spring 2022 Certificate Programs
Create Your Own Program
Select any four courses running this semester that align with your schedule and your professional development needs. Upon completion of your fourth course, you will receive a Certificate in the Human Dimensions of Organizations.
Personal Leadership
Date: April 26-29, 2022
Registration Fee: $2,300-$3,000
The Personal Leadership Certificate Program from Human Dimensions of Organizations at UT Austin prepares participants to be influential, authentic, and strategic leaders.
Participants in this program will gain tools to 1) guide individual and organizational behavior change using principles based in psychology and neuroscience 2) adopt practices of zen to reduce stress and anxiety in periods of uncertainty, 3) employ concepts from psychology and ethics to build individual and organizational resiliency, and 4) develop authentic and engaging personal and organizational narratives.
Courses Included in This Program:
Behavior Change & Influence
April 26, 2022
Behavior Change and Influence is led by Psychology Professor and HDO’s Founding Director, Dr. Art Markman. Drawing on research that was the basis for his book, Smart Change (each participant receives a copy), Dr. Markman provides insights from cognitive science to help you achieve your goals in fostering behavioral change and exerting greater influence.
Just Stop: Zen, Stress, Anxiety, and Uncertainty
April 27, 2022
This course draws on the field of cultural anthropology as well as insights from Japanese Zen to think about how to deal with and embrace the problem of uncertainty in our lives and work.
The Heart of Leadership: Moving Forward Through Change
April 28, 2022
This seminar draws on the disciplines of psychology and ethics to examine the various behaviors and strategies that enable leaders to build resilient teams and organizations. Participants will emerge with confidence that they know how to lead others through change successfully.
Telling Your Story: Crafting an Honest, Effective Organizational Narrative
April 29, 2022
A strong and honest personal and organizational narrative is the way that we communicate meaning. It is crucial that an organization’s narrative can be naturally interwoven with the personal stories and values of employees and customers, and that it evolves along with the personal journeys of those stakeholders as well as the wider cultural and business environment. Participants in this course will be presented with methods for identifying and developing these narratives.
Communication & Leadership
Date: March 29-April 1, 2022
Registration Fee: $2,300-$3,000
The Communication & Leadership Certificate Program from Human Dimensions of Organizations at UT Austin prepares participants to be strong communicators as leaders or aspiring leaders.
Participants in this program gain skills that enable them to employ communications to empower others, recognize and balance colleagues’ competing motivations, understand how cultural awareness can contribute to ethical and effective decision-making, and deploy the concepts, strategies, and scripts of successful negotiation.
Courses Included in This Program:
The Art and Science of Negotiation
March 29, 2022
This seminar explores the central concepts, strategies, and scripts of successful negotiation. Negotiation, understood broadly, is an element of nearly every relationship and enterprise. Our premise is that successful negotiators employ interpersonal skills characterized by an artful deployment of both empathy and cunning — that is, heart and mind.
Understanding and Managing Motivations: Uncovering Potentials
March 30, 2022
Literature, especially drama, provides concrete and practical cases that help us to understand how ethical decisions are made and to see how ethics and leadership intersect. This course will use dramatic texts to question the nature of ethical challenges and to explore ideas behind human motivation.
Communicating for Impact
March 31, 2022
Whether an individual communication is complex or not, it needs to be crafted thoughtfully by engaging your audience in relevant and meaningful ways. If you don’t take the time to do so, your communication will still have an impact, but not necessarily the one you intend.
Ethics, Culture, and Leadership
April 1, 2022
This course focuses on how awareness of culture can contribute to ethical leadership and good decision-making in organizations. Participants will use case studies to think about ethical issues in organizations related to topics such as compliance, technology use, health and illness, and sustainability.
These topics are considered from a global perspective emphasizing how cultural values inform ethical decision-making and how different ethical and cultural systems address and define moral issues that arise in organizations.
Organizational Improvement
Date: February 15-18, 2022
Registration Fee: $2,300-$3,000
The Organizational Improvement Certificate Program from Human Dimensions of Organizations at UT Austin prepares participants to build and lead high functioning organizations.
Participants in this program will gain tools to 1) develop meaningful and persuasive brand narratives, 2) manage and embrace change throughout their organizations, 3) move beyond rhetoric to build truly inclusive workplaces, and 4) employ historical thinking to develop strategic approaches to leadership.
Note: This program will be held in a live online format.
Courses Included in This Program:
Perspectives on Branding: Ethics, Ambiguity, Persuasion
February 15, 2022
This seminar draws on the resources of literature and literary theory to explore the ways audiences experience brands and branded material, and the ways that reception can diverge from the expectations of organizations and business owners.
