In this four-workshop series, Organization Development, Office of Human Resources, and Faculty Development, Office of the Provost, invite participants to spend an hour with colleagues to learn about and discuss core leadership topics over a friendly and relaxed lunch hour. This series is designed for all faculty and staff with supervisory responsibility for other staff. Participate in any, or all, workshops in the mini series; registration is required. For those who would like to keep track of the workshops they have attended, a record of participation can be accessed on the Faculty & Staff Development Program registration page.
Holding Difficult Conversations
Presenter: Debbie Good, Clinical Assistant Professor of Business Administration
Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business and College of Business Administration
Date: Friday, May 29, 2020
Time: 12–1:00 p.m.
Location: Virtual – This program will be presented remotely using an online meeting platform. Specific login information will be sent to registrants via email two days before the above date - please use the registration link below.
Who Should Attend: Faculty, and staff who supervise the work of other staff
Difficult conversations are an organizational fact of life. In fact, they are a fact of life in general. Many individuals seek to avoid these conversations but they can be conducted in a three step process so that trust is built between parties who thrive following the conversations. This workshop is conducted using group-based exercises with difficult scenarios we have all experienced.
Managers and the Paradox of Individual Privacy
Presenter: Ray Jones, Professor of Business Administration
Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business and College of Business; Director, David Berg Center for Ethics and Leadership
Date: Friday, June 5, 2020
Time: 12–1:00 p.m.
Location: Virtual – This program will be presented remotely using an online meeting platform. Specific login information will be sent to registrants via email two days before the above date - please use the registration link below.
Who Should Attend: Faculty, and staff who supervise the work of other staff
Individual beliefs about privacy present an interesting challenge for managers in modern organizations. In this workshop, a short review of privacy in information systems and a discussion of privacy scenarios will demonstrate how individuals tend to have a complex set of views on specific privacy matters across different areas of life (social media, finances, health, online tracking). As leaders, we must consider this vast set of individual beliefs on privacy when making decisions in related areas, such as social media policies and data sharing. This workshop is a constructive setting to consider best practices for navigating the privacy landscape.
Divergent Thinking
Presenter: Nisha Nair, Clinical Assistant Professor of Business Administration
Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business and College of Business
Date: Friday, June 12, 2020
Time: 12–1:00 p.m.
Location: Virtual – This program will be presented remotely using an online meeting platform. Specific login information will be sent to registrants via email two days before the above date - please use the registration link below.
Who Should Attend: Faculty, and staff who supervise the work of other staff
This workshop will focus on the topic of creativity. Using an exercise based format, participants will be introduced to some ways to drive divergent thinking.
Managing in Uncertainty
Presenter: Paul Klein, Clinical Associate Professor of Business Administration
Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business and College of Business Administration
Date: Friday, June 19, 2020
Time: 12–1:00 p.m.
Location: Virtual – This program will be presented remotely using an online meeting platform. Specific login information will be sent to registrants via email two days before the above date - please use the registration link below.
Who Should Attend: Faculty, and staff who supervise the work of other staff
In the opening chapter of M. Scott Peck’s very famous book “The Road Less Traveled,” drawn from his experience as a psychotherapist, he offers this: “Life is difficult. This is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it – once we truly understand and accept it – then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.” That life is uncertain is not a new or novel idea, and certainly in the Age of COVID-19 that truth has been brought home in alarming ways, as we sit and wait, feeling helpless, and occasionally hopeful. But still, we meet each day somehow, with a certain dread, but also some sense of gratitude. It is that capacity for duality, that enables us to carry on somehow.
All of us, if we had our way, would prefer the comfort of certainty. To be sure, it is less challenging, but it is also rare. The fact is that most of us live our lives day in, day out, with ambiguity, contradiction, inconsistency, doubt and uncertainty as our companions. So how do we still manage to get out of bed each day?
In this final workshop of the series, we will consider how we might better live and manage in a world in which uncertainty is a given. Both professionally and personally, it means finding a balance between optimism and realism, and understanding that uncertainty is a fundamental part of decision making. And although we might not become its’ master, we might minimize the prospect of becoming its servant.