“An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.”
— Benjamin Franklin
What do all successful organizations have in common? They offer employee training. And not just one training but a continuing education program. A smooth transition to implementing a training program is using lunch and learns. Lunch and learns are typically an hour and cover the essential skills all employees need to help the organization achieve its goals.
Continual training is an investment that mutually benefits the employees by enhancing their skill sets, and it has been proven to increase company profit margins by 24%. Employees see the value in training, too. According to a LinkedIn survey, 94% of employees said they’d stay at their company longer if their company invested in helping them learn. And companies that invested in training saw their employee retention rate increase by 30 – 50%.
We’ve designed our lunch-and-learn training program to help organizations progressively educate employees in an engaging manner. Our topics cover workplace trends and those that improve their well-being so they can be better at work.
Not sure which topics to choose?
We’ve placed an asterisk next to the most popular selections. Another good strategy is to choose a training topic based on the following:
- your company’s objectives
- benefiting the most people at once
- addressing an immediate need
- improving your company’s culture
- adding to the core competencies of your organization
- financial or career motivations
- investing in your employees’ growth
Lunch-and-Learn Topics
Boosting Your Assertiveness
Have you ever struggled to find a way to say what you think and feel? Have you ever been told you are too abrasive?
Assertiveness is the best way to communicate clearly and respectfully. It is a helpful approach for building trust, reducing interpersonal stress, and resolving conflict. Using assertiveness core skills, such as empathy and active listening, will boost your ability to provide clear and consistent feedback in your work and personal life.
Attendees will learn:
- Differences between passive, aggressive, and assertive communication
- Benefits and barriers of assertiveness
- Ways assertiveness builds trusting relationships
- Foundational skills of assertive communication: empathy, active listening, and body language
- Peer-to-peer feedback model for managing conflict effectively
Dancing with the Difficult: Us and Them*
I am human; therefore, I experience conflict with others.
To be human means that we will encounter challenging people, and sometimes those people are ourselves. Because healthy relationships are the foundation for meaningful connection and belonging, discovering ways to navigate challenges with others is essential. Healthy conflict management positively impacts our relationships at work and home. Managing conflict well can also create healthier work teams. This training will explore the importance of understanding ourselves before engaging in challenging situations with others. With the right tools and strategies, we can draw healthy boundaries and manage conflict effectively.
Attendees will learn:
- Common challenging characteristics that may be triggers for frustration
- Strategies to gain self-awareness of personal biases and perspectives
- Skills for shifting our interpretations to build empathy and collaboration
- Tools for managing conflict in healthy, effective ways
Healthy Sleep
We cannot underestimate the power of healthy sleep. Lack of sleep impacts all areas of our lives – our health, mood, and work productivity. Adding stress to a lack of sleep, the situation becomes more complicated. You can combat the cycle of stress and lack of sleep with healthy sleep habits. Learn how to rekindle the romance with sleep.
Attendees will learn:
- The impact of fatigue on your physical, emotional and mental health
- The connection between stress and lack of sleep
- Healthy sleep recommendations for adults of all ages
- Tools and strategies for regaining a healthy relationship with sleep
Household and Individual Budgeting
This session will help enlighten & clarify how we manage our money and budget daily or annually. We will review key principles, the importance of living within our means, the value of a budget and creating a safety & security account. In this session, we will explore beliefs & misperceptions, the simple money principle and ways to manage and improve cash on hand.
Managing Compassion Fatigue*
So many of us are caregivers in some way. Perhaps you are a professional caregiver or the primary caregiver in your family. Without healthy boundaries and self-care, compassion fatigue can creep in. Preventive tools and recovery strategies can provide balance, self-compassion, and healthy connection. Learn how to recognize compassion fatigue and the boundaries to ensure you maintain self-care.
Attendees will learn:
- The differences between compassion fatigue, burnout, and vicarious trauma
- Strategies for managing compassion fatigue: awareness, life balance, and connection
- The importance of establishing healthy boundaries to ensure self-care
- Recovery tools to combat fatigue in the present moment and proactively
Managing Holiday Stress*
Décor in the stores. Music in our ears. A brisk chill in the air.
All of these are signs that the holidays are coming! While the holidays may bring a time for fellowship and connection, this time of year also may bring stress, loss, and frustration. On top of everyday stress, people feel busier with added pressure, loneliness, and financial stress. This training will explore ways to prepare for the holidays related to finances, grief, and more. It will also take the feelings of nostalgia and sadness and show you how to reframe them into opportunities for celebration, new traditions, and practices.