Addressing Change-o-Phobia: Leading Change Up and Down the Org Chart
February 16, 2022
Changing an organization’s policies, culture, or operating procedures requires the utmost in persuasive strategies. Drawing on rhetorical theory and organizational psychology, this workshop will help you understand why people resist change, plan out steps for introducing changes, and design communications promoting change directing at different kinds of audiences.
Designing a More Diverse and Inclusive Organization
February 17, 2022
In this seminar, we explore some specific ways your organization can move beyond rhetoric and good intentions to action and impactful outcomes. In addition to learning about some of the most relevant research in this area, participants will have the chance to collaborate in small groups to generate practical solutions that address real-world problems.
Organizational Leadership & Strategy in Uncertain Times
February 18, 2022
As a participant in this seminar, you will learn how to: (1) leverage historical thinking for effective leadership; (2) become a better strategic thinker; (3) define and guide change, even in a resistant environment; (4) anticipate future changes in your field; and (5) define your self-image as a leader.
Strategic Leadership
Date: March 1-4, 2022
Registration Fee: $2,300-$3,000
The Strategic Leadership Certificate Program from Human Dimensions of Organizations at UT Austin prepares participants to enhance individual and organizational productivity and efficiency.
Participants in this program gain tools to 1) increase their use of emotional intelligence in workplace leadership; 2) develop productive time management, prioritization, and project management techniques; 3) reduce instances of and mitigate the impacts of human error; and 4) optimize personal and team performance through tools rooted in psychology, neuroscience, and cognitive science.
Courses Included in This Program:
Achieving Balance: Time Management for Modern Professionals
March 1, 2022
Due to changes in work and technology, people’s personal and professional lives are more connected than ever before—and more fragmented, busier, more crammed with tasks and obligations. How can we regain work-life balance? How can we achieve confidence, clarity, and the ability to plan? In this one-day seminar, Dr. Clay Spinuzzi will use a mix of research, theory, and experience to discuss the challenges we face in planning our time and projects.
Emotional Intelligence for Leaders
March 2, 2022
In this information-packed and interactive seminar, Consultant Jim Pacey and Psychologist Kirsten Bradbury guide participants in developing the skills and knowledge they need to increase their use of Emotional Intelligence (EQ) in workplace leadership.
Risky Business: Human Error & Organizational Resiliency
March 3, 2022
This course provides you with core scientific principles from psychology and engineering to help you better understand what human error is, and ways of building barriers to keep errors from turning into major events.
This seminar is helpful for people across sectors and at all organizational levels. The tools provided will empower participants to reduce error, both in their organizations and their personal lives.
Flourishing in the Workplace
March 4, 2022
This course presents practical strategies for optimizing personal and employee performance via identifying and utilizing character strengths, increasing positive emotion and flow, and creatively conceptualizing issues and solving problems.
Participants identify personally relevant areas for improvement or growth and work individually and in small groups to apply practical strategies presented in the course to enhance satisfaction and success both professionally and personally.
Notice: Our remaining spring 2022 programs will be held in person at UT Austin’s IC² Institute. We continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation in Central Texas. We will transition programs to a live online format if conditions require.
Spring 2022 One-Day Seminars
February
Perspectives on Branding: Ethics, Ambiguity, Persuasion (2/15)
Addressing Change-o-Phobia: Leading Change Up and Down the Org Chart (2/16)
Designing a More Diverse and Inclusive Organization (2/17)
Organizational Leadership & Strategy in Uncertain Times (2/18)
Note: February 2022 courses will be held in a live online format.
March
Achieving Balance: Time Management for Modern Professionals (3/1)
Emotional Intelligence for Leaders (3/2)
Risky Business: Human Error & Organizational Resiliency (3/3)
Flourishing in the Workplace (3/4)
The Art & Science of Negotiation (3/29)
Understanding and Managing Motivations: Uncovering Potentials (3/30)
Communicating for Impact (3/31)
Additional One-Day Courses
The Cognitive Science of Career Management
Many of the hurdles you face throughout your career are, first and foremost, psychological challenges. In this course, Dr. Markman will show you how to use your different mental systems—motivational, social, and cognitive—to manage these challenges more effectively.
Decisions by Design
Quality decisions can be measured by their level of clarity, efficiency, and commitment. In this seminar, we explore a decision-making approach that focuses on each of these at the right point in the process with the right people involved.
Maximizing Mental Agility
The course focuses on six areas of thinking that provide easy-to-learn strategies rooted in Cognitive Science that will help people to be more productive, efficient, creative, motivated, and satisfied in their working lives, and beyond.
Persuading Like an Entrepreneur
In this one-day seminar, Dr. Clay Spinuzzi uses examples from his research on startups and his expertise in rhetoric and communication to illustrate how persuasion works and to discuss principles that can make us more persuasive — in our ventures, our organizations, and our lives.
Not sure what program is right for you or your team?
Contact us via the chat box in the bottom right of your screen or fill out this brief contact form and we’ll get in touch with you!
