Talent Development Courses

Recruit, develop, and retain a highly skilled workforce with Mid-State's talent development courses. Options include online or online live courses as well as free, self-paced instruction.

Search for classes and register online.

Current Offerings

From Good to Great: Developing Professional Skills for Success

The world of business is constantly changing. Building positive customer and work relationships are the building blocks of any successful endeavor. In this course, participants will build upon their strengths and use practical and interactive exercises to develop their relational skill sets. Participants will develop and practice the effective soft skills required to be an effective team member, handle conflict, deal with difficult customer situations, and apply critical thinking to problem solving. The class meets for three hours once a week for 10 weeks for a total of 30 hours.

Thursdays, January 16 – March 20
8:00 – 11:00 a.m. • Online Live
Class #: 25892 • Course Fee: $395
Instructor: Rich Gaertner

Effective Team Management

Move from being a task-focused manager to an inspiring leader that brings out the best in their people. This course is designed to assist anyone who has responsibility for leading people. Focus is put on how to set the example, communicate, and coach effectively to drive performance. The course dives into the interpersonal skills necessary to lead and inspire your teams. Emphasis will be put on real-world scenarios that provide skill set practice that can be immediately implemented in the work setting.

Tuesdays, January 21 – March 11
8:00 – 11:00 a.m. • Online Live
Class #: 25893 • Course Fee: $495

Nonprofit Leadership Institute

The Nonprofit Leadership Institute is a masterclass in nonprofit leadership. This series of seminars, led by local community experts, is for members of all levels of nonprofit organizations. Designed for staff, executives, and board members of nonprofits, this course will provide the foundations of managing and operating effective nonprofits. Each class session will be enhanced with peer-facilitated discussion groups and offers an excellent networking and collaboration opportunity.

Thursdays, January 30, February 13 and 27, March 13 and 27, April 3 and 17, and May 1
5:30 – 7:30 p.m. • Stevens Point Downtown Campus
Class #: 25552 • Course Fee: $164.97
Instructor: Rikki Harry

Microsoft Excel Series

This series will introduce you to Microsoft Office Excel and teach you its intermediate and advanced features. Whether you're new to Excel or need a refresher, this series will help you master this longstanding spreadsheet software. This series includes the following classes: Intro to Excel, Excel Fundamentals, Advanced Skills in Excel. Courses are also available individually.

Tuesdays, February 4 – March 11
9:00 – 11:00 a.m. • Online Live
Class #: 25605 • Course Fee: $165

Intro to Excel

This course will provide the basic knowledge necessary to work within a spreadsheet and perform basic editing. Learners will go through an overview of the processes to create a spreadsheet and learn how to enter data, format cells, and create simple formulas.

Tuesday, February 4 -AND- Tuesday, February 11
9:00 – 11:00 a.m. • Online Live
Class #: 25607 • Course Fee: $65

Excel Fundamentals

This course will go beyond the basics of Excel into basic analytical skills. Learners will demonstrate their ability to perform a number of hands-on, project-based Excel intermediate level activities including but not limited to working with analytical charts and graphs, creating logical formulas, cleaning and managing data for use in filtering and sorting.

Tuesday, February 18 -AND- Tuesday, February 25
9:00 – 11:00 a.m. • Online Live
Class #: 25609 • Course Fee: $65

Advanced Skills in Excel

This course will cover the analytical functions of Excel for experienced users. Learners will learn how to develop and analyze pivot tables, charts and graphs, use conditional formatting and index match formulas, recording a macro, and advanced functions on databases.

Tuesday, March 4 -AND- Tuesday, March 11
9:00 – 11:00 a.m. • Online Live
Class #: 25611 • Course Fee: $65

Conflict Resolution & Emotional Intelligence

• Understand and become aware of one’s own emotions and understanding the emotions of others.
• What is your EQ?
• Leader Consistency – how you come-in for the day and conduct yourself sets the tone.
• Provide strategies on dealing with your emotions in difficult environments.
• Examine different methods to de-escalate stressful situations when emotions are running high.
• Understanding how emotion plays into decision making.
• Understand the various forms of conflict resolution.
• Determining if and when all parties are ready to resolve the conflict
• Discussion, Humility is the New Smart, by Hess & Ludwig

Thursday, February 13
2:00 – 4:00 p.m. • Stevens Point Downtown Campus
Class #: 26193 • Course Fee: $40.00
Instructor: Ted Melby

Spanish Conversational

Expand your conversational skills in Spanish through interpersonal interactions based on topics of your choice. Conversations are guided with the use of authentic resources, images, and more. Participants can expect to use all modes of communication, interpretive listening/viewing, interpersonal speaking, and presentational speaking.

Wednesdays, February 19 – April 2
6:00 – 7:30 p.m. • Online Live
Class #: 25797 • Course Fee: $65
Instructor: Jasmine Parry

SHRM Prep Course

Increase your chances of passing your SHRM-CP or SHRM-SCP certification exam by attending our upcoming prep course. An expert, SHRM-certified instructor will be on hand to answer your questions, guide you through interactive discussions, review sample test questions, and provide exclusive test-taking tips.

Thursdays, February 20 – May 15
6:00 – 9:00 p.m. • Online Live
Class #: 25799 • Course Fee: $1,350
Instructor: Scott Gunderson

Communication and Feedback

• Define Active Listening, do you hear when you listen, or just looking to respond.
• Evaluate the difference between criticism and feedback.
• Understanding your response to feedback while understanding how others may respond based on their personalities and preferred communication style.
• Having hard conversations and overcoming the resistance.

Thursday, March 6
2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. • Stevens Point Downtown Campus
Class #: 26194 • Course Fee: $40
Instructor: Ted Melby

Mental Health First Aid Certification

Just as CPR helps you assist an individual having a heart attack, Mental Health First Aid helps you assist someone experiencing a mental health or substance use-related crisis. In the Mental Health First Aid course, you learn risk factors and warning signs for mental health and addiction concerns, strategies for how to help someone in both crisis and non-crisis situations, and where to turn for help. The opportunity to practice—through role plays, scenarios, and activities—makes it easier to apply these skills in a real-life situation. Mental Health First Aid teaches about recovery and resiliency–the belief that individuals experiencing these challenges can and do get better and use their strengths to stay well.

Thursday, April 3
8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. • Wisconsin Rapids Campus
Class #: 25800 • Course Fee: $95
Instructor: Brian Sadler & Michelle Stromme

Introduction to Basic Spanish

Join us to continue working toward proficiency in Spanish! Practice with class members to build vocabulary and sentence fluency for interactions in your community. Engage in comprehensible conversations about topics of interest you have and develop your interpersonal conversational skills in Spanish.

Wednesdays, April 9 – May 14
6:00 – 7:30 p.m. • Online Live
Class #: 25798 • Course Fee: $65
Instructor: Jasmine Parry

Additional Options

Looking for something else? 

• Take a look at our continuing education offerings for a variety of professional upskilling options.
• Check out additional online classes through our partnership with ed2go.
• Explore Mid-State’s customized workforce training.