S moke S ignals
APRIL 15, 2016
13
Carnegie was born in 1888
COURSE continued
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chased/Referred Care Supervisor
Melody Baker, K-5/Before and
After Care Program Manager Tim
Barry, Swing Shift Housekeeping
Supervisor Ben Bishop, General
Manager Executive Assistant Bar-
bara Branson, Lead Maintenance
Technician Andrew Freeman, Com-
munity Fund Director Kathleen
George, Employment and Training
Specialist Barbara Gibbons, Lead
Groundskeeper Gregg Leno, Hous-
ing Department Manager Shonn
Leno, Lead Pharmacy Technician
Kandee Little, Purchased/Referred
Care Specialist Tauni McCammon,
Education Department Manager
Leslie Riggs, Community Fund
Grants Coordinator Julia Willis
and Smoke Signals staff writer
Brent Merrill.
From Spirit Mountain Casino,
participants included Marketing
Department Manager Mychal
Cherry, Food and Beverage Depart-
ment Assistant Manager Kristina
Dizick, Surveillance Department
Technician Peter Grout, Marketing
Department Casino Reservations
Manager Tanya Lopez, Information
Technology Department Systems
Administration Supervisor Angela
Schlappie-Carrasco and Account
Operations Department Manager
Virginia Singh.
Stack was assisted by Senior
Human Resources Generalist Steve
O’Harra, who served as team lead-
er.
“I’m really excited about the
participants in the class,” said
O’Harra. “The main reason I want-
ed to do this is I went through the
training and it helped me out so
much.”
Carnegie lived from 1888 through
1955 and established the Dale Car-
negie course in communications in
1912. He was a salesman turned
lecturer who authored several
best-selling self-help books that
made him and his teachings a
household name.
Carnegie also was a radio show
personality, newspaper columnist
and adviser to many prominent
business and political leaders in his
day. Among the books he authored
are “How to Win Friends and In-
fluence People” and “How to Stop
Worrying and Start Living.”
The current-day Carnegie orga-
nization has a network of offices
in 75 countries and has graduated
more than 8 million people through
its various training programs.
Dale Carnegie and Associates bill
themselves as the premier human
effectiveness development program
and says that the consistent appli-
cation of proven principles leads
to real growth in participating
individuals. The course focuses
on self-confidence, communication
skills, human relations, leadership
and effective attitude management.
“I like these training opportu-
nities because they teach people
to leave their comfort zones,” said
Tribal Council member Chris Mer-
cier. “Regardless of what position
we hold, at some point we need to
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
Tribal Parks and Recreation Specialist Jerry Bailey, left, and Tribal Purchased/Referred Care Supervisor Melody
Baker prepare to introduce each other during a “Making an Effective Introduction” exercise during the Dale Carnegie
Training course on Monday, April 4. Tribal governmental and Spirit Mountain Casino employees participated in the
eight-week course held at the Employment Services and Training Center building on campus.
tap our inner extroverts and not
be so scared of speaking before a
crowd or interacting with folks from
different backgrounds. These are
skills that can last a lifetime and
come in handy not just profession-
ally, but personally, too.”
Week one focused on “Building
a Foundation for Success” and the
ability to recall and use people’s
names. Week two was “Building
Memory Skills and Enhancing
Relationships” while increasing
self-confidence and week three
was about how to “Put Stress in
Perspective” and motivating others.
The fourth week detailed how to
“Energize Our Communications”
and how to make ideas clear. Week
five focused on how to “Disagree
Agreeably” and gain the willing
cooperation of others while the
sixth week centered on how to
“Manage Our Stress” and develop
more flexibility.
Week seven found the class being
asked to “Inspire Others” and the
final week was about “Celebrating
Achievements and Demonstrating
Leadership.”
O’Harra said the vision behind
bringing the course to Grand Ronde
was the idea of having current and
future leaders learn an effective
and common set of language, prob-
lem solving, relationship building
and organizational skills to better
prepare staff members to work
collaboratively and efficiently, and
improve career growth through
improved personal performance.
“I want to do anything that is
going to help me do my job better.
So that was my interest in doing it,”
said Riggs. “I found myself looking
forward to it. It was a good group of
people. The feeling in the room was
really good. It definitely felt like we
were a team.”
Riggs said he feels that his knowl-
edge has grown by taking the
course.
“I feel like I learned a lot about
people that I never really knew be-
fore and I always really like that,”
said Riggs, who won an outstanding
performance award in the second
week. “I’ve learned a lot about com-
municating from the teachings and
I always look forward to getting to
know people better than I already
know.”
Willis, who is a Coquille Tribal
member, said she watched a team
of more confident people being
formed weekly.
“I’m lucky enough to have some
experience public speaking and I’ve
seen people that clearly hadn’t and
watching them come out of their
shell, watching them get more
comfortable, it just creates this
really supportive environment for
everyone,” said Willis, who won the
course’s Human Relations Award in
week five. “I think everybody has
really benefitted from that because
there is this definite sense of cama-
raderie that occurred organically.
And it made me realize how much
practice I need even though I get to
do this as part of my job. The public
speaking pieces have been really
helpful to me. I just feel so much
more relaxed and I’m taking a lot
away from that.”
Willis said the course’s focus on
human relations has helped her in
her professional and personal lives.
“That part really made me reflect
on how I treat other people and how
I communicate with other people,”
said Willis. “Now I’m really trying
to focus on listening to people, re-
membering their names and I’m
actually doing it, which has been
great. I’m getting so much out of
that. What I really like is the idea
that I will keep these books, I will
keep these lessons and they will
stay with me. That’s really helping
me.”
Cherry, who said she learned
about the course from her super-
visor, casino Marketing Director
Shawna Ridgebear, also said she is
benefitting from the lessons.
“It’s so practical and hands-on,”
said Cherry. “I wanted to focus on
improving communication and my
listening skills. The actual princi-
ples that we’ve been learning, that
you can actually apply and practice,
has made all the difference in the
world for me. I love the simplicity
of it. It’s just really working and
it’s nice to be more engaged now.”
Cherry said Stack pushed her out
of her comfort zone.
“I’ve done things in front of a
group of people that I would have
never done in a million years,” said
Cherry. “You couldn’t have paid
me money to do some of the things
I have had to get up and do – like
act like the green giant.”
Cherry also said that the group
now seems like a team.
“I love that it’s really created
a bond with that group of people
too because it’s not like they were
strangers to begin with,” said Cher-
ry. “These are people that we work
with; that we grew up with. To have
that bond with those people now is
going to be awesome because you
can already feel it. I see people
outside of class and you just have
this little secret. I love it.”
Cherry said she would recom-
mend the course and she sees it
helping people who already work
together.
“I think it would be awesome for
all leaders to go through that train-
ing, especially teams of people that
work together closely and manage a
lot of stress,” said Cherry. “It’s been
really good for building camarade-
rie with the group of people that we
See COURSE
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