Attendees will learn:
- Strategies for simplifying holiday planning
- Skills for making sure your values shape your holiday priorities
- Tools for managing financial stress during the holidays
- Tips for resting and recharging during the holiday season
Managing Stress*
While stress has always been a present force in our lives, employee frustration, worry, and burnout are at all-time highs. The time to re-examine our recovery strategies is now! In this presentation, we will explore current cultural reasons why we are all experiencing high levels of stress. We will consider how our past experiences shape our perception of stress. We will explore the “general adaptation syndrome” and how to use it to manage stress effectively. We will discuss practical, restorative ways to manage stress. And we will learn to use daily practices to build our resilience and emotional well-being.
Attendees will learn:
- Cultural and societal trends that are increasing stress for everyone
- Acute, chronic and traumatic stress are distinct, with different consequences for the brain and body
- Understanding the process of stress (general adaptation syndrome) in the brain and body can improve coping strategies
- Helpful strategies for in-the-moment stress reduction and proactive recovery strategies
Managing Your Finances Paycheck to Paycheck
Are you tired of scrambling for cash a few days before your next paycheck? Do you have money set aside for emergencies? Are you working on major financial goals like paying for your children’s college education or retirement? Join us for this very practicable and actionable seminar on budgeting. Learn how to create your budget, set financial goals, and then find the money to fund them.
Mental Health Awareness
Our mental health surrounds our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. Rates of mental health challenges like anxiety and depression continue to increase. Understanding possible signs of mental health challenges, including suicide awareness, is essential for self-care or caring for someone you love. This presentation will share mental health resources and introduce you to the five areas of well-being that you can pursue to contribute to your overall health.
Attendees will learn:
- Facts about mental health prevalence and treatment
- Common signs of mental health challenges
- Facts about suicide awareness
- Mental health resources and how to talk with a friend or loved one who is struggling
- How to talk with your manager about your mental health challenges
Mental Health and Adolescents
Emerging generations are demanding that workplaces foster healthy mental well-being. Those efforts begin well before young professionals enter the workforce. There are concerning increases in adolescent loneliness, anxiety and depression. We can impact youth in a way that will forever shape individuals and our society. This training will explore the emerging trends in adolescent mental health. It will explore the strategies that youth, parents, employers and others can employ to impact the well-being of young people positively.
Money Is Emotional: Prevent Your Heart From Hijacking Your Wallet
“Money Is Emotional: Prevent Your Heart from Hijacking Your Wallet” pulls back the curtain on why we do what we do with our money. Christine Luken’s “Mindful Money Management” approach to personal finance is unique in harnessing the power of positive thoughts and emotions and short-circuiting the negative ones. Participants will learn how to navigate emotional money situations with purpose and confidence so you can ensure that your heart won’t hijack your wallet.
Painless Estate Planning: It’s Not Just for Rich People
Less than half of Americans have a will, but everyone needs one. Join us to learn the simple steps you need to take to create a basic estate plan. We will cover the few basic documents that can save you and your family loads of aggravation and unnecessary expense.
Saving for the Future
Many people do not have a healthy level of savings despite knowing the importance of having money set aside for emergencies, purchases, college, and retirement. In this one-hour financial wellness workshop, you will learn how to utilize Emotionally Charged Savings techniques that will motivate you to set and keep your savings goals. Participants will leave the class with valuable tools and techniques to start improving their financial health immediately.
Setting and Achieving Goals
One of the greatest challenges we face in our lives is achieving goals, personally and professionally. We assume we don’t achieve our goals because of a lack of commitment or willpower. However, it is often a lack of choosing the right goals and systems that are the culprit. Strategies for goal determination and selection are imperative, and crafting identity-based goals may lead to longer-lasting change. This training will outline how to set your goals and move you toward achieving them.
Attendees will learn:
- The important difference between goals and systems
- How to determine and select goals using strategies including goal reframing and goal stacking
- How to use your values to create identity-based goals
- Using choice architecture to shape the systems you need for goal achievement
- The importance of self-compassion in our pursuit of goal achievement
Strike a Balance
In our fast-paced world, work-life balance feels unattainable. We strive for balance but it feels elusive. An imbalance can lead to feeling like you lack control. Strategies for regaining balance include pausing, listening and prioritizing. This presentation will explore how to self-assess your balance so you can implement the changes you desire.
Attendees will learn:
- Benefits of balance and the consequences of imbalance
- Strategies for self-assessing balance
- Tools for utilizing values to define goals and action points
- Ways to implement the changes to rebalance
Use Empathy to Communicate Effectively
Humans have a fundamental need to be understood. When we understand each other, we can better communicate. Empathic communication is at the heart of all meaningful connections. Empathy is a skill that can be learned to not only listen and understand but also to communicate more effectively. This training will teach the core empathy skills that attendees can use immediately.
Attendees will learn:
- Why connection and belonging are essential for humans
- Types of empathy that drive connection and disconnection
- Skills for practicing empathy in the real world: perspective-taking, avoiding judgment, recognizing emotions, and communicating understanding
- Strategies for improving your communication skills in a virtual world
