Professional Practices Coursework

The Professional Practices Coursework was developed by NAPO to cover the fundamental principles, skills, and ethical standards for Organizing and Productivity Professionals. The courses are designed for all levels of professional organizers: the beginner seeking a good foundation in organizing principles, the intermediate organizer who understands practice and wants to understand theory, and the advanced organizer seeking to build upon experience and knowledge.

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To ensure a common knowledge base and ethical standards for all NAPO members, all NAPO members* have free access to the Professional Practices Coursework.

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The Professional Practices Coursework includes:

OD1-121 Foundational Organizing

People entering the organizing and productivity industry often have the same first reaction: where do I even begin to learn all of the concepts, strategies, and tools I’ll need to serve my future clients? We’ve answered that question, and more, with this course. Professional organizing began with a focus on arranging spaces and objects. That focus is still integral to our now highly varied industry, and so it is where we begin in this first survey course of seven in the Professional Practices certificate. The course will also include the psychology of organizing, the art of transferring skills, communication skills, managing client expectations, setting boundaries with clients, and exploring the benefits of being a generalist vs. a specialist, helping to set you up for success from the start as a professional organizer.

Instructor: Lauren Mang, CPO® / CEUs: 1.5

OD1-122 Foundational Productivity

In this course, you'll gain an overview of core concepts related to time management and productivity. With this foundation course, you can refine your current productivity practices and use the NAPO University curriculum to further expand your knowledge and niche in the world of professional productivity coaching and consulting.

You will become familiar with basic productivity terms, principles, and strategies. You will understand the difference between time, energy, and task management. We will explore automation tools you can use to run your business and help your clients. Communication is key in every relationship we have with our clients, and we will explore how to manage our client’s expectations. You will discover coaching techniques to help your clients, and differentiate between coaching and consulting. With this foundational information course, you will come away with a better understanding of how to level up from the basics of professional organizing to incorporating time management and productivity consulting into your services.

Instructor: Cris Sgrott, CPO® / CEUs: 1.5

OD1-123 Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI)

In recent years, attention to the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) has grown into a universal business imperative. A combination of deep-rooted values exploration and strategic response to market demand, DEI is meaningful to different people in different ways and for different reasons, but no matter how you experience it, it is crucial that you understand and align with it.

Instructor: Tiffany Blassingame, M.Ed. / CEUs: 1.75

OD2-231 Industry Professionalism

Professionalism is a mostly subjective concept, which makes it difficult to teach or assess. Determining what constitutes professional behavior in any industry requires a deep contextual understanding of the work and of the variations on the norms within that industry. The types of work collected under the umbrella of professional organizing and productivity consulting are highly varied, making contextual interpretations of professionalism all the more difficult for us. Despite these challenges, we’ve identified some universal standards to which all professional organizers and/or productivity consultants should adhere, even if their expression is wide-ranging. These standards are in relation to our clients, colleagues, vendors and business partners, as well as professional associations, and also when representing the industry in the various forms of media interaction.

Instructor: Lauren Mang, CPO® / CEUs: 1.5

OD2-232 Ethics for Organizing and Productivity Professionals

Ethics is something that most people believe they understand but would be hard-pressed to put into words. This is problematic because ethical practice relies on the adoption of clearly articulated group standards, not individual interpretation according to personal morals or values. Fortunately, there is a wealth of ethical theory for us to draw upon and adapt for the PO/PC industry, and this course is a solid start to understanding and implementing it.

Instructor: Debbie Stanley, MA, MS, LPC / CEUs: 2.25

OD3-322 Safety in the Organizing Environment

The organizing and productivity industry has risks – some universal to all businesses, some relatively unique to us. As planning-minded people, we are especially well-qualified to anticipate and head off those risks, but to do so, we must have some inkling of what the risks actually are. Hoping nothing bad happens in your first few years, as you steadily gain the experience that will help you to stay safe, is not the best way to learn to avoid and manage risk, so here we offer you insights into the types of dangers you could encounter and strategies to avoid them, reduce their likelihood, or reduce their negative impact if they do occur.

Instructor: Debbie Stanley, MA, MS, LPC / CEUs: 1.75

OD3-323 Cybersecurity

Popular understanding of cyberthreats and cybersecurity spans a broad range, from people who have one password for everything (and it’s 1234) to people who have their own VPN, RFID-blocking wallet, and multi-factor authorization on every login. As leaders in the organizing of all types of data, it’s our duty to understand the basics of cybersecurity and help our clients to protect themselves in their online spaces. We also need this knowledge ourselves, to protect our own business and personal online activities.

Instructor: Debbie Stanley, MA, MS, LPC / CEUs: 1.25

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Access the Professional Practice Courses Bundle

The Professional Practice Courses Bundle includes all Professional Practices Courses and provides lifetime access to all courses as long as your member status is current. This bundle is exclusive to NAPO members and is an on-demand course (not live).